FAMSI © 2005: Laura Solar Valverde Epi-Classic Cultural Dynamics in the Mezquital Valley Translation of the Spanish by Alex Lomónaco Research Year: 2001 Culture: Xajay Chronology: Epi-Classic Location: Mezquital Valley, México Site: El Zethé Table of Contents Abstract Resumen Introduction Evidence of Interregional Interaction through the Epi-Classic The Figures An Epi-Classic Marker Some Contexts Maya Area Oaxaca Xochicalco Cerro de las Mesas Hidalgo and Querétaro Tula Similarities and Differences Between the Contexts Absence of Bone Remains Associated Human Remains Garments and Ritual Paraphernalia Common Characteristics of the Offerings Social Interaction Throughout the Epi-Classic Interaction Spheres and Distribution Networks in Mesoamerica The Northern Sector of the Central Mesa The Mezquital Valley The Septentrional Network of the Plateau Some Spheres and Possible Overlappings The Bajío Sphere White Raised (Blanco Levantado) Red-on-Bay (Rojo sobre Bayo) and Black-Brown Incised/Incised Postfire (Negro-Café Inciso/Estrafiado) Septentrional Sphere The Concurrence of Close Links in the Construction of Macroregional Networks List of Figures Sources Cited Abstract The Epi-Classic period (ca. A.D. 600/700–900/1000) was in most parts of Mesoamerica, except for the Valley of México, a period of regional apogee characterized by intense interregional interaction. During that time, an extensive communication network made possible the access to similar luxury goods to societies from extreme regions within Mesoamerican territory, from the northern-most part of the Central Plateau to the Maya Area. The luxuries involved in this Pan-Mesoamerican network include figurative jade plaques of a particular style, turquoise, Ucareo/Zinapécuaro obsidian and shell from both coasts. Drifting from a macroregional perspective to a regional level, in this project we approach some of the distributive networks which may have involved the transit of these products. Resumen El período Epi-Clásico (c.a. 600/700–900/1000 d.C.) la mayor parte fue de Mesoamérica, excepto por el Valle de México, un período de apogeo regional caracterizado por la interacción inter-regional intensa. Durante ese tiempo, una comunicación de redes intensas hicieron posible el acceso a mercancías lujosas similares a sociedades de regiones extremas dentro el territorio Mesoamericano, de la mayor parte del norte del Altiplano Central del Área Maya. Los lujos involucrados en esta red Pan-Mesoamericana incluye placas de jade figurativas de un estilo particular, turquesa, obsidiana Ucareo/Zinapécuaro y concha de ambas costas. Navegando desde una perspectiva macro-regional a nivel regional, en este proyecto planteamos algunas de las redes de distribución que pudieron estar involucradas en el tránsito de estos productos. Submitted 03/07/2002 by: Laura Solar Valverde [email protected] Introduction The Epi-Classic period (ca. A.D. 600/700–900/1000) has been almost everywhere in Mesoamerica, except the Valley of México, a period of regional splendor characterized by intense interregional interactions. At that time, a communications network that connected societies from extreme regions within the Mesoamerican territory was active from the northern portion of the Central Plateau to the Maya Area. This "Pan-Mesoamerican" network is insinuated in the generalized dispersion of a number of luxury goods. Among these objects, the existence of certain greenstone figures should be outlined, with characteristics, peculiarities, a wide geographical distribution and a relatively limited temporal extension that turn them into an excellent marker for the horizon. We have dedicated the first part of this work to that phenomenon. Besides, the dispersion of these figures is coincident with the circulation of other products, such as turquoise, the gray obsidian from Ucareo/Zinapécuaro, and shell from both coastal strips. The obtention of materials from such varied origins can only be understood as the result of an active and dynamical participation of these societies in a macroregional system. When reducing the scale of our analysis, such system may be observed as a spatially integrating and continuous process, where the links with remote regions derive from the concurrence of connections with nearby regions. In the second part of this essay, a few distributive networks are outlined, which may have to do with the transit of the products mentioned above, both from an interregional perspective with emphasis made on the northern portion of the Central Plateau, and a regional perspective, where aspects of the Mezquital Valley have been underlined. As stated in the proposal submitted to FAMSI, our goal is to contribute in reducing the number of "voids" which make it difficult to attain a perception of Mesoamerica as a social, rather than a geographical space, and its pre-hispanic history as a consequence of a flexible, permeable structure in constant interaction. What we have just said forces us to reevaluate the role played by the human groups that occupied the region as integrated societies in a framework of inclosing relationships, within a much larger social matrix. In this sense, the definition of some groups as marginal or alien to the development of Mesoamerica is no longer easy to sustain. Evidence of Interregional Interaction through the Epi-Classic Forty years ago, during the explorations carried out in Xochicalco under his direction, the archaeologist César Sáenz found a number of offerings that predated the second building sequence for the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent. The peculiarity in this finding was the presence of a number of greenstone carved figures which, to Sáenz’s surprise, seemed to share identical traits (Figure 1 and Figure 2). Distributed in three of the four main contexts recorded in said building during the 1962-63 field season, the pieces were accompanied by other peculiar objects, such as a tecali vessel with a polychrome fresco decoration, a carved snail and shell strings, in Offering 1, and tubular and quadrangular greenstone beads, in addition to a pair of earflares of the same material, in Burial 2. In his report on these findings, Sáenz noted that one of the characters represented in greenstone greatly resembled the plaque he had recovered while exploring Palenque’s Temple XVIII, in 1954 (Sáenz, 1956:8-9, Hirth, 2000:203) (Figure 3), as also a number of objects that are a part of the Woods Bliss Collection, illustrated by Samuel Lothrop in his work Pre-Columbian Art (1959, in Sáenz, 1963a:21-22). Regarding these figures, Lothrop suggested a possible connection with the Zapotecan culture, and Sáenz in turn mentioned that the type of headdress decoration used by most individuals is present in jades from the Guatemala and El Salvador Plateaus, as well as in the Olmec region (ibid.:22). All of the above made him state that "[…] we must find their association with the Zapotec region and perhaps also with cultures more to the south" (idem). With these findings, plus those that had taken place months before in Building "C", where also greenstone pendants, snails, shell beads and plates of this style were jointly found, César Sáenz concluded: "The nine jade plates or pendants we have found, and which came from Structure C and from the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpents, are not indicative of the existence and significance of this deity in Xochicalco, since all of them represent, with slight variations, one and the same individual" (Sáenz, 1963b:7). Figure 1. Sáenz, 1963a. Figure 2. Taken from Sáenz, 1963a. Figure 3. Taken from Sáenz, 1956. Since the 1930’s, Alfonso Caso headed a comprehensive exploration program in Oaxaca. With the assistance of several other researchers, sites from the Mixteca and the Central Valleys were surveyed and excavated, and in this latter region, Monte Albán in particular (Bernal, 1965:793). John Paddock, who participated in these efforts, presented in his Ancient Oaxaca. Discoveries in Mexican Archaeology and History (1966), some of the interpretations obtained following almost thirty years of works in the area. Paddock’s publication is specially mentioned, as it illustrates a large variety of pieces that are variants of the style that Sáenz described; today, most of these pieces belong to the collections of the National Museum of Anthropology and History (Figure 4). Paddock reproduced the objects but did not provide a thorough description, nor has he mentioned any context of provenience though he has attributed them to the Monte Albán IIIb, IIIb-IV and IV phases (1966:152, figs.159-165). A similar temporal assignment and scarce provenience information are seen in Alfonso Caso’s work on Oaxacan stone carvings, published one year earlier. In this work, Caso acknowledges the similarities with contemporary Maya pieces (1965a:906-907), a fact that can be easily observed in Robert Rands’ work about lowland Maya jades included in the same volume (1965:569-573). Figure 4. Taken from Paddock, 1966. No one can deny the reality of the connections between Xochicalco, the Central Oaxacan Valleys and the Maya Area, but elements to think about how close they were and what characteristics they had socially adopted are not abundant, besides the commercial value of the objects in common. It is precisely in this sense that the objects and contexts that have motivated this research may be useful. Surprisingly, their tracing has led us beyond these regions, to sites and contexts apparently so geographically apart and so culturally alien, that it would be worthwhile