1 Zapotec Empire an empire covering 20 000 sq. km. This empire is thought to have included the Cen- ARTHUR A. JOYCE tral Valleys (i.e., the Valleys of Oaxaca, Ejutla, University of Colorado, USA and Miahuatlán) and surrounding areas such as the Cañada de Cuicatlán as well as regions to the east and south extending to the Pacific Archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence coastal lowlands, particularly the lower Río from Oaxaca, Mexico, suggests that Zapo- Verde Valley. These researchers argue that tec-speaking peoples may have formed small Monte Albán’s rulers pursued a strategy of empires during the pre-Hispanic era (Joyce territorial conquest and imperial control 2010). A possible empire was centered on through the use of a large, well-trained, and the Late Formative period (300 BCE–200 CE) hierarchical military that pursued extended city of Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley. campaigns and established hilltop outposts, The existence of this empire, however, has garrisons, and fortifications (Redmond and been the focus of a major debate. Stronger Spencer 2006: 383). Evidence that Monte support is available for a coastal Zapotec Albán conquered and directly administered Empire centered on the Late Postclassic outlying regions, however, is largely limited – (1200 1522 CE) city of Tehuantepec. to iconographic interpretations of a series of Debate concerning Late Formative Zapotec carved stones at Monte Albán known as the imperialism is focused on Monte Albán and “Conquest Slabs” and debatable similarities its interactions with surrounding regions. in ceramic styles among these regions (e.g., Monte Albán was founded in c.500 BCE on Marcus and Flannery 1996). aseriesofhilltopsintheValleyofOaxaca.By Other archaeologists question the imperial- the Late Formative, the community had grown ism model (e.g., Workinger and Joyce into an urban center covering 442 hectares with 2009; Joyce 2010, 2014). These researchers apopulationestimatedat15 000.Mostresearch- point out that little archaeological evidence ersagreethatevidenceforwarfareincreasesdur- is available in most of the regions within the ing the Late Formative in the Valley of Oaxaca proposed Monte Albán Empire and and nearby highland regions. Warfare is sug- question the interpretation of the “Conquest gestedbythepresenceofpossibledefensivewalls Slabs.” A large-scale archaeological project in and trophy skulls at several political centers the lower Río Verde Valley has found no evi- along with shifts in settlement to defensible hill- dence of significant warfare or a Monte Albán tops (Marcus and Flannery 1996; Redmond and imperial presence (Joyce 2013). It is highly ques- Spencer 2006; Joyce 2010). Debate surrounds tionable that a polity the size of Monte Albán the nature and scale of warfare along with the could have controlled a territorial empire cover- extent to which Monte Albán may have come ing 20 000 sq. km given the logistical difficulties to politically control surrounding regions. of conquering and administering such a large Archaeologists working in the Oaxacan area in the mountainous landscapes of southern highlands argue that during the Late Mexico. In addition, comparative archaeologi- Formative Monte Albán expanded militarily, cal evidence shows that similarities in ceramic eventually conquering and administering styles are poor indicators of an imperial The Encyclopedia of Empire, First Edition. Edited by John M. MacKenzie. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe022 2 presence (Stark 1990). Although Monte Albán SEE ALSO: Aztec Empire; Mixtec Empire probably defeated communities and established a degree of political influence within the REFERENCES Central Valleys, it is unlikely that the polity Joyce, A. A. 2010. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: controlled an empire. Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico. Malden: Better evidence for Zapotec imperialism Wiley-Blackwell. comes from archaeological and ethnohistorical Joyce, A. A. (Ed.) 2013. Polity and Ecology in research focused on the Late Postclassic period Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca. Boulder: just prior to the Spanish Conquest (Zeitlin University Press of Colorado. “ 2005;Joyce2010).Atthistime,politicalfaction- Joyce, A. A. 2014. Warfare in Late/Terminal For- mative Period Oaxaca.” In A. K. Scherer and alism and conflict in the Valley of Oaxaca J. W. Verano (Eds.), Embattled Bodies, Embat- led Zapotecs to expand into the southern Isth- tled Places: War in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica mus of Tehuantepec on the coast of Oaxaca. and the Andes: 117–141. Washington, DC: Settlement pattern data in the southern Isth- Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and mus indicate the dislocation of local Zoquean Collection. communities by the invading Zapotecs. Zapo- Marcus, J. and K. Flannery. 1996. Zapotec Civiliza- tecs established a ruling dynasty at Tehuante- tion. London: Thames and Hudson. Redmond, E. M. and C. S. Spencer. 2006. “From pec, which quickly grew into a major urban Raiding to Conquest: Warfare Strategies and center, estimated at 25 000 people. Excavations Early State Development in Oaxaca, Mexico.” by Zeitlin (2005) in an outlying barrio of In E. N. Arkush and M. W. Allen (Eds.), The Tehuantepec show the presence of traditional Archaeology of Warfare: Prehistories of Raiding Zapotec religious, political, and domestic prac- and Conquest: 336–393. Gainesville: University tices including a two-room temple. The Zapo- Press of Florida. “ tecs also established a hilltop fortress at Stark, B. L. 1990. The Gulf Coast and the Central Guiengola where archaeological research has Highlands of Mexico: Alternative Models for Interaction.” Research in Economic Anthropol- recorded impressive defensive walls, remains ogy, 12: 243–285. of low-status houses, and a ceremonial center Workinger, A. and A. A. Joyce. 2009. “Reconsider- with large platforms, a ball-court, tombs, altars, ing Warfare in Formative Period Oaxaca.” In and a high-status residential precinct. H. Orr and R. Koontz (Eds.), Blood and Beauty: Early colonial indigenous and Spanish Organized Violence in the Art and Archaeology of – documents suggest that the rulers of Tehuan- Mesoamerica and Central America:338. Los tepec consolidated control over the eastern Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. Zeitlin, J. F. 2005. Cultural Politics in Colonial coast through conquest and alliance formation Tehuantepec. Stanford: Stanford University Press. (Zeitlin 2005). In 1522, following the arrival of the Spanish, Lord Lachi, the Zapotec ruler of Tehuantepec, agreed to ally with FURTHER READING the Spanish against Tehuantepec’s enemy, Smith, M. E. and L. Montiel. 2001. “The Archaeo- the Mixtec Empire of Tututepec. The alliance logical Study of Empires and Imperialism in was short-lived, however, and Zapotecs like Prehispanic Central Mexico.” Journal of Anthro- other Native Americans were soon decimated pological Archaeology, 20(3): 245–284. 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