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2007 Formative Period Ceramic Figurines from the Lower Río Verde Valley, Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico Guy David Hepp

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FORMATIVE PERIOD CERAMIC FIGURINES FROM THE

LOWER RÍO VERDE VALLEY, COASTAL OAXACA,

MEXICO

By GUY DAVID HEPP

A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Guy David Hepp All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Guy David Hepp defended on 10/17/2007.

______Mary Pohl Professor Directing Thesis

______William Parkinson Committee Member

______Michael Uzendoski Committee Member

Approved:

______Dean Falk, Chair, Department of Anthropology

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A thesis about the archaeology of an ancient people requires that the combined efforts of many individuals found a way to coalesce into a single document. I would first like to thank the Formative era people of the Oaxacan coast for leaving behind their artifacts, whatever their use may have been. At the risk of sounding sentimental, I hope that the arguments I make here about artistic expression and the sociocultural role of figurines do not do the ancients any disservice. I would like to thank the various professors and students who helped me to find this project, and who aided in my training along the way. Most pertinent among these, for the purposes of this thesis, are Dr. Arthur Joyce of the University of Colorado, Dr. Marcus Winter at the Oaxacan department of the INAH, and my committee at Florida State University, including Dr. Mary Pohl, Dr. Michael Uzendoski, and Dr. William Parkinson. Over the last few years, the classes and conversations I have had with these individuals have helped shape the way I think about the past. I should also thank the University of Colorado’s doctoral candidate Marc Levine for giving me the opportunity to excavate on his dissertation research project on the Oaxacan coast for five months. Without that initial experience, it would never have occurred to me to return to the region the following year for the research I now present. The other team members on Marc’s excavation, especially Marco ‘Oso’ Ortega, also introduced me to life as a graduate student, so that I hit the ground running when I arrived at FSU. On a personal note, my family members and friends each had their own role to play in the making of this thesis. My brother Simon, for example, traveled to Oaxaca City to join me in the summer of 2006. He ended up, whether he liked it or not, helping me record Munsel colors of the two hundred and twenty-nine artifacts, perhaps a harsh introduction to archaeological research for a high school student. My grandmother, Mrs. Josephine Knight, utilized her skills as a long-time high school language teacher to serve as a helpful critical eye when it came time to edit this thesis. Other friends and family members helped me along the way, whether it was a little bit of aid to get myself to Oaxaca, or just listening to my ramblings over the telephone, as I tried to wrap my head around a collection of figurines and related artifacts old enough that no one is left to tell us how they were used. Thanks.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………...v List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………………..vi List of Figures…………………………………………………….…………………...…vii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………..….ix

1. Introduction…………………………………………………...... ……..1 2. Methodology…...... 15 3. Evaluating the Literature..……………………………………………………………29 4. Results of Quantitative Analysis……………………………………………………..67 5. Results of Qualitative Analysis………………………………………………………81 6. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………..105 7. Conclusion……………..………...... 124 8. Epilogue…………………………………………………………………………….130

Appendix A, Figurine Variables………………………………………………………..134 Appendix B, Images………………………………………………………………….…137 Appendix C, Illustrations……………………………………………………………….148 Appendix D, Artifact Catalogue…...…………………………………………………...169 References……………………………………………………………………………....245 Biographical Sketch…………………………………………………………………….254

iv LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Within-site artifact context…………………………………………………….4 Table 4.1: Frequency of artifact types…………………..…………………...………..…68 Table 4.2: Biological sex in total collection……..………………………………………70 Table 4.3 Frequency of body parts present……………………………………………...73 Table 4.4 Artifact dimensions.………………………………………………………..…75 Table 4.5 Construction techniques……………………………………………………....80 Table 5.1 Within-site artifact context…………………………………………………...82 Table 5.2 Biological sex by within-site context…………………………………………85 Table 5.3 Within-site context by artifact type…..……………………………………….88 Table 5.4 Ceramic chronology…………………………………………………………..95

v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 1: artifact #126……………………………………………………………...148 Illustration 2: artifact #68……………………………………………………………….149 Illustration 3: artifact #73……………………………………………...………………..150 Illustration 4: artifact #136…………………………………………………………...…151 Illustration 5: artifact #12……………………………………………………………….152 Illustration 6: artifact #147…………………………………………………………...…153 Illustration 7: artifact #5………………………………………………………………...154 Illustration 8: artifact #42……………………………………………………………….155 Illustration 9: artifact #140……………………………………………………………...155 Illustration 10: artifact #14……………………………………………………………...156 Illustration 11: artifact #70……………………………………………………………...157 Illustration 12: artifact #36……………………………………………………………...158 Illustration 13: artifact #124…………………………………………………………….159 Illustration 14: artifact #142…………………………………………………………….160 Illustration 15: artifact #63……………………………………………………………...161 Illustration 16: artifact #213…………………………………………………………….162 Illustration 17: artifact #190…………………………………………………………….163 Illustration 18: artifact #166…………………………………………………………….164 Illustration 19: artifact #164…………………………………………………………….165 Illustration 20: artifact #65……………………………………………………………...165 Illustration 21: artifact #165…………………………………………………………….166 Illustration 22: artifact #158…………………………………………………………….167 Illustration 23: artifact #35……………………………………………………………...168

vi LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Map of Oaxaca’s archaeological sites……………………………………….14 Figure 2.1: Figurine measurement schematic……………………………………………21 Figure 3.1: Map of Río Verde region……………………………………...... 31 Figure 4.1: Biological sex amongst anthropomorphs……………………………....……70 Figure 4.2 Possible acrobat figurine …………………………………………………....74 Figure 4.3 Whistles and vessel appliqués...... …79 Figure 5.1 Temporal patterns and variable key…………………………………………94 Figure 5.2 Geographic patterns………………………………………………………….96 Figure 5.3 Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine head.……………………………………..98 Figure 6.1 Probable female figurine…………………………………………………...109 Figure 6.2 Probable female figurine…………………………………………………...110 Figure 6.3 Female figurine fragment…………………………………………………..110 Figure 6.4 Image from Mimbres Pottery combining ‘male’ and ‘female’ attributes…..111 Figure 6.5 Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine…………………………………………..112 Figure 6.6 Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine………………………………………..…112 Figure 6.7 Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine………………………………………..…113 Figure 6.8 Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine………………………………………..…113 Figure 6.9 Possible cranial deformation……………..………………………………...117 Figure 6.10 Possible primary sexual characteristics…………………………………...118 Figure 7.1 Watercolor of artifact # 70…………………………………………………133 Figure A: Map of lower Río Verde from Joyce et al. 2001……………………...... …..137 Figure B: Figurine combining anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features………….…138 Figure C: Figurine combining anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features………….…138 Figure D: Figurine combining anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features……………139 Figure E: Unknown animal or transitional figurine ……………………………….…...140 Figure F: Animal effigy appliqué………………………………………………………140 Figure G : Turtle effigy whistle……………………………………………………...…141 Figure H: Complete bird effigy whistle……………………………………………...…142 Figure I: Dog effigy figurine……………………………………………………………142

vii Figure J: Anthropomorphic appliqué………………………………………………...…143 Figure K: Anthropomorphic appliqué…………….………………………………….…143 Figure L: Probable female figurine……………….…………………………...………..144 Figure M: Probable female figurine…………….……………………………...……….144 Figure N: Female figurine fragment…………….……………………………...……....145 Figure O: Mimbres pottery image………………………………………………………145 Figure P: Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine…………………………………………….146 Figure Q: Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine………………………………………...….146 Figure R: Possibly Olmec-inspired figurine…………………………………………....146 Figure S: El Exconvento de Cuilapan…………………………………………………..147 Figure T: Lab space at Cuilapan………………………………………………………..147

viii ABSTRACT This Master’s thesis analyzes two hundred and twenty-nine Formative period (1500 BC – 250 AD) ceramic figurines, whistles, and iconographic vessel appliqués from the lower Río Verde valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. The lower Río Verde region has recently proven important to understandings of social change in Oaxaca. A detailed analysis of a selection of the coastal figurines excavated over the last twenty years can contribute significantly to an understanding of cultural patterns both geographically and temporally in ancient Mesoamerica. Because the Formative period was a time of transition toward sedentism, agriculture, and hierarchical social inequality, its material culture is relevant to models of social transition. I spent a month during the summer of 2006 with the collections in Oaxaca, recording data on the artifacts. The goal of the project presented here is to seek a better understanding of the sociocultural context of these artifacts. I logged information on various attributes and measurements into a thirty-four variable spreadsheet. I also collected 1,286 photographs for later reference, and illustrated twenty-three of the artifacts. As a secondary aspect of this research, I collected fingerprint impressions from the figurines themselves, in the hopes of ascertaining whether men or women made the figurines. My analysis of the artifacts, many of which have not been previously studied in depth, allows me to comment on the figurines as a microcosm of the construction of personhood and ascribed social roles. Focusing on Formative period artifacts serves both as a method of limiting the sample size and seeking an understanding of sociocultural factors present during the rise of complex society in this part of the world. In addition to personhood theory, I use concepts such as mimesis and public ritual performance as ways to conceptualize the role figurines played in their ancient social milieu. I argue that these iconographic artifacts were focal points for domestic and public dialogue about ascribed social roles, conduits for contact with the ancestors, and vessels to mimetically capture the power of people, animals, and spiritual beings. I propose ‘communal domesticity’ as a useful conceptual framework for Formative era sociality. I conclude this thesis with a hypothetical reconstruction of the figurines as they functioned within the Formative period social context of the ancient coastal peoples, who probably included Chatinos or proto-Zapotecan ethnic groups living in the Río Verde region.

ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Background Coastal Oaxaca, and particularly the lower Río Verde valley, is an area where archaeological excavation and interpretation has proven integral to understandings of social change in Oaxaca, especially the early stages of sedentism and adaptations to changing subsistence patterns. Arthur Joyce (1991a, 1991b), A. Joyce and Winter (1996) and A. Joyce and Mueller (1997) have discussed the significance of this region to the larger Mesoamerican sphere of interaction. Coastal Oaxaca became influential during the Postclassic period (900 AD – European contact), due in part to geological and political processes discussed briefly in the pages to follow. This Master’s thesis presents the results of analysis on a collection of Formative era (1500 BC – 250 AD) ceramic figurines, whistles, and iconographic vessel appliqués from the lower Río Verde Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico (Figure 1.1). Through interpretation of figurines and related artifacts, I comment on the social systems of Formative era Oaxaca that existed prior to the Postclassic period and which may have been a prerequisite for later patterns of social change. A detailed analysis of a selection of the coastal figurines could contribute significantly to research on cultural patterns both geographically and temporally in the lower Río Verde valley (Arthur Joyce, personal conversation 5/2006). The purpose of the analyses discussed here was twofold. First, it allowed me to describe the physical attributes of the collection itself, including dimensions, iconographic representations, patterns of accoutrements and diagnostic features present. Second, the patterns that became apparent in the collection support the claims I make about the social functions of the figurines. Specifically, I argue that the figurines, along with the iconographic whistles and appliqués, were focal points for public and domestic ritual behaviors that centered around gender roles, communion with ancestor spirits, and mimesis (or capturing the essence of something via miniaturized representation) of the natural, social, and spiritual

1 world. My purpose in including ceramic whistles and appliqués in the study is not only to describe artifacts that have been passed over by previous studies, but also to demonstrate the similarities they share with the figurines, by virtue of being small- scale representations of people and things of interest to the ancient Oaxacans. The Formative period was a time of transition toward hierarchical social inequality in Mesoamerica, and its material culture is relevant to models of social change in the region (Paynter 1989). A more in-depth understanding of how Oaxacan material culture existed within its sociocultural contexts may aid in understanding the area’s relationship to social patterns in other parts of Mesoamerica, shedding light on interregional interaction during the Formative period. An example of multiregional issues is the possible Olmec influence apparent on some figurines in this sample. Some researchers (Flannery 1968, Neff et al. 2006) have considered arguments for the pervasive Olmec influence on other Mesoamerican cultural traditions problematic. In this thesis, I consider the term ‘Olmec-influenced’ to indicate those items roughly reminiscent of Olmec iconographic and artistic styles, as estimated by diagnostic artifact features, and possibly indicating interregional interaction. If supported, this borrowing of artistic styles and symbolic paradigms from the Gulf Coast region of Mexico could represent ideological linkages with places as far away as the modern states of Tabasco and Veracruz. Because most of the artifacts studied for this thesis are from the Late or even Terminal Formative eras, the borrowing of Early to Middle Formative period artistic traditions may indicate transference of ideas both across geographic space and through time, perhaps as an element of cultural traditions or behaviors passed down through generations. Three things must be kept in mind when dealing with issues of implied interaction. First, trade of ideas and trade of material goods may have occurred at different rates. Second, down-the-line trade, whereby groups may exchange goods or social memes via an intermediary, may have meant that two groups that apparently shared some elements of their culture never actually made contact with one another. Finally, conduits of cultural influence tend to be multidirectional. The University of Colorado’s Dr. Arthur Joyce, along with Dr. Sarah Barber, Dr. Stacie King, and their associates, excavated the artifacts studied for this thesis from primarily Late and Terminal Formative period contexts. The artifacts come specifically

2 from the sites of Cerro de la Cruz, Cerro de la Virgen, Corozo, Loma Reyes, Río Viejo, Barra Quebrada, and Yugüe. Río Viejo and Corozo have the most varied time sequences for their figurines, ranging from the Middle Formative or even earlier, all the way up to mixed Formative and Classic contexts. Cerro de la Cruz produced Charco and Minizundo era figurines, while Cerro de la Virgen had only Terminal Formative era examples. According to my analysis, Yugüe produced one possible Early or Middle Formative period figurine, while the others date to the Terminal Formative era. An important issue related to artifact context is its provenience within the site. Detailed results of my analysis on within-site provenience can be found in my qualitative results chapter, but I will provide a preview here. In order to support my argument that figurines and iconographic ceramic artifacts were both domestic and public (as opposed to strictly private) in their use, I call on contextual data from the doctoral dissertations of Arthur Joyce (1991), Stacy King (2003), and Sarah Barber (2005). Simple statistical analyses demonstrate how the variables of geographic (or site) context and within-site context are interrelated. In the qualitative results chapter, I also provide other examples of contextual patterns regarding the collection. I conclude that a large number of artifacts were found in terrace and mound fill, feasting middens, elite and commoner domestic middens, and public ceremonial structures. Refer to the artifact catalogue in the appendices for specific contextual data on most of the artifacts studied here. These results indicate that figurines were involved in behaviors both in the household and in the public ceremonial contexts. Their utility as foci for both domestic and public ritual solidifies their place in the communal material culture repertoire. The table below summarizes what I will discuss in more detail in the chapters to follow.

3 Table 1.1: Within-site artifact context

Barra Quebrada Cerro de la Cruz Burial 0 1 Domestic midden with burials 0 2 Domestic structure 0 1 Patio with structures 0 12 Structure floor 0 6 Structure wall 0 11 Terrace fill with burials 0 16 Unknown 1 2 Total 1 51

Cerro de la Virgen Corozo Domestic midden 0 6 Elite residence 34 0 Mound fill 0 5 Unknown 0 1 Total 34 12

Loma Reyes Río Viejo Ceramic dump 0 5 High status domestic 0 43 midden Mound fill 0 8 Public acropolis 0 8 Platform surface 1 0 Domestic structure 0 1 Unknown 0 3 Total 1 68

Yugüe Domestic midden 13 Elite ritual structure 5 Public ceremonial structure 37 Unknown 7 Total 62

4 Table 1.1: Continued

Total Burial 1 Ceramic dump 5 Domestic midden 19 Domestic midden with burials 2 Domestic structure 2 Elite residence 34 Elite ritual structure 5 High status domestic midden 43 Mound fill 13 Public acropolis 8 Platform surface 1 Public ceremonial structure 37 Patio with structures 12 Structure floor 6 Structure wall 11 Terrace fill with burials 16 Unknown 15 Total 229

My thesis involves both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the two hundred and twenty-nine ceramic objects, of which approximately seventy percent were figurines, seven percent were whistles, two percent were vessel appliqués, and twenty-one percent were undifferentiated fragments that nonetheless showed traits of being iconographic artifacts. The objects were discovered during the course of excavations and surveys that have taken place in coastal Oaxaca since the late 1980s. Ceramic figurines and effigy- bearing vessels from excavations in the Río Verde region have been the subject of preliminary analysis by archaeologists such as Arthur Joyce (1991a), Ligia Fernandez Pardo (1993), Stacie King (2003), and Sarah Barber (2005). More figurines have appeared with continued excavation, however, and the pace of figurine analysis has fallen behind the rate of their discovery. My aim with this study is to complete a more comprehensive and focused analysis of the region’s Formative period figurines than has been previously attempted. To this end, the collection of artifacts considered here contains both those figurines previously appearing in other scholarly works and those never before studied in any formulaic fashion. Moving beyond mere quantitative analysis of the figurines, I intend to use this study to comment on Formative era Oaxacan

5 figurines as they relate to the larger social networks in which they existed. For example, figurines may have represented material expressions of behaviors related to the construction of personhood and the development of ascribed social roles during the Formative period. I look to authors such as Marcel Mauss (1938), Jean La Fontaine (1985a), Conklin and Morgan (1996), Blanca Muratorio (1998), and Aparecida Vilaça (2002) to help me develop my arguments about personhood. A body of scholarly work focused on the attributes and cultural contexts of ceramic figurines is growing rapidly as a subcategory of discussions of general Mesoamerican material culture. The literature review section of this thesis discusses not only personhood and other sociocultural theories tied to the use of symbolic artifacts, but also the development of figurine studies, gender studies in archaeology, and general treatments of social change in ancient Oaxaca. Artifacts collected during the course of archaeological excavations around the state of Oaxaca are housed in the highland valley near Oaxaca City, at a former convent-turned INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) storehouse in the village of Cuilapan. At El Exconvento de Cuilapan, thousands of artifacts from the lower Río Verde valley fill crates stacked to the ceiling and supported by rickety shelves held up with wire. These artifacts are the patrimony of Oaxaca and of the Mexican people at large. They are supervised by INAH and are under the curation of Dr. Marcus Winter. From boxes of ceramics and ‘special finds,’ Dr. Arthur Joyce and I selected for my analysis two hundred and twenty-nine artifacts, mostly figurines. Focusing on Formative period figurines serves both as a method of limiting the sample size and seeking an understanding of sociocultural factors present during the rise of complex society in this part of the world. Study methods used in my analysis are discussed in the methodology chapter, along with summaries of the quantitative analyses performed on the data set generated by my analysis. I spent a month during the summer of 2006 with the collection in Oaxaca, recording data on the artifacts. I logged information on various attributes and measurements into a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet. The thirty-four spreadsheet variables and brief explanations of them are listed in the appendices of this thesis. I also collected 1,286 photographs and conducted twenty-three artifact illustrations. As a

6 secondary aspect of this research, I collected eighty-three fingerprint impressions from the figurines themselves, as well as four ‘control’ samples, in the hopes of ascertaining whether men or women made the figurines. This phase of the project remains incomplete until I can gain access to a machine capable of reading the fingerprint samples. The researcher creates data sets, and the archaeological record itself is a modern construction based on measurements of preserved remnants from the past. For these reasons, all such measurements are subjective to some degree (Parkinson 2002: 394). In order to make my methods transparent, I have elucidated my methodology in Chapter Two. The basic measurement data on these figurines, along with patterns of iconographic representation related to features such as biological sex and anthropomorphic or zoomorphic identity, serve as the backbone of the results of quantitative analysis section of my thesis. Also included are graphs demonstrating statistical results and discussions of the implications of apparent patterns. In the qualitative analysis chapter that follows, I attempt to perform a humanistic reconstruction of the cultural contexts in which these figurines, musical instruments, and vessel appliqués existed. This interpretation, along with treatments of site, within-site, and temporal provenience of the objects, can be found in Chapter Five. The interpretation of artifacts as indicators of Formative period cultural contexts is treated in further depth in my conclusion chapter, which presents a hypothetical reconstruction of figurine-related behaviors on the Formative period Oaxacan coast. These results, I hope, can be used to make inferences about larger pan-Mesoamerican lifeways during the Formative era. Diachronic or spatial patterns in cultural behavior brought to light by this research will be a valuable addition to knowledge about this part of the New World. The goal of the project is to seek a better understanding of the sociocultural context of the artifacts in question, as well as to analyze them on their own terms, as works of art in their own right. Regarding my discussion of the social context of Formative era figurines, I argue that figurines played a significant role in public and domestic ritual behaviors, perhaps sometimes serving as social commentary on issues such as prescribed gender roles. Instead of seeing figurines as strictly a ‘hidden,’ mode of

7 communication (in comparison to stelae or public murals for example), wide-spread domestic use of figurines, and their deposition in diverse contexts within sites, suggests that the social issues they elicited were central elements of public, even communal, social discourse. Formative era figurines have been found in households as well as public courtyards, and in such numbers as to suggest that were they were involved in domestic ritual, likely large enough in scale to unite different households together into communal, or public ritual interaction. Their deposition in both private and public contexts has been reconstructed as both intentional and unintentional depending on the specific instance. The behaviors of interaction between groups utilizing figurines at the domestic scale demonstrate that domestic ritual and private ritual were not the same thing in ancient Mesoamerica, but instead that the domestic space was part of the public realm (Drennan 1976: 352). In the Terminal Formative Chacahua phase deposits at the coastal Oaxacan site of Yugüe, Sarah Barber (2005: 178) discovered ceramic figurines, along with other ritual and adornment goods such as ear spools and greenstone, in the context of stratified sheet middens at Operation B. The association with other types of artifacts, including items of particularly utilitarian use such as adobe building materials, broken ceramics, and utilized obsidian flakes, indicates a treatment of the figurines on a par with other, ‘typical’ items of material culture used at the site, in addition to their association with ritualized behaviors. This pattern suggests that ritual and utilitarian artifacts were not necessarily treated in entirely different manners after discard, and perhaps that the spheres of private and public, and of ritual and secular life, where not dichotomous or mutually exclusive. That the midden is located somewhat removed from obvious architectural features at the site also may indicate the public, even communal use of, and access to, this refuse deposit during its formation. In order to deposit garbage at the midden, individuals would have had to transport their ‘domestic’ artifacts across the site, and leave them for all to see. I suggest that figurine-related behaviors included those related to sociality, life history, and shamanistic efforts to harness the power of the spiritual realm through the mimetic small-scale physical form of the figurine, perhaps to aid

8 in female life history events among other things. Didactic rituals, or those intended to teach as well as to entertain, may also be a significant issue related to figurine use. One figurine in this study, Artifact # 63, may represent a reclining infant. Such an object might have stood in for a human child during rituals or social events focused on motherhood, female maturity, or the early stages of the human lifecycle (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 8/2007). This thesis considers Formative era ceramic figurines from the Río Verde valley an example of a larger pan-Mesoamerican artifact assemblage. The collection of artifacts as studied in this thesis includes more ‘female’ than ‘male’ representations, and more anthropomorphs than zoomorphs. Specific ratios of figurine types and the methods of quantitative analysis used to determine them are discussed in detail in analyses chapters to follow. Figurines are part of domestic material culture contexts in the archaeological record and by association were part of the everyday lives of Formative period Mesoamericans. That their domestic use likely tied together different households within the community logically implies that their role as domestic articles is not mutually exclusive with their role as public ones. It seems instead that households in Formative period Oaxaca were domestic, without necessarily being private. Household ritual may have tied together the people (perhaps often the women) of a community. Ritual in the public sphere also likely included the use of figurines, and may have been a typically male activity, at least through the analogy of ethnohistoric accounts of the Zapotec (Marcus 1998). A major purpose for studying figurines and other iconographic ceramic artifacts is to understand what their attributes and possible uses can tell us about the social contexts in which they operated. These results may illuminate figurine related behaviors, including mimetic ritual, subsistence, the maintenance of traditions, and the structural organization of social modes of interaction, as public focal points related to the construction of identity in ancient Oaxaca. I conclude in this thesis that figurines and related artifacts were used in behaviors often associated with public rather than merely private ritual behavior. In fact, models of public versus private social and ritual behaviors may be an example of co-action rather than competition or mutual exclusion. I argue that issues such as personhood construction, ancestor worship, sex and gender roles, age, occupation, spiritual power, and human/animal identity relations were all vital

9 in the minds of ancient coastal Oaxacans. During a time of rapid settlement change, increasing occupational specialization, and developing social complexity, figurines and related artifacts aided in some fundamental ways the behavioral interactions of these Mesoamericans. The division between religious or spiritual life and practical life were likely much less clearly defined for the ancient Oaxacans than some in the Western world consider them to be today. The ritual and pragmatic social utility of these ceramic artifacts likely overlapped in ways that aided in the cycle of social change occurring at this stage of the ancient Mesoamerican past.

Research Questions The first research question of importance to my study is: Why select this project in this part of the world? Because ancient ideological associations with material culture are difficult to discern in the archaeological record, they take on an enigmatic quality and tease the researcher by remaining just out of his or her reach. In the case of figurines, it is clear by their prevalence in the record that these ‘small- scale representations’ fit a sizeable niche in the social context in which they existed. For me, that is part of their allure. Why have people made figurines, not just in Oaxaca or Mesoamerica, but all over the world, dating back at least as far as the Eastern Gravettian period in Europe, beginning twenty-eight thousand years ago (Bogucki 1999: 95)? Other iconographic or artistic elements of the much-criticized ‘human revolution,’ such as carved images and beads, may go as far back as forty- five and sixty-five thousand years, respectively, in Africa (McBrearty and Brooks 2000: 530). Focusing on the specific example of coastal Oaxaca, what did figurines represent? Were they related to ritual behavior, the acting out of mythologies, children’s games, or what? These questions fueled my interest in the project. Other research questions were more objective. In reading about the ways in which figurines fit into social relationships, and talking with sociocultural anthropologists, I became interested in the notion of ‘personhood,’ and how figurines might represent the way people saw themselves (R. Joyce 2000, Dr. Michael Uzendoski, personal conversation 10/2006). In focusing this interest into a research question, I asked: How did figurines function in local contexts on the

10 Oaxacan coast, and how did those patterns compare to Mesoamerican figurine use in general? Comparing figurines from the Oaxacan coast required the literature analysis presented later in this thesis. In general, my results match up with many pan-Mesoamerican trends of figurine manufacture during the Formative period. It is primarily in extending these patterns to the Oaxacan coast, in finding regionally specific patterns, and in the analysis of these results that my conclusions build upon or differ from previous studies. One way in which this thesis stands out among similar studies is in its focus on personhood theory. Of the artifacts studied, I asked: To what degree can I argue that these items reflect group and individual constructions of identity? Through analysis of the biological sex represented on the figurines in the study, I hoped to find a proxy for patterns of sexually differentiated behavior, and even a notion of gendered identities. Through the analysis of accoutrements and clothing, I hoped to make arguments about associated symbolic and status differentiation as it developed during the Formative period. Finally, by recording unique representations of Formative era ideology such as transitional figures, I argue that figurines are a promising media through which to approach ancient ideologies and associated concepts of personhood. What I hope to present here is evidence that figurines and other small-scale iconographic artifacts were involved in patterns of ritual and social activity that merged the domestic and public spheres of Formative era life in Mesoamerica. Their depictions of women, men, animals, and supernatural or transitional characters serve as evidence of the primary social and ritual concerns of the people who made them. The ancient Oaxacans were interested in the differences between the human sexes, and the cultural gender roles applied to them. They were interested in the animals they felt held spiritual power, and in shamanistic beings who could cross the boundaries between the human and animal realms, and between the physical world and the spiritual one. They were interested in communion with the ancestors. The rituals offered to those ancestors, though they may have taken place in the household, served to tie together the social fabric of human settlements.

11

Overview of the Thesis This thesis begins with a description of my research methods. That section is followed by the literature review, which attempts to address previous research on figurines, Formative era Oaxaca, social organization, gender in archaeology, and personhood theory. From here, the thesis progresses through two chapters of results and a discussions chapter in which I make comparisons between figurines in this study and those studied by other researchers. The conclusions chapter contains a simple summary of the arguments and related evidence put forth in the thesis. Finally, I provide in the epilogue a brief hypothetical reconstruction of Formative era Oaxacan culture as it relates to figurine use and as based on the results from this thesis analysis. In the methodology chapter, two models for the social context of ancient figurine use in Oaxaca are suggested. These are the ‘Private Transcript Model’ and the ‘Public Transcript Model.’ The following quantitative and qualitative analysis chapters will present and interpret data based on these models. Finally, I will argue that the ‘Public Transcript Model’ may be a better fit with the evidence available than the private one, but that it seems most likely that the public and private spheres functioned more in overlap than in mutual exclusion in ancient Oaxaca. From this perspective, both communal ritual and domestic ritual practices can be seen as ‘public,’ in one manner or another. I argue that perhaps the best reconstruction of domestic ritual involving figurines is one of ‘communal domesticity,’ in which the households in a village are interconnected in a web of ritual and sociality that serves as a public social function as much as a private one. Some of the arguments made about why humans construct figurines can be applied to figurine studies throughout Mesoamerica and elsewhere in the world. The appendices of this thesis include photographs, illustrations, and a description and explanation of the variables used for recording data and interpretations. Finally, I present an artifact catalogue, with a small photograph, temporal and geographic context, and brief notes for each artifact studied for the thesis. All artifacts are recorded by their temporary item number, just as they are in the text. This section may prove most useful for those interested in becoming familiar with the kinds of Formative era figurines found on the

12 Oaxacan coast, and also may be helpful as a reference guide for instances when a specific artifact is named.

A Note on Thesis Organization Throughout this thesis, I will make reference to images, tables, cited works, or analytical results that are located or mentioned elsewhere in the text. For images and tables not included in the body of the text, refer to the appendices. For most information on publications by other researchers, see my literature review chapter. For all chapter titles and page numbers of images and tables, refer to the table of contents. Figures present in the chapters are denoted by the chapter number, followed by the position of those images within the chapter. All figures present in the appendices are labeled by letters, to avoid confusion. Throughout the text, I will cite published works. Both those publications reviewed in my literature review chapter and those cited elsewhere will be fully listed in the references section. Finally, though information found in one chapter may fit logically with the discussions taking place in another, I have attempted to cut down on repetition, omitting introductory information mentioned in previous chapters, leaving my discussion and concluding remarks for the final segments of the thesis.

13

Figure 1.1: Map of Oaxaca’s archaeological sites from Winter 1989: 64-65 Note: The coastal sites mentioned in this thesis are located near the Río Verde, indicated by the arrow.

14 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY

Introduction

Research Variables The first task when approaching the lower Río Verde artifacts housed at Cuilapan was separating the figurines, iconographic vessel appliqués, and musical instruments from the other collected artifacts and setting them aside for further study. In some instances, discerning the more poorly preserved figurine fragments from other ceramic finds was a challenge, due in part to the fragmentary nature of the collection. Next, it was necessary to choose those items most likely to date to the Formative period. A few of the figurines in this study are from mixed or questionable context, and thus likely date to Classic or even Postclassic times. I will discuss these issues of context further in the qualitative results chapter. The results of my analyses were entered into an Excel® file using an IBM ThinkPad® laptop computer, which may itself date to the Formative period. The variables used in this thesis are discussed in the appendices. In this thesis, ceramic figurines are defined as fired clay objects bearing the miniaturized representations of larger counterparts. Because the iconographic nature of figurines is perhaps their most important defining characteristic, iconographic whistles and vessel appliqués fit logically into an analysis such as this one. In practical application, most of the two hundred and twenty-nine figurines from this collection were anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, and some may have represented supernatural creatures apparently depicted as living. The collection also included transitional figurines, which I define as those that appear to represent entities at some level of morphological transformation between human and animal, human and supernatural, or animal and supernatural forms. Ceramic vessel appliqués are pieces of clay attached to a larger ceramic object before firing. Like the figurines, they bear some iconographic resemblance to a larger entity upon which they were patterned. For those studied here, these represented subjects were

15 usually human faces or occasionally animals such as bat s. Ceramic whistles and musical instruments are fired, hollow-bodied objects. Most of those studied for this thesis resembled either animals or humans, and were generally similar to figurines, with the exception that they had some identifiable holes for note making or a mouthpiece with a tube and air vent for making sound. The method of figurine analysis involved first recording provenience information, field specimen numbers, and then giving each artifact its own temporary study identification number for the purpose of analysis and for reference in this thesis. These numbers were arbitrary, and reflect nothing specific about provenience or attributes. After initial data entry, I took between three and twelve pictures of each artifact, resulting in 1,286 photographs of the collection. These pictures allowed for continued analysis of the collection during the write-up phase of the project, when I no longer had access to the artifacts. Most pictures were taken using a tripod and a white backdrop. While taking the photographs, I also noted the artifacts that most warranted illustration by pen and ink with a stippling technique. Time unfortunately allowed for only twenty-three such illustrations. The objects chosen for illustration were generally the more complete ones, or those most representative of an unusual category such as ‘transitional.’ A photograph of the ex-convent, one of the lab space I used, and all figurine illustrations can be found in the appendices. Much of the analysis performed for this project was of a necessarily subjective nature, especially in cases such as determining the biological sex, zoomorphic identity, or ‘transitional’ nature of some artifacts. The level of certainty for such designations is included in the database wherever possible. For example, a given artifact may be recorded as anthropomorphic, possibly anthropomorphic, non-anthropomorphic, or unknown. When it came to estimating the biological sex of anthropomorphic figurines, the flexibility to record differing levels of certainty became indispensable. For reasons discussed in my literature review chapter, I determined that ‘biological sex’ was a more empirically justifiable measure for anthropomorphic figurines than something as culturally determined as gender. In this thesis, I replace problematic assumptions of gender with the best estimation of biological sex where apparent. These interpretations essentially result

16 in a multivariate artifact typology. A given artifact may be more or less likely to fit into a number of given categories. The outcomes of these analyses follow in the results chapters. While I scored some variables based on my own opinion of the artifact, others were of a more objective nature. Such measurements include artifact completeness, identification of figurines as opposed to whistles and effigy vessel appliqués, and firing and construction techniques. In the case of figurines representing identifiable attributes of humans or animals, I also recorded which body parts were present and any additional accoutrements found. The most basic measurements of these artifacts assessed characteristics such as height, width, thickness (including wall thickness in hollow-bodied examples), paste, firing technique, Munsell color, and temper. For weight, I used a scale accurate to the nearest gram. For measurements of distance, thickness, or length, I used a pair of analogue calipers and recorded numbers as rounded to the nearest millimeter. For Munsell color determinations, I studied all examples in dry conditions. For this aspect of the research, my younger brother Simon, who was visiting Oaxaca City at the time, helped record data. I checked his work intermittently to ensure accuracy. Next, I noted any slips, washes, or paints, as well as the Munsell color identification of those attributes where possible. Some of the figurines had preserved fingerprints in areas with little post-depositional erosion. Using Sculpey III® non-shrinking bakeable clay, I collected eighty-three fingerprints as well as four control sample fingerprints from myself and other archaeologists in the lab. This was done with the hope that, as Warren Barbour (Roufs 1998) has argued, male and female fingerprints can be discerned from one another based on ridge width. With the ability to determine the biological sex of people who made Formative period Oaxacan figurines, I hoped to make arguments about the social behaviors related to them. Lastly, I recorded notes about each figurine that ranged in length from a quick phrase to approximately a paragraph. These comments presented a summary of any notable attributes measured in the previous steps, as well as my best estimation of possible activities represented by the form of the figurine, and what I

17 considered its likely intended iconographic identity. A somewhat refined version of those initial analysis notes is presented in the artifact catalogue in the appendices. ‘Iconographic identity,’ as used here, means that broad category of ‘thing,’ or archetype a figurine was intended to represent. This may have been an animal, a human such as a family member or ancestor, or a spiritual figure or religious icon. A full list of all variables, along with justifications for their use, is located in the appendices of this thesis.

Research Strategy: Questions and Biases Why select this project in this part of the world? How did figurines function in local contexts on the Oaxacan coast, and how did those patterns compare to Mesoamerican figurine use in general? To what degree can I argue that these items reflect group and individual constructions of identity? One of the key goals of this study was to find a relatively circumscribed, moderately sized collection on which to do research worthy of an MA project. In order to perform the detailed analysis and background literature research necessary to give the collection its due attention, both geographic and temporal control were necessary. By selecting the Río Verde region of the Oaxacan coast as the area, and the Formative era as the temporal component, the resulting selected artifacts formed a collection small enough to allow for in-depth analysis. Rather than adopting a purely deductive methodology about my study, in which I would formulate specific research questions and hypotheses before approaching the collection itself, I used a blend of induction and deduction. Before going to Oaxaca in the summer of 2006, I knew I wanted to say something about the social context in which figurines operated on the Oaxacan coast during the Formative period. My questions about the artifacts may have resembled those research questions mentioned above, though perhaps in less clearly defined terms. I knew I wanted to demonstrate that viewing figurines as merely ‘ceremonial’ in their use is unsatisfactory social science, and not worthy of spending the time it takes to analyze the collection. Ceremony itself is merely an aspect, or a reflection, of the larger social system.

18 In attempting to discover the figurines’ place in ceremony, one segment of social life, the larger question of place within society is itself implicit. As for what arguments I would make about the figurines’ role within Formative era Oaxacan sociality, I decided it would be best to wait until I had analyzed the collection. In a way, this sounds subjective, as if I wanted the collection to ‘speak to me’ before I made any arguments about it. I felt, however, that it would be premature and methodologically unsound to approach the collection with a purely deductive mentality, with preconceived notions and hypotheses already formulated, as if the figurines themselves were an after-thought. Many a self-proclaimed positivist archaeologist argues that he or she approaches all research with a deductive method. It is better social science to blend deductive and inductive techniques, going into a project with some basic paradigmatic notion of how societies work, but also allowing the data I have collected to ‘speak’ through its own patterns, even if the variables themselves are created by the researcher and are thus somewhat arbitrary. I had previously visited Oaxaca and excavated for five months as a volunteer supervisor on University of Colorado doctoral candidate Marc Levine’s PhD project, at the Postclassic period coastal site of Tututepec. I may have assumed on some subconscious level that Formative era artifacts from the region would be similar to Postclassic period ones. In large part, this assumption proved false. Many social changes occurred in coastal Oaxaca between the Formative and Postclassic periods. On the other hand, the environmental factors affecting human civilization were much the same, and, at the risk of sounding like an environmental determinist, the variability of human civilization is partially bounded by ecological settings, available plant and animal resources, and so on. Some features of Oaxacan culture remained the same, such as a focus on the female body in ceramic representations. Certain kinds of animal representations, too, such as bird whistles and dog figurines, showed continuity through time. In general, the experience of examining Formative era artifacts was a new realm of archaeology in comparison to the Postclassic era collection found at Tututepec.

19 Quantitative Data Analysis Quantitative analysis of the artifacts studied for this thesis included basic dimensional assessments, such as length or height, weight, width, and thickness. For consistency purposes, I measured all dimensional characteristics to the nearest millimeter for length, and the nearest gram for weight. My measuring techniques for determining the dimensions of an artifact were as consistent as I could keep them. Refer to Figure 2.1 for a sample measuring schematic. By looking for the widest spot on a figurine, I measured maximum width. The same was true for measurements of height. For figurines with an irregular width measurement, I also measured the narrowest part of the figurine. I originally had these two numbers recorded in a single cell for each figurine, but I found that two variables worked better, one for maximum width and one for minimum width. I went through the same measurement process for the thickness variable, having one column represent maximum thickness, while the other recorded the minimum. In many cases, the second number represents wall thickness of a hollow-bodied figurine. In such cases of ‘hollow body’ construction, I frequently measured the wall thickness of the hollow portion of the object, where possible, and reserved the ‘width’ measurement for the overall dimensions of the object. In measuring with the calipers, I attempted to keep the clamp portion of the tool in light contact with the artifact so as not to scratch or otherwise damage it. Some measurements may therefore be slightly liberal in their estimations. For artifact color determination, I relied upon a Munsell® Soil Color Charts book.

20 Minimum thickness Maximum width

Minimum width Height

Maximum thickness

Figure 2.1: Figurine measurement schematic

The database collected from the two hundred and twenty-nine objects discussed in this thesis lends itself to simple statistical analyses. Data on each figurine was originally recorded in multiple formats, both string and numeric, in order to allow for greater flexibility in later analysis. Upon refining this data set during the analysis and write-up phases of the project, I chose to switch all relevant measurements and estimations (including biological sex, body parts represented, etc.) to string format. The resulting entries in the data set may thus appear as ‘yes,’ or ‘no’ for items present, or ‘male,’ ‘female,’ ‘possible male,’ or ‘possible female’ for biological sex determinations. Thus simplifying the data set allowed me to easily convert and input the results into Systat 8.0® for simple statistical analysis. The first purpose these analyses serve is that they allow me to describe the physical

21 attributes of the collection itself, including dimensions, iconographic representations, patterns of accoutrements and diagnostic features present. Second, the patterns that become apparent through such analysis help me support the claims I make about the social functions of the figurines. Specifically, I argue that the figurines, along with the iconographic whistles and appliqués, were focal points for public and domestic ritual behaviors that centered around gender roles, contact with the ancestors, and mimesis of the natural, social, and spiritual world. My purpose in including the whistles and appliqué s in the study is not only to describe artifacts that have been passed over by previous studies, but also to demonstrate the similariti es they share with figurines . Not only are they small-scale representations of people and things in the natural or spiritual world, but they appear to have been intentionally curated, perhaps due to the images their forms captured. In the case of the appliqués, it appears that images of human faces (perhaps once applied to larger ceramic vessels) have been intentionally chipped away from their original contexts and intentionally curated. The repetition of human faces on these appliqués (many of which have open mouths and closed eyes) suggests that the faces present were the reason for their curation, perhaps to remember the people represented on them. The sums of specific figurine elements, the basic descriptive statistics of the collection, and comparisons of multiple variables, all used to make arguments about the quantitative qualities of the collection, were done in Systat 8.0®. For example, I compared the quantities of anthropomorphic figurines to those of zoomorphs, transitionals, possible ‘supernatural’ (or ‘other’) figurines, and multiple figures. This process required simply transferring the columns of corrected data from the Excel® database into Systat® format and using the drop-down menus to form a series of bar graphs that make clear the differing sums of ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘unknown,’ ‘likely,’ and ‘possible’ scores for each category. The resulting graphs can easily be presented adjacent to one another, thus demonstrating that anthropomorphic figurines outnumbered the zoomorphs, which in turn outnumbered the transitional pieces, and so forth. Refer to Chapter Four, 'Results of Quantitative Analysis,' for further discussion of this topic.

22 Though complicated in the qualitative sense, the patterns of biological sex among the anthropomorphic figurines were easy to establish in Systat®. By first cleaning up the data and making the best guesses about biological sex wherever possible, and then by transferring the data into the proper format, I was able to select only those figurines of anthropomorphic nature, and then compare the ‘females’ and ‘possible females’ to the ‘males,’ ‘possible males,’ and ‘unknown’ categories. The simple bar graph that resulted made it clear that the coastal Oaxacan sample studied for this thesis fits the pan-Mesoamerican Formative era pattern of females being the predominant representation in figurines. Examples of these graphs are located in the two results chapters to follow. Additional analyses performed in Systat® include tables of simple descriptive statistics performed on each of the iconographic variables (including anthropomorph, zoomorph, and transitional). The results of these analyses demonstrate not only the proportions of each type of figure represented in the study, but also the degree of certainty with which those claims were made, because each variable is broken down into ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ ‘possible,’ and ‘unknown’ categories. For numeric variables, such as dimensional attributes, basic descriptive statistics provide the reader with the number of cases recorded for each variable, minimum score, the maximum score, the mean, and the standard deviation. In all cases, the variables as presented in the figures are labeled in a self-explanatory way, and this should not cause the reader any confusion.

Qualitative Analysis Methods Features of the anthropomorphic figurines, such as their apparent biological sex, were a delicate issue and required careful analysis. In order to keep my analysis to a single variable, I chose to leave gender out of the equation wherever possible. Figurines can be used to say much about gender in the past, but notions of what gender meant to ancient peoples should not be taken as a given at the outset of research (Nelson 1997). I made decisions about the apparent biological sex of anthropomorphic figurines based on the presence of primary or secondary sexual characteristics. Such determinations were sometimes made easy by the presence of

23 molded breasts or the swollen belly of pregnancy. Where these were lacking in some anthropomorphs, I resorted to using markers of gender such as accoutrements, hairstyles, and clothing. I felt this was necessary because, while it may require an inferential leap to equate sex with gender, it is best to use all data available in order to describe an artifact collection. When making educated guesses as to the biological sex of fragments that may have included only a head, I occasionally resorted to analyzing the facial structure. In such instances, a second-opinion, provided by a non-interested party, was useful. In addition, such artifacts sometimes had gendered accoutrements that could aid my analysis. In another example of the outside help I received, my interpretation of some of the anthropomorphic facial vessel appliqués as ‘death masks’ was seconded by a non- interested party. These methods of obtaining second opinions, while simple, were useful for assessing subjectively defined features of the artifacts. Such values were typically recorded as ‘possible female’ or ‘possible male’ in order to permit analysis without implying certainty. For suggestions regarding how to go about estimating the biological sex of a figurine, I relied on previous research, outside opinion, and, as stated, sometimes my best guess. In making inferences based on gendered accoutrements, clothing, or hairstyles, literature on other figurine studies was useful. Rosemary Joyce (2000: 30, 2002: 81-83) wrote that general patterns of gender-specific clothing existed across Mesoamerica. In addition to some Mesoamerican figurines that show exposed genitalia or secondary sexual characteristics, others may have ‘blouses’ or ‘skirts’ which were considered feminine. Elaborate hairstyles and jewelry such as necklaces and bracelets were also indicators of femininity represented in figurine manufacture. Additional indications of those gendered female included headdresses or a ‘band supporting one to three round discs’ on the head (R. Joyce 2000). Loincloths and certain types of ear ornaments often represented those of masculine gender, and generally flat chests were pan-Mesoamerican indicators of the male sex. In addition, it is worth noting that some items of jewelry were not gender- specific (R. Joyce 2000). Both ‘male/masculine’ and ‘female/feminine’ figurines studied for this thesis had ear spools, for example. According to Rosemary Joyce’s

24 (2002: 82-83) analysis of contact-era Aztec traditions, males, especially warriors, were more likely to wear lip plug jewelry than females or males who were religious specialists. Hair, clothing, and jewelry were all ways in which the Postclassic Aztecs marked their status, gender, and behavioral roles. By association, it can be interpreted that similar patterns may have existed elsewhere in Mesoamerica, even as early as the Formative period, though their specific manifestations may have varied (R. Joyce 2002: 83). For ethnographic examples of gendered styles from Oaxaca, Joyce Marcus’ (1998) research on the Zapotec was useful. One of Rosemary Joyce’s arguments, along with the descriptions of biological sex in figurines, is that age, rather than just sex and gender, was a frequent focus of anthropomorphic artifact production. In addition, some figurine producers may have focused on the ‘humanness’ of the form, and have left the sex or gender ambiguous (R. Joyce 2000: 29-34). Other sources, such as the 2004 Florida State University thesis of Maria Tway, and personal conversations with other figurine researchers such as FSU student Shannon Weatherby (2006) and the University of Colorado’s Dr. Arthur Joyce (2005, 2006, 2007) and his students, also helped me determine what variables were most appropriate for this study. My own estimations of the intended biological sex of the figurines in this study were largely inspired by Joyce’s arguments about the possibility of such interpretations. Personhood, and particularly the human condition of self- identification, plays itself out in gender roles, the division of labor, ideas of nobility and hierarchy, and so forth. Figurines, which carried differing types and amounts of ritual paraphernalia such as jewelry, headgear, and possible animal traits, portray the kind of individuality typifying complex ideas of identity and personhood. Such may be the case with the female ‘transitional figure’ found in the illustration and images sections of the appendices (also known as Artifact # 35). Facial expressions, diverse clothing styles, multiple body types, and accoutrements of a symbolic, rather than pragmatic nature, also indicate that Formative period coastal Oaxacans chose to express their ideas about personality and individuality in figurine form. Such diversity of artifact type, as well as discussions with cultural anthropologists interested in identity issues, led me to research personhood theory

25 as it may apply to this thesis (Dr. Michael Uzendoski and Dr. Joseph Hellweg, personal conversations 10/2006). I have mentioned some of the indicators of ‘personhood’ as it may appear in figurine production, but the measuring of such traits is of a necessarily subjective nature. Please refer to the qualitative analysis results chapter for further discussion of this topic.

Fingerprints The fingerprint aspect of the project was suggested by the work of Dr. Warren T. Barbour at the State University of New York, Rochester. Barbour believes that he can identify the biological sex of individuals who made ceramic figurines based on the width of the ridges left on fingerprints in the baked clay. He argues that, because males have wider fingerprint ridges than females, such ancient prints can be accurately ‘sexed’ (Roufs 1998). By using a special kind of non- shrinking clay to collect fingerprints from the surface of the figurines, I was able to collect over eighty samples. They vary in degree of preservation, but even a few good samples could prove an informative addition to this research. With such information, I may be able to comment on or critique Barbour’s claims about the sexing of ancient fingerprints. Sexual division of labor in such practices as figurine manufacture may speak to larger issues of sex and gender roles. Kathryn Kamp (2001: 427) has also argued that fingerprint studies can aid in our understanding of how children’s work and play may have led to the construction of figurines in the Sinagua region of Northern Arizona. Due to time constraints and a lack of proper machinery, the figurine component of this study remains incomplete, and is not included in the results of this thesis. Further research will be necessary to determine if it is possible to find biological sex patterns in the makers of Formative period figurines at Oaxacan coastal sites.

Modeling the Past: Public versus Private If the goal of the social scientist is to make descriptive and explanatory models of real-life social behaviors, then what models can one apply to the study of ancient figurines and their social context? As mentioned in the previous chapter,

26 Rosemary Joyce (2000) found Classic Maya figurines representing the concerns of women as expressed in a social dialogue subverted by the patriarchy of Maya society. In such a model, figurines may have operated in largely private domestic contexts. If the tenets of such a model are true of the Oaxacan past, then certain patterns should be visible in the artifact assemblages gathered from that area. Female or feminine anthropomorphic figurines should be found in contexts that support their use in clandestine ritual behaviors related to female personhood. Female figurines found in dispersed contexts around the sites in coastal Oaxaca appear to negate such a pattern. For a discussion on within-site context, see the qualitative analysis chapter. Intuitively, it seems that the second model for the social context of Formative era Oaxacan figurines should be the opposite of the first. Namely, this model would state that the figurines were involved in public rather than private behaviors. I argue, however, that the very notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ as they are used in archaeology are perhaps an exaggerated dichotomy. Due to their inclusion in domestic as well as communal contexts in archaeological sites, it seems most likely that figurines in Formative period Oaxaca were part of domestic traditions that tied people together on a public scale of interaction (Drennan 1976, Barber 2005). It is clear that female anthropomorphic figurines outnumber their male counterparts by a sizable margin. I agree, therefore, that female or feminine identity was a major issue at the forefront of their meaning for ancient Oaxacans, and commenting on ‘being female’ was probably a sizable purpose for their construction and ritual or secular use. In accordance with the second of my hypothesized models for the social context of figurines, I argue that they may have served as an element of communal dialogue. I call this the ‘Public Transcript Model,’ for community-wide discussion, expressed or latent, of Formative era Mesoamerican identity. Such a context, I believe, would also leave a distinct trace in the archaeological record. Female anthropomorphic figurines would be found in diverse contexts, perhaps in the remains of houses, in trash middens, in public spaces, in burial contexts, and so forth. These female figurines, if truly a feature of the public conscience, would occur in mixed contexts with the other kinds of

27 figurines represented in this study: those of men, those of animals, those of possibly supernatural character, and those whose intended identity is little more than a researcher’s guess. The results of within-site contextual analysis presented in this thesis fit better with the second of these two models than with the first. Post-depositional processes acting upon a site will of course cause erosion, re-deposition, context mixing, and the generally confusing disturbances that threaten to confound modern interpretations of the use and interment conditions of ancient artifacts. In addition, a sample size of only two hundred and twenty-nine figurines and related materials is far from ideal for forming convincing statistical models for the development of wide-reaching social theories. Finally, academic debate too often focuses on pitting one model against another in strict binary opposition, thus arguing that only one can fit the observed patterns of human behavior. Culture is ‘differentially participated in,’ and humans naturally have distinct ideas about what are the appropriate topics of public discussion (White 1959). The two models presented above may actually be two ends of a spectrum, somewhere between which the majority of behavior was located. Despite these conflicting forces, I argue that the evidence available for Formative period Oaxacan figurine use can tell us something informative about figurines, their social functions, and perhaps even the processes of self-identification at work in the cultures that produced them. In this thesis, I will attempt to present data that I feel speaks to the two models above, and I will argue that the data support the second model, or the ‘Public Transcript Model,’ more fully.

28 CHAPTER 3 EVALUATING THE LITERATURE

Overview This thesis began with background research on the archaeology of figurines and social development in Formative period coastal and highland Oaxaca, as well as on Formative Mesoamerica in general. Archaeological texts consulted discuss the development of social complexity, both in and out of contexts of hierarchically stratified organization. This literature review also discusses publications about the social context of figurines, shamanism, conceptions regarding animal and human identity, and general theory about personhood. Since women are an integral part of the larger social symbiosis of human society, it is natural for women’s lives to be portrayed in material culture. Such representations may be commentary on a natural symbiosis, or perhaps an attempt to escape an androcentric social milieu and return to that situation of natural complimentarity between the sexes. Literature on gender and sexuality theory as applied to archaeological study proved useful as this thesis came increasingly into dialogue with the claims of some authors, such as Ann Cyphers Guillén (1993), Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997), and Rosemary Joyce (2000), who use Mesoamerican figurines as evidence for arguments about gender, sexual division of labor, and personhood in archaeological discourse. For example, Rosemary Joyce (2000: 183) has called Mesoamerican figurines a type of “small-scale inscriptional media,” upon which larger cultural phenomena such as age and gender roles were projected. Joyce (2000: 89) argued that, through Classic Maya figurines, women’s lives were represented in suppressed opposition to androcentric large-scale art, and women’s productive roles became an issue of debate, albeit mostly in the private social domain of the home. In the case of Formative period figurines, she contends that age, not just gender, sex, or sexuality, was often a focus of small-scale ceramic representation. Cyphers Guillén (1993: 209) has argued that ceramic figurines at Chalcatzingo represent, among other things, females at differing stages of life history. For this reason, she stated

29 that some might have been focal points for ‘female-focused life-crisis ceremonies.’ Taking a more cautious theoretical approach, Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997: 151) has argued that gender roles of ancient societies must be carefully reconstructed rather than assumed equivalent to modern ones.

Oaxaca and the Lower Río Verde Valley

General Theory Regarding Social Complexity The artifacts in this study come from the Pacific coast of what is today the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. More specifically, they come from the lower Río Verde valley, and sites such as Río Viejo, Yugüe, Corozo, Loma Reyes, Cerro de la Cruz, Barra Quebrada, and Cerro de la Virgen. Refer to the maps in Figures 1.1 and 2.1 for the general location of these sites. This area is known today as the Mixteca de la Costa, though the Mixtecs arrived there only in the Postclassic Period. During Formative times, other ethnic groups inhabited the area. Marcus Winter (1989: 66) has suggested that the Río Verde coastal region was likely home to an ethnic group called the Chatinos. Other researchers believe that the Formative period is too early for anthropologists to make reliable ethnic designations, and it would be more accurate to say that the groups inhabiting this region of coastal Oaxaca were ‘proto- Zapotecan,’ or an early group related to what we now know as the Zapotecs (Dr. Nicholas Hopkins, personal conversation 11/2006). Excavations in this area have proven critical in understanding the political and social development of Mixtec peoples during the Postclassic era and other indigenous groups such as the Chatinos or proto-Zapotecans prior to that (A. Joyce 1991b). Though the Early and Middle Formative saw only sparse settlement in coastal Oaxaca, Arthur Joyce et al. (1995: 8) note that the lower Río Verde valley alone saw an increase from five to forty-five known sites by the Late Terminal Formative period.

30

Figure 3.1: Map of Lower Río Verde Valley from Barber 2005: 128

Interactions between coastal Oaxaca and the highland valley date back well into the Formative period, during which time coastal Oaxacans were in significant contact

31 with the rising Zapotec complex chiefdom at sites such as San José Magote, and later, the center of Zapotec state power at Monte Albán (Winter 1989: 66). Publications espousing a ‘neo-evolutionary’ understanding of social complexity in the archaeological and ethnographic records, specifically regarding changing kinship ties and terminology, provide an informative perspective on the archaeology of this region. Through combined archaeological and ethnographic analysis, researchers have been able to form new arguments regarding social complexity as evidenced by trends visible in archaeological remains such as ceramic vessel and figurine iconography. The paradigmatic frameworks through which archaeologists interpret their data can ‘color’ many of the conclusions drawn from that data. One example of such a framework is cultural evolutionism, or the application of many aspects of Darwinian biological evolution to the changes taking place in human culture. This set of approaches to archaeological and ethnographic data has seen both senescence and rebirth in the popularity of its theoretical application. Bruce Trigger (1989: 294-296) claimed that the New Archaeology brought with it a brand of reworked cultural evolutionism as an explanatory model for the empirical patterns of increasing complexity common in many human social groups as they have changed through time. For example, Lewis Binford (1972: 106) defined evolution as a process acting upon the relationship between a living system and its environment. This definition seems to fit both biological and cultural examples of ecological interaction and adaptation. At least by analogy, these evolutionists saw culture as adapting to the selective pressures of its surroundings much the way biological organisms do (Trigger 1989: 296). While overlap with biology may be apparent in such early models of neoevolutionism, more recent archaeological study has tended to construct a related but distinct theory of evolution as it applies to human culture. Whereas biological organisms would seem to adapt to and interact with their environments on a seemingly infinite series of interconnected parameters, processual archaeologists argued that the ecological and demographic variables shaping human social development were limited in nature and in number (Trigger 1989: 308). Archaeological models for the evolution of human societies relate to complexity theory in that they attempt to explain the tendency for cultures to develop into more and more complex systems over time, holding all other variables equal. Such an approach may

32 border on teleology, but if done properly with models based on empirical evidence for culture change, it may in fact be a useful tool in exploring human cultural diversity and development. It is critical to define ‘social complexity’ both in a general sense, and as it relates specifically to Mesoamerican studies, because the Formative period was a time of major changes in social development and the beginnings of stratification in the area. This thesis discusses social complexity as integral both to Formative Mesoamerica and to the advent of ceramic figurines. In defining social complexity, bias is best controlled by assuring that the focus is on explaining the trends that lead to social complexity rather than the results of those processes. For the purpose of this thesis, I define social complexity as interactive public systems of managerial and behavioral task assignment that organize, hierarchically or heterarchically, the structures of ideological, economic, political and kinship roles that operate in a human social group. Heterarchy may be defined in this instance as a kind of corporate complexity not requiring social inequality, but instead behavioral specialization. A complex society must have intricate systems of behavioral requirements that allow for the interaction of specialized or semi-specialized social roles that combine to fulfill all the cultural and ecological necessities of humanity. In such a group, the constituent human agents will act as specialists with regard to their public duties, rather than as interchangeable generalists. The prerequisite nature of behavioral specialization does not, however, preclude an ‘egalitarian’ or heterarchical group from being considered socially complex. In this sense, the term ‘social complexity’ loses much of its meaning, at least in terms of a value judgment upon the status of behavioral roles in a human group. All human groups are, after all, complex. Figurines serve as potential examples for the study of social complexity because they first became prevalent in the Mesoamerican archaeological record when people settled into sedentary and increasingly populated and socially complex villages, towns, and cities (Drennan 1976: 353). Though Drennan suggested a correlation between anthropomorphic figurines and complex interpersonal relationships, what could this relationship mean with regard to zoomorphic or ‘supernatural’ figurines? How can we explain their existence in the Formative period record? Did the factors that led to complex social behaviors and also to an increased focus on small-scale human

33 representation also lead to an increased interest in animal and other, possibly supernatural, forms? Oaxaca as a region, and Southern Mexico in general, constitute an exemplary case study for the developmental trajectories of complex social systems. Barbara Voorhies’ (2004: 397) research on the Chantuto people of Southwestern Mexico provided evidence for an early stage in the chronology of the area when she claimed that the ‘hunter- gatherer-fishers’ occupied the southern Pacific coastal area of Mexico beginning in the Archaic and lasting well into the Formative period. From roughly 7,500 to 3,500 years ago, this group thrived on diverse resource acquisition and a mobile settlement pattern. Voorhies was specifically referring to coastal Chiapans called the Chantuto, a group that maintained its mobile lifestyle after much of Mesoamerica had become sedentary. Their adaptable pattern of hunting, gathering, and fishing is likely similar to that of earlier Mesoamericans going back to the early Holocene and the first occupation of the region (Voorhies 2004: 14). Archaeologists would do well to remember that mobile hunting and gathering involves its own form of migratory, subsistence-related, kinship-related, and decision-making complexity. Assuming that such groups were ‘egalitarian,’ heterarchical role specialization may still have been a key element of sociality. That said, there is some sort of fundamental shift in social organization that occurs with development to ‘chiefdom, ‘state,’ or ‘empire,’ level societies. The Oaxacan example is particularly useful for analysis of these types of social development. According to Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus, and Stephen Kowalewski (1981: 55), there is little or no evidence for Paleoindian occupation in highland Oaxaca. These authors did, however, argue for human occupation of the Oaxacan river valley from sometime in the late Pleistocene (Flannery et al. 1981: 89). During the Archaic, Preceramic period, the Tehuacán caves provide the best evidence for this occupation. Though many archaeologists would scoff at calling such Archaic period peoples ‘socially complex,’ these authors noted that Preceramic sites might have divided public and private space in a sophisticated manner. For example, the Tehuacán cave assemblage indicates that ritual infanticide occurred in the Preceramic period, suggesting a complex ideology (MacNeish 1962: 8-9, Flannery et al. 1981: 89). Such evidence for ideological complexity suggests a possible specialization of social roles as early as the Archaic, even

34 before ancient Oaxacans had settled into fully sedentary communities. Evidence for deliberate plant cultivation also suggests the rise of behavioral complexity well before sedentism. ‘Phenotypically domesticated’ gourds dating from as early as 6,910 B.C. have been found in the Oaxacan valley, though at that time, most other plant species in the Archaic Oaxacan subsistence economy may still have been gathered from the wild (Flannery et al. 1981: 89). Though many point to ‘population pressure’ as a causal mechanism in the development of agriculture or social complexity, these authors argued that the population of the Oaxaca valley was too low, at least by about 8,000 – 7,000 B.C, to be the causal mechanism for such developments (Flannery et al. 1981: 89). Flannery and colleagues wrote that, during the transition from the Archaic to the Formative period in the Oaxacan Highland Valley, settlement patterns underwent a transition from cave habitation to ‘open-air macroband camps,’ and then, at 1,400 B.C., to wattle-and-daub houses during the Espiridión phase. Later, the Tierras Largas phase brought with it lime-plastered public architecture at the site of San José Magote (Flannery et al. 1981: 91). It was in the context of these early settled villages that figurines found in domestic midden deposits first became common in Oaxaca (Drennan 1976: 353). Once the population of the Oaxacan highland valleys was mostly sedentary, social transition occurred comparatively quickly. After San José Magote developed into a regional center, the largest among approximately twenty villages in its branch of the Oaxaca Valley, nearby polities came under the rule of central state government housed at Monte Albán. Flannery, Marcus, and Kowalewski argued that Monte Albán was the result of local developments in social complexity, rather than a product of outside influence by the Olmec or Mixtec. Furthermore, Monte Albán’s Period I roots are to be found in the Rosario Phase, centered around San José Magote (Flannery et al. 1981: 90). According to these authors, then, the Valley of Oaxaca is an example of what Guillermo Algaze (1993: 304) called a ‘pristine state,’ or the outcome of “endogenous processes of state formation.” Compare this conclusion to Flannery’s earlier argument (1968: 79), which held that the traditions of the artistically and religiously influential Olmec people played a large role in the development of social life of their less ‘advanced’ Zapotec neighbors in the highland valley. This older claim was based in part on iconographic evidence demonstrating the transfer of Olmec artistic styles and religious iconography

35 into Oaxaca. Ceramic figurines, including those discussed in this thesis, do show some similarities between Oaxacan and Olmec styles. Regardless of whether social complexity came from within, from without, or more likely from some combination of these two, the changes in Oaxacan social organization during the transition from Rosario Phase to Monte Albán I must have been striking. Whereas a single family might have built most of the elite residences at San José Magote during the Formative period, the eventual Zapotec state developed into a four-tiered settlement hierarchy with massive architecture requiring leaders to hold control over significant sources of human labor (Flannery et al. 1981: 83). This sort of hierarchy involves a capital city, a network of secondary regional centers, a large number of small tertiary sites, and a majority of the population living in scattered hamlets around the area of state influence. Such a pattern is indicative of complex social hierarchy and settlement pattern. This sort of hierarchy is one example, not the example of social complexity. Morton Fried (1967) proposed a notion of the development of complex society that is well summarized by David Hurst Thomas (1991: 210) as follows: “Egalitarian societies are those in which the number of… valued social positions is roughly equivalent to the number of persons available to fill them. In ranked societies, the number of valued status positions is somehow limited.” Such limited access to the number of specialized social roles does nothing, per se, to determine the complexity of how those roles and the people who fill them interact with one another. Social complexity, then, is about the intricacy of the systems of interaction, rather than merely who is allowed to perform certain behavioral roles. Processes such as craft specialization serve as an example of increased complexity of social interaction that should be conceptualized separately from hierarchical stratification (Schwartz 1978: 225). Alison Rautman (1997: 109) wrote about changes in ‘structural scale,’ that are potentially independent from the geographic scale of a society. Discussing the example of Southwest Puebloans, this author cited four types of change in structural scale, including: “(1) the number of roles available for people to assume, (2) the number of differentiated roles organized around the performance of one function, (3) the

36 number of ‘echelons’ or levels in a hierarchical organization, and (4) the number of different ‘event types,’ each with its own associated group of roles,” (Rautman 1997: 109). The example of the Valley of Oaxaca is thus only one manifestation of developing social complexity. Although the case of a possible ‘pristine’ state development in Oaxaca is an informative one, other trajectories can lead to social complexity, and any claim for intricate networks of social interaction must be dealt with on a situational basis. The southern Mexican coastline maintained socially complex systems of supposedly egalitarian mobile foragers at a time when the rest of Mesoamerica was settling in place and developing systems of hierarchy (Voorhies 2004). Social complexity is separate from, though often co-occurring with, the development of hierarchical systems of authority. Traditional archaeological theory regarding social complexity maintains an all but unbreakable tie between social complexity and social hierarchy. Marcella Frangipane (2000: 219) has implicated the anthropologist Elman Service (1968) in contributing to the theory that complex social networks of goods redistribution are tied to hierarchically organized economies, namely those of chiefdoms. Frangipane went on to claim instead that “some types of redistribution lack any real central leadership, and the centralization of resources is commun al in nature,” (Frangipane 2000: 219). In fact, it seems that the large-scale public architectural styles and great stretches of geographic influence characteristic of some hierarchical state societies have bedazzled researchers of social complexity for decades. Social complexity is an independent variable, often involved in the development of hierarchical society, but certainly not exclusive to it. Only when social complexity is viewed with the precise definition of specialized and interconnected behavioral, economic, or political functions can its development be considered in the situations of its primary origin. After all, complexity did not develop out of hierarchical society, but rather hierarchies developed out of pre-existing foundations of social complexity.

Coastal Oaxaca: Interregional Relations

37 Marcus Winter (1989: 27) noted the connections of trade goods, ideas, and symbols between Oaxaca and the rest of Mesoamerica. During the ‘Red-on-Buff’ ceramic horizon, dating from 1,500-1,200 BC, and the ‘Olmec horizon,’ dating from 1,200-850 BC, Oaxaca became an area of significant trade interaction with other regions such as the Olmec heartland in what are now Tabasco and Veracruz, Mexico. The Olmec horizon brought developments in craft specialization and a shift toward moderately dense village settlement in the highland Valley of Oaxaca, a process that eventually resulted in the development of state level society under the governance of the leaders of Monte Albán. During the San José phase, Olmec- inspired figurines appear in the highland Valley of Oaxaca (Martinez Lopez and Winter 1994: 9). These artifacts, dating to roughly 1,150-850 BC, suggest contact between Olmec and Oaxacan Formative period settlements. As indications in the Río Verde valley exist for on-going contact with the highland valley, Olmec- inspired artistic styles could have been passed to coastal groups through such intermediary routes, rather than via direct trade between coastal Oaxaca and the Olmec. Claims for contact between coastal Formative period groups in Oaxaca and the Olmec heartland must therefore carry the burden of proving more direct routes of interaction in order to reconstruct contact directly between them. During these early urban times, the lower Río Verde area was probably the heartland of coastal Chatino or proto-Zapotecan populations. Interaction between these people and the rising Zapotec state in the highland Valley of Oaxaca is indicated by the coastal ‘monument carving tradition,’ which borrowed many of its stylistic features from the Zapotecs in the highlands (Winter 1989: 66). Though many researchers, including Marcus Winter, have argued for contact between Olmec and Formative period Oaxacans, it is noteworthy that some authors consider Olmec influences in Oaxaca less clear-cut. Hector Neff, Jeffrey Blomster, and others (2006: 54) consider terms such as ‘Mother Culture’ and ‘Sister Culture’ to be overly simplistic for explaining the role the Olmec played in ancient Mesoamerica. Regardless, Neff et al. argued that the Olmec of San Lorenzo were primarily exporters of at least some types of ceramic vessels, and supported their argument with an instrumental neutron activation analysis (or INAA) study of a large number

38 of ceramic sherds from seven Formative period sites in both the San Lorenzo region and from Oaxaca’s San José Magote (Neff et al. 2006 71-72). These authors entered into debate with Robert Sharer et al., (2006) – a group of authors that ironically included Flannery himself – who argued that the Formative era Olmec rose in concert with other Formative period cultures throughout Mesoamerica, including the rising paramount chiefdoms and Zapotec state in the Oaxaca Valley (Sharer et al. 2006: 90). The debate heated up somewhat, with both sides accusing the other of being too emotionally attached to unsubstantiated viewpoints about the Olmec influence on early Mesoamerica. Assuming that at least ‘Mother Culture’ is too totalitarian a term for describing the Olmec interaction with the inhabitants of the areas around them, perhaps ‘Sister Culture’ is left as the lesser of the two evils, in respect to terminology. From this perspective, the Olmec may not have created many of the cultural traditions of other regions such as Oaxaca, but rather they aided in the development of pan-Mesoamerican symbols and belief structures that developed in tandem with other contemporary Formative period groups. It is possible that the Olmec were the ‘first among equals’ in developing a coherent iconographic and cosmological package that researchers today recognize as quintessentially ‘Mesoamerican,’ rather than the origin of complex Mesoamerican society itself. The Mixtecs eventually captured coastal Chatino or proto-Zapotecan sites in the lower Río Verde valley and the nearby hilltop settlement of Tututepec (known in Mixtec as Yucu Dzaa) during the City-state stage, specifically the eleventh century A.D. The Mixtecs, led in their initial arrival to the coast by their hero-king Eight-Deer, temporarily held control of an empire stretching as far south as Puerto Escondido and Huatulco. By the time of European contact, the Aztecs had still never managed to conquer the Mixtec Empire, though many of the names now used for towns in the area, including Tututepec, were reported to the Spanish conquistadores in Nauhatl (Winter 1989: 99). Because of its rich soil and potential for agricultural surplus, the lower Río Verde valley was a prime area for social development on the Oaxacan coast, though other coastal settlements may have been peripheral to the Mesoamerican world

39 system. Changing population dynamics in the highlands of Oaxaca resulted in massive erosion and re-deposition of nitrogen-rich sediments in the alluvial floodplain where the Río Verde meets the Pacific coast. This erosional event likely caused rapid population expansion and social development in the region during the Late Formative period (A. Joyce and Mueller 1997). As this process continued through the Late Classic and into Postclassic Periods, political power in Oaxaca shifted toward the coast. Even during the earlier Formative era, however, sites such as Río Viejo were experiencing population growth, political reorganization, and the establishment of contact with other parts of Mesoamerica (Winter 1989, A. Joyce 1991b, A. Joyce and Mueller 1997). Arthur Joyce and others (1995: 3) have used neutron-activation analysis of obsidian artifacts from the lower Río Verde region to study changes in patterns of interregional interaction between coastal Oaxaca and other parts of Mesoamerica. These authors argue that rapid population growth during the Late Formative period brought with it increases in exchange networks (A. Joyce et al. 1995: 7). Through such trading relationships, the elites of the lower Río Verde valley acquired fine pottery vessels from the highland Valley of Oaxaca, as well as obsidian from areas such as Paredón and Otumba in the Basin of Mexico. Such finds indicate that coastal Oaxaca was involved in indirect, if not direct, trade relations with areas widely spaced across Mesoamerica (A. Joyce et al. 1995: 9).

Previous Work on Figurines

Formative Period Oaxacan Coast Though less studied than highland Oaxacan figurines, the figurines of the Oaxacan coast are the focus of previous theses and dissertations. Work already done on collections of coastal Oaxacan ceramic figurines includes the 1993 bachelor’s thesis of Ligia Fernandez Pardo entitled Figurillas de Ceramica del Valle del Río Verde Inferior, Oaxaca. Fernandez Pardo (1993: 109) claimed that over seventy-nine percent of all figurines she studied were of apparently ‘Pre- Classic,’ or Formative period origin. Such figurines are problematic for detailed

40 analysis in that they are often poorly preserved, fragmentary, and found in relatively mixed domestic deposits. Those found in stratified trash middens have the best temporal control and are the most useful for diachronic analysis. Despite some disadvantages, Fernandez Pardo (1993: 113) was able to make arguments regarding the ratios of males and females represented in the figurines she studied. Such Formative era figurines can be contrasted with the better-preserved, largely mold- made, and relatively sex-equal figurines of the Classic era in the lower Río Verde region. Fernandez Pardo’s study considered one hundred and twenty-six figurines or figurine fragments from Formative through Classic times, with little or no data apparently representing the Postclassic era. Most of the roughly one hundred Formative era figurines from the Fernandez Pardo study are reconsidered in my own thesis, along with other artifacts from more recent excavations in the Río Verde. In approaching wider social contexts, Fernandez Pardo suggested a so- called female ‘fertility cult,’ which may have existed during Formative times, and is evidenced by the greater percentage of female figurines as compared with males in such contexts (Fernandez Pardo: 1993). The possible human female/animal transitional figurine pictured in Figures B, C, and D, located in the appendices, may serve as supporting evidence for such a claim. A PhD dissertation by Stacie Marie King (2003), entitled Social Practices and Social Organization in Ancient Coastal Oaxacan Households, includes information on ceramic figurines and their uses. King (2003: 217) determined that a high incidence of “birds and avian imagery in the headdress es of human figurines and whistles,” indicates that birds may have been “socially and ritually important,” to the Early Postclassic residents of the Coastal Oaxacan sites she studied. Though the pieces I am analyzing are associated with earlier Formative period contexts, a high occurrence of bird imagery and ornate, possibly feathered, headdresses on both humanoid and zoomorphic figurines might indicate a similar cultural focus. In all, King analyzed four hundred and twenty-seven anthropomorphic samples and sixty- seven zoomorphic samples from the Río Verde region (King 2003: 217). In addition to such general figurine typologies, King recorded the temper, color, and accoutrements of the figurines in her study, as well as including ‘solid-bodied,’

41 ‘hollow-bodied,’ and ‘mold-made’ as variables for figurine recording. King also analyzed whistles and other forms of material culture for her study. My own figurine variables, discussed more in depth in the methodology and results chapters of this thesis, are partially drawn from the work of previous researchers such as King, Fernandez Pardo, and Rosemary Joyce. Authors such as Ann Cyphers Guillén (1993), Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997), and Rosemary Joyce (2000) have used ceramic figurines from various times and places in Mesoamerica as supporting evidence for arguments about gender, sexual division of labor, and personhood in archaeological discourse. Joyce (2000: 183) has claimed that Mesoamerican figurines served as “small-scale inscriptional media,” upon which larger cultural phenomena such as age and gender roles were played out. Joyce (2000: 89) argued that, in the case of Classic Period Maya figurines, women’s lives were represented on figurines in a way that subverted the dominant androcentric archetype of large-scale art, and “made women’s production a topic for social reflection.” In the case of Formative period figurines, she contended that age, not just gender, sex, or sexuality, was often a focus of small- scale ceramic representation. At the same time, sexual roles were still played out on ceramic pieces because the sexuality of young village members, both men and women, was likely a concern of the village elders, as exemplified by objectifying figurine representations (R. Joyce 2000: 34). In another publication, Rosemary Joyce (2002: 88) wrote that many of the so called ‘pretty lady’ figurines of Formative era Mesoamerica may in fact be representations of young, newly sexually mature adolescents, rather than fully adult women. The figurines may thus have been a kind of advertisement for their newly acquired status as desirable partners. Were figurines used by women to express their own individuality, or were they used by dominant older males as a method of objectifying younger females? In a geographic area as large as Mesoamerica, there was likely room for variability in such behaviors. Joyce (2000: 189) called on the example of Classic Maya figurines to conclude that such small-scale media could serve as silent transcript for commenting on the subjugation of women by men in ancient Mesoamerica. This argument raises some profound questions: To what degree can modern social

42 scientists comment on gender roles in the past? Do we even understand what gender might have meant in Formative Mesoamerica, where we lack true ethnohistorical documents to support such claims?

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Past Societies Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997: 151) noted the influence of modern biases on the interpretation of ancient figurines when she called them ‘inkblot tests’ upon which we, as researchers, project our modern understandings. In addition, archaeologists suffer from an unfortunate tendency to assume that whatever artifacts we do not understand, or that do not seem to fulfill an obvious, pragmatic function, are instead ‘ritual’ in nature (Nelson 1997: 152). This sort of theoretical leap is at the heart, suggested Nelson, of archaeologically unsound arguments for imagined ‘Mother Goddess’ or ‘fertility’ cults that have sprung up along with the discovery of female iconography such as the European ‘Venus Figurines.’ While there is no reason to say there were no fertility or goddess cults, Nelson (1997: 168) reminded archaeologists to stick to sound methodologies to support the arguments they make, and also that notions such as ‘Mother Goddess,’ and ‘Fertility,’ essentialize and pigeonhole women’s roles in ancient society. In perhaps the most concise summary of her argument, Nelson (1997: 26) wrote that “women are more than their biology, and they carry out productive as well as reproductive roles,” in society. Does this idea sound a warning for arguments such as that of Fernandez Pardo (1993) who claimed that the high numbers of female figurines in her study suggested a ‘cult of the female?’ Could these female figurines, if properly interpreted as such, represent something besides a religious or spiritual focus on females and their social roles? Marija Gimbutas (1974), in her early interpretations of ‘Venus Figurines’ from Upper Paleolithic Europe, argued that such depictions of female forms in ancient iconography may represent religious associations with the female body, the role of the mother, or the ‘Great Goddess,’ rather than merely the male objectification of the female form. Though perhaps somewhat too simplified from the perspective of researchers such as Sarah Milledge Nelson (2000), arguments such as those made by Gimbutas were fundamental in beginning to sway

43 the balance of power in archaeological analysis away from a male-dominated viewpoint (Tedlock 2005: 32). Substantiating evidence, rather than merely interpretations of artistic intent, will be necessary to take such arguments beyond conjecture and into the realm of sound archaeological analysis. Results of traditional study of anthropomorphic figurines tend to depict gender as directly tied to biology. Sexuality in archaeology thus becomes at best an unattainable goal of archaeological research, and at worst, something seen as predetermined by the cultural milieu of a people in question. Feminist, postmodern, and queer theory research has argued against such proscriptive definitions of gender and sexuality as they relate to biology. Carole Vance (1984: 10) argued that “it is essential to separate gender and sexuality analytically to more accurately reflect their separate social existence.” Gender has been traditionally assigned to anthropomorphic imagery such as figurines by identification of primary or secondary sexual characteristics on apparently ‘nude’ figurines or by identification of any recognizable clothing items such as ‘male loincloths’ or ‘female hairstyles’ or possibly male lip plugs depicted there (R. Joyce 2000: 28, 2002: 82-83). In my own study, I replace problematic assumptions of gender with estimations of biological sex wherever apparent. In instances where I was prompted to venture a guess as to the intended biological sex of an anthropomorphic artifact, I occasionally did rely on what a figurine ‘looked like’ to me. In an effort to keep such reconstructions from too heavily influencing my results, such artifacts were recorded as ‘possible’ males or females. It is important to note that where I use features such as clothing or hairstyles, I am really analyzing the ‘gender’ of the figurine as a way to approach its biological sex. In such instances, I interpreted them as possibly male or female (or masculine or feminine) with a lesser degree of certainty than I may have had in cases with clear indicators of biological sex. I defend this inferential step by saying that it is better to attempt an approximation of the sex or gender of a figurine whenever possible, rather than only in cases where I was relatively certain. In some cases, hairstyles or clothing served as the best indicator available for determining the ‘sex’ of a figurine, but focusing too much on the biological sex or the cultured gender of a figurine may sometimes be missing

44 the point. What if the purpose of a given artifact were to represent human, rather than specifically female or male identity? Some figurines may in fact represent unsexed or deliberately androgynous human forms. In addition, the clothing, paint, or accoutrements added to the figurine may have been a way to add specific identities to the ‘blank slate’ of some anthropomorphic artifacts. Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997: 17) stated that archaeologists must be careful not to assume the roles or identification of gender onto past societies, particularly when modern ethnographic proxies have limited utility, as may be the case for Formative Mesoamerica. In her opinion, even “categories of male and female themselves need to be reexamined” when talking about past peoples (Nelson 1997: 17). The very notion of women as cross-culturally subjugated and suffering under the might of male oppression throughout prehistory may itself be a sexist one. Martha Few (2002: 3-5, 129-132) argued that women in Prehispanic and colonial Guatemala established for themselves positions of political autonomy and individual power through their roles as ritual practitioners. These women did not need to rely on ‘hidden’ or ‘covert’ means in order to establish themselves as a part of the gendered complimentarity alongside the men of their societies. Instead, they were capable of making their social roles known to the community through their essential contributions to it. Without women there can be no society. However, perhaps even the modern Western notion of ‘gender’ itself is not an exhaustive one. Marit Munson (2000: 127) argued that Mimbres Classic pottery with painted human forms portrays women in a variety of situations of influence. An image from one Classic Mimbres vessel (Figure O in the appendices) combines what Munson considers masculine and feminine gender characteristics (Munson 2000: 132). Munson claimed that roughly thirty-eight percent of the human images on the pottery she studied from Southwestern New Mexican Mimbres could be sexed by relying on clear primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Other features such as hairstyle and activities deemed ‘traditional’ for male and female genders were considered interesting but not a reliable basis for ‘sexing’ the image (Munson 2000: 130). Munson’s determinations about biological sex and gender ran into difficulty when some images appeared to combine aspects considered ‘male’ and ‘female’ in

45 a single individual. Munson suggested these images might indicate the existence of more than two genders in the Classic Mimbres worldview (Munson 2000: 132). This study reminds us of some meaningful issues regarding the way gender is to be treated in archaeological study. First, women in the Mimbres tradition were not powerless. Some are represented on the pottery holding sacred parrots and wearing jewelry that indicated high social status (2000: 132). Seeing women as capable of exerting their own influence and rising to positions of power is significant because it permits them a sort of agency that is too often ignored. In addition, modern Western conceptions of two genders, each correlated with a biological sex, cannot be uncritically applied to ancient and nonwestern impressions of human nature. Sociocultural beliefs and behaviors regarding gender vary with the variables of time and culture. In his discussion of the taming of female sexuality among the colonial Maya by Spanish conquerors, Pete Sigal (2000) demonstrated that differences between Mesoamerican and European ideas of gender, biological sex, and sexuality required the natives to ‘hybridize’ their notions about identity in the face of their oppressors. In doing so, Sigal argued two key points: First, sociohistorical dynamics influence all sexual desires. Second, sexuality is largely a result of cultural construction and thus not directly tied either to biological sex, but rather to socially prescribed gender roles (Sigal 2000: 7). In archaeology, a fundamental and persisting misunderstanding in Western culture about how gender and biological sex interrelate complicates study of gender roles. As Julia Hendon (1996: 49) argued, a major challenge to the archaeology of households, gender, and identity will be to “disentangle conceptually gender from biological sex,” in order to understand them as separate but related variables, and perhaps question in what ways society itself could be responsible for their manifestation. In her review of the research dialogue between archaeology, feminism, and queer theory, Barbara Voss (2000) noted potential causes of disjuncture and miscommunication in the literature. She argued that some aspects of modern queer theory are difficult to apply to archaeological models, even feminist ones. This disconnect is partially because most recent queer theory, she argued, predominantly concerns modern, Western, and urban sexual subcultures (Voss 2000: 187). The answer to this

46 problem, she suggested, is to found a new branch of queer theory aimed at understanding sexuality across time and space, and between different cultural traditions. Voss attempted to outline the potential challenges such a hybridized theoretical discussion would face. Perhaps in order to study anthropological and archaeological ramifications of sexuality and gender, researchers will have to take more cross-cultural perspectives on how these complicated issues exist within their given sociocultural contexts, rather than merely in the modern Western world (Voss 2000: 180, 187). In the case of some Mesoamerican iconography, gender or even biological sex may have been less the focus than androgynous or un-gendered ‘humanness’ itself. With regard to gender in Formative period Oaxaca specifically, Rosemary Joyce discussed changing burial patterns in the highland valley. At the site of San José Magote, Joyce (2000: 48) noted a rise in male-female coupled burials during the Formative period. Taken along with the disparate offerings placed in burials and contemporary figurines which depict both males and females, this evidence may indicate that social status and class may have been more significant aspects of identity than gender in the Oaxacan highlands. Rosemary Joyce claimed (2000: 29) that some nondescript but identifiably humanoid artifacts likely represent “human identity that is independent of sharply marked dichotomous sexes, a sexually neutral human image,” through their generalized, androgynous body type or non sex-specific accoutrements such as ear spools. Imbuing modern notions of gender, morals, and political movements onto the ancient past without justification can be misleading. While gender remains a key element of the cultural systems archaeologists attempt to reconstruct, we cannot say that figurines were a hidden or subversive commentary on society unless we understand the gender relations of the society in which they were used. One basis for such an argument, the ‘hidden’ or ‘private’ nature of domestic ritual, may also be a projection of modern domestic life onto the ancient past. Perhaps what figurines show us about ancient Mesoamerica is that the domestic sphere was part of public social interaction, and this feature allowed people to live together successfully in village settings. Perhaps public domesticity tied together the households of a settlement, using figurines as the foci

47 of the domestic and communal rituals that took place. What Joyce and others have shown us is the potential that figurines represent for the interpretation of past social dynamics, a process most successfully undertaken without assumptions that modern domesticity and ancient domesticity are the same thing. Perhaps the study of figurines still has much to tell us about gender and the interactions between the sexes in ancient Mesoamerica. The prevalence of female figurines in this collection and others does appear to relate to this issue. Perhaps this pattern is related to the concerns of figurine users themselves, as they attempted to move through their live histories and pay homage to their ancestors. The relative numbers of female and male figurines may relate more to beliefs about the utility of certain rituals regarding femaleness than they did to a ‘battle of the sexes.’

Personhood Theory The construction of personhood is a central aspect of social structure, but many authors have argued that it is so enculturated in us during our lives that we often believe personhood to be an innate feature of all humanity (Mauss 1938: 1). Jean La Fontaine (1985a: 116) wrote, regarding New Guinean rites of passage and initiation ceremonies, that dialectic oppositions such as young/old age distinctions or male/female gender roles are “fundamental to the organization of society,” and pervade the social realities not just of initiates but also of those who participate in the ceremonies. An alternative conception of personhood is that of Marcel Mauss (1938), who felt that the focus on the individual as a unique person functioning outside his or her social role is more or less a feature specific to Western thought. On the opposite end of this spectrum is Meyer Fortes (1987), who argued that all societies have a concept of the person, as summarized by La Fontaine (1985b: 123). Mauss felt that Western society had arrived at its notion of individuality partly through the filter of Protestant Christianity, which has traditionally stressed a personal spiritual communication between God and the individual person. Such a person is more than a collection of his or her social duties. Societies without a concept of the person divorced of his or her roles, responsibilities, and rights within society therefore do not have a concept of personhood in the Maussian sense (La Fontaine 1985b: 124). La Fontaine, in an effort to update the French Structuralist arguments of Mauss, defined the

48 Western personhood concept as essentially a bureaucratic one. By making a clear distinction between an individual and his or her position within the capitalist nation state, or between the person and his or her ritual duties in a traditional society, La Fontaine (1985b: 137) argued that Westerners have trained themselves to conceive of society as a collection of unique individuals separate from their roles. La Fontaine essentially followed Mauss in maintaining that, “in societies which define human beings by their place in a social chain linking the past with the present,” rather than conceiving of the person outside of those behavioral bounds, there is no concept of the ‘person’ as we understand it. Non-western societies are no less sophisticated in their construction of social roles than Western ones, but rather are organized around tradition and genealogy from founding ancestors or ‘heroes.’ Individuals’ real or perceived relationships to these characters dictate how they relate to pre-existing social mores that maintain tradition rather than expressing individual autonomy (La Fontaine 1985b: 137). If the Western bureaucratic person and the Maussian/La Fontaine ‘lineage person’ are subtly but fundamentally different constructions of how people conceive of themselves, to what degree can archaeologists study ancient personhood where no ethnographic studies exist to assist them? Rosemary Joyce (2000) and others have attempted to understand social roles, interactions, and notions of personhood in ancient ceramic figurines from Mesoamerica. As the essence or ‘personhood’ of individuals applies to material culture found in the archaeological record, Meyer Fortes (1987: 285- 286) notes that the spirit “is projected on to the material objects that will outlast the living person.” When archaeologists look at ceramic figurines that may or may not have been intended to represent individual people, we need to remember that their use and eventual deposition may have occurred in such a social context. Using the example of the Tellensi people of Northern Ghana, Meyer Fortes, admittedly borrowing some theory from Marcel Mauss, argued that the notion of personhood can be seen from two perspectives. In the first perspective, the individual receives and bears his or her role as imposed by society. This is the ‘actor’s perspective’ on personhood. In the second perspective, Mauss and Fortes see personhood as a series of ‘masks’ made available to a society through its structural design. A society has a certain finite set of characteristics from which it can select a person’s ascribed character

49 (Mauss 1938, Fortes 1987:251). To these perspectives, I would add a third dimension. Ian Hodder (2002: 21) reminds us that the archaeological record is essentially the collected effects of the daily activities of individual people. I agree with Hodder that human agency, and therefore human identity or ‘personhood,’ is more than the results of the social and behavioral roles foisted upon us by our societies. Human agency is more than the ‘power to act,’ it is also the power to acquiesce to our societies at differential rates. Within the larger contexts of our cultural lives, individual humans reserve the right to disagree, to become variants of the cultural norm, and to express their individuality to varying degrees (Hodder 2002: 22). As archaeologist Leslie White (1959: 8) argued, social science would do well to remember that human culture is more than a standardized ‘means of adaptation,’ it is differentially participated in by the people who create it. Other characteristics besides sex and gender are involved in the construction of individual identity or social status. La Fontaine (1978: 12) noted that age and perceived maturity are also relevant to how individuals are conceived of by others. Different age groups, in this way, form hierarchical stages in the human life cycle. A related ethnographic pattern, according to La Fontaine, is that most human groups tend to break the age cycle down into a series of generalized, iconographically represented stages. Contrast these stages with the ‘undifferentiated flow’ that biology tells us is characteristic of the aging process. Age is therefore an essentialized ‘badge of identity’ for social differentiation in much the same way as gender (La Fontaine 1978: 12). In another publication, La Fontaine (1985: 116) clarified that age divisions are similar structurally to gender divisions within social contexts because they are both “fundamental to the organization of society,” in that they take the ‘raw material’ of the human mind and body and transform it into a socially meaningful and responsible entity. The members of each category have their rights and their duties to fulfill. Their combined roles comprise the behavioral aspect of the sociocultural life of a people. To this I would add, after White (1959), that members of society retain their autonomy to interact selectively in the cultural lives of their group. Meyer Fortes (1987: 249) elucidated other ways in which ethnographically known peoples have defined individual persons within their societies. Names, for example, come to serve as a proxy for personality. In some New World societies, nicknames and

50 ‘spirit names’ may even represent behavioral traits of an individual. The Mixtec hero king Eight-Deer was also known by his sobrenombre, ‘Jaguar Claw’ (Nuttall, 1975: 43). As demonstrated earlier, Jaguars are a pan-Mesoamerican symbol associated with fierceness and the primal forces of nature (Saunders 1994). Such materially ephemeral aspects as people’s names may be impossible to discern in the archaeological record when studies are unaided by historical lines of evidence, but it is useful to keep in mind that what comprises a ‘person’ socially is likely a combination of identifying factors such as names, behavioral roles ascribed to genders and biological sexes, as well as age categories and other constructed features such as lineages and clan affiliations. Just as the Formative period was a time of social reorganization, so too could the modern atmosphere of postcolonial globalization be said to act as a restructuring agent in the lives of the native peoples of the New World. Blanca Muratorio (1998: 409) discussed the formation of indigenous personhood in Native Amazonian Napo women during such times of social change and increasing interethnicity. With the trappings of the modern (i.e., Western) world inundating Amazonian Ecuador, Napo elders in some villages are faced with the difficult task of watching their younger generations of kin diverge in some ways from what they may perceive as the traditional Napo life. As the social networks, settlement patterns, and individual behavioral roles changed significantly in Formative era Mesoamerica, might not personhood and individual identities have gone through a similar transitional, reorientation phase? Muratorio (1998: 417) focused her ethnography on the local elder women’s perspective on an “ongoing controversy… over gender imageries and relations,” in an indigenous New World context. While the use of modern ethnographic proxies for extrapolation to the archaeological record should be handled cautiously, perhaps the more relevant issue here is the ongoing dialogue between women, across generations, with regard to gender and sexual relations. Regardless of ethnic and cultural origin, gender roles and the ‘proper behavior’ of men and women is an issue of constant revision and disagreement. Muratorio (1998: 417) concluded that indigenous women today must “incorporate modernity through the many neocolonial mirrors and at the same time reinvent their gendered indigenous identities.” In this way, she defined the construction of personhood, in part, as a process of compromising traditional with contemporary social identities.

51 How similar were the social reorganizations of the Formative period with those of the modern period? Perhaps Formative era Mesoamerican grandmothers were just as incensed by their young female family members’ changing identities as grandmothers around the world are today. Evidence for the elders’ interest in the behaviors of young women in the group may be found in the prevalence of female figurines themselves, especially the ones showing gender-specific behaviors or stages of pregnancy. Some authors (Winter 1989, Tedlock 2005) have argued that figurines were related to female life history or were even teaching aids for childbirth. Individual identities in today’s world are sometimes demonstrated with clothing, personal adornment, and chosen social groups or gathering places. The images or ideals chosen to help depict identity are sometimes provided by access to media such as newspapers, radio, television, or the internet. Many of these methods of individual differentiation were also available to people in the Formative period. Instead of today’s technology, they had other methods of conveying their beliefs and chosen communications in visual form. What role did figurines representing women play in such circumstances? If archaeologists could find more reliable ways to reconstruct the cultural context of artifact use in the past, we might be able to more cogently determine what significance items such as anthropomorphic ceramic figurines had in Mesoamerica, and to whom. Was their role as a depicter of identity their purpose, or instead an epiphenomenal result of their design? In some societies, particularly in the New World, the construction of social identity may take on meanings emicly interpreted to originate outside human society itself. Aparecida Vilaça (2002: 347) demonstrated that some Amazonian groups such as the Wari’ of Brazil conceptualize human identity as partially a “contraposition to animal bodies.” From such a perspective, children’s identities or souls are ‘volatile’ while they are young. Through a life of differentiation from other living forms and the directives of social taboos, human personhood is constructed. In addition, Vilaça argued that the Wari’ are not amenable to Western notions of the body/soul dichotomy. They see the body and the soul as incomplete parts of a whole. The soul is only conceptualized as independent in special circumstances such as death or shamanistic acts. Shamans are extraordinary precisely because their souls have an animalistic, non-human potency

52 (Vilaça 2002: 361). This study is useful in part because it reminds us that conceptions of the boundaries between physical and spiritual realms are not universal to all cultures. Rosemary Joyce’s (2000: 189) argument that figurines served as a medium for the expression of women’s concerns and lifestyle requires, it would seem, the sort of conception of individuality that Mauss (1938) felt only exists in modern, Western society. Meyer Fortes and Ian Hodder, on the other hand, might argue that this sort of conception of the individual outside his or her social roles is common to all humanity, or is a ‘universal’ (La Fontaine 1985b, Fortes 1987, Hodder 2002). From this perspective, some ancient Mesoamerican figurines may have served as private, perhaps ‘hidden’ commentary on the gender relations of their time. Were Mesoamerican figurines, which seem to be commenting on gender relations (among other things) a covert, or an overt commentary on the social relations of the time? With figurines occurring commonly in household contexts beginning in the Formative period and continuing past European contact, can we really say that they were a ‘secret’ social commentary (Drennan 1976: 353)? Can objects so common really be considered ‘hidden?’ It would seem that, whatever ‘silent’ or ‘covert’ social commentary Mesoamerican figurines may have carried, their primary social function was much more communal in nature. Even if this function were to comment on unfair social relationships regarding distinctions such as gender, age, or sexuality, I argue that that commentary was likely one of which the community at large was aware. Martha Few (2002: 3) argued that female spiritual practitioners in pre-contact and conquest-era Guatemala used their magical abilities for public, rather than private, declarations of their power, agency, and autonomy. They were public figures of power in the community. Barbara Tedlock (1992: 454-455), in her discussion of Maya cosmology and spiritualism, demonstrated that not only supernatural beings such as ‘Earth Lords,’ but also Maya shamans themselves, were often women. These authors suggest that women were powerful, rather than silently subjugated, members of Prehispanic Mesoamerican society. Could female figurines have reflected or even been a part of such behaviors? If most Mesoamerican children were raised in homes that utilized figurines, for whatever purpose, on a regular basis, and figurine fragments were commonly disposed of in communal trash deposits, then their forms and their uses could hardly have

53 been a matter of secrecy. Even if the social issues they addressed were ‘silent,’ or commented upon only in the “small-scale inscriptional media” of ceramic figurines, their use appears to have been so widespread as to make their commentary public knowledge (Rosemary Joyce 2000: 89). What is interesting about the rise in use of figurine use during the Formative period and after, then, is that whatever social commentary they may have carried became a matter of public knowledge and interaction. This widespread dialogue seems to have come to the forefront during the Formative period. What types of social change must have taken place for figurines to become such a useful method of ritual, religious, and social communication? Barbara Tedlock (2005: 32) has discussed several of what she calls ‘nonsexist’ interpretations of figurines, particularly those depicting human females. Among these is, as mentioned above, the use as teaching aids during female rites of passage and life history events. Tedlock also reported (2005: 33) on a similar theory, that figurines may have been used as a woman’s personal preparation for childbirth, because some ‘Venus Figurines’ appear proportionately accurate from the perspective of one looking down her own body. In suggesting her own theory, Tedlock argues that some figurines may have functioned to aid female shamans in their various magical tasks, which likely included midwifery. This explanation would be consistent with the presence of pregnant female figurines in many deposits in both the Old World and the New and is supported by ethnohistorical evidence of shamans’ clothing from Northern Asia, and its apparent correspondence with markings on some, apparently female, figurines from the area. Though the geographical distance between Northern Asia and Mesoamerica seems to preclude enthusiastic adherence to such a model in the case of Formative era Oaxaca, Tedlock’s arguments do suggest a linkage between female figurines and female behavior, rather than merely indicating that the female form must always be matter for androcentric objectification, in ceramic form or otherwise. In addition, ethnohistorical evidence from the New World does support the use of figurines in the context of birthing rituals, as in Claude Lévi-Strauss’ analysis (1963: 186-205) of the ‘Muu’s Way’ ritual of the Panamanian Kuna. During this ritual, which is reserved for particularly difficult births, the midwife herself does not utilize the spiritual power of figurines, but she calls upon a shaman (presumably male) to come with his magical tool kit, which includes figurines

54 which will take on spiritual power to become additional shamans to aid him in the ceremony. Equipped with these allies, the shaman can engage in spiritual battle with the troublesome spirit of the uterus, also known as Muu, who has temporarily overstepped her bounds to make the pregnancy difficult (Lévi-Strauss 1963: 186-205). Such recorded behaviors lend some credence to Tedlock’s argument (2005) that figurines may have been related to midwifery and shamanism, even in different parts of the world.

Mimesis: The quest to obtain spiritual power Michael Taussig (1993: xiii, 7, 105) wrote that an inherent ‘mimetic faculty’ allows humans to imitate and emulate things in the natural world that are perceived to have some sort of power. The copy will then “draw on the character and power of the original,” much as in the axiomatic ethnographic theories of sympathetic and contagious magic. Mimesis depends on another human ability, conception of alterity. Alterity is a relationship between things perceived as different. The act of ‘Othering,’ or conceiving of the ‘Other,’ requires that humans conceive of the identity of each of a pair of things, and then of their opposition, real or imagined. This sort of dialectic opposition calls to mind Claude Lévi-Strauss’ (1963) arguments (borrowed from Saussure and Jacobson) about how humans seek to order the world they perceive by way of arbitrary signification. Taussig’s development of the mimesis theory can be a useful application for many aspects of Mesoamerican studies, in archaeology and elsewhere. From the use of the sacred mountain and lake motif recreated in Olmec architecture, to the seemingly simple act of depicting a bird, a dancer, or an ancestor in miniaturized ceramic form, ancient Mesoamericans sought to command the forces they understood in the world around them (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 10/2006). Mimesis is perhaps most useful in figurine studies for helping interpret the patterns of representation in the artifact collections. In the case of the collection studied for this thesis, for example, patterns of dog and bird depictions may be related to the interests of the people who made them. In mimesing the natural world, the ancient Oaxacans created a stylized collection of dog figurines. The dog figurines seem to have been made in a standardized fashion, using fine gray ware ceramic and carefully burnished surfaces. The form of the dogs themselves is also stylized in a very specific fashion, as can be seen in the examples in

55 the artifact catalogue at the end of this thesis. In constructing the dog figurines, the ancient Oaxacans may have been representing them as a domesticated species, as companions to the Underworld, as a food source, or as some combination of these (Coe and Diehl 1980, Marcus 1998: 1). Similarly, the bird figurines in the collection are examples of mimetic images inspired by the natural world. In particular, the bird whistles serve as an example of mimetically seeking to capture the essence of something, as they not only look, but also sound like the creatures they represented. In addition, birds were seen in ancient Mesoamerica as powerful aspects of divination rites among the Zapotec, and as a symbol for speech among the Olmec (Marcus 1998: 12, Pohl 2002).

Zoomorphic Figurines Many researchers have established that iconography in material culture logically indicates something about what was meaningful to the people who left behind the artifact (Winter 1989, Saunders 1994, King 2003: 217). In the case of animal imagery, figurines (ceramic and otherwise) often represent the species considered somehow ritually or materially significant to a culture. Nancy Coulam and Alan Schroedl (2004: 41) published an article on ‘split twig’ figurines from late Archaic period North America. Through analysis of archaeological and ethnographic data, they argue that the figurines served multiple purposes depending on whether they were found in ceremonial or domestic contexts. The form of a split twig figurine varies depending on the social purpose for which it was used, and the degree to which it was considered a totemistic representation of supernatural elements (Coulam and Schroedl 2004: 58). Kathryn Kamp’s work (2001: 427) suggested that zoomorphic ceramic figurines in the American Southwest may have served as children’s toys. In an article focused on different trajectories of constructed personhood in a cross-cultural context, Aparecida Vilaça (2002: 361) spoke to the central role of animals or animalistic spiritual qualities in many cultural traditions. The role of animals in the Amazonian Wari’, for example, includes the spiritual virility of shamans and, by contrast, the production of human personhood by virtue of it being non-animal (Vilaça 2002: 360-361). Robert Drennan’s (1976: 353) comment about the development of social complexity and the increased prevalence of figurines in household and midden contexts is significant for demonstrating how notions

56 of human identity may have gone through changes in the Formative era. Empirically, Mesoamerican figurines became prevalent around the same time in Mesoamerica that people settled into sedentary villages and began the complex social developments of the Formative period. Drennan (1976: 353) suggested a link between increasingly complex social networks and the human representations of anthropomorphic figurines, but where does this leave us with regard to zoomorphic/’supernatural’ figurines? If Drennan’s argument holds, should we expect to see non-anthropomorphic figurines enter the record before human forms do? Could an increase in one type of figurine cause an increase in others simply by association? Figurines of animals such as dogs, frogs, and possibly deer are known from early Monte Albán II phase deposits in highland Oaxaca, dating to roughly 100-250 AD (Lopez and Winter 1994: 7, 110-143). Though not as numerous as the anthropomorphic examples, many of the Late Formative era figurines from the coastal collection studied for this thesis were interpreted as zoomorphic. What purpose did these animal representations serve in ancient Oaxacan culture? The case for dogs used as food in early Mesoamerica has been supported by the zooarchaeological studies of Michael Coe and Richard Diehl (1980: 383) who found evidence for the consumption of domestic dog in lowland riverine contexts of Formative era Olmec sites during the San Lorenzo Phase (Stark 1982: 897). Despite a lack of butchering marks on dog bones in the San Lorenzo collection, these authors felt that the large quantities of dog bones (ten percent of total vertebrate remains at the site), in addition to the bones’ association with food remains, serve as evidence for their consumption by the ancient Olmec (Coe and Diehl 1980: 383). Other animals such as birds and the possibly Olmec-derived jaguar appear somewhat later in highland Oaxacan deposits (Lopez and Winter 1994: 142). Joyce Marcus (1998: 1) has argued that, perhaps in addition to their roles as companions, dogs were considered food in ancient Oaxaca. Evidence for the butchering and consumption of as much as 50 kg of dog meat during feasting rituals in ancient Oaxaca has been demonstrated by Joyce Marcus and Kent Flannery (1996: 115-116, Marcus 1998: 245). The inclusion of dogs both alone and alongside humans in burial contexts indicates, however, that they were considered more than mere food (Marcus 1998: 5). In the case of inquisition-era versions of the ancient Maya Cuch ritual, pigs, deer, dogs, and even children were sacrificed at the

57 base of a cross, seen as an analogue of the traditional Maya world tree (Mary Pohl 1981: 522). Such early modern-era evidence for the ritual significance of dogs belies their complex role in the Mesoamerican worldview. Dogs may have also served as a pan- Mesoamerican symbol for the companion into the Underworld, an assessment consistent with their inclusion in human burials (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 5/2007). At varying or perhaps overlapping times, they may have been companions, food, friends in the afterlife, and offerings to the gods themselves. Their prevalence in the collection studied for this thesis supports their prominent role in the minds of Formative era coastal Oaxacans. The use of bird imagery in ancient Mesoamerica and elsewhere has been a common theme in human history. In a discussion of metaphors in human ideology and iconography, Christopher Tilley (1999: 23-27) calls upon the structural anthropology of Claude Lévi-Strauss and others to argue that birds have frequently appeared in artistic imagery because they inhabit, and in turn represent, a compromising or ‘intermediary’ position between the earth and the sky, or perhaps between the mortality of the human life and the ‘heavens’ above. Tilley (1999: 26-27) went on to cite the example of the Brazilian Bororo and Kayapo peoples, who he claimed use the imagery of parrots as metaphors for males in the community. Using coveted parrot feathers as clothing adornment in certain ceremonial contexts allows the literal completion of the metaphor, and the symbolic flight of the ritual constructs or reconstructs the social mores associated with men’s roles in the community and the ideological associations held for birds. Further evidence for the position of spiritual power or at least iconographic significance held by birds in Mesoamerican ideology can be found in the imagery on a San Lorenzo Olmec roller stamp discussed by Mary Pohl and associates (2002: 1984). On the stamp, a carving of a bird appears to be ‘speaking,’ by virtue of possibly calendrical glyphs, including one for “Ajaw,” carved near the bird’s mouth. The roller stamp may bear some of the earliest glyphs in Mesoamerica, and the research team believes that it dates to approximately 650 B.C. (Pohl et al. 2002: 1986). That a bird is speaking this glyph is perhaps not a coincidence, but further demonstrates the integral role of birds in Mesoamerican iconography. Birds in the collection studied for this thesis included both

58 figurines and whistles, but in most cases appear to be either domesticated turkeys or birds of prey. A central theme of this thesis, particularly in its conclusion, is that the construction and use of miniature ceramic models of humans, animals, and supernatural characters exemplifies what Taussig (1993) would term the ‘human mimetic faculty.’ That many of the bird depictions studied for this thesis were in the form of whistles indicates an additional level of mimesis, namely that the human-made birds are capable of bird-like sound as well as carrying the appropriate physical likeness. Domesticated turkeys may have represented human influence over the animal kingdom, or even the relatively steady supply of food afforded by keeping livestock. The use of bird of prey imagery may have been an attempt to capture mimetically the hunting prowess or spiritual force of those animals. Shamanistic use of such imagery may have allowed the practitioner to ‘acquire’ those traits in some way. I would argue that such shamanistic use should be considered for all zoomorphic examples in the collection. The coastal Oaxacan collection studied for this thesis included zoomorphs that appear to represent dogs or deer, turtles, bats, possible monkeys, birds, a lizard, several unidentified zoomorphic forms, and perhaps a frog. Images of zoomorphic figurines from the coastal Oaxacan collection can be found in the discussion chapter.

Figurines in Their Sociocultural Context Recent work on artifacts from the Oaxacan highlands has been aimed at understanding general patterns of social behavior, including that related to figurine use. Joyce Marcus (1998: 3) has argued that Formative era figurines in this area were mostly made by women, and perhaps were intended as a conduit for the return of the spirits of departed ancestors. Many researchers agree with these claims regarding the relative frequencies of men and women making figurines. But were figurines the medium of gender competition in the Formative period? Early Formative era artifacts from the Basin of Mexico indicate that, in some regions of Mesoamerica, anthropomorphic figurines actually predate the advent of ceramic vessels. Though still contested, this pattern may suggest that a fascination with small-scale representations of humanity was a feature of the cultural lexicon of Mesoamericans throughout the late Archaic and

59 Formative periods (R. Joyce 2000: 8). As with any element of material culture, ceramic items such as figurines, musical instruments, and iconographic vessel appliqués functioned within the dynamic social systems of the people who utilized them. The species of animals most interesting or ritually significant to a group will be reflected in the animals they choose to represent in their zoomorphic or human-animal transitional pieces. Human representations may show ritual paraphernalia or attire, or even activities such as seated body position, acrobatic bending, or dancing (Winter 1989: 26). In the figurines studied for this thesis, several items appeared to represent human-animal ‘transitional’ characters (e.g. Figures B, C, D, and E) and another, found at a public ceremonial structure, represents an apparent acrobat figure. Winter (1989: 26) has interpreted similar ‘transitional’ pieces as humans wearing animal masks for ceremonial purposes. I argue that researchers should remain cautious regarding ascribing human ritual identities to such items. In addition to being dancers, such transitional figures could represent supernatural entities. Other examples of human-animal transitional forms exist in the archaeological record. Artifacts from the Olmec heartland (Saunders 1994: 112) and elsewhere have indicated a pan-Mesoamerican symbol in the affinity to supernatural ‘were-jaguars’ and other mystical, transitional figures. Nicholas Saunders (1994: 104) has called this interest in were-jaguars a reflection of cultural values ascribed to a natural species. The species in turn became a symbol for the actions ascribed to it. Through this process, kings and other leaders seeking iconographic justification for their reigns would rely on naturalistic symbols of power to convey those meanings. Barbara Tedlock (2005: 212-213) indicated another meaning of jaguars and jaguar/human characters when she wrote that shamanic humans and jaguars shared so much in common, symbolically speaking, that they were often referred to by one word in some Mesoamerican languages. Though none of the figurines in my study are obvious representations of jaguars, several may represent iconic animal figures or the transitional forms mentioned above. Zoomorphic figurines from this study may indicate animals that carried symbolic meanings for Formative era coastal Oaxacans. Transitional figures may also represent human shamans able to capture the vitality of the animal world, or vice- verse.

60 Researchers have argued that ‘female’ anthropomorphic figurines were likely used not only in rituals of communication with female spirits or deities, but also those relating to pregnancy and birth, as well as other female ‘life crises,’ and possibly the protection of loved ones (Winter 1989: 26, Cyphers Guillén 1993: 209, Tway 2004: 122). A worthwhile consideration when dealing with material culture is that not all non- utilitarian items are necessarily ‘ritual’ or ‘supernatural’ in their significance. Some authors, such as Kathryn Kamp (2001: 427) have suggested that figurines, whistles, and related items may have served as children’s toys or even ‘afterthought’ pieces tossed into a kiln with leftover clay as other ceramics were being fired. Add to this the additional variable of pregnancy, and figurines meant to represent females quickly become a complex phenomenon. Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997: 126) has similarly suggested that figurines, in some instances, may have served to represent stages of ‘womanhood,’ and to teach young girls about stages in the female life cycle. She supports this argument by demonstrating that, in Mesoamerica, anthropomorphic figurines often appear to represent individuals of varying age from infant through elderly. Some of the anthropomorphic vessel appliqués from my own study appear, in my opinion, to represent individuals with eyes closed in death. For examples, see figures J and K in the appendices. This estimation is made in part because it appears that there was a deliberate artistic effort made to represent the eyes as closed and central features. On items as small as these vessel appliqués, details that are present must have been carefully selected and are likely intentional (Ian Pawn, personal conversation 10/2006). Though some anthropomorphic figurines (such as thirty percent of those studied by Rosemary Joyce [2000: 29] from Formative period Tlatilolco) lacked clearly defined biological sexual features, many figurines from the Formative era can be ‘sexed,’ or analyzed in terms of gender, with sufficient certainty. Joyce (2000: 30) cites identifiable representations of genitalia, breasts, male loincloths, female ‘long skirts,’ and certain hair and jewelry combinations that can give researchers a good indication of the gender or intended biological sex of a figurine, and by inference some notion of its role in past human behavior. In my own research, apparently pregnant females and secondary sexual features such as breasts allow me to make the educated guesses I do regarding the biological sex their maker intended when constructing them. In cases where markers of

61 biological sex are not clear or have not been preserved, ethnographically-supported gender characteristics such as elaborate hair and jewelry patterns and clothing allow me to make some inferences about gender roles and even biological sex, though with less certainty than in some other cases (Marcus 1998). For examples, see Figures 10, 11, and 12. In addition, what appeared to represent the traditional ‘Olmec hat’ or hairstyle, oriented off-center on the heads of some figurines in the collection, was taken as a possible indication of contact with the Olmec (Jeffery Blomster, personal conversation 6/2006). For examples of this hat or hairstyle, see Figures P, Q, and R, among others. Differential proportions of males and females represented in a collection have been a topic of interest for many researchers. Ligia Fernandez Pardo argued in her analysis of Coastal Oaxacan figurines, some of which reappear in my own analysis, that most of the pre-Classic anthropomorphic figurines were representations of females. If corroborated, this differential representation during the Formative period suggests a focus on the female form or social roles, or, as Winter (1989: 26) suggests, use of figurines for birthing rituals. In discussing figurines of the Classic Maya, Rosemary Joyce found that, while large-scale art such as stelae tend to represent male or androgynous figures as their central foci, females and children are generally relegated to ‘background’ or subservient practices. She contrasts this with small-scale media such as figurines, which focus on individual females in acts such as food and craft production, household and family care (R. Joyce 2000: 68). This pattern of private depiction of the female form despite public focus on androcentric leadership, if traced back into Formative times, could provide insights into the nature of social interaction during the development of complex society in Mesoamerica. Regarding other activities associated with ceramic figurines in Formative era Oaxaca, Kent Flannery (1976: 337) noted many examples of early and Middle Formative period anthropomorphic figurines representing people with masks, animal furs, plumed headgear, and even musical instruments. Flannery took these figurines as evidence of Formative era ‘dance societies,’ and corroborated his reconstruction with ethnohistoric evidence from Spanish conquistadors who witnessed dancers performing at ritual ceremonies held on specific calendrical days. Concerning the context of figurines as they appear in archaeological deposits, Flannery noted that Oaxaca is an area where “figurines

62 and figurine fragments are broadly coextensive with potsherds,” and general domestic refuse (Flannery 1976: 337). In the same volume, Robert Drennan (1976: 352) claimed that, despite their apparently ritual nature, Mesoamerican figurines rarely show up in contexts that clearly indicate their use. Exceptions to this pattern include caches at Formative period San José Magote in Oaxaca and at La Venta in the Olmec heartland of Tabasco, where many of the figurines are made of greenstone. These two caches of anthropomorphic figurines were apparently deposited in place with the intent of representing a specific scene of public, presumably ritual, activity. Both dispersed and cached finds of figurines suggest something about patterns of figurine use, but interpreting figurines as ritual simply because they are not ‘logically’ or ‘obviously’ utilitarian lacks satisfactory scientific method. Drennan (1976: 353) corroborated his tentative statement with modern ethnographic evidence of Maya and Mixtec peoples continuing to use ceramic iconography as a sort of ceremonial ‘survival’ of Prehispanic times. In reciting MacNeish and Flannery’s ratios of figurine fragments per potsherd found in archaeological contexts in the Tehuacán Valley, Drennan demonstrated that figurine use during the Formative period was a frequent behavior and one apparently related to both ritual practices and to daily household life. During the Tierras Largas Phase (about 1,500 to 1,200 B.C.), at the very time that sedentary villages were first forming in highland Oaxaca, so too were the behaviors associated with figurines, as these are the earliest contexts in which they are found in large quantities (Drennan 1976: 353). Perhaps because figurines appear to become common during the formation of early village life in Mesoamerica, it seems that anthropomorphic ceramic iconography and perhaps figurines in general may have served as much for behaviors supporting social cohesion or daily subsistence as for ‘ritual’ in and of itself . As Drennan argued (1976: 353), the Formative era use of figurines in early villages likely included “all households in a social group,” and thus may have functioned as a method for maintaining the public and communal bonds between households, lineages, or other socially organizing categories that were necessary for the development and maintenance of sedentism. Evidence for both communal and domestic figurine use elsewhere in Mesoamerica seems to fit with the contextual data on figurines from the Oaxacan coast, which are found in a wide variety of public and domestic contexts (A. Joyce 1991a, Barber 2005). Ritual and

63 social life were bound to overlap in Formative Mesoamerica as they often do in human society, and in fact, that ceremonial life probably served in part to construct and maintain the social cohesion necessary for the development of ever-intensifying sedentary and socially ranked habitation. Does the prevalence of ritually significant artifacts in domestic contexts indicate a high-degree of ritual behavior in daily household life? Rosemary Joyce (1993: 255) has argued that traditions of gender stereotyping as portrayed in ceramic figurines from Central America are correlated with times of intensified social stratification. Such stereotypes may have served as a way to manage male and female behavioral roles during periods of social instability and transition (R. Joyce 1993: 272). If the Formative period in Mesoamerica was, like the Central American example, an era of increasing stratification of society, then perhaps exaggerated focus on gendered human representations is to be expected. Linda Brown (2000: 319) has combined archaeological data from Joya de Cerén, El Salvador, a possible peripheral Maya site inhabited around A.D. 600, and ethnographic data to suggest that items of ritual power to Mesoamerican spiritual practitioners lacked the arbitrary stigma attributed to refuse that pervades Euro American notions of spiritual power. Ethnographic examples demonstrate that Maya shamans collect items that catch their attention as representing a connection to spiritual realms. Such items may be spotted during times of religious elation or during daily travels. Brown suggested that enigmatic archaeological assemblages of Prehispanic artifacts collected in antiquity, such as that of Joya de Cerén, might represent “the idiosyncratic behavior of one particular individual,” (Brown 2000: 331). Brown’s argument serves as evidence that the Mesoamerican worldview does not necessarily draw immediate distinctions between the refuse of one group and the sacred objects of another. Other New World Prehispanic peoples (such as Southwestern Puebloans in North America) also buried sacred goods, and even the remains of revered ancestors, in the trash heap. Such behaviors indicate a cyclical notion of spiritual power. By burying the dead near the village, their spirits could be reborn into the new generation (Dr. Steven Lekson, personal conversation 5/2004). In this way, we can see that ceramic figurines’ membership in the Mesoamerican trash midden along with broken potsherds and faunal remains does not preclude their potential use in social or religious ritual. Artifacts found in diverse

64 contexts, such as the undescribed figurine fragment mentioned by Marcus Winter (1976: 27) which was deposited, apparently for intended use later on, in a bell-shaped storage pit along with several ground stone artifacts, a ceramic vessel, and carbonized wood, indicate that figurines found their way into multiple aspects of social life. As a result, they turn up in a wide variety of archaeological contexts today. Marcus Winter (1976: 25) has suggested the ‘household cluster’ as the unit of analysis for Formative period sites in Mesoamerica because it gives specific context to features associated with house and village remains. From this perspective, things such as burials, middens, house remains, hearths, and other features can be seen as the remains of activity performed by a specific subset of society rather than the ‘village in general.’ This sort of analysis can assist us in how we view figurines because behavior that differed by household or by social status, such as the number of figurines or other artifacts deposited in a trash midden, can tell us about variation in behaviors within a group rather than forcing generalizations across the village or region. By analyzing individual household cluster activities, we may be able to demonstrate where those groups behaved autonomously from the community at large, and where those behaviors were ones of interaction. Based on the basic contextual data from the figurines studied for this thesis, I argue that figurine use in ancient Oaxaca straddled the gap between public and private, or communal and domestic contexts. This versatility of figurine and iconographic artifact- related activities is the basis for what I consider the communal domesticity of ancient coastal Oaxaca. The behaviors taking place in individual households served them not only for their individual ends, but also as a method of cementing their place in the community at large.

Fingerprint Analysis The fingerprint aspect of the project is suggested by the work of Warren T. Barbour at SUNY Buffalo. Barbour believes that he can identify the sex of individuals who made ceramic figurines based on the width of the ridges left on fingerprints in the baked clay. He argues that, because males have wider fingerprint ridges than females, such ancient prints can be accurately ‘sexed.’ Sexual division of labor in such practices as figurine manufacture may speak to larger issues of sex

65 and gender roles (Roufs 1998). Kathryn Kamp (2001: 427) has also argued that fingerprint studies can aid in our understanding of how children’s work and play may have led to the construction of figurines in the Sinagua region of Northern Arizona.

Conclusion The literature reviewed in this thesis represents research on the social contexts in which figurines existed. The archaeology of coastal Oaxaca serves as a case study for larger patterns at work in Formative period Mesoamerica. I chose to add gender and personhood theories to the study of Mesoamerican archaeology and the social developments at work in that era for the purpose of investigating social context in depth. The ways in which humans construct their social and private identities vary across cultural boundaries, but some universals remain. The artifacts considered for this study include more females than males, and there were more human than animal forms in the collection. These patterns are reflections of social factors we must attempt to understand. Differential deposition, preservation, excavation, and archiving all plague the conclusions drawn by archaeologists. That said, archaeologists must try to control for problems of sampling and continue to draw conclusions wherever possible. Patterns in the collection studied for this research, as well as collections studied by other scholars, suggest that female, and to a lesser extent, male figurines were utilized for some types of widespread, community-oriented ritual or symbolic behavior that included the use of ‘small-scale inscriptional media’ (R. Joyce 2000).

66 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

Iconographic Determinations

Patterns of Anthropomorphic, Zoomorphic, and Transitional Representation To obtain the total count for each variable of iconographic representation, I performed a simple descriptive statistics command in Systat. By entering ‘anthropomorph,’ ‘zoomorph,’ ‘transitional,’ ‘supernatural,’ and ‘multiple figures,’ I was able to generate the following set of tables. They serve as an intuitive summary of the collection. The values for these categories can best be explained as demonstrating the differing levels of certainty in assigning each iconographic attribute. The first section of the table shows, for example, that eighty-three artifacts in the study were determined to be anthropomorphs, seventy were possible anthropomorphs (indicating a high degree of likelihood), thirty-four were too fragmentary and thus considered ‘unknown,’ and thirty-nine were recognizable as one of the other categories, and thus received a ‘no’ on the anthropomorph variable. In the collection studied for this thesis, there were eighty-three anthropomorphs, forty-one zoomorphs, three transitional figures, and many unknown or probable examples of each. Multiple figures were practically nonexistent, with some examples that could not be determined with certainty. Supernatural figures, due to their subjective nature, remained uncertain in their designation. In interpreting these results, it is helpful to keep in mind that a designation of ‘possible’ indicates there was some reason to believe the artifact may be classified by the given category, but the item lacked the diagnostic features I would need in order to fully substantiate that claim. ‘Unknown’ figurines were too fragmentary or eroded for me to make any sort of educated guess as to what they were. Some overlap may exist in this category, with a given piece being recorded as ‘unknown’ in several variable types. The table below presents the frequencies of designations of relative certainty for different iconographic types within the study

67 collection. Refer to the qualitative analysis chapter for within-site context of these basic figurine categories.

Table 4.1: Frequency of artifact types Frequencies of ‘Anthropomorphs’ No Possible Unknown Yes Total 39 73 34 83 229

Frequencies of ‘Zoomorphs’ No Possible Unknown Yes Total 91 59 38 41 229

Frequencies of ‘Transitionals’ No Possible Unknown Yes Total 148 26 52 3 229

Frequencies of ‘Supernaturals’ Likely No Possible Total 2 203 24 229

Frequencies of ‘Multiple figures’ No Possible Unknown Total 226 1 2 229

Transitional figurines were a small but consequential segment of the collection. Many examples were deemed ‘possibly’ transitional, but only three can be confidently classified as such. The most complete and easily recognizable of the transitional figurines is known in this thesis as # 35, and another as # 166. Photos and illustrations of these can be found in the appendices. For purposes of cross- cultural comparison, I reviewed some literature regarding Olmec ‘were-jaguars.’ Discussion of these transitionals can be found in both the literature review and qualitative results chapters of this thesis. The results for ‘multiple’ figurines, or those representing more than one figure in a single figurine (such as a mother holding a child) demonstrate a break from pan-Mesoamerican figurine patterns. Other archaeologists of Oaxaca, such as Rosemary Joyce (2000) and Martinez Lopez and Winter (1994: 20) have found multiple figures in Formative era contexts. Examples of multiple figures include

68 mothers holding children, multiple individuals represented in ballgames or ceremonies, and so forth. No figurines in my study were conclusively found to represent more than one individual.

Patterns of Biological Sex The anthropomorphic figurines, musical instruments, a nd ic onograph ic vessel appliqués studied for this thesis fit the pan-Mesoamerican, Formative era pattern of representing mostly biological females or those individuals who were gendered feminine. In this thesis, I attempt to assess the inten ded biological sex of the figures represented as a way to separate conceptually the notions of sex and gender, in the hopes that patterns of their depiction can be stud ied empirically. The first step in the process to achieve this result was to select the string variable ‘biosex’ from the Systat® data file version of my database. I then performed a bar graph with ‘biosex’ (short for biological sex) as the x variab le, anthr opomo rph (or ‘anthrop’) as the grouping variable, and the y variable left to record counts of each value. I then selected only the portion of the graph representing anthropomorphs, and the resulting graph demon strate d that fem ales and possible fema les wer e more numerous than males am ong a nthropomorphic figurines. D ue to the f ragme ntary nature of many of the artifacts, there remained a large number of anthropomorphic figurines that could not be reliably sexed. By performing a simple descriptive statistics analysis in Systat®, I was able to determine exact counts for each variable. Among the eighty-three anthropomorphic artifacts, eight are females, one male, twenty-four possible females, fifteen possible males, and thirty-five are categorized as unknown. In the bar graph below, I demonstrate the patterns of biological sex amongst anthropomorphs. In the table that follows, biological sex is displayed for the entire collection, which includes some transitional or supernatural figures with primary sexual characteristics.

69

40

30

20

10

0 le le /A le le n N ow ema Ma ema . Ma F F s nkn . s U ss Po Po BIOSEX Figure 4.1: Biological sex amongst anthropomorphs

Table 4.2: Biological sex in the total collection of artifacts

Female Male N/A Possible Female 9 2 1 25

Possible Male Unknown Total 18 35 229

Simple descriptive statistic commands were useful for exploring the relationships between ‘transitional’ and ‘supernatural’ figurines, and for estimations of biological sex. For transitional figurines, which appear to represent intermediate stages between humans and animals, the only figurine to receive positive scores for both biological sex and transitional identity (# 35) was considered a female based on the presence of secondary sexual characteristics. Among definitive males, there was one possible transitional figure from domestic structural context at Miniyua phase Río Viejo. This figurine, # 68, appears to represent primary male sexual characteristics, and is analyzed in detail in the discussion chapter. Possible females had five ‘unknown’ values among transitional figurines, suggesting that there were transitional qualities about the artifact, but not enough evidence to be sure. Possible

70 males had two ‘possible’ and one ‘unknown’ value for the transitional variable. Probably owing to their unusual form, the biological sex for transitional figurines was hard to determine. Among figurines with ‘unknown’ biological sex, three were transitionals and twenty-two were considered possible transitional figures. This pattern may reflect the manufacturer’s focus on the transitional aspect of the figurine, rather than on a specific sex or gender. That pattern is in direct contrast with the ultra-female body type (by virtue of very large breasts and an exaggerated form) of the transitional figurine known as # 35. The variable ‘supernatural,’ as explained above, is of a very subjective nature. I reserved this variable for recording figurines that were not necessarily ‘transitional,’ but nonetheless had features demonstrating that they might have represented something besides a simple human or animal form. An example of this is Artifact # 68, which appears to have a male, humanoid face (by virtue of a beard), but also has what appears to be a penis for a head or a hat. This artifact was given a value of ‘possible’ for transitional and a value of ‘likely’ for supernatural, in order to record my relative degrees of certainty. As with other figurines mentioned by number in this t hesis , refer to the artifact c atalogue for notes and photographs. It should be noted that some figurines were recorded as ‘possible’ for both supernatural and transitional categories, depending on my level of certainty about their designation. Among ‘supernatural’ figurines, I recorded one as both female and likely supernatural, and one as female and ‘possibly’ supernatural. The subtle difference between these two designations reflects my level of conviction in the scoring of the artifact, and is necessitated by the subjective nature of the research category. Among male figurines, only # 68 was considered likely supernatural. Possible females had higher counts, with eight recorded as being possibly supernatural, while possible males included five possible artifacts representing supernatural character. Fitting with the pattern set by the transitional figurines; those in the ‘supernatural’ category were also often difficult to sex. Of the twenty-four ‘possible’ and two ‘likely’ supernatural figurines, nine were considered ‘unknown’ with regard to biological sex. Owing to the contentious nature of the supernatural variable, no figurines were recorded as a positive ‘yes’ in

71 the category. To some degree, it could be argued that all figurines represent the supernatural, in that they are stylized representations of reality, of imagination, or of belief. In this study, however, I was limited to the context of the figurines found and to their attributes as they appeared to an outside observer who can say little for certain about their purpose.

Artifact Attributes

Figurine Portions Present The figurines studied for this thesis had varying degrees of preservation and a wide variety of elements represented upon them. For some anthropomorphs, for example, all limbs were present. For others, pre or post-depositional processes had left only a couple of limbs, or no limbs at all, remaining. With ‘head fragment,’ ‘body fragment,’ and ‘limb fragment’ variables, I was able to record which parts were represented on each artifact. This was, of course, only useful for anthropomorphic and zoomorphic (or transitional) artifacts. When I first recorded the number of limbs preserved on the figurines, I included information about which limbs I believed them to be, whether hands or feet were present, broken off, or simply not represented in the artifact’s construction, and so forth. When it came to analyzing this variable, however, I needed to cut out much of that information and record only the number of limbs found on each example. The resulting graph may show the powerful effect of post-depositional processes in damaging the figurines. Some artifacts, of course, might have been intentionally broken before they were deposited, as a way to ritually kill them or end their ceremonial use (Shafer and Taylor 1986, Tedlock 2005). Finally, accidental breakage of a figurine might also end its use life. The table below demonstrates the values for each kind of body part present on each of the artifacts. Note that a figurine that has arms, a torso, and a head will be represented in three of the categories below. It is worth noting that one figurine had five limbs present. This was a depiction of a dog that included four legs and a tail. Head fragments and neck attachments were not counted as limbs.

72 Table 4.3: Frequency of body parts present

Frequencies of heads present No Possible Unknown Yes Total 106 18 10 95 229

Frequencies of body or torso fragments present No No Possible Unknown Yes Total 119 1 25 12 72 229

Frequencies of extremities present 0 1 2345Total 100 83 25 8 12 1 229

Accoutrements and Activities Adornments common to the figurines analyzed for this thesis included various hairstyles, as well as bits of clothing and jewelry such as headgear, necklaces, lip plugs, and ear spools. Several of the figurine fragments determined to be somewhat ‘Olmec-like’ in their artistic style carried a small bun of hair or possible head gear item slanted to one side, usually to the left from the figurine’s perspective. Examples of these accoutrements can be seen in the appendices and the discussion chapter, and are mentioned elsewhere during comments on suggested Olmec influence. Any limbs or animal body parts present were also recorded under the accoutrements variable. Because of the narrative form of this data, statistical analysis of the results is unrealistic. Because the lack or presence of many accoutrements may be a result of preservational factors, the data such analysis would provide would be speculative. Most of the figurines analyzed appeared to be in generic standing or sitting positions. Many others were too fragmentary to judge accurately what their pose may once have been. Among the notable exceptions is a possible acrobat figurine, which appears to depict a person balancing hands and feet in a backwards, bent position. This figurine is intriguing not just for its form, but also for the context of its deposition, namely in public ceremonial structure materials at the site of Yugüe (Barber 2005). Both the figure depicted and the context of its discovery suggest

73 that this figurine, like others, was involved in explicitly public social interaction and/or ritual.

Figure 4.2: Artifact # 189, a possible acrobat figurine from public ceremonial structure context at Terminal Formative period Yugüe

Animal figurines such as dogs are worthy of note, especially in cases where they are still complete enough to stand on four legs. Under the variable of activity or pose, I also recorded notable facial expressions, such as open mouths, closed eyes, and so forth. These data became important when I began to realize that some of the anthropomorphic vessel appliqués may represent the faces of deceased individuals. These ‘death masks’ appear to depict individuals with open mouths and closed eyes, sometimes with some form of adornment on their foreheads. In addition, these particular artifacts appear to have been intentionally broken away from the ceramic vase they appear to have once adorned, and have been curated,

74 perhaps out of sentimental value. More data would be necessary to support such an argument, but it remains an intriguing glimpse into the spiritual lives of the Formative era Oaxacans. Photographs of these artifacts are located in the appendices.

Dimensional Aspects Simple descriptive statistics on dimensional attributes including height, width, thickness, and weight summarize the physical properties of the artifacts in the collection. In order to demonstrate the variation in form, even within the same artifact, width and thickness have both been recorded with ‘minimum’ and ‘maximum’ values where appropriate. The artifacts measured twice for these variables were those with enough differentiation to warrant note, and not all the artifacts were measured twice for these variables. In the case of thickness, the smaller, or minimum thickness score, often indicates wall thickness of a hollow- body figurine or ceramic whistle. A schematic of measuring techniques can be found in the methodology chapter. Figure 4.2 below summarizes the results of analysis of these dimensional variables.

Table 4.4: Artifact dimensions Maximum M inimum Height Maximum Minimum thickness thickness (mm) width (mm) width (mm) (mm) (mm) N of cases 229 229 98 229 149 Minimum 11.000 9.000 6.000 4.000 2.000 Maximum 103.000 86.000 53.000 68.000 36.000 Mean 42.467 30.424 19.204 18.175 9.819 Standard Dev 17.839 13.439 9.358 8.107 5.221

Weight (g) N of cases 229 Minimum 1.000 Maximum 198.000 Mean 21.751 Standard Dev 24.869

75 Different aspects of preservation influenced the study of these artifacts. Most of the figurines present had sufficient detail for me to ascertain of what they had been a part, although surface erosion was bad enough on a few that little valuable information could be drawn from them. As to the completeness of the artifacts, the collection was highly fragmen tary. I recorded three degrees of completeness, a designation that I took literally. Only artifacts that appeared to be missing no fragments or significant portions were recorded as such. Because I was strict with this definition, only three items were designated as ‘complete.’ Thirty-six artifacts that were mostly complete, but missing some small fragment, were recorded as ‘incomplete.’ By far the most common designation was ‘fragmentary.’ Artifacts in this category ranged from those that were identifiable but missing significant portions to those that were merely a small portion of some larger piece. One hundred and ninety artifacts, or eighty-three percent of the collection, were considered ‘fragmentary.’ Only a small portion of these, perhaps less than ten, were too small for meaningful study. I feel that preservational issues, such as post- depositional fracturing and erosion, can only account for some of the fragmentary nature of this collection. Some figurines showed fresh fractures, likely sustained during excavation, but this too was only true for a small number of the artifacts. It is possible that some figurines were either discarded upon being broken, as they were no longer considered fit vessels for spiritual power, o r in fact that the f igurines were intentionally broken an d then discarde d, perhaps as a ki nd of ritualize d method of ending t heir r ole as sacred o bjects (Dr. Mary Poh l, persona l conv ersation 5/2007). A similar p rocess has been documented by H arry Sha fer an d Anna T aylo r (1986: 51) who wro te that the cerami c assemb lages of the Puebloan p eople of the Nor th American So uth west, pa rticula rly during the Cla ssic Mi mbres p eriod (c a. 800-1150 A.D.), sometimes include vessels intentionally broken or with ‘kill holes’ punched or drilled through them. Such deliberately ‘killed’ vessels often accompany burials, and may symbolize the end to the u se or life of an individual’s material goods upon his or her death. If they can be demonstrate d to have been broken deliberately, perhaps discarded figurines went through a similar transition, in which their symbolic or magical properties were seen as expended, and they were

76 ‘killed’ and laid to rest almost like people. Note that at least one figurine from this study was found in burial context. A discussion of the discovery contexts of the artifacts in this study can be found in the qualitative results chapter. A related process to intentionally ending the use life of a figurine may be turning it into an inherited toy for children. Barbara Tedlock (2005: 32) has stated that some Neolithic figurines from Greece are discovered in highly fragmentary condition as well, and this may be the result of ancient behavioral, rather than post- depositional, factors. Because such figurines were likely used as aides (or ‘charms’) in the casting of magic spells, their efficacy may have been seen as having dissipated after their desired purpose was carried out. When the figurines were no longer useful for shamanistic purposes, they may have been giving to children, who then played with them as toys until they were too broken to use anymore. The result in the archaeological record is that most of the figurines are found in their discarded, dilapidated state, rather than as they functioned in their original social context. The important thing for archaeologists to remember is that all stages of use in the life of an artifact are integral to reconstructing past behavior, and should thus be valued equally. I feel that the collection of artifacts studied for this thesis may, at least in part, be in a somewhat fragmentary state because of behavioral patterns similar to those Shafer and Taylor (1986) as well as Tedlock (2005) have proposed.

Whistles and Appliqués By far the most numerous category of artifact studied for this thesis, accounting for approximately seventy percent of the collection, was ‘figurine.’ Whistles and iconographic vessel appliqués form a small but intriguing subgroup of the artifacts. Whistles were the more numerous of the non-figurine artifacts, with eight possible and sixteen ‘certain’ examples. The whistles were mostly small, many with two finger holes for making notes, and tubes and air-release holes for supplying the flow of air. Artifacts # 40 and #168 are notable in that they are examples of much larger musical instruments. Many of these whistles are well enough preserved that they are still playable. Artifact # 164 was among the few

77 ‘complete’ artifacts in the study and is a fine example of well-preserved Formative period ceramic artisanship. The whistles were frequently shaped to represent birds and other animals such as temporary Artifact # 36, a turtle from the site of Río Viejo. Vessel appliqués, as studied in this thesis, included both applied discs of ceramic shaped into human faces (many appearing like death masks, as described in the qualitative analysis chapter) and rim sherd fragments which, in two instances, were shaped into bat heads. These iconographic appliqués were less numerous in my study than the whistles, at least in the category of highest certainty. I found five artifacts that appeared clearly to be vessel appliqués, forty-one ‘possibles,’ and two ‘unknowns.’ The graph below demonstrates that these two types of artifacts were in the minority of those studied for the thesis, and that confidently identified whistles outnumbered vessel appliqués. My purpose in including the whistles and appliqués in the study is not only to add them to the descriptive analysis of a small artifact collection that would be even smaller in their absence, but also to demonstrate the similarities they share with figurines. Like the figurines, they are small-scale representations of people and things from the natural world. In addition, they appear to have been intentionally curated, perhaps due to the images their forms captured. In the case of the appliqués, it appears that images of human faces (perhaps once applied to larger ceramic vessels) have been intentionally chipped away from their original contexts and intentionally kept rather than discarded. The repetition of human faces on these appliqués (many of which have open mouths and closed eyes) suggests that the faces present were the reason for their curation, perhaps to remember the people represented on them. They appear to me to be representations of faces of the dead, as surmised by their exaggerated closed eyes and open mouths. Another possibility is that they represent shamanistic trance (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 8/2007).

78 250 200

200 150

t t

n 150 n u u 100

o o

C 100 C 50 50 0 0 o le s o le n s N ib e N ib w e s Y s no Y os os k P P Un WHISTLE VESSELAPP

Figure 4.3: Whistles and vessel appliqués

Construction Techniques and Firing Construction techniques for ceramic items are related to multiple factors. Depending on the size of the object and the material used, as well as the firing technique, ceramic objects of a certain size must be hollow in order to prevent fracture during the baking process. Perhaps due to the generally small size of figurines, as well as the ease of making them in a simpler fashion and perhaps out of concern for durability, most of the figurines in this collection were solid bodied. Of the two hundred and twenty-nine artifacts, one hundred and seventy-seven were solid bodied, fifty-one were hollow bodied, and each category had one figurine marked as ‘possible,’ due to the fact that not enough of it was collected for me to be sure. It should be noted that whistles and the one possible ‘flute’ from the collection ( Artifact # 40) were of course hollow bodied. This addition of a different type of artifact to the study somewhat alters the values for these variables. Another aspect of construction is the technique used for shaping the artifact before firing. In Mesoamerica, mold-made figurines are generally considered a type of artifact introduced in the Classic period, dating from 250-900 AD (Arthur Joyce, personal conversation, 5/2006). Eight figurines in my study were designated ‘mold made,’ and nine were designated ‘possibly’ mold made. This assessment was based

79 on the combined inference of the several archaeologists working in the lab, including Dr. Arthur Joyce, Dr. Jeffery Blomster, and myself. Those figurines with features that seemed strangely smooth in texture, and those that had apparently been pushed from the back into molds that shaped the front of the artifact were labeled mold-made. This process of forcing the unbaked clay into the mold left several artifacts with relatively well-preserved fingerprints on their posterior sides. Most of the apparently mold-made artifacts come from mixed contexts, where Early or Middle Classic period occupation layers intruded into earlier Formative period deposits. The table below summarizes these claims about the construction technique of the figurines in the collection.

Table 4.5: Construction Techniques Frequencies for ‘Solid bodied’ No Possible Yes Total 51 1 177 229

Frequencies for ‘Hollow bodied’ No Possible Yes Total 177 1 51 229

Frequencies for ‘Mold made’ No Possible Yes Total 212 9 8 229

80 CHAPTER 5 RESULTS OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS: PATTERNS, SOCIAL CONTEXT, AND PERFORMATIVE RITUAL

The Collection

Within-site artifact Context Arguments in this thesis about the communal, public, and domestic use of figurines and iconographic ceramic artifacts hinge upon the context of figurine finds within their sites of origin. The artifacts in this thesis come from the Lower Río Verde Valley sites of Cerro de la Cruz, Cerro de la Virgen, Corozo, Loma Reyes, Río Viejo, Barra Quebrada, and Yugüe, all of w hich are locat ed nea r the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. In reviewing context information on these sites, which has been published in the dissertations of Arthur Joyce (1991a) and Sarah Barber (2005) and in Arthur Jo yce’ s (2006) book chap ter on the acro polis a t Río Viejo, several patterns appear regarding th e within-site context of the artifacts. The artifact catalogue located in th e appendices of this thesis presents contextual data on most of the artifacts studied he re. T he table below, wh ich i s also dis played in the introduction chapter, outlines the general contexts where the artifacts studie d were reportedly discovered. Note that domestic middens, open ceremonial platforms and patios, public ceremonial structures, and residences all produced high numbers of artifacts. Note also that a total of forty-three artifacts came from high status domestic middens, thirty-seven from public ceremonial structures, and thirty-four from elite residential contexts. This overlap between public and domestic spheres indicates that figurines were deposited in multiple contexts. The wide variety of artifact types and of contexts also implies that the artifacts were probably used in multiple contexts. The results for this kind of analysis will logically vary not only by figurine-related behaviors at a given site, but also by the research interests and excavation procedures of the archaeologists who worked at the different sites.

81 Table 5.1: Within-site artifact context

Barra Quebrada Cerro de la Cruz Burial 0 1 Domestic midden with burials 0 2 Domestic structure 0 1 Patio with structures 0 12 Structure floor 0 6 Structure wall 0 11 Terrace fill with burials 0 16 Unknown 1 2 Total 1 51

Cerro de la Virgen Corozo Domestic midden 0 6 Elite residence 34 0 Mound fill 0 5 Unknown 0 1 Total 34 12

Loma Reyes Río Viejo Ceramic dump 0 5 High status domestic 0 43 midden Mound fill 0 8 Public acropolis 0 8 Platform surface 1 0 Domestic structure 0 1 Unknown 0 3 Total 1 68

Yugüe Domestic midden 13 Elite ritual structure 5 Public ceremonial structure 37 Unknown 7 Total 62

82 Table 5.1: Continued

Total Burial 1 Ceramic dump 5 Domestic midden 19 Domestic midden with burials 2 Domestic structure 2 Elite residence 34 Elite ritual structure 5 High status dome stic midden 43 Mound fill 13 Public acrop o lis 8 Platform surface 1 Public ceremonial structure 37 Patio with structures 12 Structure floor 6 Structure wall 11 Terrace fill with burials 16 Unknown 15 Total 229

As mentioned above, the det ails on within-site context utilized in this thesis come from the publications and doctoral dissertations in w hich the excavations a t those sites are most thoroughly discussed. The specific pages where this information was found are many, an d in the case of some a rchaeological features or excavation operations, the authors r eferred to them throughout the work. I will here present some examples of where I found the data I present. In discussing the public acropolis at Río Viejo, I refer to Arthur Joyce (2006: 83) who argued that the acropolis at Río Viejo actually went through different periods of construction and use during the Formative, Classic, and Postclassic periods. During the Late Formative period, for example, Joyce (2006: 83) found the acropolis to s how evidence of having been a marker of the political power of elites and even foreign influence at the site. The figurines found in these contexts can perhaps thus be considered both products of communal labor in the building process of the acropolis and of elite political dominance in this ‘ceremonial precinct’ of Río Viejo (Joyce 2006: 84). While the acropolis was a place where elites ritually constructed the religious worldview of their followers during Formative times, it appears to

83 have become a more egalitarian communal gathering place du ring subsequent periods. During those later times, Formative era f igurines still at the acro polis, perhaps having been discarded there by previous generations, might have been re- interpreted as part of a non-elite inclusive repertoire. For other provenience information drawn from Joyce’s work, I refer to specific operations w ith in the larger site excavations, such as the Chacaua Phase domestic midden excavations in operation B, or the ceramic dumping ground found in operation D, bo th excavated during the Río Viejo 1988 project, or RV88 (A. Joyce 1991a: 377-385). In general, much of the Formative period contexts discussed for this site are expl ain ed throughout Chapter six of the dissertation. Similarly, the information I use for Cerro de la Cruz comes from Chapter five. For example, the terrace fill contexts, some of which contained burials, are discussed beginning on page 19 2 (A . Joyce 1991a). Some of the structure walls along which artifacts studied fo r thi s thesis were apparently found are discussed on page 192-195. Sarah Barber’s work provided me with figurines and related artifacts to study from the sites of Yugüe and Cerro de la Virgen. This document was also helpful in its discussion of previous excavations such as those at Corozo (Barber 2005: 111). Elite feasting deposits, such as feature 42 at Yugüe, are discussed on pages 180-183. In Chapter six, Barber (2005: 193) describes structure one at Yugüe, exposed during operation one, as a public ceremonial structure that was located atop a large platform. In contrast, she describes substructure two, found during operation two, as a less utilized elite ritual space (Barber 2005: 194). The artifacts with field specimen numbers matching up with the operations described in the dissertations are placed in the rough contextual categories described by the authors. The contextual data I present here is helpful for placing the figurines and related artifacts in the contexts of their deposition, and by proxy, of their possible use. In addition to discussing the raw numbers of artifacts discovered in different contexts within the site, simple analyses of the types of artifacts found in different contexts may also be informative. Although the comparisons of artifact type by within-site context could be many in number, I will provide a few here as examples. Note that in instances where only a handful of artifacts are found in a given context,

84 the statistical validity of such analysis may be minimal. The potential issues they raise, however, are significant in their own right. In table 5.2, I provide an analysis of biological sex determinations for the artifacts in this study as they relate to within-site context. Note for example that female figurines were found in domestic middens, elite residences and ritual structures, and public ceremonial structures. Male figurines were similarly found in domestic middens, elite residences, mound fill, and perhaps even public ceremonial structures.

Table 5.2: Biological sex (rows) by Context (columns)

Domestic Ceramic Domestic Burial midden with dump midden burials Female 1 0 0 0 Male 0 0 0 0 Poss. Female 0 0 4 1 Poss. Male 0 0 3 1 Unknown 0 5 12 0 Total 1 5 19 2

Domestic Elite Elite Ritual High status

structure residence structure domestic midden Female 0 1 1 2 Male 1 0 0 1 Poss. Female 0 5 0 4 Poss. Male 0 2 0 6 Unknown 0 26 4 30 Total 1 34 5 43

Public Platform Public Ceremonial Mound fill acropolis surface structure Female 0 3 0 1 Male 0 0 0 0 Poss. Female 1 0 0 6 Poss. Male 3 1 0 1 Unknown 9 4 1 28 Total 13 8 1 36

85

Table 5.2: Continued

Patio with Structure Structure Terrace fill

structures floor wall with burials Female 0 0 0 0 Male 0 0 0 0 Poss. Female 1 0 0 0 Poss. Male 0 0 0 0 Unknown 11 6 11 16 Total 12 6 11 16

Unkno wn Total Female 0 9 Male 1 2 N/A 01 Poss. Fe ma le 325 Poss. Male 118 Unknown 10 174 Total 15 229

86 Another comparison that may be informative is that of basic artifact types by general within-site contexts. In t he quantitative analysis chapter, the collection of artifacts studied for this thesis is described in terms of basic iconographic categories such as anthropom orph, zoomorp h, transition al, whistle, an d vessel appl i qué. Table 5. 3 displays the within-site con text of th e ceramic artifac ts studied for this th es is, as it relates to these basic types of ceramic artifa ct. Note that this table is broken down into sev eral subsections, organized by type of artifact represented. To summarize these results, the data for anthropomorphs d emonstrate that domestic middens, public ceremonial structures, residential areas, and even terrace fill all produced relatively high numbers of artifacts. Also, special contexts such as areas near burials also produced anthropomorphs, along with possible zoomorphs and possible transition al form s. Zoomorphs seem to occur in high status domestic contexts and middens, terrace fill, and public ceremonial structures. Trans itional forms occur in high status domestic contexts, but also in areas such as terrace fill and, rarely, in public areas. Whistles show a relatively clear pattern of occurring in elite residence s a nd public ceremonial contexts. Appliqués were more dispersed, and were found in domestic middens, elite ritual contexts, fill materials, and perhaps in public ceremonial spaces. In general the pattern suggests a pervasive diversity of artifact locations, rather than a specific subset of contexts for artifact deposition. The public and private realms overlap considerably, indicating perhaps that there was nothing too ‘private’ about domestic life in Formative period Oaxaca. Some special types of artifacts, like whistles and transitional figurines, may have been intended for more restricted activities.

87 Table 5.3: Within-site context by artifact type 5.3.1 Frequencies of anthropomorphs by within-site context

Anthropomorph Burial Ceramic dump Possible 0 2 Yes 1 1 Total 1 3

Domestic Domestic midden Domestic Elite Anthropomorph midden with burials structure residence Possible 3 0 0 5 Yes 7 2 0 10 Total 10 2 0 15

Elite ritual High status Anthropomorph Mound fill Public acropolis structure domestic midden Possible 0 14 1 1 Yes 2 21 8 7 Total 2 35 9 8

Patio Public ceremonial Anthropomorph Patio with structures Structure floor surface structure Possible 0 7 11 5 Yes 1 14 1 0 Total 1 21 12 5

Terrace fill Anthropomorph Structure wall Unknown Total with burials Possible 8 12 4 73 Yes 1 1 6 83 Total 9 13 10 156

5.3.2 Frequencies of zoomorphs by within-site context

Zoomorph Burial Ceramic dump Possible 0 1 Yes 0 2 Total 0 3

88 Table 5.3.2: Continued

Domestic Domestic midden Domestic Elite Zoomorph midden with burials structure residence Possible 3 0 0 3 Yes 6 0 0 8 Total 9 0 0 11

Elite ritual High status Public Zoomorph Mound fill structure domestic midde n acropolis Possible 1 6 1 1 Yes 1 5 3 0 Total 2 11 4 1

Public cer emonial Zoomorph Patio suface r Patio with struc tu res Structure flo or structure Possible 0 2 11 5 Yes 0 10 0 0 Total 0 12 11 5

Terrace fill with Zoomorph Structure wall Unknown Total burials Possible 9 124 59 Yes 0 24 41 Total 9 148 100

5.3.3 Frequencies of t ransitionals by within-site context

Transitional Buria l Ceram ic dump Possible 0 1 Yes 0 0 Total 0 1

Domestic midden Domestic Transitional Domestic midden Elite residence with burials structure Possible 2 0 1 3 Yes 0 0 0 1 Total 2 0 1 4

89

Table 5.3.3: Continued

High status Public Transitional E lite r itual stru cture Mound fill domestic mi dden acropolis Possible 0 6 2 2 Yes 0 2 0 0 Total 0 8 2 2

Public ceremonial Patio with Transitional Pati o surface Structure fl o or structure structures Possible 0 0 1 0 Yes 0 1 0 0 Total 0 1 1 0

Terrace fill w ith Transitional Stru ctu re wall Unknown Total burials Possible 0 6 1 25 Yes 0 0 0 4 Total 0 6 1 29

5.3.4 Frequencies of whistles by within-site context

Whistle Burial Cerami c dump Possible 0 0 Yes 0 2 Total 0 2

Domestic Domestic midden Domestic Whistle Elite residence midden with burials structure Possible 0 0 0 8 Yes 1 0 0 3 Total 1 0 0 11

Elite ritual High status Whistle Mound fill Pub lic acropolis structure domestic midden Possible 0 0 0 0 Yes 0 1 0 1 Total 0 1 0 1

90 Table 5.3.4: Continued

Public Ceremonial Patio with Structure Whistle Patio surface structure structures floor Possible 0 0 0 0 Yes 0 6 0 0 Total 0 6 0 0

Structure Terrace fill with Whistle Unknown Total wall burials Possible 0 0 0 8 Yes 0 0 2 16 Total 0 0 2 24

5.3.5 F requencies of ve ssel appliqués by within-site context

Appliqué Burial Ceram ic dump Possible 0 0 Yes 0 0 Total 0 0

Domestic Domestic midden Domestic Appliqué Elite residence midden with burials structure Possible 4 1 0 8 Yes 1 0 0 0 Total 5 1 0 8

Elite ritual High status Public Appliqué Mound fill structure domestic midden acropolis Possible 0 3 2 0 Yes 1 2 1 0 Total 1 5 3 0

Public ceremonial Patio with Appliqué Patio surface Structure floor structure structures Possible 0 9 2 2 Yes 0 0 0 0 Total 0 9 2 2

91 Table 5.3.5: Continued

Terrace fill with Appliqué Structure wall Unknown Total burials Possible 2 3 5 41 Yes 0 00 5 Total 2 3 5 45

The wide var ie ties of con tex ts presented in Tabl e 5.3 provid e inform ation on the overlap between public and domestic spheres in the Form ative period sites of coastal Oaxaca, and perhaps on the associated figurine-related behaviors that led to the deposition of these artifacts in diverse contexts. Arthur Joyce (1991a: 81) noted that many of the Formative era figurines from Charco Redondo (a coastal Oaxacan site that did not provide artifacts for this specific thesis study) were in re-deposited mound fill. Figurines from older middens had been gathered up, along with pottery sherds and other available sedime nts, to construct the platform for a new building project. Stacy King (2003: 221) also noted that some Postclassic era sites on the Oaxaca coast prod uce figurine s and other artifacts f rom the Forma tive period in mound and terrac e fill mater ial. This process is an example of the public recycling of disused artifac ts, and o f the reinsertion of ol d material culture into pragmatic cultural use. Reg arding t he Formative period specifically, Arthur Joyce noted (1991a: 204, 286) that the site of C erro de la Cruz had a high degree of spatial and behavioral integration between eli te and commoner residencies, storag e and burial areas, and communal ritual sp ace s. The collection of iconographic ceramic artifacts from Cerro de la Cruz discussed in this thesis shows a wide variety of contexts of figurine discovery, many related to public architecture and public ceremonial platforms. One figurine from C e rro de la Cruz (artifact # 83) appears to h ave come from a burial co ntext. Du e to the exaggerate d b ellybutton and su btl y shaped chest, I interpret this figurine as fem ale (R. Joyce 2000). On the opposite end of the spectrum of contextual variability, most of the figurines from Río Viejo appear to have come from high status domestic middens. Several of the figurines from Río Viejo also came from a different kind of Chacaua phase refuse area that Arthur Joyce (1991a: 385) interpreted as a ceramic dumping ground rather than a domestic

92 midden. This designation was chosen because the feature lacked typical domestic refuse such as ash, floral and faunal remains, and shell, but had large, well- preserved ceramic sherds and vessel portions. The va riabil ity of within -site contexts for the artifacts discussed in this thesis suggests a wide variety of behaviors related to the artifacts, both in their use and in their discard.

Temporal Patterns The temporal provenience of the artifacts in this study is based on dates for the controlled contexts from which they were excavated. Coastal Oaxacan excavations performed by Arthur Joyce and colleagues aided in developing a complex regional ceramic chronology, including material culture-based subdivisions of the Formative period (A. Joyce 1991b). The vast majority of the artifacts here described date to the Late and Terminal Formative periods. Within that timeframe, smaller subcategories such as ‘Miniyua’ and ‘Minizundo’ further delineate the temporal aspect of the study. A few of the artifacts from mixed or questionable contexts may date to the Early Classic era. This conclusion is supported by the mold-produced appearance of several figurines. Many fall into transitional categories between periods. This is not to say that they necessarily have ‘middling’ morphologies, but rather that they come from mixed contexts. One figurine was even found in a unit where Formative period burial material was mixed with Late Classic midden. Several artifacts appear to date to Early or Middle Formative contexts, and a few are unspecified and generally regarded only as ‘Formative.’ For the qualitative arguments made in this thesis, it is safest to reserve most of my commentary to the Late and Terminal Formative periods, for which I have the most data. Below is a table clarifying the associations between my spreadsheet value codes and the time periods for which they stand. The figure below that is a bar graph demonstrating the relative proportions of artifacts dating to the different time periods mentioned in this thesis. Finally, a table from Arthur Joyce’s 1991 Latin American Antiquity article summarizes the ceramic chronology of the region.

93

Time Period 11 : Terminal Formative 1: Early Formative (Uncertain) 12: Miniyua/Early Classic 2: Possible Formative Transition 3: Generalized Formative Context 13: Terminal Formative/Early 4: Middle Formative Charco Phase Classic 5: Charco/Minizundo Mixed 14: Possible Early Classic 6: Late Formative Minizundo 15: Formative Burial/Early Classic 7: Minizundo/Miniyua Transition Mixed 8: Miniyua Terminal Formative 16: Terminal Form/Late Classic 9: Miniyua/Chacahua Mixed 10 : Chacahua Terminal Formative

Figure 5.1: Temporal patterns and variable key

94 Table 5.4: Ceramic chronology (Excerpt from A. Joyce 1991b: 129)

95 Sites and Geographic Patterns Sarah Barber’s 2005 doctoral dissertation provided much of the information necessary to translate the field specimen numbers of the artifacts used in this thesis into a record of which sites produced them. After entering the data from a ‘site name’ variable into the Systat® program, I was able to produce the bar graph in Figure 5.2. This simple graph demonstrates the relative numbers of artifacts that came from each site. Note that Cerro de la Virgen and Cerro de la Cruz were shortened to C dl Virgen, and C dl Cruz, respectively. The geographic patterning of the artifacts seems to fit with the basic pattern of habitation, with Río Viejo as a regional center and smaller sites, such as Corozo, Barra Quebrada, and Loma Reyes, somewhat peripheral. It is worth note, however, that Cerro de la Virgen, despite its greater distance from Río Viejo than either Yugüe or Cerro de la Cruz, produced a large share of the artifacts in this analysis, due to the excavations at the site during the PRV03 project undertaken by Sarah Barber (2005). According to analysis by Barber, Arthur Joyce, and others, Yugüe and Cerro de la Virgen may have risen as influential second tier sites under the regional center of Río Verde during the Terminal Formative period (Barber 2005: 137).

70

60

50 Total Barra Quebrada 1 t 40 n Cerro de la Cruz 51

u

o Cerro de la Virgen 34 C 30 Corozo 12 Loma Reyes 1 20 Río Viejo 68 Yugüe 62 10 Total 229 0 a z n o s jo e ad ru ge oz ye ie gu r C ir or e V u eb dl V C R o Y dl a Ri Qu C m B C Lo SITE Figure 5.2: Geographic patterns

96 With sixteen different values for the temporal provenience of the collection, the graph measuring time by site name is too crowded to show here. As a general summary, Río Viejo and Corozo have the most varied time sequences for their figurines, ranging from the Middle Formative or even earlier, all the way up to mixed Formative and Classic contexts. Cerro de la Cruz produced Charco and Minizundo era figurines, while Cerro de la Virgen had only Terminal Formative era examples. According to my analysis, Yugüe produced one possible Early or Middle Formative period artifact, while the others date to the Terminal Formative era. It is worth noting that this possibly earlier figurine, Artifact # 190, has features indicative of an Olmec-inspired artistic style. Figure 5.3 is a pen and ink illustration of the artifact. Note the cocked hat or hair bun, shared with other figurines from this collection. This artifact, and those sharing similar features, has been tentatively interpreted as indicating some level of cultural interchange with the Olmec during the Formative period. Most of the figurine heads that share similar features with the one shown below date to Terminal Formative times, and were excavated at Río Viejo, Loma Reyes, and Cerro de la Cruz.

97

Figure 5.3: Probable Olmec-inspired figurine head, from possible Early Formative period context, Yugüe

The Social Context

Gender and Biological Sex The patterns of biological sex in the figurines in this study are clear. More humans were represented in Coastal Oaxaca than animals. More females were represented among those anthropomorphs than males. These findings fit with those from archaeological studies on other Mesoamerican peoples during this time frame and later (Fernandez Pardo 1993, R. Joyce 2000). The figurines from this study were not wholly reserved for females or feminine individuals, however. Refer to the discussion chapter, where I consider figurines with possible supernatural representations of male primary sexual features. Relying on ‘fertility ritual’ as the catchall for the use context of any

98 figurine with apparent sexual characteristics is unsatisfactory (Dr. Michael Uzendoski, personal conversation 3/2007). Instead, the symbolic reproductive potential of sexualized human representations is perhaps better seen as having been an aspect of daily life in Formative period Mesoamerica. The ubiquitous deposition of overtly sexualized figurines in the archaeological deposits of coastal Oaxaca indicates that the human form, (and by extension, human productive and reproductive potential) was the subject of everyday discourse and activity. There are few reasons, it would seem, to deduce that Formative era Oaxacans had the same ‘hang-ups’ about their sexuality that modern Western society has. Human productive and reproductive bodies, with their gendered roles and sexuality as integral parts, (but only a parts), of them, were thus not involved exclusively in a hidden social commentary, but were matter of public dialogue.

Social Context and Personhood In the Chacahua Phase deposits at Yugüe, Sarah Barber (2005: 178) discovered ceramic figurines, along with other ritual and adornment goods such as ear spools and greenstone, in the context of stratified sheet middens at Operation B. The association with other types of artifacts, including items of particularly utilitarian use such as adobe building materials, broken ceramics, and utilized obsidian flakes, indicates a treatment of the figurines on a par with other, ‘typical’ items of material culture used at the site. That the midden is located somewhat removed from obvious architectural features at the site also may indicate the public, even communal use of, an d access to, this trash deposit during its formation. In Barber’s analysis (2005: 178), this midden was ‘domestic,’ and formed as a result of daily activity over the prolonged formation of the site. This information is further evidence of the open, public nature of figurine use and disposal in Formative period Oaxaca, even when it did occur in the domestic realm. The figurine itself was considered part of the daily life of the individuals who lived at the site, and was even discarded as a broken object, along with the other trash, into the midden. In another find at Yugüe, Barber’s team discovered a figurine in association with an ‘estuarine shell,’ ear spools, and a coarse brown ware cooking jar. This cache was located in the center of a floor in an apparent structure and was interpreted as deposited in situ. The jar, considered the ‘focal point’ of the artifact arrangement, was apparently left with the other

99 items, including the figurine, sitting on, or resting against it (Barber 2005: 201). This find could be interpreted in many different ways, but it may be significant in demonstrating that the division between utilitarian and ceremonial goods is a false dichotomy. Even coarse wares may have had their place in ritual and religion, for example. This collection, left in the center of a structure floor, was far from hidden, and may even have been the focal point of the room before the building collapsed. The figurines and the coarse ware pots from Coastal Oaxaca may represent an overlap between the ritual and the subsistence behaviors of the Formative period. What is perhaps most intriguing about this ritual cache is that it was left in a building, Substructure 2, which has been interpreted as a public, albeit mostly elite, ritual structure dating to the Chacaua Phase at Yugüe (Barber 2005: 204). Figurines can thus be seen as existing in domestic and public spheres at the same time, and likely were involved in their overlap. The integration of ‘private’ domestic life into the larger public sphere of interaction was perhaps the greatest purpose for figurines and small-scale iconographic art in Formative period Oaxaca. Figurine rituals themselves may have been considered ‘one more chore’ to do during the day, inextricably tied to subsistence and production behaviors. By the same token, the cooking behaviors that required a coarse ware ceramic vessel may have been more than just secular. The division between the spiritual and the worldly, it seems, is more a product of modern academic imagination than the real past, at least in Formative period Oaxaca. The construction of human identities in Formative era Oaxaca played itself out in the material culture of its inhabitants. Figurines, whether generalized archetypes or representations of specific village leaders or ancestors, served as the iconographic image du jour. By mimetically representing human form in ceramic media, coastal Oaxacans sought to co-opt the power of the represented individual, affect the represented individual (through contagious or sympathetic magic, for example), or call upon the services of the spirit world via an anthropomorphic representation (Michael Taussig 1993).

Performative Ritual Many of the artifacts studied for this thesis, including whistles, figures that may depict hallucinogenic trances, and figurines such as Artifact # 189, a probable human

100 acrobat from public ceremonial context at Yugüe, suggest a focus on the public performance element of ancient ceramic artifact related behaviors. Artifact # 148 for example, though it likely dates to the Early Classic era, carries depictions of concentric rings around the wide-open eyes that may suggest an emphasis upon sight, perhaps both literal and figurative, as in the sight into normally invisible realms that shamans may claim to possess. For these reasons, I believe this figurine may depict a shaman, perhaps one whose power was displayed in a public setting. Rings or ‘goggles’ around the eyes was also a marker of eliteness at Teotihuacán, among the ancient Maya, and elsewhere in Mesoamerica (Evans 2004: 270, 306). Whistles, many of which were formed into images of birds, make up a small but remarkable segment of the data set for this study. I argue elsewhere in this thesis that the artifacts I discuss here are an example of what Michael Taussig (1993) would call an innate human characteristic, namely the mimetic faculty. Bird whistles are a particularly strong example of this phenomenon, as they contain in their ceramic forms not only the quality of bird-like appearance, but also that of (at least potentially) a bird-like sound. In order for such features to be fully appreciated, however, the artifacts must have been used before a live audience, perhaps in the context of festivals or performative public ritual. Many of these whistles are still playable, and trained musicians could likely get results that are more impressive from such artifacts than a layperson could. This suggestion of preparation for ritual use adds another dimension to its public appeal. Perhaps students learned such skills from the musicians or shamans who came before them. Putting on a public display that most convincingly captured the essence of birds may have been one mark of success for such performances. Other figurines suggest a public performance element not by what could be directly produced with them as with the sound that emanates from a whistle, but simply by the public acts suggested by their forms. The acrobat figurine, Artifact # 148, suggests a kind of performance behavior that may well have been learned with a teacher or in solitude, but was likely intended to impress an audience. The interpretation of this artifact as an example of public ritual is supported by the context of its discovery at a public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. Some researchers equate Mesoamerican acrobat iconography, especially that representing ‘backward bent’ individuals, with shamanism (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 9/2007). Others cite

101 acrobats, along with other figurine types such as shamans and ball players, as an example of an artifact typically interred with the deceased as a burial offering (Cyphers Guillén 1993: 211). If gatherings organized for ritual or religious purposes also had a component of entertainment to them, then such behaviors seem to fall into the category of the performative aspect of ritual. In the case of Artifact # 63, a different kind of group behavior is suggested. Due in part to the proportions of the head and the body, as well as the positioning of the limbs and the figurine’s very intentional inability to stand on its feet, I have tentatively interpreted this artifact as possibly depicting a human infant. When seen from the side, as demonstrated in the artifact catalogue in the appendices, it is clear that the arms and legs extend up from the reclining figure in such a way as to render them useless. A figurine of a human infant, like those in this study that depict women in various stages of pregnancy, could be useful for public rituals or even as teaching aides in behaviors aimed at educating young mothers, celebrating reproduction and fertility, or attempting to influence the conception or health of infants in the group (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 8/2007). The relatively numerous figurines that appear to represent dogs also pose questions. If dogs represented, among other things, accompaniment on literal or symbolic journeys, then their large numbers may suggest public or at least widespread behaviors associated with travel, perhaps both in physical realms and beyond them. Who might travel to the spiritual world more frequently than a shaman trained in ritualistic and / or hallucinogenic journeys, perhaps taking the symbols of dogs along as companions (Personal conversation, Dr. Mary Pohl 8/2007)? One artifact of indeterminate origin is # 213, a possible vessel spout. The open mouth and over-stated eyes suggest a possible emphasis upon site or perhaps hallucinogenic trance. The complete vessel, if indeed it was one, suggests to Dr. Mary Pohl the presence of ceremonial beverage consumption, possibly of a chocolate drink (personal conversation, 8/2007). Communal feasting behaviors are perhaps one of the best examples of public ritual, and the collection of artifacts studied for this thesis suggests that ceramic iconography was likely an integral part of such occasions. If this vessel spout were used for beverages like chocolate, it would likely have been associated with behaviors

102 intended to build and conserve status and prestige (Dr. Mary Pohl, personal conversation 9/2007). Conclusion What key, if any, could indications of figurine use in public ritual offer for unlocking the mystery to the social utility of figurines in Formative period Oaxaca? If the domestic spheres of different households were interlocked in wider social networks of interaction with other households performing the same ritual activities, then we might reconstruct a sort of ‘public domesticity.’ If some individuals, perhaps often men, were performing rituals in open communal spaces, then it seems that the use of figurines might have been relatively ubiquitous in the settlements of Formative period Mesoamerica. Recall that figurines in Mesoamerica have been found in communal and domestic contexts, both interred intentionally and tossed into refuse piles, and represent everything from pregnant women to elites with obsidian mirrors on their heads to fantastic transitional characters (Evans 2004: 91, 93) Also recall that another Formative era people, the Olmec, buried carefully choreographed scenes of jade and serpentine stone figurines in a communal courtyard at Complex A at La Venta (Evans 2004:176-178). What we have here, I believe, is strong evidence that figurines and other small-scale iconographic artifacts were involved in patterns of ritual and social activity that merged the domestic and public spheres of Formative era life in Mesoamerica. Their forms, which often depict women, but also men, animals, and supernatural or transitional characters, serve as evidence of the primary social and ritual concerns of the people who made them. They were interested in the differences between the human sexes, and the cultural gender roles applied to them. They were interested in the animals they felt held spiritual power and in shamanistic beings who could cross the boundaries between the human and animal realms, and between the physical world and the spiritual one. They were interested in the ancestors, and the rituals offered to them, though they may have taken place in the household, served to tie together the social fabric of their settlements. The link between human material culture, performance, and identity was perhaps best stated by Victor Turner (1987: 81), who wrote of humans and performance: “If man is a sapient animal, a toolmaking animal, a self-making animal, a symbol-using animal, he is, no less, a performing animal, Homo performans,

103 not in the sense, perhaps, that a circus animal may be a performing animal, but in the sense that man is a self-performing animal—his performances are, in a way, reflexive, in performing he reveals h imself to himself.”

104 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION AND ETHNOGRAPHIC EXAMPLES

Introduction My purpose in writing this thesis is not to disagree with or somehow ‘disprove’ previous work on figurines and on Formative period social life in general. Instead, I hope that what I provide here builds upon the growing knowledge of ancient Mesoamerica, in part because the coast of Oaxaca has become the focus of scholarly interest only relatively recently. Though it may be considered a kind of archaeology that wears its subjectivity on its sleeve, figurine studies is nonetheless imperative for understanding the perspectives of past peoples. For those who think archaeologists cannot or should not attempt to reconstruct the mental lives, in addition to the material remains, of the ancient past, I reply that just because it might be difficult does not mean it should not be attempted. Small-scale iconography, perhaps more than other kinds of material culture, allowed the ancients to express their perspectives on and concerns about the world in a way that has preserved for us to study. We may be able to demonstrate few certainties about the patterns we find among these artifacts, but suggestive patterns do appear, and what we can say about them is a lot.

Correlations with Other Research Results of my analysis for this thesis have demonstrated commonalities between Río Verde Formative period figurines and those from other areas. Ligia Fernandez Pardo’s suggestion of a so-called female ‘fertility cult’ is evidenced by the greater percentage of female figurines in her collection as compared with males (Fernandez Pardo: 1993). The figurines studied in this thesis, approximately one hundred of which overlap with Fernandez Pardo’s study, show a similar ratio. Nicholas Saunders (1994: 104) discussed the pan-Mesoamerican symbol of the were-jaguar. Though such images are a hallmark of Olmec, rather than coastal Oaxacan, peoples, figurines studied for this thesis also appear to represent human-animal ‘transitional figures.’ Such an interest in

105 transitional forms not only suggests a Formative Mesoamerican interest in the ritual significance of transformation, but also a fundamentally different understanding of the differences between humans and animals. The possible human female/animal transitional figurines pictured in the appendices in figures B, C, D, and E, may serve as supporting evidence for such a claim. In addition to possible transitional figurines, purely zoomorphic artifacts were more common in the collection studied for this thesis. Even more prevalent than the zoomorphic artifacts were the anthropomorphic ones. Focus on certain animal forms in repeated representation is possibly representative of cultural beliefs regarding the importance of those animals (Winter 1989, Saunders 1994, King 2003). For Olmec peoples, ritually symbolic animals included, among others, the jaguar (Nicholas Saunders 1994). Though none of the figurines in the study for this thesis appeared to depict jaguars, several (for example, figures E through I in the appendices) may represent iconic animal figures or the transitional forms mentioned above. Zoomorphic figurines from this study may indicate animals that carried symbolic meanings for Formative period coastal Oaxacans. Other researchers (e.g. Winter 1989, Nelson 1997, and King 2003) have suggested that figurines may often have served to represent stages of human, and particularly female, life history cycles. As an interpretation of Europe’s exaggeratedly female ‘Venus Figurines,’ for example, Alexander Marshack (1972) suggested that the small, carved stone objects may have served as instructional aides presented to young females as they passed though initiation rites, during life events such as puberty (Barbara Tedlock 2005: 32). Sarah Milledge Nelson (1997: 126) has supported the life history argument by demonstrating that some anthropomorphic figurines from Mesoamerica appear to represent individuals of varying age from infant through elderly. Though some have argued that such figurines could constitute a teaching mechanism for explaining to young girls the lives that they were to lead, other interpretations of human life cycle representations are possible. Barbara Tedlock (2005: 33) has proposed her own interpretation of how some female figurines may have functioned, namely as ceremonial aides to shamans (including female shamans) who may have practiced midwifery.

106 Some of the anthropomorphic vessel appliqués from my own study represent individuals, perhaps both men and women, with their eyes closed, possibly depicting a dead person’s face. The reasons for depicting the dead on an appliqué attached to a vessel could vary. Perhaps the image represents a remembered ancestor, or even a sacrificial victim. Figures J and K, appearing in the appendices, are photographs of circular anthropomorphic vessel appliqués that appear to resemble death masks. In a way, these images may represent the final stage in the human life cycle. It appears that a deliberate artistic effort was made to represent the eyes as closed and central features of the faces. On items as small as such vessel appliqués, details that are present must have been carefully selected and were likely intentional (Ian Pawn, personal conversation 10/2006). A possible alternative to the ‘death mask’ hypothesis for these vessel appliqués is that they represent the faces of people in trance states. As Richard Schultes and Albert Hofmann (1992: 27) have demonstrated, the use of hallucinogens for magico-religious purposes is ethnographically known to be prevalent in Mexico, especially in Oaxaca, both today and in the Prehispanic past. Material culture depictions of both hallucinogens themselves, and the priests or shamans who traditionally used them, vary widely. They include the stone Aztec statue of the open-eyed, flower-covered god Xochipilli, sitting atop a carved throne strewn with the images of hallucinogenic plants and with an ‘ecstatic’ look of one having a beautiful vision carved upon his face (Schultes and Hofmann 1992: 62). In other, older contexts in Mexico, depictions of people dancing around unrealistically large psilocybic mushrooms, or even of people or animals transitioning into or out of the state of being a mushroom, have been found. In fact, according to Schultes and Hofmann (1992: 145) the present-day state of Oaxaca is now (and presumably has been for some time) the ‘center’ of the ritual use of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Barbara Tedlock (2005: 149) provided more evidence for hallucinogenic mushroom use in Oaxaca with her reference to the Mixtec Codex Vindobonensis, which depicts a female ‘healing goddess’ holding up and presumably ingesting psilocybin mushrooms as a part of a ritual. With such evidence mounting, it seems possible that the faces of those having mushroom-induced visions would be a logical choice for depiction in figurine form,

107 especially since so many examples of such artifacts have been found elsewhere in Mexico. None of the figurines in this study, in my opinion, clearly represent such images, however. It is possible that some of the anthropomorphic head fragments with elongated crania are, in fact, meant to represent a transitional form between a human and a hallucinogenic mushroom. The most likely candidate for such an interpretation would probably be Artifact # 68, shown in photographs in various places in this thesis, including the artifact catalogue in the appendices. I have elsewhere argued that this figurine may represent a phallic symbol, and I think that designation most likely, based on the figurine’s overall form, though I would stress that multiple meanings for such figurines are possible. In addition, many figurines in this thesis with large, open eyes, or even one that appears to have a big smile on his or her face (Artifact # 29), may have been related to the use of hallucinogens for ritual purposes. In the Schultes and Hofmann publication (1992: 145-149) most of the mushroom-related iconography clearly depicts the form of the mushrooms, as well as what appear to me to be the wide-open eyes of the anthropomorphic or transitional figures depicted with them. In the case of the vessel appliqués, the combination of the closed eyes and the open mouths on most of those studied for this thesis comprises a set of features that I feel supports their designation as probable death masks, rather than depictions of individuals in a trance state. Claims made in this thesis about gender, sexuality, and the patterns of biological sex representation in the figurine collection are supported by biological sex estimations involving what appear to be pregnant abdomens and secondary sexual characteristics such as breasts. In the absence of markers of biological sex, I reverted to ethnographically demonstrated masculine and feminine gender markers, such as ornate female hair patterns (as suggested by Rosemary Joyce 2000). Although I was much less certain about sex estimations based on gender markers, I nonetheless felt that such interpretations should be attempted wherever possible, so I could say the most about the patterns in the artifact collection. My criticism of applying modern ideologies regarding gender onto the ancient past is supported by research such as that of Marit Munson (2000). She argued that Prehispanic cultures in the New World likely did not share modern Western divisions of ‘male’ and ‘female’ as directly tied to biological sex. Figures 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 are examples of these statements.

108 Finally, my discussion of the contentious nature of possible Olmec influence in Formative period Oaxaca is supported by figurines from the collection studied for this thesis that may show some modified Olmec artistic influences. Images 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, and 6.8 may follow Olmec artistic styles, though ‘down-the-line’ and direct contact between ancient peoples who may share artistic elements are at times difficult to differentiate (Jeffrey Blomster, personal conversation 6/2006). In addition, it is important to note that any Olmec influence on the Late Formative era Oaxacan coast would have had to travel across both space and time, as the Olmec flourished in the Early and Middle Formative periods.

Figure 6.1: Probable female figurine, as established by ornate hair pattern and headgear (Artifact # 147)

109

Figure 6.2: Probable female figurine, as established by shape of ‘pregnant’ abdomen (Artifact # 136)

Figure 6.3: Fragment of large hollow-bodied female figurine, as established by representation of breast (Artifact # 142)

110

Figure 6.4: Image from Classic Mimbres Pottery combining masculine and feminine attributes (Munson 2000: 132)

111 Figure 6.5, 6.6: Two possible ‘Olmec-inspired’ figurine heads with off-center hat or hairstyle (Artifacts # 14, 190)

112

Figures 6.7, 6.8: Photo and illustration of possible ‘Olmec-inspired’ figurine fragment with remnants of off-center head feature (Artifact # 70)

113 Departures from Other Research

Context: Place, Time, and Behavior The highland Valley of Oaxaca has been home to seminal archaeological research since as early as Guillermo Dupaix’s studies of Monte Albán and Mitla in the early nineteenth century (Marcus 1978: 178). Commissioned by the king of Spain to record the material culture of the crown’s acquired lands, Dupaix’s subjects included Maya ruins such as Palenque, in addition to Oaxacan antiquities (Lothrop 1929: 55). Despite the relatively early beginnings of research in the highlands, archaeology on the Oaxacan coast has been a relatively recent addition to Mesoamerican studies (Winter 1989: 5-6). Ligia Fernandez Pardo’s thesis from 1993 studied approximately 100 of the same figurines that are included in my own study. Because excavation in the Río Verde valley has continued at a rapid pace since the early 1990s, I was able not only to study figurines previously unavailable for detailed analysis but also to select from newly expanded collections specifically those that are believed to hail from Formative period contexts. This temporal framework serves not only to circumscribe the study for the purposes of a Master’s thesis but also to focus my inquiries and conclusions on the complex social changes that are a hallmark of the Formative period. Though previous researchers have clearly considered how figurines functioned in social context, I attempt here to tie archaeological analysis of figurines with sociocultural personhood theory in ways that I hope are unique. This thesis is intended to both expand upon and review past work on figurines and their uses. The example of behaviors dating to the Mesoamerican Formative period serves as a microcosm for potential applications to understanding behaviors in other places and times where fundamental social changes lead to reorganizations of material culture and associated behaviors.

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality: Why Forget the Men? Several figurines from this study fit the Formative era pan-Mesoamerican trend of representing females in various life history stages, including adulthood and pregnancy, and possibly even death. One example is the ‘transitional’ form (Artifact # 35) that appears to have both human female and animal characteristics, thus solidifying its place

114 in the dubious category of ‘supernatural’ representation, likely for ceremonial use involving converging identities. With such focus on markers of the female sex, it seems logical that at least some of the figurines might have been made in the interest of forming a balance, perhaps by amplifying their ‘maleness.’ In such a case, one could not immediately make the claim for a marker of ritual fertility behaviors, but the possibility does come to mind. In her treatment of women’s ritual behaviors in Formative era Oaxaca, Joyce Marcus (1998) focused on women’s bodies, hairstyles, clothing, and life histories as portrayed in ceramic form. The secondary sexual characteristics of the figurines in her study are used as a piece of evidence that helps to infer their intended culturally mandated gender and therefore the social context of which they were a part. Marcus stated that the figurines in her study, most of which were Early and Middle Formative period in date, were intended for use in ritual behaviors taking place at the household level of social organization and which called upon the spirits of the ancestors for their aid in daily life (Marcus 1998: 3). Marcus did mention that male figurines, while less prevalent, were nonetheless a sizable part of the material culture of the Formative period Oaxacans. When it comes to interpreting which ones are representative of biological males, however, she relies mostly on clothing and a lack of secondary female sexual characteristics such as breasts. In other words, markers of gender are used to interpret sex, perhaps a necessary inferential leap in the absence of other evidence. In many cases, however, the interpretation of male or masculine figurines is not taken far enough in Mesoamerican figurine studies. Head fragments with elaborate hairstyles are rapidly interpreted as being gendered feminine, or even assumed to be biologically female, while those that are depicted with possibly masculine clothing and a lack of secondary sexual characteristics are often left un-interpreted, at least in publication (Marcus 1998: 158). Despite many studies focused on women’s ritual and female figurines in Mesoamerica, few seem interested in their apparently male counterparts. While figurines with exaggerated breasts or pregnant bellies are seen as possible evidence for birthing ceremonies, celebrations of female reproductive wealth, or even a Prehispanic ‘sex-ed’ class, examples of possible male ‘fertility icons’ are overlooked and, in my opinion, suppressed in publication. One example garnered from this thesis may be a figurine with

115 an exaggerated head shape, one that seems to go beyond the possibilities that an unusual hairstyle or headgear accoutrement could afford. Joyce Marcus did find some possible evidence of ‘tabular deformation’ of head fragments on what she called ‘male figurines,’ but when faced with a more stylized, exaggerated head fragment, she neglected to make a bolder claim about its possible meaning. A figurine fragment with humanoid facial features and an elongated head is interpreted as representing possible cranial deformation (Marcus 1998: 305). With so many examples of female bodies and overt attempts to portray female reproductive fertility via exaggerated breasts and hips, as well as depictions of infants (Marcus 1998: 58, 74), it seems strange that no counterpart can be found for the males or those gendered as masculine. Marcus’ interpretation of the ‘cranial deformation’ of this skull seems to miss another possible meaning of the figurine. A similar figurine from the collection used in my own study shares many of the features of that from Marcus’ work. The elongated head, I would argue, was at least partly intended to evoke the image of primary male sexual characteristics. Coupled with the exaggerated facial features, even compared with the other head fragments from the same context, this supernatural combination of sexual organs and a human head causes me to believe that, if Formative era Oaxacans were ritually celebrating female reproductive capacity, they were likely doing the same for males. Below are the illustrations of the figurine from Marcus’ publication (figure 6.9, an excerpt from Michael Whalen 1981) and my own illustration of temporary Artifact # 68, the figurine from this thesis study. Note that both appear to share similar head, nose, ear, and mouth shape. In addition, the interpretation of the figurine from my study (Figure 6.10) as ‘male’ is further supported by the apparent depiction of a beard. I wish to make no grand or sweeping claims about these figurines, only to argue that interpreting male reproductive fertility in Formative period Oaxacan ceramic iconography is no more a stretch than is doing so for females. I should note that other researchers may not share my interpretation of Artifact # 68 as depicting at once both a human head and a penis. The striations that accompany the unusual shape may also be hair or perhaps part of some headgear worn by the character represented (Dr. Arthur Joyce, personal conversation 6/2006). To this suggestion, I would reply that figurines could easily mean more than one thing at a time. Ancient

116 Mesoamericans were certainly capable of symbolism and allusion, and a depiction of an exaggerated hairstyle could be intended to evoke other images as well.

Figure 6.9: Figurine with possible ‘cranial deformation’ (from Marcus 1998: 305)

117

Figure 6.10: Image of a Terminal Formative Miniyua era figurine from domestic structural context at Río Viejo with possible primary male sexual characteristics as part of the head (Joyce 1999)

118 Ethnographic Accounts: The Production of Kinship and Personhood The projection of kinship systems, both genetic and symbolic, onto the material record requires a concept of self, and of how others relate to that ‘self.’ Aparecida Vilaça (2002: 347) has argued that, in the specific case of some ethnographically known Amazonian peoples such as the Wari’ of Western Amazonia, human identities are also forged in constant communication with the spiritual realm. This system of human, animal, and spiritual entities forms a sort of cosmic ‘kinship,’ in which all constituent parts play some key role in relation or structural opposition to the others. Figurines, I argue, serve as a means for humans to act out this symbolic interplay of entity juxtaposition. By constructing the ceramic representations of the humans, animals, and supernatural forms they consider key members of the cosmic kinship system, humans, in some way, have attempted to insert themselves as the active organizing or controlling force in the interaction. Paradoxically, the placement of human figurines alongside those of other entities indicates that humans saw themselves as really just one part of the larger cosmic network that included animals and supernatural creatures. Vilaça (2002: 347) also wrote that, for the Wari', an infant’s body becomes human by being constructed as such throughout its growing up in the context of the social group. In other words, culture creates human bodies, not just the other way around. Returning once again to figurines, it would seem that the clay allows for the construction of the human and non-human body with even greater plasticity than living flesh. The act of making the figurine enculturated the clay, just as the raising of a child enculturated the human body. Piers Vitebsky’s (2005) ethnographic study of the Eveny people of Siberian Russia has demonstrated that traditional shamans in the region sometimes ritually initiate a reindeer hide drum by mimetically consecrating it with the spiritual forces carried in a small representation of the animal itself. The little temporary figurine is constructed from the droppings, broken twigs, and other “material traces of [reindeer] existence,” and mimetically carries the vitality of the animal. When the shaman anoints the figurine with the ‘water of life,’ that essence or power is transferred once again, this time into the drum, which is now ready for use (Taussig 1993, Vitebsky 2005:13). Anthropological research in the New World has encountered other examples of shamanistic uses of figurines. As in the Siberian case, these figurines of the Americas serve as vessels for

119 spiritual power that can be transferred into other bodies, and used to accomplish the magica l goals of the shaman. The works of ethnographers and ethnologists interested in Amazonia, including Claude Lévi-Strauss (1963), David Guss (1989), and Vilaça (2002), have demonstrated that many Amerindian peoples conceive of the world as consisting not only of physical bodies, but also of spirit doubles for all corporeal objects. This spiritual realm is removed from the physical world, but always remains close, almost within reach. In the case of the purba, or the spiritual double in the Kuna cosmology, many types of magical acts, performed by human or spiritual agents, can affect the health of the physical body and associated state of the double in spirit realm (Lévi-Strauss 1963: 187-90). In cases where help is needed in the spiritual realm, such as in the taming of the overactive purba of Muu, or the spiritual force residing in the uterus, a shaman may call upon the spiritual realm (in this case using figurines) to set things right and assist the woman’s troubled childbirth (Lévi-Strauss 1963: 188). These forms of sympathetic or contagious magic, wrote Michael Taussig, often utilize iconographic representations of people, animals, or even spirits in order to affect the represented entity (Taussig 1993: 7, 51-52). The shaman has the ability to perform these magical rites that call upon the image of entities perceived to be powerful, in order to harness their potential for magical purposes. I argue that Formative era Oaxacan figurines, at least in some cases, may have been a conduit through which spiritual seers or healers could contact and affect represented individuals in the spiritual world, or even in the corporeal world, through sympathetic or contagious magic. Perhaps the supernatural figures and animals selected for representation in some of these figurines were meant to embody or comment upon those magical abilities. Using a combination of ethnographic studies and archaeological reconstruction, Joyce Marcus (1998: 11-23) argued that Formative era Oaxacans, at least in the highland valley of that region, were performing rituals reconstructed as ‘water divination,’ and communion with their ancestors. The ancestor-related rituals may have been concerned not only with recently deceased, and therefore well-remembered ancestors, but also with more conceptually generalized ‘distant’ ancestors. Much like Taussig’s (1993: 51-52) notion of the ‘poorly executed ideogram,’ or a mimetic copy that need not truly look like the emulated entity in order to capture its power, Marcus noted that the figurines need not

120 have specifically looked like the ancestors themselves. In fact, even the deceased may have been represented in figurine form as relatively young and healthy (Marcus 1998: 21). What appears to have been more significant about the representative nature of these figurines is that they were intended to represent someone, and therefore did so. Marcus wrote that many of the Formative era figurines from highland Oaxaca were somewhat generalized because ‘ancestor’ itself was a generalized “collective category not unlike that of ‘elder.’ In addition, women were likely the ones not only represented in, but constructing these figurines because “communication with the ancestors is a woman’s role,” and because male ancestors have their memory honored elsewhere, female ancestors are “to be ritually cared for in the household” (Marcus 1998: 23).

Conclusion At the outset of this thesis, I claimed to propose a cultural context in which Oaxacan figurines may have functioned, as suggested and supported by the available archaeological evidence from this project and similar ones. Ceramic figurines are ubiquitous in Formative period archaeological deposits along the coast of Oaxaca. Joyce Marcus (1998: 2), in discussing Formative era figurines of the Oaxacan highlands, has stated that “among the most common ritual artifacts of Early and Middle Formative Mesoamerican villages were small, solid, ceramic figurines, which were made by the thousands.” While figurines originated in earlier times, both in the Old World and the New, the pattern of use, discard, and deposition in multiple areas of increasingly sedentary villages solidified during the Formative period. Figurines must therefore be considered more than restricted-access items in the toolkit of highly specialized ritual leaders, but rather a mainstay in the symbolic life of average, as well as elite individuals. This pattern of figurine use is not specific to Formative era Oaxaca, but corresponds to similar social and material culture developments in many other parts of Mesoamerica, and has thus been termed a ‘pan-Mesoamerican pattern’ (Drennan 1976: 353, Dr. Mary Pohl 2006: lecture). The Oaxacan figurines themselves have been found deposited in numerous contexts including stratified trash middens, dispersed or ‘sheet’ trash middens, near architectural remains, and in public areas. Formative period figurines are found both in deliberate caches alongside other carefully placed ritual items such as worked stone,

121 and in situations indicating they were discarded after breaking (Barber 2005: 178, 201). The contextual data that supports my argument about the wide-spread use of figurines in Formative period coastal Oaxaca can be found in the introduction and in the qualitative analysis chapter. The chapter to follow presents a brief conclusion about the results of my analysis and my arguments about ancient figurine use, and the use of other related artifacts studied for this thesis. A brief hypothetical reconstruction of the cultural context in which these figurines played an integral role is located in the epilogue. Along with archaeological information, I have called upon ethnographic examples from the Kuna and the Wari’, as well as Michael Taussig’s (1993) notion of sympathetic and contagious magic (through the medium of the human mimetic faculty), to argue that figurines were a communal object and a material culture manifestation of the Oaxacan worldview. They served not just as representations of their intended subjects, but also as a physical expression of a general theory regarding the spiritual world, one in which the spirits could be called upon to join the corporeal realm by residing in the temporary vessel of the ceramic figurine. The set of behaviors and beliefs I argue are related to ceremonial figurine use included moments of subsistence and production, as well as those of human life history events, communal ritual, ancestor worship via anthropomorphic figurines and vessel appliqués, and domestic ritual that served to tie together the households in a settlement through a sort of communal domesticity. The circumstances of figurine discard are also worth considering. Rather than existing in purely religious contexts, the prevalence of these artifacts in middens, mound fills, architectural features, and even burials suggests that they served the role of incorporating the spiritual world into both ritual and (presumably) secular behavior. In order to conceive of this relationship, we must recall that many populations in the world have probably lacked the sharp dichotomy between the religious and the profane that many people feel exists in the modern Western world. I argue that figurines represent the interests of an ancient people who sought not only to depict the world around them, but also to mimetically capture the essence of humans, animals, ancestor spirits, and perhaps characters from a religious pantheon, through the production of what Rosemary Joyce has called "small-scale inscriptional media," (R. Joyce 2000, Taussig 1993). Purely representing something does not imbue the depiction

122 with any sort of power. Michael Taussig’s writings about mimesis suggest that certain kinds of ethnographically known representational behaviors attempt to co-opt the power or essence of the signified entity and imbue it into the mimetic copy, often for purposes of magically wielding that power to shamanistic ends (Taussig 1993). I follow other researchers in suggesting that figurine use may have been related to birthing and female life history events, perhaps as a way to call for aid from the spirits of female ancestors through their mimetic figurine representations (Winter 1989, Taussig 1993, Nelson 1997). Sarah Nelson (1997: 126) has noted that many ancient ceramic figurines represent women in varying stages of their life, from young to old. Figurines in the collection studied for this thesis appear to represent simplified female bodies in varying stages of pregnancy (Figures L, M, and N). Childbirth has long been a dangerous time in human history, as the risk of complications makes for a bottleneck of natural selection, causing many women to die at a young age. Arlen Carey and Joseph Lopreato (1995: 624) have stated that “in some parts of the world, even today one-forth or more of adult female deaths are accounted for by maternal mortality.” I believe it is likely that a feeling of urgency and even danger during this precarious time in women’s lives was transferred, in many cases, into the sociocultural treatment of childbirth by the entire group. By requesting assistance from the ancestor spirits, shamans, midwives, or whoever aided in the birth, may have attempted to prevent complications by using figurines to intervene magically on a woman’s behalf. Below, I will discuss Claude Lévi- Strauss’ ethnological study of the Kuna myth of ‘Muu’s way’ as an example of medicinal figurine use during childbirth.

123 CHAPTER 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: RECONSTRUCTING FORMATIVE PERIOD FIGURINE USE

My analysis of two hundred and twenty-nine ceramic figurines, whistles, and iconographic vessel appliqués from the lower Río Verde valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, has resulted in the discovery of several discernable patterns in the collection. I infer that these artifacts serve as a more or less representative sample of the Late and Terminal Formative period (400 BC – 250 AD) figurines in the area, and they may relate to other patterns across Mesoamerica. Approximately seventy percent of the objects in the study are figurines. There are fewer whistles and only a handful of appliqués. Of those clearly representing human or animal forms, most of the figurines appear to be anthropomorphic, with a sizable minority of zoomorphs. Some artifacts are simply too fragmentary to identify, though many are most likely limb fragments broken off anthropomorphic figurines. It may be that the fragmentary nature of this collection was partially intentional, especially if destruction of a figurine was part of the ceremony for its disposal. Of the anthropomorphic figurines, most appear to have represented biological females or those gendered as feminine. The interpretation of biological sex in the study is based on secondary sexual characteristics and interpretations of body and facial forms. The interpretation of gender in this study is based largely on hair and clothing styles. In the absence of biological indicators, gender has been considered the ‘next best thing’ to describe the composition of the collection. H umans pay attention to the world around them in ways that vary by cultural background, individual personality, temporal context, and other factors. Regarding linguistic categories, Franz Boas (1910: 376) wrote that “the selection of simple terms must to a certain extent depend upon the chief interests of a people.” In addition, fundamental religious notions such as the spiritual essences of inanimate objects and “the anthropomorphic character of animals,” are likely housed deep in the unconscious, and express themselves through language categories (Boas 1910: 376-377). I would argue that ceramic iconography, much like language, expressed these interests, concerns, and

124 assumptions about the world. The animals represented are those that not only occurred in the ecological surroundings of a people, but were also those perceived to carry spiritual power or cultural symbolism. Human forms may have been represented, at least on some occasions, in an attempt to give a physical vessel to a spiritual force, as was likely the case in the ancestor remembrance I believe was associated with the curation of anthropomorphic vessel appliqués. By allowing the noncorporeal to return to the physical world in order to assist in daily activities such as protecting households, Formative era Oaxacans demonstrated their beliefs about the interplay of physical and spiritual realms. The spirits, in this case, may have been seen as capable of providing guidance in daily activities. Those activities might have included agriculture, food production, interacting with the natural environment, aiding in childbirth, giving general advice, assisting in the hunt, bringing luck to warriors and ballplayers, production, household ceremony, public performative events, and other activities in which the nonphysical world was seen as capable of helping the physical one. Humans, by their very nature, are self-reflective creatures, sometimes to the point of obsession. By representing animals and humans in ceramic form, ancient Oaxacans demonstrated what they noticed or cared about from the world around them. Birds, turtles, dogs, and people, along with their fantastic hairstyles, clothing, and jewelry, were all aspects of Formative period Oaxacan life that imprinted themselves on the minds of figurine makers. Acrobats, pregnant women, and possibly Olmec style figures thought to have some sort of legitimacy, even as far away both temporally and geographically from the Olmec as Late Formative era coastal Oaxaca was, were present in the peoples’ thoughts. Possibly supernatural figures, such as ‘transitional’ forms that appear, like the were-jaguars of the ancient Olmec, to show some stage in a transformation between human and animal identity, combine elements of the natural and cultural worlds. In this way, we can see that the ancient Oaxacans did not partition the natural world into the conveniently demarcated categories of which modern Western society is so fond (Nicholas Saunders: 1994). In addition to their use in magical or religious behaviors, however, it is worth keeping in mind that some figurines may have been children’s toys, decoration, or merely someone’s use of a bit of extra clay before ceramic vessels were fired (Kamp 2001: 427). In addition, we must recall that in some ethnographically and

125 archaeologically known societies, the separation between the secular and religious, the political and the economic, and cultural and natural aspects of life may not have been drawn in such sharp contrast as they are for many of us today. In fact, our own concept of the separation between secular and spiritual may be an exaggerated false dichotomy. Superstition hides in the shadows of ‘modern’ religions and in the cracks and crevices of our ‘civilized’ society. Animal species, both wild and domesticated, are recurrent characters in the figurine collection studied for this analysis. The proportion of male and female figurines among the anthropomorphs is also a pattern worth discussing, and one that elicits several comments. First, gender and biological sex do not correlate on a one-to-one basis. In fact, anthropologists now know that many ancient societies did not share with us our modern Western system of two recognized genders, each conveniently packaged within a biological sex (Nelson 1997, Munson 2000). For this reason, I have chosen to rely on interpretation of biological sex wherever possible, and on gender secondarily, for the figurines discussed here. I make interpretations of the intended biological sex of a figurine based on primary or secondary sexual characteristics, and occasionally on subjective analysis of body or facial structure. Gender is interpreted on the basis of culturally influenced elements such as clothing and hairstyles. Second, generalized or androgynous humanness, rather than specific genders or biological sexes, may often have been the intended identity of a ceramic figurine (R. Joyce 2000). Finally, the pattern I have described suggests a people to some degree preoccupied with the female form, the female social identity, or the female life history pattern. While others have considered this interest in femaleness a ‘hidden,’ or somehow subverted comment upon the roles of women in a presumed androcentric society, I argue that the prolific nature of ‘female’ figurines in the archaeological record suggests a public dialogue about biological femaleness and cultural femininity, and where these aspects of an individual fitted in the social system. These figurines were probably common in homes, in public and private ritual spaces, sitting atop trash heaps, piled in corners, tossed into burials, thrown around and played with by children, trodden under foot, mixed into mound fill sediments, and generally existing as an integral part of the daily routine of the average Formative era Oaxacan. We cannot say that they were exclusively used by or

126 constructed by women or by any other subset of society. Though they represent higher proportions of human women than anything else, the fact remains that their iconographic representations vary widely, and they were likely in some way present at practically all behaviors that took place in the village, even if that sometimes meant they were only part of the backdrop. Michael Taussig’s (1993) notion of mimesis, borrowed from the work of Walter Benjam in (1936), is perhaps among the most powerful tools for interpreting the patterns of representation in iconographic artifact collections and for reconstructing the artifacts’ original sociocultural context. In the case of the collection studied for this thesis, for example, patterns of dog and bird depictions are a window into the interests of the people who made them. In mimesing the natural world, the ancient Oaxacans created a stylized collection of dog figurines. The dog figurines seem to have been made in a standardized fashion, using fine gray clay, carefully burnished surfaces, and a standardized stylistic form. In constructing the dog figurines, the ancient Oaxacans may have been representing them as domesticates, as companions to the Underworld, as a food source, or as some combination of these (Coe and Diehl 1980, Marcus 1998: 1). Similarly, the bird figurines in the collection are examples of mimetic images inspired by the natural world. Bird whistles serve as a particularly good example of mimetically seeking to capture the essence of something, as they not only look, but also sound like the creatures they represented. In addition, birds were seen in ancient Mesoamerica as powerful aspects of divination rites amongst the Zapotec, and as a symbol for speech amongst the Olmec (Marcus 1998: 12, Pohl 2002). Mimesing specific or archetypal ancestors may also have been a concern of the coastal Oaxacans. In using figurines or even anthropomorphic vessel appliqué discs to commune with the deceased, the people of the Oaxacan coast may have sought to give a temporary ceramic form to spiritual entities they believed existed around them. That the anthropomorphic vessel appliqués, which look somewhat like ‘death masks,’ appear to have been intentionally removed from their original contexts and curated is further evidence that the image they carried was of specific interest to the possessor. Finally, patterns of female and male anthropomorphic figurines, and of supernatural beings such as transitional creatures, may reflect the patterns of social interaction and spiritual beliefs of the time.

127 Within-site context and reconstruction of artifact use The most succinct summary of the results for this thesis I can provide is that evidence is presented here demonstrating that figurines and other small-scale iconographic artifacts were involved, likely as focal points, in patterns of ritual and social activity that merged the domestic and public spheres of Formative era life in Mesoamerica. The information on within-site context of the artifacts discussed here can serve as a proxy for artifact use and discard. Domestic contexts such as middens and residential structures contained figurines in most sites for which I have domestic data. In addition, public contexts such as ceremonial structures, acropolis contexts, and even mound fill also produced figurines and related iconographic artifacts. The defining characteristic of figurine use was thus one of multiplicity rather than restriction. Public and private spheres overlapped, as did the material culture repertoires associated with them. The notion of a ‘public domesticity’ functioning on the ancient Oaxacan coast may sound like an oxymoron, but it perhaps explains how the social life of households had to adapt to include larger and larger spheres of interaction as sedentary villages became more established in Mesoamerica. In order to live in such close proximity to one another, ancient Oaxacans had to find a way to turn their individual ritual and social concerns into communal ones. The figurines and iconographic artifacts studied here depicted women, men, animals, and supernatural or transitional characters. They serve as evidence of the primary social and ritual concerns of the people who made them. The ancient Oaxacans were interested in the differences between the human sexes, and in the cultural gender roles applied to them. They demonstrated this interest by forming ceramic images of women in greater numbers than any other specific kind of image recovered from the coastal sites. Intriguingly, this pattern fits with those of other contemporaneous collections, demonstrating that this concern for ‘femaleness’ or femininity was a pan- Mesoamerican trend. The ancient Oaxacans were interested in the animals they felt held spiritual power and in shamanistic beings who could cross the boundaries between the human and animal realms, and between the physical world and the spiritual one. These beliefs are demonstrated by the recurring, stylized zoomorphic figurines and whistles in the collection, many of which (like birds and dogs) are related to Mesoamerican belief

128 structures at large. They were interested in the ancestors, something perhaps best represented by the curated anthropomorphic face appliqués that were a small but intriguing aspect of the artifact collection. The ritual behaviors that involved these artifacts may have included ancestral worship and female rights of passage, among many other things. Though some figurine-related behaviors likely took place in the household, the evidence I have presented suggests that practices in the domestic sphere served to tie together the public social fabric of Formative era settlements on the Oaxacan coast.

129 EPILOGUE: DAILY LIFE IN FORMATIVE PERIOD OAXACA I have argued that Formative period figurines on the Oaxacan coast served as a medium for the projection of notions of personhood and identity in material culture. Brief references to ethnohistorical accounts support my arguments about the potential association between figurines and the spirit realm. These figurines formed part of a material culture involved with daily group activities and a communal dialogue regarding such issues as gender, culturally proscribed behaviors, belief, and identity in Formative period Oaxaca. Perhaps the only way to imagine how these figurines fit into their social structure is to fit them into a story that includes all the material remains and archaeological data available to us, with one crucial element that has gone missing thus far: the people themselves. Archaeology can say much about general and long-term trends of social change in the human past, but, with some notable exceptions in the realm of historical archaeology, we often fall short when it comes to telling the stories of the individuals behind the artifacts. A child growing up in a village on the Oaxacan coast during the Formative period would have done so before the state-level societies of the Postclassic era began to have pervasive effects on her peoples’ lives. The highland Zapotec state centered at Monte Albán may have been rapidly developing by the time many of the figurines analyzed here were made, however, and the sphere of the Zapotecs’ influence would have almost certainly extended to the coast, at least as a means of exchange of goods and ideas. The results of contact with their highland neighbors can perhaps be seen in the coastal people’s representations of what appear to be human heads in an artistic style reminiscent of the Olmec. Perhaps these coastal people acquired their knowledge of this widespread iconographic style through down-the-line trade of ideological, as well as material goods with their highland neighbors the Zapotecs, or perhaps through some other means, such as traders operating along the Pacific coast. More archaeological evidence linking the trade patterns of these Formative era regions of Mesoamerica would be necessary to make such an argument.

130 The day of a child growing up in a coastal Oaxacan village during the Late Formative period would begin by eating breakfast with members of her family in the thatched, wattle-and-daub house. Her mother, perhaps with the help of her father and her siblings, would use the stone slab hearth, suspended above the packed dirt floor like a low table, to make a breakfast of maize tlayudas with a seasoned mash of squash, chilés, and maybe, if they were lucky, some iguana meat. The cooked maize products they ate contained tiny fragments of stone grit from the metates used to grind their food that would begin to wear their teeth away, even when they were still young. Some of the indigenous people in the region eat much the same food today. Their morning meal would be presided over not only by extended members of the living family, but also by figurines lining the shelves or suspended from the roof of the hut by leather straps running through the center of them. The figurines represented female ancestors, religious or mythical characters, or even political leaders in the developing social hierarchy of the times. During the girl’s day, she would help her family members to do the chores or care for her younger siblings. The little girl wanted to run and play with the older children, especially sometimes the boys, but the elders in her village seemed to have strong ideas about what girls and women were supposed to do and what the boys and men were supposed to do. She felt she had no right to question them, because they were the old and wise ones, and she was just a young girl. Her mother told her once that the ancestors could watch everything they were doing, and that sometimes their spirits came to live on earth for a time by inhabiting the tiny versions of them made out of cooked clay. It did not matter if the figurine looked like the ancestor or not, only that the figurine was meant to represent the ancestor. The girl asked her mother what the ancestor spirits wanted with visiting them, since they had all the freedom they could ever ask for as spirits, able to travel to far and distant places, and without the rules of the world to tether them. Her mother responded that sometimes they wanted to help. When a woman had a baby, for instance, it was best that her female ancestors watch over her, so they could insure that no mischief was caused by evil spirits who might want to intrude and cause the young mother harm. When the people went to war or played at a ball game, it was best that ancestor spirits watch over them, too. Other times, the ancestors wanted to watch over

131 their living descendants to ensure that traditions were upheld. There were ways of preparing the food, of building a home, of leaving ritual offerings that must be maintained in order for them to be effective. There must not be too rapid a change from the old times, especially now that the people of the coast, who had once wandered and hunted, were living in one place on the ground and growing maize. The girl also learned that figurines could affect the living. If a person had a figurine version of him or herself, and the proper steps were taken to ensure that a link was formed between the person and the representation, then harm or good could be done to that person through harming or benefiting the figurine. Throughout her day, the little girl saw figurines in different peoples’ homes, in public spaces, in offerings, in piles of garbage, and all around the village. Some were being used, and others were broken and forgotten, no longer able to house spirits or help in magic because they themselves were no longer complete. Some of the figurines wore real strips of clothing or had painted surfaces. Others even wore real jewelry. Their ceramic bodies represented all sorts of activities and poses. When the daughter asked her mother why there were such strict rules about what girls and boys were supposed to do with their time, the mother simply replied: “Let them confer with a figurine of your grandmother. Put it out for all to see. She will tell the old men that no woman in our family, even one so small as you, is to be cast about like a broken metate. We are a strong family. Your grandmother’s spirit will show them that. Go and make a figurine so her spirit can visit us. They will see.”

132

Figure 7.1: Watercolor of Artifact # 70

133 APPENDIX A: FIGURINE VARIABLES

Research Variable Explanation Time Period Separating artifacts by major time period (i.e. Middle, Late, and Terminal Formative) may allow for diachronic study Site Name/Provenience Dividing up artifacts by site may allow for study of geographic patterns Field Specimen Number Allows for provenience within site Temporary study ID number Temporary figurine number assigned for the purposes of this study Photo # Number assigned for photographs Illustration # Number assigned for illustrations of selected figurines Anthropomorph Denotes figurines with human or human- like appearance Zoomorph Denotes figurines with animal or animal- like appearance Transitional/other Denotes pieces representing figures in transition between human and animal form, as well as ‘other’ or indeterminate forms Possible deity/supernatural Obviously a very subjective variable. This category nonetheless exists to record figurines that do not fit into the other categories, and which seem to have served some sort of ritual purpose or to represent a supernatural image Multiple figures Denotes figurines depicting more than one figure, such as adults holding children

134 Completeness Separates complete from incomplete or fragmentary specimens Whistle Denotes ceramic whistles, many of which share features in common with figurines Effigy Appliqué (from vessel) Denotes fragments of vessel appliqués or vessel fragments (such as sherds) which represent some human or animal feature Solid-bodied Refers to solid-bodied construction of figurine or fragment Hollow-Bodied Refers to hollow-bodied construction of figurine or fragment Mold-made elements Refers to mold-formed construction of figurine or fragment. May indicate that the figurine is newer than Formative period Head Denotes apparent head fragments Body/torso Denotes body or torso fragments Extremities Denotes apparent limbs or extremities Biological sex Denotes sex of figures represented, where it can be determined. In some cases this is an educated guess Accoutrements Any item of clothing, weaponry, tool, or other object with which figure is depicted Activity or Pose Depicted May allow for study of activities associated with figurine use, if visible Height/length Simple measurement in millimeters Width Simple measurement in millimeters Thickness Simple measurement in millimeters Weight Simple measurement in grams Temper Temper type may allow for study of figurine origin and/or construction

135 technique Paste Ceramic typology designation determined by color of paste, coarseness of temper, etc. Firing Technique This may allow for figurine sourcing and study of manufacture techniques Munsell color designation Color of ceramics (taken from the object’s surface) can tell us about firing technique, slip, origin, and use of figurines Slip/Wash/Paint Allows for study and comparison of any intentional pigmentation of the figurine Fingerprint # A number tying the fingerprint sample to the figurine from which it was taken Notes This section allows me to record any features of the figurine missed by the above variables. Often written in note or sentence form, these observations give me a chance to guess at what was represented in a figurine, what purpose it may have served, etc. Obviously a very subjective category

136 APPENDIX B: IMAGES

Figure A: Map of Lower Río Verde Valley from Joyce, Bustamante, and Levine 2001: 346

137

138

Figures B, C, D: Illustration and Photos of Artifact # 35 (A probable ‘Transitional’ figurine combining anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features)

139

Figure E: Artifact # 166, unknown animal or transitional figurine

Figure F: Probable bat head effigy from a ceramic vessel (Artifact # 65)

140

Figure G: Turtle effigy whistle (Artifact # 36)

141

Figure H: Complete bird effigy whistle (Artifact # 164)

Figure I: Probable dog figurine (Artifact # 173)

142

Figure J: Probable vessel appliqué with eyes closed, possibly in death (Artifact # 34)

Figure K: Probable vessel appliqué with eyes closed, possibly in death (Artifact # 60)

143

Figure L: Probable female figurine, as established by ornate hair pattern and headgear (Artifact # 147)

Figure M: Probable female figurine, as established by shape of ‘pregnant’ stomach (Artifact # 136)

144

Figure N: Fragment of large hollow-bodied female figurine, as established by representation of breast (Artifact # 142)

Figure O: Image from Classic Mimbres Pottery combining ‘male’ and ‘female’ attributes (Munson 2000: 132)

145

Figures P&Q: Possibly ‘Olmec-inspired’ figurine head with off-center hat or hairstyle and down- turned mouth

Figure R: Possibly ‘Olmec-inspired’ figurine head with off-center hat or hairstyle

146

Figure S: El Exconvento de Cuilapan

Figure T: The Lab Space at Cuilapan

147 APPENDIX C: ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 1: A figurine capable of wearing real earrings and lip jewelry. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Yugüe

148

Illustration 2: A figurine that may represent primary male sexual characteristics as part of the head. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Río Viejo

149

Illustration 3: Possibly a small vessel appliqué, interpreted in some cases as representing a death mask. Late Formative Minizundo period, Cerro de la Cruz

150

Illustration 4: A small, simplified human female form, apparently pregnant. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Yugüe

151

Illustration 5: Simplified human form. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Río Viejo

152

Illustration 6: Interpreted as feminine, shows ornate hair and jewelry styles. Terminal Formative Chacaua period, Corozo

153

Illustration 7: Simplified human-like form with slits for eyes and mouth. Terminal Formative Chacaua period, Río Viejo

154

Illustration 8: Head fragment with large ear spools. Miniyua/Classic transitional period, Río Viejo

Illustration 9: Bird whistle. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Yugüe

155

Illustration 10: Head and upper body, interpreted as representing Olmec influence. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Río Viejo

156

Illustration 11: Head of figurine, interpreted as representing Olmec influence. Terminal Formative period, Loma Reyes

157

Illustration 12: A well-preserved turtle whistle. Terminal Formative Chacaua period, Río Viejo

158

Illustration 13: A head fragment carrying both lip and ear jewelry, interpreted as male. Miniyua period, Yugüe

159

Illustration 14: Fragment from a large, hollow figurine, depicting a woman’s chest with incised patterns on back and front. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Yugüe

160

Illustration 15: A small human body with clothing around the waist. The figurine was incapable of standing, and may have represented an infant lying on its back. Minizundo-Miniyua transitional context, Río Viejo

161

Illustration 16: Probable anthropomorphic vessel spout, may have been used for drinking a ceremonial beverage such as chocolate (personal conversation, Dr. Mary Pohl 5/2007). Terminal Formative period, Cerro de la Virgen

162

Illustration 17: Small head fragment, interpreted as representing Olmec influence. Possibly Early Formative context, Yugüe

163

Illustration 18: Apparently a zoomorphic or anthropomorphic figurine. Hollow torso may indicate it was a whistle. Terminal Formative period, Cerro de la Virgen

164

Illustration 19: A complete bird whistle. Terminal Formative period, Yugüe

Illustration 20: A bat head effigy from the rim of a vessel. Terminal Formative Miniyua period, Río Viejo

165

Illustration 21: A tabular form that may represent a woman’s clothing. Terminal Formative period, Cerro de la Virgen

166

Illustration 22: A bird head effigy, possibly a pendant. Terminal Formative period, Yugüe

167

Illustration 23: A transitional form between human female and an animal. Late Formative Minizundo period, Río Viejo

168 APPENDIX D: ARTIFACT CATALOGUE This appendix provides a very brief summary of the large Excel® database used to record my analysis of the figurines for this study. The information below includes temporary identification numbers assigned to each artifact studied for this thesis. One photograph of each artifact is also presented here, along with its number in the database. Brief notes for each item are then recorded, including the type of artifact, as well as its interpreted iconographic identity. Please keep in mind that the notes are meant for brief reference and are not written in a polished narrative style. Most of the artifacts have been photographed with a centimeter scale in the frame for reference. The temporal and geographic provenience for each artifact is listed in the notes section, along with their within-site provenience, where available. All figurines likely date to the Formative period, with most dating to the Late or Terminal Formative periods, except where otherwise noted.

Temp Photo Photo Notes ID# # 1 1 Hand-molded reddish figurine. Headgear or hair pattern is apparent. Chest appears to have breasts, figurine determined female. Comes from Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

2 47 Head appliqué is similar to Figurine # 1, may indicate female identity of figurine. Construction technique and material generally similar to Figurine # 1. Comes from Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

169 3 9 Fragment of anthropomorphic face. Nose about 13 mm long. Hollow head construction. Facial structure appears male, but there is no way to be sure. Eyes and mouth applied, holes through eyes. Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

4 11 Crudely made female form with molded breasts. Surface of figure has been burnished, incomplete reduction during firing phase of construction. Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

5 16 Simple, stylized anthropomorph. Preserved fingerprints on head. Eyes and mouth are slits, made with a cutting tool or perhaps fingernail. Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

170 6 19 Appears to be a fragment of anthropomorphic torso with neck and some type of clothing included. Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

7 21 Small figurine, may be human with outstretched arms and legs, and some sort of handle or protrusion on back or animal head w/ snout and offset eyes. Could it have been both? Río Viejo. Terminal Formative Chacaua period.

8 5 Well-preserved anthropomorphic head w/ applied eyes and mouth, one ear spool (second is lost) holes in eyes and nose, attachment point visible at neck. Río Viejo. Ceramic dumping ground. Late Formative Minizundo period.

171 9 26 Figurine is mostly amorphous with four holes in 'face' (eyes and nostrils?) likely a Zoomorph, may be shaped by a stick, as impression marks are preserved. Reminiscent of Early Formative era 'mud men' found by Elizabeth Brumfiel (public talk, 5/2006). Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

10 28 Leg or support fragment - may have piece of clothing attached. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

11 30 Detached limb. Possible arm with curving hand at distal end. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

172 12 34 Small figurine with a generalized human form. Somewhat reminiscent of Olmec 'baby' style, due to down-turned mouth. Eyes appear to be cut with fingernail. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

13 39 Detached limb fragment with hand or foot at distal end. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

14 43 Head and upper shoulders of a larger, dense figurine. Down-turned mouth and offset hairstyle or headgear are reminiscent of an Olmec-Influenced artistic style. Remaining ear indicates presence of ear spool. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

173 15 44 Smooth limb fragment, detached. Conspicuous lack of foot or hand at distal end. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

16 48 Vessel appliqué? Figurine head? May be snake, frog, monkey, or crocodile. Paste is rough with heavy inclusions and course temper. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

17 56 Zoomorphic figurine fragment or possible vessel appliqué. Appears to be a bird head Likely an eagle or some other bird of prey, as evidenced by curved beak. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

174 18 63 Detached limb with hand, foot, or paw at distal ends. Digits constructed by scratching technique. Appears to have come from a Zoomorph. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

19 71 Anthropomorphic torso with one arm and two hands (one arm missing) crossed over the chest - two bracelets present. Cannot be sure, but female identity suspected. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. 20 79 Whistle fragment. May be human body without head, but more likely a zoomorphic l head with ears and missing snout. (A dog?) Similar to Figurine # 7. Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

175 21 81 Likely an anthropomorphic whistle. Hollow belly and two finger holes remain. Olmec style face? One arm, band on belly - splits at the top – may indicate clothing? Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

22 89 Anthropomorphic head fragment with headdress and remains of large nose. Hole near eye. Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

23 94 Lower torso and upper leg fragments of seated anthropomorphic figurine. Picture taken with # 24. Two may not be refits but appear similar in construction. Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

176 24 109 Anthropomorphic body fragment with curved arm. Pictures taken with # 23, two may not be refits but appear similar. Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Terminal Formative Miniyua period.

25 111 Figurine is mold made with large mold mark on the back. Comes from likely Early Classic period context. Anthropomorph with full set of clothes. May be a warrior's armor or outfit of a ballplayer. Appears to be a suit of feathers. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden.

26 123 Large anthropomorphic face with open eye and mouth with teeth. Headgear or hair visible. May come from Early Classic period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

177 27 128 Fragment of clothing, architectural pattern, or some unknown design. Very coarse temper. May come from Early Classic period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

28 137 Small figurine fragment. May be clothed arm or leg of Anthropomorph, or perhaps an animal head (such as an insect) with eyes. May come from Early Classic period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

29 144 Anthropomorphic head fragment. Hair and perhaps a piece of headgear are applied separately. Mouth wide open, appears to be smiling. Eyes are virtually indistinguishable, perhaps from construction style or from post- depositional factors. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

178 30 153 Geometric pattern on leg? Possible eye with horn or ear above (human or animal) fingerprints preserved, but too faint to allow for sampling. Río Viejo. Ceramic dumping ground. Probable Formative period.

31 157 Tiny fragment, probably a piece of a limb. Similar in paste, surface texture, and construction style to Figurine # 30. Río Viejo. Ceramic dumping ground. Probable Formative period.

32 165 Zoomorphic head, probably of a bird, perhaps a duck. May have been from a figurine or even a vessel appliqué. Eyes and beak preserved, attachment point at neck. Río Viejo. Redeposited mound fill. Probable Formative period.

179 33 175 Not definitely a figurine. May be a patterned sherd. Some sort of 'stair step' pattern. May be a fragment of clothing. Very coarse temper. May date to Early Classic period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

34 181 Face with closed eyes, open mouth, and jewelry. Likely from Early Classic period context. Similar to other human face appliqués in this thesis. I argue such portraits may be ‘death masks’ of a sort, reminiscent of deceased ancestors. Likely removed from vessel and curated for interest in its depicted features. Headgear or hair visible. Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. 35 185 Figurine incorporating both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic attributes, thus placed in ‘transitional’ category. Due to exaggerated human female characteristics, jokingly called the Oaxacan ‘Venus style' figurine. Breasts and stomach are large. Stomach constructed in 3-4 discrete lumps. May indicate pregnancy? May be a zoomorphic attribute? Río Viejo. High status domestic midden. Late Formative Minizundo period.

180 36 204 Nearly complete turtle whistle with front legs joined. Due to shape of front appendages, may indicate an aquatic turtle? Had possible horns or ears attached just above eyes, now broken off. Two holes in shell for fingers to play different notes, one hole in tail, apparently for mouthpiece (partially broken) -- still plays! Río Viejo. Ceramic dumping ground. Terminal Formative Chacaua period. 37 219 Burnished zoomorphic effigy whistle. With ears and front paws, it appears to be a mammal (rabbit? Mouse?) Along with mouthpiece, the two legs (one now missing) made a tripod support. Whistle appears to be missing some appliqués, perhaps forming a face. Mouthpiece may be the animal’s tail, similar to Artifact # 36. Río Viejo. Ceramic dumping ground. Terminal Formative Chacaua period. 38 262 Finely made gray ware vessel appliqué with possibly molded face. Similar to other anthropomorphic appliqués in this study. Mouth is open, with teeth depicted. Eyes may be open or closed, difficult to tell with poor preservation. Uncertain if hole in cheek is intentional or post-depositional. May come from Early Classic period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

181 39 230 Probable zoomorphic effigy whistle, similar in shape to other whistles and figurines (# 37, etc). - Still plays, blowing across single hole like the top of a bottle - face missing, once stood on snout and blow tube for support? Possible eye remnants present, very eroded. Late Formative Minizundo period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

40 247 Part of large musical instrument with two air tubes and associated blowholes and air release holes. Animal effigy on the top may be a bird, but looks more like a running mammal with two legs and part of a body visible (deer, dog, or coyote?) geometric patterns also visible. Part of musical mechanism may be missing, as it will no longer play - looks like a pipe flute (blow across rather than into the chamber? Terminal Formative Miniyua period. Unknown context. Comes from Corozo site. 41 254 Effigy spout from larger vessel. Stylized human, animal, transitional or 'supernatural' face. Design appears to end at meeting point with vessel. Finely burnished. Face style is unique and well preserved, especially around the eyes. Possible preserved pigment in protected areas. Terminal Formative period. Comes

182 from Yugüe site. Domestic midden. 42 268 Likely anthropomorphic head with half- closed eyes and open mouth with possible teeth. Dr. Mary Pohl has suggested, however, that it may have a zoomorphic component. (monkey?) Ear spools are very large. Headgear or hair is missing. Forehead curves forward to a point. May have a clothing fragment remaining at the neck. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 43 280 Possibly mold-constructed gray ware piece with pattern that may be eye or clothing fragment. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

44 283 Soft orange ware figurine fragment. Appears to have been mold-constructed, with large mold scar on back. Anthropomorphic hand at one side of waist, along with belt that may identify warrior or ballplayer. Small cavities in paste may indicate organic temper. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

183 45 296 Appears similar to # 44, but is highly eroded. Mold-made, with deep scar on back. Mostly fine temper with a couple large inclusions. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 46 308 Simple body fragment with hand at side. Reminiscent of hand in # 44, but different iconographic style. Mold-made. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

47 312 Poorly preserved fragment with part of simple pattern. Very thin piece. Clothing? Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

48 319 Appears to be fragment of an anthropomorphic head with part of headgear or hair remaining. Poorly preserved. Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

184 49 288 Roughly made, course fragment. Strange hand, paw, or clothing design. Built in layers? Possible effigy vessel fragment (According to Dr. Arthur Joyce, it may be an urn or brazier fragment, rather than a figurine.) Miniyua to Early Classic period transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 50 331 Head fragment with face and part of headgear or hair. Face has noticeable buckteeth, pronounced lips, and pronounced eyes. Most of nose missing. Pushed roughly into mold, leaving deep thumbprint on the back. One of the better fingerprints in the study!! -- Surface of face seems to be cracked. Kiln? Post- depositional? Mixed Formative period burial and Early Classic period contexts. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 51 342 Well-made, possibly molded face with ear spools, clothing around the neck, and hair or headgear. Might be wearing cotton armor for warfare or ballgame? Eyes and mouth detailed and open. Despite possible mold manufacture, apparently comes from Formative period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

185 52 346 Appears to be a fragment of another cotton armor warrior. Molded? May have broken in production? Despite possible mold manufacture, apparently comes from Formative period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

53 354 Two-tiered disc. May be an eye from Anthropomorph or Zoomorph. Perhaps a fragment of clothing or jewelry? Formative period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

54 361 Perhaps a fragment of an Anthropomorph. Shoulder with disc, pad, or other clothing? May also be a large eye of human or animal effigy? Pattern (possible clothing?) appears below disc. Formative period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

186 55 372 Large triangular head fragment from zoomorph or perhaps anthropomorph. Oval eyes with holes in center like donuts - see # 53. Head widens extremely at the top. Very wide and flat. Nose or snout has broken off, perhaps during excavation. Formative period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 56 383 Mostly complete anthropomorph. Striations on surface - burnishing or polishing? Re-fit across center of torso. Appliqués for ear spools, stomach disc w/ impressions, and clothing at neck. Mouth was open. Hole in belly. Hand may have lain across chest. Possible fragment of hair at neck. May have stood or balanced on feet. Roughly made breasts indicate female. Voids in fine gray paste - organic temper? Terminal Formative Miniyua period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 57 393 Poorly preserved fragment, possibly of an anthropomorphic torso with applied hands, now missing. Shape at top indicates clothing?. Has a curve to its overall shape – a vessel appliqué? Late Formative Minizundo period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

187 58 405 Similar in composition to # 56. Fine gray material with holes in paste indicating organic temper. Belt is separate piece applied around middle of torso. One larger hole through side, one between legs, perhaps post-depositional. Has some surface striations like # 56. Late Formative Minizundo period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 59 416 Zoomorphic figurine with a tail wrapping around one side. Appears to be a dog (or other 4-legged mammal such as a coyote). The head is missing, but appears to have curved back over the shoulder onto the back of the figurine. Note: no feet or paws visible, perhaps intentionally omitted. Late Formative Minizundo period. Redeposited mound fill. Río Viejo. 60 427 Molded gray ware anthropomorphic face that apparently served as appliqué to a vessel. Headgear is prominent. Eyes are closed and mouth may be open with exposed tongue or teeth. Similar to other face appliqués in this study. A portrait of the dead? Face appears to have male features. NOTE: this and other molded face appliqués appear to have been intentionally broken off of their vessels and retained, possibly after the vessel itself was broken. Late Formative Minizundo period. Redeposited mound fill. Río Viejo.

188 61 434 Apparent animal head with two large, round, applied eyes. Turtle? Bird? May have been figurine fragment or vessel appliqué. Late Formative Minizundo period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

62 445 Appears to have been pushed into mold with some kind of cloth to avoid fingerprints. (Faint crosshatch pattern on back). Clothing depicted on figurine may be a cape draped around the neck and over the chest. Possible arm fragment remains. Large piece of mica temper in back. Late Formative Minizundo period. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 63 451, Hollow anthropomorphic figurine, looks 463 vaguely like an infant wearing a diaper. Could not stand when new, but lies on back with arms and legs raised. Finely made with thin walls. Face low and wide. Fingerprints are well preserved. Clothing around waist and between legs. Eyes appear open. May have had hair or hat. Hands and feet not represented in detail (one 'foot' remains) - lips partially visible. Belly button or imperfection on stomach? Minizundo-Miniyua transitional context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

189

64 464 Poorly preserved coarse arm fragment. May have been pressed flat on front and back. Curved in shape. Attached on one side rather than end? No hand or foot present. Possible clothing fragment near attachment point. Late Formative Minizundo period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo.

65 470 Probable bat effigy vessel appliqué. May have been intentionally broken off to save head when vessel was discarded. Mouth and eyes open. Eyes are applied to face. No teeth. Possible mend hole on edge of sherd. Terminal Formative Miniyua period context. High status domestic midden. Río Viejo. 66 478 Amorphous blob. May have been molded figurine head or appliqué, but now unrecognizable. Could even be daub? Fine paste. Likely a mold made piece. Mistake in production? Minizundo- Miniyua transitional context. Río Viejo.

190 67 485 Simple, roughly shaped limb fragment with possible burnishing or stick-shaping scars. Attachment point large. No hand or foot represented. Possibly a human arm or an animal’s leg. Terminal Formative Chacaua period context. Río Viejo.

68 491 Figurine may depict a human in a mask, a transitional creature, or some kind of supernatural figure. Character in religious pantheon? Head or hat takes a shape reminiscent of a penis. Perhaps a virility/fertility figurine? Several things at once? Preservation is good. Face is stern looking. Mouth and eyes open. Ears have large holes (Spools? Actual jewelry placed inside?) Chin appears to be bearded. Similar pattern on head may be hair. Nose may have been large - now broken off. Neck attachment point indicates it was a larger figurine. When viewed from the side, head and face appear roughly like testicles below the penis. One of the most interesting figurines in the study. Interpretation - god of male fertility? (Art Joyce suggests it also may be corn on the figure's head. Jeff Blomster suggests hair, based on striation marks similar to beard. Both disagree with my theory.) Terminal Formative Miniyua period context. From a domestic structure at Río Viejo.

191 69 511 Detached limb. Much like others mentioned above. Short, curved. No hand or foot. Attachment point remains. Preservation poor. Terminal Formative Chacaua period context. Río Viejo.

70 518 Eroded figurine head. Mouth and eye shape, as well as remnants of offset hat or hairstyle atop head are vaguely reminiscent of Olmec artistic tradition. Ears may have been applied, as an attachment point is visible on one side. Mouth has un- removed spot in center, similar to some others in this thesis (tooth? Tongue? Even food?) Nose meets brow line in two arcs. Very coarse temper. Terminal Formative period context. Surface collection (platform). From Loma Reyes site. 71 528 Appears to be an anthropomorphic effigy whistle. Face retained after the body of the whistle was broken? Large nose. Parts of two whistle holes behind face. Mouthpiece makes for strange appearance to face. Animal or supernatural significance to this appearance? Terminal Formative Chacaua period context. From a public acropolis at Río Viejo.

192 72 538 Zoomorphic head. May have been a vessel appliqué, but attachment point at neck seems to suggest figurine. Similar snout to 'bat head' # 65. Face is longer in shape. (Stylized snake, lizard, or rodent?) Mouth is long. Turtle? Terminal Formative/Early Classic transitional context. Barra Quebrada. 73 548 Hand-formed anthropomorphic face with open mouth and eyes. Headgear or hair depicted on forehead. Most interesting feature is nose or lip jewelry. Can this help determine its biological sex? Uncertain if this was part of a figurine or a vessel appliqué. May have been curated after rest of object broke, like other faces in this study. Late Formative Minizundo period context. From Cerro de la Cruz. Domestic refuse and burials.

74, 75 554 74: Simple limb fragment, or perhaps just a vessel handle? Very coarse temper. No hands, feet, or markings present. Terrace fill and burials.

75: Round, tapering limb fragment with apparent hand or foot at one end. Both artifacts from Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz site. Terrace fill and burials.

193 76-78 556 76: (Top) Shaped limb, most likely a leg, judging by its shape and thickness at proximal end. Has apparent joint and foot (or hand) at one end. Terrace fill and burials.

77: (Bottom) Short, squat limb with possible foot or hand at distal end. Fairly rough paste. Terrace fill and burials.

78: (Center) Limb, ear, clothing piece, or other small appliqué fragment. May be a tiny vessel support? Not necessarily a figurine. All artifacts from Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz site. Terrace fill and burials. 79 560 Zoomorphic figurine fragment. Appears to be mammal with front paws crossed over nose, as if a dog, mouse, armadillo, etc. in a hiding or protective position. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz. Terrace fill and burials.

194 80 568 Small figurine fragment with inscribed pattern. May have been clothes on body of an anthropomorphic figure? May represent hand or paw? May have been fragment of an open spout of ceramic vessel? Likely part of a hollow object when complete. Temper is white grit - does not appear to be quartz. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill and burials. Cerro de la Cruz. 81 574 Fragment of large face with eye and other shapes that may be hair or headgear. Thick piece. May have been part of very large, hollow statue? Note: may have remnants of paint or other pigment above eye in a stripe design. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill and burials. Cerro de la Cruz.

82 580 Possibly the head of a zoomorph or the hair pattern/headgear of an anthropomorph. Note similarity with Artifact # 144. Red pigment similar to # 81. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill. Cerro de la Cruz.

195 83 585 Seated anthropomorphic figurine with most limbs and head missing. Shaping on chest is pronounced. Possible female, especially as the depiction of a belly button appears consistent with female, rather than male, figurines. Figurine still sits upright. Legs open at wide angle. No apparent clothes. Figurine depicted as naked, or perhaps dressed with cloth when in use? No primary sexual characteristics visible. Heavily eroded with striations covering surface. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Possible burial context at Cerro de la Cruz. 84 592 Simple limb fragment with poor preservation and heavy temper. Smoothed attachment point at one end. No hand or foot. Probably human, appears to be a curving shoulder? Late Formative Minizundo period context. Domestic structure context with associated burials. Cerro de la Cruz. 85 596 Limb fragment burnished to a shine. No hint of attachment point or hand/foot. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz.

196 86 601 Fragment of an anthropomorphic face. Nose and brow line meet in curve, similar to # 70. Nose style also similar. Thus suggestive of possible Olmec influence? Eye appears to have un-removed material at center. Forms iris? Heavily worn. Voids in paste may mean organic temper. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz. 87 610 Large figurine limb. May be animal, but most likely a stylized human arm and shoulder. If anthropomorphic, reminiscent of Olmec artistic style. No hand visible. Most of piece is solid, though hollowness at the proximal end suggests that the figurine body was hollow. Large size supports this. Brownish red paint (like # 81, # 82) seems to have covered whole piece. Now largely eroded away. Temper is heavy, but outer surface has been carefully smoothed. Possible burnishing. Hole in back may be intentional or post- depositional. Late Formative Minizundo period context. From a patio with structures at Cerro de la Cruz.

197 88-90 611 88: Detached limb. Possible hand or foot at distal end. May be animal or human. Uncertain regarding original length.

89: Simple limb fragment. Appears to be near distal end. No hand or foot. No recognizable features. Voids in paste suggest organics.

90: Limb fragment with coarse temper and stylized end. Probably a leg fragment with a foot. All artifacts from Late Formative Minizundo period context. All artifacts from structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz. 91 613 Small, detached limb. Apparently complete. No foot or hand visible. Most likely a zoomorphic leg, judging by shape? Whitish pigment may be eroded paint or wash. Late Formative Minizundo period context. From terrace fill at Cerro de la Cruz. 92 615 Highly eroded anthropomorphic face fragment. Complete head was apparently hollow. Pronounced chin. Eroded nose and mouth. Large eye with deep hole is most noticeable feature. Impression of iris hole visible on back/interior of face. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz.

198 93 622 Probable foot. No toes apparent. Leg above was hollow. Hole through bottom came out into leg cavity. Well-burnished surface. Complete figurine was apparently large. Back-sloping angle of leg and shape of foot suggests Zoomorphic leg. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz. 94 627 Highly eroded extremity or vessel handle. Possible red pigment remains, barely visible. Most of attachment point preserved. Tapered in shape. No hand or foot depicted. Possible tail? Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz. 95 628 Highly eroded piece. Most likely an anthropomorphic torso with one leg and two arms partially remaining. May have been a mistake in manufacture. Back of a human figure? Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill and associated burials. Cerro de la Cruz.

96 632 Elongated shape. Probably a limb. Perhaps the head of an animal such as a serpent? Narrow torso fragment? Possibly just a spacer used for firing? Shape suggests it was formed in a closing fist.

199 No fingerprints preserved, however. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz. 97 641 Mostly well-preserved anthropomorphic face. Very fine paste. Eyes and mouth are circular appliqués with open holes. Nose had impressed nostrils, but now broken off. One ear spool remains. Hair or headgear tapers and was quite tall. Perhaps reminiscent of # 68, though this figurine seems vaguely female to me. Chin is large and pronounced, lacking beard of # 68. Attachment point to larger figurine visible at the neck. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz. 98 646 Possible face fragment with eye, hair or headgear, and perhaps an ear spool? Could also be a fragment of a torso with applied clothing. Orientation is not entirely clear. Possible nose fragment remains near ‘eye?’ Extensive fingerprints. Eye and patterned appliqués are similar in style to several others in this study. Such as # 56. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz.

200 99 648 Fragment of a large, hollow, coarse- tempered piece. Likely an anthropomorphic head fragment with protruding oval eye. Fingerprints are faint. Orientation is somewhat unclear. Hair above with some sort of appliqué below? Perhaps the ‘eye’ is really the corner of large, open mouth. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz. 100 654 Detached, tapered limb. Probably a leg with foot at one end. May be human or animal. Has slight outward curve to it. Attachment point remains. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure floor. Cerro de la Cruz.

101 657 Small hand-molded shape with attachment point. Groove in the side is most noticeable trait. May be ear from a zoomorph? May be a vessel appliqué? Possible red pigment fragments. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure floor. Cerro de la Cruz.

102 660 Detached limb fragment or vessel handle. No unique features. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill and burials. Cerro de la Cruz.

201 103 663 Probably a lower torso with upper parts of two legs. May be animal but looks human. Seated Anthropomorph similar to # 83? Poor preservation, rough manufacture. One leg has unusual flattened portion. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill and burials. Cerro de la Cruz.

104, 667 104: Tapering limb fragment. No hand or 105 foot at distal end. May be leg of an animal or stylized human extremity. Structure floor.

105: Limb fragment. Appears to be a leg. May be animal or human. Probable foot at distal end, very stylized and faint. Coarse temper. Both artifacts from Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz. Structure floor. 106- 668 106: Limb fragment with large shell piece 108 as temper. Roughly shaped and tapered.

107: Possible torso or limb fragment. Thumbnail print?

108: Possible torso or limb fragment. All artifacts from Late Formative Minizundo period context. All from a patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz.

202 109 674 Probable leg. Likely from a zoomorph. No foot or hand visible. Only unusual trait is color. Is the white and green a result of the marker writing on the piece, or actual paint fragments? May be a vessel support or ear rather than a limb? Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure floor. Cerro de la Cruz. 110 676 Probable human torso with attachment point for one arm remaining. Very poor preservation. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill. Cerro de la Cruz.

111 680 Appears to be an anthropomorphic torso fragment. Shaping of possible chest suggests female. Fragment of one upraised arm? Fragment of a hollow piece with thin walls. Fine gray paste. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Domestic refuse and burials. Cerro de la Cruz.

203 112 688 Figurine fragment or possible rim sherd with hand-molded design. Could be a human or animal face fragment, piece of clothing design, or almost anything else. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz.

113 690 Probable detached limb. Could also be a vessel support or handle. Lightly burnished. Tapering. No other noticeable features. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure floor. Cerro de la Cruz. 114 692 Large anthropomorphic eye with hole through pupil. Could be from huge figurine, vessel appliqué, or even a mask. Shape above eye may be hair or headgear. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Cerro de la Cruz.

115 699 Poorly preserved fragment. Possible limb or torso fragment. Could be human or animal. Flares at one end. May be attachment point or hand/foot. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz.

204 116 701 Detached limb fragment with coarse temper. May be serpent head, but unlikely. Flairs slightly at distal end, perhaps indicating a stylized hand or foot. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill with associated burials. Cerro de la Cruz. 117 705 Roughly formed limb or vessel handle. May have hand or foot and one end and flair for attachment point at the other. Very fine gray paste. Possible burnishing. Probably a human arm. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Terrace fill with associated burials. Cerro de la Cruz. 118 710 Tapering limb or vessel support. May be human or animal, probably a leg. Distal end has strange groove, but may be post- depositional. Taper is very pronounced. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz.

205 119 712 Wide fragment. May be limb, head, torso, etc. Shape at upper corner suggests possible Female torso with one breast. Could also be a shoulder or leg fragment. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz.

120 719 Small figurine fragment with two appendages. May be lower portion of an (anthropomorphic) torso with stylized legs, or zoomorphic head with protruding ears. Could also be the rear legs of animal? Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz. 121 724 Detached leg with foot at distal end. Could be animal or human. Appears to have curved away from body, suggesting an animal such as a dog. Possible preserved pigment. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz.

206 122 730 Short limb fragment. Portion of possible attachment point at proximal end suggests the short leg of a zoomorphic figurine. May have white/tan slip or wash. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Patio with structures. Cerro de la Cruz.

123 731 Bird head? Vessel support with attachment point? Two holes may be eyes. Possible beak in front. Could also be a stylized limb or torso fragment. Very tapered in shape. Late Formative Minizundo period context. Structure foundation walls. Cerro de la Cruz. 124 736 Half of anthropomorphic face with eye, mouth, nose, and ear. Hair or headgear, large ear spool, and possible lip jewelry also present. Appears to have been part of a hollow object. May have been vessel appliqué, but more likely a figurine. Profile is well defined. Jewelry may give clue to biological sex. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe site.

207 125 742 Tiny, complete figurine. Appears to have been roughly formed by fingers. Looks anthropomorphic, but head shape is odd. May be transitional or other? Looks like practice piece or something made by a child. Many fingerprints, particularly in protected areas, such as under one arm. Head is shaped like that of a turtle or a bird? One of the rare complete artifacts in the study. Due to rounded shape of back and head, may also be turtle rather than human? Chacaua/Miniyua transitional context. From Domestic midden at Yugüe site. 126 747 Mostly complete anthropomorphic figurine. Fine gray paste with geometric patterns inscribed on head, chin, neck, and shoulders. May be long hair and a goatee? May be cloth, clothing, and headgear? Head is very detailed with eyes, mouth, and nose with nostrils. Ears have tiny holes that may have been used for real earrings. Lower lip is split with two holes, and may have held real lip plug. Jewelry may help determine sex. Rosemary Joyce (2002: 82) wrote that lip plugs were common for Aztec males at the time of Spanish arrival, especially among warriors. May indicate male identity for figurine? Hands not represented. May have stood or just lied down when complete. Jeff

208 Blomster thinks it is a possible female with hair. Arthur Joyce points out that 'hair' on shoulders does not connect with pattern on head. Might therefore be clothing? Fingerprints have been smoothed away, perhaps during construction. Faint shape to chest, along with features noted above, suggest female. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From Yugüe site. 127 757 Zoomorphic whistle. Likely the head of a mammal. (Perhaps a dog?) Blowhole of whistle is snout, making figure look like an anteater, armadillo, rodent, or other long- snouted animal. No finger holes remain. May be mostly complete with small pieces broken off at neck. Both ears present. Otherwise without decoration. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. Yugüe. 128 760 Anthropomorphic torso with pronounced belly button. Orientation is not entirely certain, but remaining limb is probably a leg. Slight protrusion on one side of lower torso is accidental? Very flat. Paste soft and fine. May have been broken during excavation. Arms went down sides, and bump(s) on lower torso might be remnants of hands. Note possible fingers on left side below belly button. No breasts or primary sexual features visible, but belly button implies nudity. Female likely, due to convention with showing belly button.

209 Chacaua/Miniyua transitional context. From Yugüe site. 129 765 Thin-bodied zoomorph, most likely a dog. Fine gray ware with burnished surface. One leg remains, with fragments of three others. Probably stood steadily when complete. Missing one ear. May have been broken in excavation? Short, pointed tail. Stylized head with two large holes for eyes and mouth that appears to smile. No foot depicted at end of leg. Very slender and curved torso. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe. 130 769 Simple, detached limb. Probably an arm. Flattens at end to form a stylized hand. No attachment point. Poor preservation. Chacaua/Miniyua transitional context. From Yugüe site. 131 772 Human face vessel appliqué. Judging by breaking points around the edges, it appears that this piece was intentionally broken off and preserved similar to others mentioned above. Face has been delicately detailed and carefully burnished. Eyes may be open or closed. Shape on forehead may be hair or headgear. Similar to # 34 and perhaps # 60. Nose also meets brow line in a stylized curve like others mentioned above. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. Yugüe.

210 132 782 Another human face that was probably a vessel appliqué broken off and saved. Preservation too poor to say much about construction. Face imperfection may be thumb-smudge made on application to vessel. Art Joyce suggests 'mirror' as identification of headgear on center of forehead on this and other examples. Mary Pohl suggests open mouth may indicate singing. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe. 133 784 Poorly preserved animal torso. Similar in form to # 129, though not so exaggeratedly skinny in form. May or may not have had tail. Probable dog. Voids in paste suggest some organic temper. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe. 134 790 Portion of zoomorphic (dog) torso similar to those discussed above. Note very thin midsection. Tail present with good fingerprint. Feet may have broken off, but probably did not have any. Not fired all the way through. Burnished surface. Voids suggest organics in temper. Broken in excavation? Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe.

211 135 797 Zoomorphic head, probably a bird. Shape above beak similar to that of a turkey? Two large eyes. Applied as handle to vessel? Groove at neck suggests hole through center for a string. Terminal Formative Chacaua period. Yugüe.

136 800 Simple human form. Very small. Appears to be pregnant with exaggerated, sharply pointed belly and large buttocks. Leg ends in point, rather than having a foot. Thus could not stand, and possibly lay on its back or was pushed into some other material so it could stand? Arms and head broken off. May have remains of belly button. Chest very slightly shaped. Highly eroded. Tiny fingerprint fragments remain in protected areas, such as under one arm. Coarse temper. Clear grass impressions in matrix. Back is imperfectly finished. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. Yugüe. 137 802 Zoomorphic figurine head. Probably a deer, rodent, or stylized dog. One very large ear remains, other is missing. Long snout with mouth opening only at the very end. Broken off at the neck. Could be part of larger figurine or vessel appliqué. Head is twisting away from neck at an angle. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe.

212 138, 807 138: (Bottom) Detached limb. Possible 139 arm. No hand or foot at end. Possible tail? Flat on one side. Curves and tapers. Very similar paste to # 139 (same lot --- may refit to same figurine?)

139: (Top) Detached limb. Probably an animal leg with paw at one end. Very short and stocky (still has attachment point). May be from same figurine as # 138. Both artifacts from Terminal Formative Miniyua period context. Both from domestic midden at Yugüe. 140 810 Large bird whistle. Mostly complete. Rounded body. Small wings, two legs. Had blow hole (now broken) two note holes, and hole through head, possibly for hanging. Face has exaggerated, applied features. Still plays. Rested on legs and blow hole/tail as a sort of tripod. Large black piece of temper, perhaps obsidian. Wore headgear or other appliqué, now partially broken off. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe.

213 141 822 Seated anthropomorphic figure with hands on front of hips, and remaining leg extending forward. Leg may be depicted as bent back under at the knee. Flat chest makes it look male. Note hole between hands. Navel? Somehow represents genitalia? Face is scraped off. Cultural or post-depositional deterioration? Two holes at ear areas, likely for holding real jewelry. Had hair or headgear, poorly preserved. Very thin piece, widens at the bottom. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe. 142 827 Torso fragment from large, hollow female anthropomorphic figurine. Very fine, burnished gray ware. Geometric patterns inscribed on chest and back. Thin walls. May have been more a statue than a figurine. Geometric pattern may have continued onto stomach. Piece likely broken in excavation. One of most finely made pieces in the study. Terminal Formative Miniyua period. From domestic midden at Yugüe.

214 143 834 Torso section of anthropomorph, likely female. Note pinkish-white slip or wash. Has slightly protruding stomach, widening hips, and pronounced belly button. Chest is only slightly shaped. Arm is very stylized, with simple hand (in fist?). Head may have been quite large, judging by attachment point. Broken at waist, may have been complete body. Hollow at very center. Depicts early stage of pregnancy? Middle Formative Charco phase context. From domestic midden at Corozo site. 144 840 Anthropomorphic head with hairdo or headgear depicted with three shaped appliqués. Open holes in both cheeks. Wide open mouth and eyes. Appears to have red pigment on several parts of head. 'Mohawk' shaped strip over center of head. Probable ear spools. Poorly preserved. Note similarity of top of head with artifact # 82. Middle Formative Charco phase context. From domestic midden at Corozo site.

215 145 846 Likely part of an anthropomorphic torso with most of one upraised arm and a leg attachment below. Head and other limbs missing. May be male, based on flat chest, but has no defining features. Pinkish-white slip. Middle Formative Charco phase context. From domestic midden at Corozo site.

146 856 Pronounced, hooked nose and upper lip from anthropomorphic figurine or vessel appliqué. Likely a large artifact when complete. Temper is quite coarse, but surface is well smoothed. Corner of an eye remains? From possible Early Classic period context. From mound fill at Corozo.

147 859 Well-preserved anthropomorphic head. Interpreted as probably a female due to elaborate hair pattern and facial structure. Very fine paste. Features are almost all applied. Fingerprints extensive. Eyes very large. Profile angles sharply back. Hair is full of applied accoutrements. From Terminal Formative Chacaua period context. From mound fill at Corozo.

216 148 873 Possibly molded head and upper torso with shoulders remaining. Large headgear. Looks anthropomorphic, but structure of nose and mouth may indicate transitional status with an animal. Swirls around eyes are reminiscent of depictions of hallucinogenic, shamanistic trances. From possible Early Classic period context. Mound fill at Corozo. 149 875 Torso fragment with limb. Could be the leg of a seated human or human arm upraised, but looks more like a zoomorphic leg with paw at distal end. Well-preserved fingerprints. Remnants of pinkish-white slip? From Middle Formative Charco phase context. From domestic midden at Corozo.

150 878 Bird head. Appears to be a turkey? Beak and skin flap present. One large eye. Applied as handle to vessel? See Artifact # 135 and perhaps # 72. From Terminal Formative/Late Classic mixed, re- deposited context. From mound fill at Corozo. 151 883 Human arms with hands meeting? Maybe lower jaw of bird or some other animal part? Very fine paste. Orangish-brown material. Several broken attachment points. From Terminal Formative/Late Classic mixed, re-deposited context.

217 Mound fill at Corozo. 152 887 Detached, stylized limb. Appears to be human arm or leg. Simple hand or foot at distal end. Indentation on backside to indicate joint. Strangely, there is a good fingerprint inside the broken paste on the proximal end. (Indicates attachment point?) Charco/Minizundo transitional context. Domestic midden. Corozo. 153 889- Upper part of anthropomorphic torso with upraised arms, slightly protruding belly with navel, and subtly shaped chest. Determined probable female. Appears very similar in form to # 143. Head, lower body, and most of two arms missing. Pinkish slip is mostly worn away. Middle Formative Charco period context. Domestic midden. Corozo. 154 895 Finely made gray ware face fragment with one eye remaining. Nose has nostrils. Most of open mouth preserved. Ear is broken off. Headgear or hair apparent above eye. Complete figurine had very thin walls. Thoroughly burnished. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

218 155 904 Zoomorphic head with very soft paste. Probably a dog. Similar to several other pieces in this study. Partial snout, eye, nose, neck, and one ear remain. Has attachment point at neck. May have been vessel appliqué rather than a figurine? May have been part of figurine with hollow body? Eyes and mouth made indicated by slits. Eroded. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 156 909 Whistle mouthpiece. Likely part of effigy whistle like others in this study. No features remain. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

157 913 Decorated whistle mouthpiece. May be an anthropomorphic effigy whistle, as it appears to have two human arms holding the mouthpiece. May have necklace or other accoutrement depicted on chest. Could also be an animal of some sort. Very dark outer surface. Whistle body itself not present. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

219 158 918 Zoomorphic figurine head. Appears to be a bird of prey, perhaps with a plume of feathers or even a headdress above eyes. Soft orangish-brown paste. Face has many fingerprints. Skin flap above beak may help identify species, but looks like a hawk or an eagle. Eyes and brows are applied. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

159 924 Figurine head that appears to combine human and animal characteristics. Note clothing, ear spools, and zoomorphic face. Determined likely a transitional figure. Could also be a human wearing a mask, or some supernatural character. Strange shape on head could be an animal feature or perhaps headgear. This shape has a hole through it that may have been used to suspend the figurine. Large, circular eyes are reminiscent of depictions of shamanistic trances. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

220 160 932 Eroded anthropomorphic torso with most of two arms remaining (re-fit). Thickens at the top in a way that suggests large head/clothing, etc. chest slightly shaped. May indicate female. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen site.

161 938 Eroded anthropomorphic face. Likely an effigy appliqué, retained after vessel was discarded like others in this study. Gray ware. Impression on back and style of face may suggest that is was mold-made. Hair or headgear present. Also possibly one ear or ear spool. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

162 944 Nearly complete bird whistle. May be missing feet, or maybe never had feet and just a little flake off the surface is gone. Has long, pointed beak and crest at top of head. Possible to identify this species? No finger holes present, just one note possible. Has mouthpiece and whistle hole. Still works. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

221 163 953 Dark gray ware anthropomorphic face with neck and fragment of upper chest remaining. Wearing some accoutrement around neck with pendant, jewelry, feather, or other item at the front. Eye and mouth are open and applied. Nose is wide with nostrils. Apparent headgear or hair above eye. Likely had ear spools. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

164 954 Small, detailed, and finely made bird whistle. Whistle holes underneath are complex in construction, perhaps formed with reed sticks? Combination of two finger holes allows the instrument to play at least four notes. Beak and tail detail may help identify bird. Eyeholes go all the way through, meeting in the center. Whistle may thus have hung from a string. Beautiful piece. One of the very few complete artifacts in the study. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 165 969 Tabular piece with applied figure. Perhaps a human wearing clothes. Broken points appear highly eroded, so original shape is difficult to determine. Fingerprints may be erosional striations. Figure appears to wear something like a skirt or dress. Legs, one arm, and neck remain? Orientation

222 uncertain. The piece may be meant to lie on its back, lean, or be part of something larger. From Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 166 970 Possible zoomorphic whistle fragment. May also be a transitional or supernatural creature. Very exaggerated features. Arms, wings, or fins at sides. Flat, rounded head. Stylized fish? Mary Pohl suggests that the wide-open eyes and unusual features may indicate some sort of shamanic or hallucinogenic transformation. Hole through head indicates possible hanging from a string. Hollow body cavity indicates whistle, though no finger holes or other whistle parts remain. From Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 167 979 Soft, eroded gray ware face. Anthropomorphic. Probably a vessel appliqué saved after vessel broke, like several others in the study. Striations cover surface, likely erosional. Eyes and mouth large and open. Face looks angry. Mary Pohl suggests that this face may also have traits of a hallucinogenic trance state. The eyes may be open wide to suggest a heightened sense of vision. Hair or headgear represented. Also may have large ear accoutrements. Nose and brows meet

223 in arcs. From Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 168 985 Large whistle body. No note holes remain. May never have had them. Mouthpiece and whistle hole in bottom. Forms body of human, transitional, or other creature. Wears a neck 'bead.' Two arms depicted. Whistle tube may form lower extremities. Still plays. Head missing. From Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

169 992 Eroded anthropomorphic face fragment, probably from another retained vessel appliqué (see above). Mouth wide open, may have teeth. Eyes missing except for tiny fragment. Hair or headgear possible. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 170 998 Eroded, broken chest fragment from wide, flat figurine. Re-fit. Arms and hands depicted meeting at center of chest. Orientation of fragment is unclear. Two slight, widely spaced breasts are apparent. Determined female. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

224 171 1005 Gray ware whistle fragment. May have been a bird. Some kind of raptor? Two wings, one complete. Fragment of a beak, one eye remain. Mouthpiece is broken off. No finger holes remain. Wears some kind of headband? Indicates transitional quality? Wings point downward. Thin tube walls. From Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 172 1009 Anthropomorphic face with large headdress. Headgear has discs represented on the front of it. Face has large, open, almond-shaped eyes and large nose with nostrils. Part of a thick, hollow bodied, larger figurine. Discs on headgear may be meant to look like eyes as well? Terminal Formative period context. From elite ritual structure at Yugüe.

173 1013 Large gray ware dog figurine. Two legs and ear missing. Tail mostly complete. Ears appear to have been hollowed toward the front. Eyes, mouth, and misplaced nostrils are simple holes and lines in the head. No feet depicted at ends of legs. Probably stood quite stably on four legs. Generally similar in shape to several other dogs in this study, though more complete than some (refit). Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial

225 structure at Yugüe. 174 1018 Broken and partially re-fit zoomorphic whistle. Appears to be in the form of a lizard. Tail is blowhole. Has two legs still attached and attachment point for freestanding leg. One eye pierced through to allow for hanging from string. Other eye is not pierced through. Fragment of one finger hole, probably had at least two when complete. Had some kind of crest on back of head? May help identify species? Half of chamber left. No longer plays. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 175 1021 Probable whistle fragment, judging by hollow construction. Hole visible in picture likely for suspending the item from a string. A portion of a probable finger hole also remains. Seems to have arm and hand or leg and foot represented. Human or animal identity not clear. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 176 1024 Fragment from whistle or hollow figurine. May show extremity or clothing fragment. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

226 177 1027 Fragment of possible torso. May be from a whistle or hollow figurine. Appears to have hand represented resting on the torso. Faint shapes may be belly button and clothing fragment. May be headgear with an applied feather? Animal with a foot? Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 178 1033 Fragment of possible torso or head. From a hollow figurine or perhaps whistle. Appears to have hand represented resting at its side. Possible attachment point for something, and folds of hollow interior are visible. Likely clothing pattern represented at level of hand. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 179 1039 Mouth and snout fragment from a zoomorphic figurine. Broken off at curving attachment point. Nostrils and mouth are clear. Looks like a snake, but could be lizard, frog, dog, or some other snouted animal. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

227 180- 1041 180: Curving limb fragment or possible 182 vessel handle. Coarse temper, flattened side, and possible attachment point. Poorly preserved. May have remnants of red pigment.

181: Fine gray ware fragment. May be human clothing or other disc, or may be animal head with one eye on each side of a very flat head, and an open mouth.

182: Small patterned fragment, possibly a sherd. Shows geometric design that may represent clothing. Thin and highly eroded on the backside. All artifacts from Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 183 1043 Anthropomorphic torso fragment with one arm at side. Arm bends slightly forward. Highly eroded. Minor shaping of the chest suggests female. Appears to get thicker at the neck, suggesting large, exaggerated head, or some kind of clothing around upper torso/neck. Similar in form to many other human torsos in the study. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

228 184 1048 Small, highly eroded anthropomorphic head fragment. Eye is quite deeply impressed. Other eye is eroded away. Nose and part of mouth remain. Large shape at top of head is probably some sort of headgear. Eye is very large, with deeply inscribed brow above. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 185 1058 Very stylized anthropomorphic head. Nose is huge. Eyes and mouth are low and wide. Head shape is wide and without neck. May be missing headgear? Broken at neck. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 186 1059 Zoomorphic figurine head. Large, open mouth, long neck, and bottom portion of a big eye remain. May have been deer, dog, or some other snouted mammal. Top part of head broken off, breaking point also at neck. Finely burnished. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 187 1064 Small fragment, possibly a sherd. Shows geometric pattern that may represent clothing. Thin and highly eroded on the backside. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Cerro de la Virgen.

229 188 1067 Anthropomorphic head with large headgear represented. Mouth is big with pronounced lips. Eyes are huge and almond-shaped. Features inscribed rather than applied. Ear fragments remain. May not have attached to larger figurine? Just a head? May simply have lost attachment point. Uneven back suggests incomplete finishing or possible attachment to something else. A vessel appliqué? Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 189 1076 Figurine of a backward-bent figure. Appears from orientation of limbs to be an anthropomorph. A human acrobat figurine? Head and one arm missing. Appears to be supporting weight with hands and feet. Contortionist? Sacrifice victim? Ball player or dancer? According to Jeffrey Blomster, such 'acrobats' are relatively frequent in Mesoamerican deposits. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

230 190 1082 Stylized anthropomorphic head with offset headgear or hairdo. Headgear is reminiscent of Olmec style, as are eyes and down-turned mouth. Lower lip protrudes. Nose partial. Ears broken off. One hole in matching spot below each ear. Eyes appear to be half-open. Forehead widens above eyes. Broken attachment point at neck. Generally well preserved. Marcus Winter says it looks more like figurines from highland Oaxaca. Jeffrey Blomster says it looks early. Possible Early Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 191 1090 Anthropomorphic head with face eroded away. Ears mostly gone, but two large ear spools remain. Large hair/headgear widens above head. Broken attachment point with body is visible at the neck. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

192 1097 Fragment from hollow figurine. Appears to be a human hand? May be a head fragment with headgear? Could be part of an animal figurine. Slightly orangish in color on some spots. Paint? Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

231 193 1100 Portion of a long, thin-walled whistle. Does not appear to represent any animal or human form. Has definite red paint around decorated band near mouthpiece. Whistle hole in bottom. No longer plays. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 194 1105 Anthropomorphic head and upper torso, with face mostly eroded away. One full eye, one partial eye, and one ear remain. There is an impression of an ear spool also visible. Large head gear with band and possible feather. Torso fragment is refit. Both connecting points were somewhat eroded. Shoulder is visible, with bend of an arm. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

195 1113 Probable human limb fragment with piece of clothing or other appliqué. Appears to be arm and shoulder? Red flecks on surface may be pigment remnant or something like iron in the paste that is rusting. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 196 1114 Poorly preserved fragment. Appears to be head from an animal effigy figurine. Broken at snout and at neck. Two eyes visible, on either side of long, narrow head.

232 No ears or other defining features. Terminal Formative period context. From elite ritual structure at Yugüe. 197 1118 Upper part of a zoomorphic figurine head, apparently from a bird effigy figurine. Owl? Other raptor? Has what are probably feathers extending high up as a forehead, and a hole through this may have suspended the figurine from a string. Two large eyes, one still with a heavy brow above it. Probable beak has broken off. Fairly eroded. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 198- 1123 198: Possible limb fragment. Thick. 200 Heavy temper. No defining characteristics. A leg? A sherd?

199: Possible limb fragment, but looks like a vessel handle. Sharp curve and attachment point remain. Possible red pigment.

200: Likely leg fragment, possibly from human figurine. Appears to have sharp bend at knee, and foot flat on the ground, suggesting a seated position. Fine paste. All artifacts from Terminal Formative period context. All three from public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

233 201 1126 Part of a zoomorphic figurine head. Hole through neck suggests suspension from a string. May have been worn as a piece of jewelry? Black flecks on surface may be post-depositional sediment or may be faint fragments of dark gray or black paint. Head is long and narrow. Eyes are positioned on either side, and are large. Snake? Bird? From Terminal Formative period context. Public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 202 1131 Highly eroded torso fragment. Probably lower torso from an anthropomorphic figurine. Two connection points for limbs, probably legs, remain. Back is curved in lower part suggesting some sort of unusual posture or activity. May also just be unfinished. Very soft paste. Shaping of the chest indicates possible female. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 203 1137 Head fragment, apparently from a stylized anthropomorphic figurine. Eye is huge and wide open. Broken side of head has hole, possibly from missing eye, indicating that the iris holes were deeply impressed. Has part of ear, possible edge of an ear spool, and fragment from hair or more likely some kind of headgear. Head may have had a triangular shape when viewed from the top. Long hair indicated by marks on

234 the back? Very soft paste. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 204 1145 Strangely shaped fragment. Looks like the mouth and snout or beak of a zoomorphic figure. May instead be from an anthropomorph with a headdress, but apparent beak makes me think it is a bird. Orientation unclear. Probable hollow body construction and apparent hollow tube indicate that it may have been a whistle. Dark concretions on the surface may be post-depositional, or may be fragments of paint. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 205 1148 Torso from a seated anthropomorphic figurine with fragments of two legs and one arm. Head and rest of limbs broken off. Highly eroded with striations all over. Two subtle, widely spaced breasts. Determined female. Exaggerated, deeply impressed belly button. Figure clearly sat when complete. Reduction not finished, parts of surface are brown. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

235 206 1158 Eroded zoomorphic head from figurine or appliqué. Two eyes and faint mouth impression. Neck broken at attachment point. May have been burnished, but most of cortex is now eroded away. No ears visible. Unknown species. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 207 1161 Highly stylized limb from human or animal figurine. Could be arm or leg. Attachment point present. No hand or foot visible at apparently complete distal end. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

208 1166 Fragment from probable whistle. Thin walls. Finger hole. Attachment point for some appliqué. No other defining features. (Reddish brown in color). Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

209 1168 Fragment with patterned appliqué at one end and large hole through the center. May have been head of an anthropomorphic figurine with tall forehead and headgear, its face now broken off? May instead be a limb fragment with hand or foot? Hole is apparently from original construction, as

236 the paste is formed around it. Black coloring on back may be paint or post- depositional concretion. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 210 1175 Torso from a zoomorphic figurine, almost certainly a dog like several discussed above. Four leg attachment points and part of neck remain. Tail is mostly present. Re-fit across the center. Probably broken at excavation. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 211 1181 Detached zoomorphic head and neck. Hollow body and hole suggest possible whistle. Head has long, curving snout, big eyes, and heavy, applied brows. Ear also very large. May be exaggerated mammal such as an anteater. May also be a bird. May even be an insect with a tube-shaped snout? Something is apparently broken off at the top of the head between the ears. Partially gray surface. Partially reduced in firing. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 212 1185 Possible limb fragment. Strange texture makes this uncertain, as a figurine would normally be smoothed on the surface. Result of erosion? Some impressions suggest organic temper. Those on the surface suggest unusual shaping technique,

237 such as pressing between sticks. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 213 1188 Large vessel spout or possible fragment of a musical instrument. Detailed anthropomorphic figure attached. Figure's back becomes mouth of instrument or spout. Arms are upraised as if holding up the tube. One hand remains, pointed out at awkward angle. Like a captive? Head has applied features and accoutrements. Multiple headgear/hair details visible, including 'Mohawk.' large ear spools, lip plug and something below the chin. Lip plug may indicate male? Mouth open and nose has nostrils. Eyes are simple applied ovals. May have had white, red, and/or orange paint. One side of face partially eroded away, and figure broken below arms, but otherwise well preserved. Note: Dr. Mary Pohl (personal conversation 5/2007) believes this may be a spout from a vessel used for ceremonial beverages such as chocolate. Fingerprint sample # 78 may just be erosional striations. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

238 214 1198 Figurine fragment, likely from an anthropomorphic figure. Has arm and hand extended to one side. Most of fragment is probably a chest, stomach, and small section of clothing at the waist. Hole pierced through center may be for suspension by a string, and may also represent belly button. Thins at bottom, suggesting it may have represented only a partial human form when complete? Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 215 1202 Small, simple head and outstretched arm. Appears to be stylized human, though it could also be a bird head with part of a wing. Eyes are impressed. Mouth is open under beak-like nose. Head slopes into arm. No neck. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 216 1209 Rounded figurine fragment or possible sherd. One side has impressions, possibly from fingernail. Other side has folded over edge. Could be a torso with part of an arm? Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

239 217 1215 Highly eroded fragment. Shape suggests it is a figurine fragment. Far too eroded to be recognizable. May be mistake in production? Terminal Formative period context. From elite ritual structure at Yugüe.

218 1220 Small foot or hand. Probably from a zoomorphic figurine. Attachment point is immediately next to hand/foot, suggesting very short limb of an animal of some kind. Could also be fin or wing? Impressed digits. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 219 1224 Simple foot or hand from figurine. Looks like animal foot. May have attachment point, meaning leg or arm was likely short. Deeply inscribed digits. Striations are fingerprints or erosion? May also be wing or fin? Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

240 220 1227 Highly eroded face with faint features. Possible attachment point at neck. Still visible are headgear with two circles and possible 'Mohawk,' large ears and one ear spool, possible necklace or clothing, impressions for eyes, nose, and very large mouth. Open mouth has shape within that may represent teeth or tongue. Mouth is most distinguishing feature, though shape of headgear may be similar to others in this study. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe. 221 1237 Leg and foot from anthropomorphic figurine. Foot has inscribed toes. Foot may not have stood evenly, though certainly large enough to balance a figurine. May also be on an angle due to erosion? Has extensive dark gray/black concretions, but these are also on the broken proximal end, suggesting that they are post-depositional. Shape suggests left foot (from perspective of figurine) though angles sharply outward. Uncertain how figure stood, or if it may have been in some kind of active position. Terminal Formative period context. From elite ritual structure at Yugüe.

241 222 1240 Eroded rim sherd with zoomorphic figure emerging from the side. May be a bat head? Arthur Joyce has found similar bat head effigy vessels from other time periods. Sherd is thick below head, suggesting back and chest. Rim begins at such a level as to suggest wings. Snout, big round eyes, and large ears. Striations on surface look like fingerprints but probably are not. At least one large piece of (quartz?) temper. May have been saved after vessel broke, like the human face appliqués. This piece may suggest that many head fragments in the study were actually appliqués? Terminal Formative period context. From elite ritual structure at Yugüe. 223 1250 Thick leg with exaggerated foot. Foot has inscribed toes and pronounced arch. Arch suggests Anthropomorph. Figurine likely stood when complete. Arch may have added to stability. Breaking point is eroded and at about the knee. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

242 224 1254 Anthropomorphic head fragment. Has large, frontward-curving headgear or hairdo. Holes for eyes remain. One ear. One large ear spool. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

225 1258 Fragment from a zoomorphic effigy figurine. Apparently damaged in excavation. Large eye and nostril. Looks like a bird, with possible fragment of a beak. Reddish brown in color. Interior is gray, suggesting low temperature firing? Low, rounded head. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 226 1262 Small disc, flat on both sides. Apparently applied to a figurine or other ceramic object. May have been an eye or other accoutrement. Center is gray rather than brown, giving it a layered appearance. Mary Pohl suggests that it may have been a gaming piece. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen.

243 227 1269 Torso portion of what appears to have been a stylized human figurine. Shaping of the chest suggests female. Hand crosses over stomach. Body is cylindrical and thick. May have been able to stand. Two breaking points for legs. Hand has inscribed fingers. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 228 1273 Apparently a whistle fragment from an animal or stylized human effigy whistle. Hollow body construction with very thin walls. Possible finger hole fragment. No mouthpiece or other hints of whistle. Has extended extremity, probably a leg. Probably stood as a tripod? Hand or paw is applied and attached across body. Most of extremity missing besides hand/paw. Terminal Formative period context. From elite residence at Cerro de la Virgen. 229 1279 Large anthropomorphic head with ear spools and apparent hairdo or headgear (mostly broken off). Eyes are large and open. Mouth is big with pronounced lips and material left in the center that may indicate teeth. Hollow neck area shows that larger complete figurine was hollow bodied. Fragments of red pigment indicate some slip, wash, or paint. Terminal Formative period context. From public ceremonial structure at Yugüe.

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253 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Education

• Graduate o Graduate student at Florida State University, working toward MA in anthropology (Master’s thesis successfully defended 10/17/2007) o Completed comprehensive exams for FSU anthropology department, 2006 ƒ ‘High Passes’ in Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology o Completed Program for Instructional Excellence (PIE) teaching certification (fall, 2005 at Florida State University) o Departmental assistant in office at FSU Anthropology building, Fall 2006 o FSU anthropology departmental assistant with National Parks Service at South East Archaeological Center, 8/2005-5/2006 o Vice president, Anthropological Society at FSU, 2006-2007 o Secretary , Anthropological Society at FSU, 2005-2006 o Recipient, FSU Congress of Graduate Students travel grant for 2007 Society of American Archaeologists conference, Austin, Texas o Recipient, FSU Congress of Graduate Students travel grant for 2006 Society of American Archaeologists conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico o Current graduate school GPA: 3.93 • Teaching experience o Departmental assistant for lecture in Dr. Dean Falk’s ANT2155 (Intro to Physical Anthropology) class, Fall 2007 o Teaching assistant / Lab instructor for Dr. Bill Parkinson’s ANT2100 (Intro to Archaeology) class, Spring 2007 o March 2007: Volunteer with FSU Anthropology / Classics departments combined public outreach archaeology program at Hawks Rise Elementary School, Tallahassee, Fl (visit http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/news/mockdig.shtml) • Undergraduate

254 o Graduated ‘With Distinction’ August 2004 with BA in Anthropology and Creative Writing from the University of Colorado (Anthropology GPA: 3.978 English GPA: 3.77 Cumulative GPA: 3.782) o Five-week CU Archaeological Field School with Professors Cathy Cameron and Steve Lekson in Cañada Alamosa, NM and Bluff, UT (May – June 2004) o Various Archaeological, Biological, and Cultural Anthropology courses (Example: Plains Archaeology with Douglas Bamforth) o Various Writing and Creative Writing courses (Example: Modern Short Story with J.E. Rivers, Advanced Fiction Workshop) o Studied abroad at University of East Anglia (Norwich, England) for academic year 2002-2003 ƒ Exchange student in School of English and American Studies ƒ Recipient, Sarah Buchanan Philipps Study Abroad Scholarship (4/2002) • Honor Societies o Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society (inducted 2004) Alpha Chapter 390 UCB Boulder, CO, 80309 o The Chancellor’s List (inducted 2005) The Chancellor's List 7211 Circle S Road Austin, TX 78745 Phone: (877) 843-9946 o Phi Sigma Theta National Honor Society PO Box 5758 Lake Tahoe, NV 89449 o National Society of Collegiate Scholars 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 1000, Washington, D.C. 20006 o The National Dean’s List (inducted 2007) 7211 Circle S Road Austin, TX 78745

255 o Golden Key International Honour Society (inducted 2007) 621 North Avenue NE, Suite C-100 Atlanta, GA 30308 o Kittredge Honors Program at CU Boulder, 2000-2001 • High School o Graduate, Montrose High School (Montrose, Colorado) May 2000 • Academic All State First Team, Principal’s Honor Roll • Seven years with band program • 1998 Montrose High School Track Team

Work Experience

Academic Archaeology • May-June 2006: Five weeks of analysis of Formative period ceramic figurines from the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico as thesis research for a Master’s degree in anthropology from Florida State University o Collections and assistance provided by Dr. Arthur Joyce, University of Colorado • January through May 2005: Five months of excavation (supervisory position) on Postclassic period Mixtec site of Tututepec in Oaxaca, Mexico for University of Colorado student Marc Levine’s PhD project o Supervision of excavation teams throughout project o Direction of all excavations at second site/operation for two weeks o Various artifact illustrations for publication in Marc’s dissertation • Five week archaeological field school with University of Colorado (see ‘education’ section) • Spring 2002: Assisted Jeff Ferguson (PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Colorado) with obsidian debitage research study Government Archaeology • July-August 2007: Emergency archaeological reconnaissance and damage assessment for Osceola National Forest (United States Forest Service) after Bugaboo Fire, summer 2007 (Christopher Lydick, supervisor)

256 Cultural Resource Management Archaeology • Summer 2007 – Department of Historical Resources project letter scanning (obtained from Florida Master Site File, Tallahassee) for Environmental Services Incorporated • June 2007 – 5 days of survey and test unit excavation on Wekiva River Mitigation Bank Project # EO07100.00 near Orlando, Florida with Environmental Services Incorporated • June 2007 – 8 days of phase one survey / test unit excavation on Ocmulgee Tract Project # EA07512.00 in Macon, Georgia with Environmental Services Incorporated • June 14th-19th (2005) six days of archaeological survey with Alpine Archaeology for Department of Energy in Crescent Junction, Utah • Nov 3rd-10th (2004) eight days of archaeological survey with SWCA on XTO Hartzog Draw project, Wyoming (# 8702) • Oct 20th-27th (2004) eight days of survey with SWCA on various projects near Carbondale, Craig, and Kremmling (Colorado) including: #8770-142 (two days), #8869-142 (three days), #8769-142 (one day), #8872-142 (one day) • Oct 6th - 15th eight days of survey with SWCA on Bullwhacker project, Wyoming (# 8686-169) • August-September 2004: One eight-day session of archaeological survey with SWCA (Broomfield, CO) on South Butte Project, Wyoming (Project #8575-169) • July-August 2004: two eight-day sessions of archaeological survey with SWCA on Williams Willow Creek Project and Table Mountain Project, Wyoming (#8254-169 and #8284-169) • July 2004: one eight-day session of archaeological survey with SWCA (Broomfield, CO) on Red Draw/Whisky Draw Project (# 8213-169) • July 2004: one eight-day session of archaeological survey with SWCA on Owl Ridge Project, North Park Colorado (#8122-142) • July – September 2002: Three ten-day sessions of historic archaeological excavation near Cedar City and Nephi, Utah on two separate sites with Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc.

257 o Excavations included in KREP project: Old Hamblin Town Site, site # 42JB388 and Wellington town site # 42JB388 • May – August 2001: Survey Crew member (TRIMBLE Global Positioning System operator) for Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. (Kearns River Pipeline Project) o Mapping of Kearns River pipeline expansion, as well as independent finds and historic and prehistoric sites along pipeline corridor • 2000 – 2002: Historic artifact illustrations for Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. (Copy of portfolio available upon request) Other • Sept. 2000 – May 2001 (part time) and May – July 2002 (full time) employee at Import Coachworks Ltd. (auto collision repair shop located in Boulder, Colorado) • Sept. 1998 – Apr. 2000: Owned and operated small business (B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S. Curbside Recycling) o Sold business in April 2000

Publications

• Artifact Illustrations for Marc Levine’s PhD project used in Dissertation and SAA paper presented in spring 2006, San Juan, Puerto Rico • Artifact illustrations for Alpine Archaeological Consultants Inc., published in site reports 2000-2002 (Copies of all illustrations available upon request) o Site reports with my illustrations include: 5GF1562, 5LP1920, 5ME642, 5LP1915, 5LP1921, 5ME6826, and LA36652

Achievements

• Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America) Aug. 2000 • Recipient, Sarah Buchanan Philipps Study Abroad Scholarship (4/2002) for study at University of East Anglia, Norwich England • PADI certified diver, SSI certified diver • Notary Public for the state of Florida, commission # DD641039, exp. 2/15/2011 • One novel written, more stories in the works

258