JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content. Three papers, by Sergio suarez Cruz, geoffrey McCafferty, and michael lind, deal with Cholula polychromes and attempt to refine the Postclassic ceramic chronology.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content. Three papers, by Sergio suarez Cruz, geoffrey McCafferty, and michael lind, deal with Cholula polychromes and attempt to refine the Postclassic ceramic chronology.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content. Three papers, by Sergio suarez Cruz, geoffrey McCafferty, and michael lind, deal with Cholula polychromes and attempt to refine the Postclassic ceramic chronology.
Arqueologa del occidente de Mxico: nuevas aportaciones by Eduardo Williams; R. Novella;
Evolucin de una civilizacin prehispnica: arqueologa de Jalisco, Nayarit, y Zacatecas by Phil C. Weigand; El Michoacn antiguo by Brigitte Boehm de Lameiras Review by: Shirley Gorenstein Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 1996), pp. 88-91 Published by: Society for American Archaeology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3537022 . Accessed: 06/02/2013 23:52 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Society for American Archaeology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Latin American Antiquity. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:52:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY strong to suggest that the codex was produced in the Tehuacan Valley (a position originally taken by Eduard Seler, Robert Chadwick, and Richard MacNeish). Three papers, by Sergio Suarez Cruz, Geoffrey McCafferty, and Michael Lind, deal with Cholula poly- chromes and attempt to refine the Postclassic ceramic chronology. Lind's paper is particularly interesting because he not only differentiates two types of Late Postclassic polychrome pottery (Cholula's Catalina Polychrome and Oaxaca's Pilitas Polychrome), he also argues that the typological differences reflect differ- ences in the cultural and political systems. Cholula was a sacred Nahua city; its polychrome vessels display themes of sacrifice, and were used in religious rites. In contrast, during the Late Postclassic the Mixteca and Valley of Oaxaca were characterized by many small kingdoms in which Pilitas Polychrome was used in political contexts; the motifs in this case were tied to noble lineages and political genealogies. Pilitas Polychrome pottery was used by the elite of each major town in events such as royal marriages, and such ves- sels are depicted in marriage scenes in each town's codex. Lind's work is confirmed and refined in a paper coauthored by H. Neff, R. Bishop, E. Sisson, M. Glascock, and P. Sisson that presents results from a large sample of Late Postclassic polychromes whose paste compositions were determined by neutron activa- tion analysis. Neff et al. provide clear evidence for mul- tiple production centers of Late Postclassic polychromes: four in the Basin of Mexico; three in the Puebla/Tlaxcala area; and several in the Mixteca Alta, the Valley of Oaxaca, and the Chinantla. This evidence for multiple centers of production fits well with our evidence for elite gift-giving and interdynastic mar- riage alliances that served to link major towns. Quifiones Keber tackles the problem of what is meant by the term "codex style pottery"; she calls for greater precision in our use of that term, including a need to specify which codex is being compared to a particular sherd's motif. Noemi Castillo-Tejero sug- gests that we use the term "Mixteca-Popoloca" instead of Mixteca-Puebla, because there are linguistic and eth- nohistoric sources that indicate the Popolocas were a powerful force in southern Puebla. Bryan Dennis notes that the Borgia Codex has more in common with the Mixtec codices (such as the Zouche-Nuttall) than previously emphasized. Following John Pohl, Dennis (p. 169) maintains that "Mixtec 'histories' are not simply annals that record 'what really happened in the past.' They represent a specific view of history-a view informed and struc- tured by the ritual and divinatory associations recorded strong to suggest that the codex was produced in the Tehuacan Valley (a position originally taken by Eduard Seler, Robert Chadwick, and Richard MacNeish). Three papers, by Sergio Suarez Cruz, Geoffrey McCafferty, and Michael Lind, deal with Cholula poly- chromes and attempt to refine the Postclassic ceramic chronology. Lind's paper is particularly interesting because he not only differentiates two types of Late Postclassic polychrome pottery (Cholula's Catalina Polychrome and Oaxaca's Pilitas Polychrome), he also argues that the typological differences reflect differ- ences in the cultural and political systems. Cholula was a sacred Nahua city; its polychrome vessels display themes of sacrifice, and were used in religious rites. In contrast, during the Late Postclassic the Mixteca and Valley of Oaxaca were characterized by many small kingdoms in which Pilitas Polychrome was used in political contexts; the motifs in this case were tied to noble lineages and political genealogies. Pilitas Polychrome pottery was used by the elite of each major town in events such as royal marriages, and such ves- sels are depicted in marriage scenes in each town's codex. Lind's work is confirmed and refined in a paper coauthored by H. Neff, R. Bishop, E. Sisson, M. Glascock, and P. Sisson that presents results from a large sample of Late Postclassic polychromes whose paste compositions were determined by neutron activa- tion analysis. Neff et al. provide clear evidence for mul- tiple production centers of Late Postclassic polychromes: four in the Basin of Mexico; three in the Puebla/Tlaxcala area; and several in the Mixteca Alta, the Valley of Oaxaca, and the Chinantla. This evidence for multiple centers of production fits well with our evidence for elite gift-giving and interdynastic mar- riage alliances that served to link major towns. Quifiones Keber tackles the problem of what is meant by the term "codex style pottery"; she calls for greater precision in our use of that term, including a need to specify which codex is being compared to a particular sherd's motif. Noemi Castillo-Tejero sug- gests that we use the term "Mixteca-Popoloca" instead of Mixteca-Puebla, because there are linguistic and eth- nohistoric sources that indicate the Popolocas were a powerful force in southern Puebla. Bryan Dennis notes that the Borgia Codex has more in common with the Mixtec codices (such as the Zouche-Nuttall) than previously emphasized. Following John Pohl, Dennis (p. 169) maintains that "Mixtec 'histories' are not simply annals that record 'what really happened in the past.' They represent a specific view of history-a view informed and struc- tured by the ritual and divinatory associations recorded in the Codex Borgia and sources like it." In their paper, Pohl and Bruce Byland look at "factional alliance cor- ridors," arguing that the Mixteca-Puebla style was a non-linguistically based system of communication used by the elite to transcend the multiplicity of lan- guages and polities. Ernesto Gonzailez Lic6n and Lourdes Marquez Morfin discuss caves and their associated rituals in the Cafiada de Cuicatlan, the riverine corridor connecting Puebla to the Valley of Oaxaca. In Cueva Cheve, they made some spectacular discoveries: a turquoise mosaic mask similar to one from Cueva de Ejutla; round wooden shields covered with mosaics; and turquoise mosaic scenes on rectangular pieces of wood, showing a ball court and a battle scene involving at least 30 indi- viduals. In what ways has this edited volume advanced our knowledge of the Mixteca-Puebla concept? The answer is threefold: it presents evidence that the phenomenon involved multiple styles and multiple production cen- ters in pottery, even though shared or overlapping sets of symbols were used, borrowed, and imitated by nobles across much of the highlands; it indicates that we might be better off removing the hyphen in Vaillant's term "Mixteca-Puebla," using each word singly to designate one of the two different style regions; and it reveals that the Postclassic landscape was politically fragmented but tied together by long- distance exchange, interdynastic marriage alliances, and multi-ethnic confederations. Such complexity and diversity do not fit comfortably within the label "Mixteca-Puebla." Some might even argue that we now know so much more than we did in the 1930s that the term is on the verge of outliving its usefulness. Arqueologia del occidente de Mexico: nuevas aporta- ciones. EDUARDO WILLIAMS and R. NOVELLA, editors. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, Michoacan, 1994. 384 pp., 93 figures, 23 tables, references. Price unknown (paper). Evolucion de una civilizacion prehispdnica: arque- ologia de Jalisco, Nayarit, y Zacatecas. PHIL C. WEIGAND. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, 1993. 444 pp., 58 figures, 6 tables, bibliography. $25.00 (paper). El Michoacdn antiguo. BRIGITTE BOEHM DE LAMEIRAS, coordinadora. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, 1994. 464 pp., black-and-white and color pho- tographs, 17 maps, 15 tables, bibliography, appendixes, indexes. Price unknown (cloth). in the Codex Borgia and sources like it." In their paper, Pohl and Bruce Byland look at "factional alliance cor- ridors," arguing that the Mixteca-Puebla style was a non-linguistically based system of communication used by the elite to transcend the multiplicity of lan- guages and polities. Ernesto Gonzailez Lic6n and Lourdes Marquez Morfin discuss caves and their associated rituals in the Cafiada de Cuicatlan, the riverine corridor connecting Puebla to the Valley of Oaxaca. In Cueva Cheve, they made some spectacular discoveries: a turquoise mosaic mask similar to one from Cueva de Ejutla; round wooden shields covered with mosaics; and turquoise mosaic scenes on rectangular pieces of wood, showing a ball court and a battle scene involving at least 30 indi- viduals. In what ways has this edited volume advanced our knowledge of the Mixteca-Puebla concept? The answer is threefold: it presents evidence that the phenomenon involved multiple styles and multiple production cen- ters in pottery, even though shared or overlapping sets of symbols were used, borrowed, and imitated by nobles across much of the highlands; it indicates that we might be better off removing the hyphen in Vaillant's term "Mixteca-Puebla," using each word singly to designate one of the two different style regions; and it reveals that the Postclassic landscape was politically fragmented but tied together by long- distance exchange, interdynastic marriage alliances, and multi-ethnic confederations. Such complexity and diversity do not fit comfortably within the label "Mixteca-Puebla." Some might even argue that we now know so much more than we did in the 1930s that the term is on the verge of outliving its usefulness. Arqueologia del occidente de Mexico: nuevas aporta- ciones. EDUARDO WILLIAMS and R. NOVELLA, editors. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, Michoacan, 1994. 384 pp., 93 figures, 23 tables, references. Price unknown (paper). Evolucion de una civilizacion prehispdnica: arque- ologia de Jalisco, Nayarit, y Zacatecas. PHIL C. WEIGAND. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, 1993. 444 pp., 58 figures, 6 tables, bibliography. $25.00 (paper). El Michoacdn antiguo. BRIGITTE BOEHM DE LAMEIRAS, coordinadora. El Colegio de Michoacan, Zamora, 1994. 464 pp., black-and-white and color pho- tographs, 17 maps, 15 tables, bibliography, appendixes, indexes. Price unknown (cloth). 88 88 [Vol. 7, No. 1, 1996] [Vol. 7, No. 1, 1996] This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:52:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES Reviewed by Shirley Gorenstein, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Intermittently over many years, archaeologists writing about western and northwestern Mexico have been compelled to point out that this region is (1) connected to Mesoamerica (early scholars) or (2) part of Mesoamerican studies (later scholars) or (3) incorpo- rated into a newly defined Mesoamerica (most recent writers). Over the last 20 years, the pace of archaeo- logical work in western and northwestern Mexico has accelerated, and archaeologists have made discoveries of new sites and offered new interpretations that have shown the complexity of culture there in Prehispanic times. At first, these archaeologists expected to have their work noted in the publications, certainly in the synthetic publications, of Mesoamericanists. Surprising to them, this was not and has not been done with the expected frequency or regularity. Mesoamericanists, governed by a central Mexican and points south perspective, could not see the relevance of the work to what they considered the Mesoamerican area. In some sense, archaeologists of western and northwestern Mexico were operating as if looking through a one-way mirror in which they saw out but were not visible to their associates on the other side. It is astonishing to them that their increasingly rad- ical arguments have not been engaged by other Mesoamericanists and that the archaeology of this region has had little influence in defining Mesoamerica and Mesoamerican high culture. In the last two years, several important books on west Mexico and Mesoamerica have been published, among them the three books listed, which both expand and integrate the archaeology of the region as well as address major issues in the study of Prehispanic Mesoamerica. In the first book, Arqueologia del occidente de Mexico, Eduardo Williams once again places west and northwest Mexico in the context of Mesoamerican studies. He points out that this area is vast in size and diversity, both geographically and culturally. In addi- tion, it has its own history of cultural development whose rhythm was different from the area to the east. The interaction between the two areas was complex and it is probably not helpful to use a model in which one area is the recipient and the other the donor culture. Arqueologia del occidente de Mexico contains arti- cles that give new data on the prehistory of the area. Patricia Carot describes a burial zone on the island of Loma Alta in the ancient marshes of Zacapu. She estab- lishes a body of iconographic motifs that link the site not only to other places in Michoacan, but also to other places in Mesoamerica and to the U.S. Southwest. Her work suggests that it is worthwhile examining what may be a pan-Mesoamerican trait that associates the dead with water. Karen Hardy presents an analysis of surface lithic collections from the Zacoalco-Sayula Basin in Jalisco dating from the preceramic or Archaic, a period from which we have very little data for west Mexico. Ver6nica Darras reports on obsidian work- shops in the Zinaparo-Cerro Prieto zone in Michoacan and notes a possible connection with lithic technology at Pachay in Guatemala. Enriqueta M. Olguin gives an account of ornamental shell found as grave goods in the far north of Jalisco. She provides insight into social and historical contexts. Lourdes Suairez Diez offers a cata- log of sections of written and pictographic documents of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries that mention and describe shell objects in west Mexico. Della Sprager understands the contribution that her analysis of west Mexican weights can make to the study of science and technology in Mesoamerica. Eduardo Williams uses the concept of ceramic ecology to frame his study of ceramic production in the con- temporary community of Huancito, Michoacan. There are certain features of western and northwest- ern Mexico Prehispanic culture that are distinct, per- haps foremost among them is the early and vigorous metallurgy industry. An article by Dorothy Hosler on the technology and chronology of Prehispanic metal- lurgy in west Mexico (originally published in the Journal of Field Archaeology) is a rich resource on the subject of Mesoamerican metallurgy. Hosler's scholar- ship, here and elsewhere, always provides both new data and refined discussions of meaning on metallurgy as material culture and as a technological process. Another distinctive aspect of west Mexico is the highly organized Tarascan state. Helen Perlstein Pollard, whose research on the Tarascans has been both exten- sive and edifying, writes here with Thomas A. Vogel on the political and economic implications of obsidian exchange within the Tarascan state. The Bolafios expression of the distinctive shaft tombs found in west Mexico is discussed by Maria Teresa Cabrero Garcia who compares them with tombs in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador, areas in central and South America that have been linked to west Mexico by this as well as other aspects of material culture. Phil Weigand ends the volume with a provocative critique of the myth depict- ing Mexcaltitain, Nayarit, as the Mexica Aztlan employ- ing a refreshing and surprising contemporary context. The second book, Evoluci6n de una civilizaci6n prehispdnica, is a collection of 17 articles written by Phil Weigand (perhaps two or three have not been pub- 89 This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:52:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY lished before) with an appreciative introduction by Jose Lameiras Olvera. Phil Weigand has entered the debate about west Mexico and Mesoamerica on many levels and in many ways. Weigand's work in Jalisco revealed the complexity of west Mexican Prehispanic culture. He uncovered monumental architecture of an indige- nous tradition and showed that there were large settle- ment and irrigation systems and possibly a characteristic ideographic glyphic system in the high- land lake districts of western Jalisco before the Postclassic. He has shown that in the Formative, socio- cultural configurations were developing with compara- ble complexity and pace to other core areas of civilization in Mesoamerica. He has assessed the Central Mexican influences on the indigenous develop- ments in this west Mexico tradition during the Classic. He voiced the idea of a greater Mesoamerica, which is greater than the Mesoamerica of the Basin of Mexico and the regions to the east and south of it, by employ- ing the concepts of world economy and trade structure. Two chapters of this volume explicate the investiga- tions and results of his work in the Teuchitlan/Etzatlan region: one is on chronology and change in the Teuchitlan/Etzatlan zone in Jalisco and the other is on the Teuchitlan tradition of architecture and settlement patterns in the Formative. Five chapters place his work in west Mexico in the context of Mesoamerica: one focuses on the Teuchitlan tradition; another on the col- lapse of the Teuchitlan tradition and the cultures of the Postclassic period in the west; a third on the political organization of the valley and lake basins of the high- lands of Jalisco and Nayarit on the eve of the Spanish conquest; a fourth on the influences of Central Mexico in Jalisco and Nayarit during the Classic; and the last on the Teuchitlan tradition's expression of the Mesoamerican ball game. Another section of seven articles is devoted to Weigand's substantive work on trade systems. The most important among these are the articles on the obsidian mining complex in La Joya, Jalisco; on mining and mineral trade in Prehispanic Zacatecas, showing possible routes for the trade of turquoise from southern Mesoamerica to the U.S. Southwest; and on the function of turquoise in the com- mercial structure of ancient Mesoamerica. Finishing up the volume are chapters on the ethnography and ethno- history in the region. While the organization of the book suggests the his- tory and direction of Phil Weigand's research up to this time, it also indicates that a single work by Phil Weigand in which he would integrate his research and perspectives would be useful to the community of Mesoamericanists. The third book El Michoacdn antiguo is about the Prehispanic Tarascan state. It is a handsome book and its production follows the standards of art books in its large size, heavy glossy paper, and high quality black and white and color photographs of artifacts, docu- ments, and contemporary scenes. There are a number of useful maps, some with a persistent error: these place Acambaro south of the Lerma River. Prehispanic Acambaro is at least in major part if not entirely north of the Lerma River; it is the historic Acambaro settle- ment that is exclusively south of the Lerma. By focusing on the Tarascans, the publishers and sponsors of this volume affirm expansively that the Prehispanic Tarascan kingdom is one of Michoacan's major contributions to the Mesoamerican configuration. The book is divided into three parts. The first part, by Ulises Beltran, is more ethnohistorical than archaeolog- ical and contains a notation of some of the well-known documentary sources and a brief annotated chronology of the prehistory of Michoacan from Archaic to Postclassic times, based on selected archaeological and documentary sources. Using contemporary scholarly interpretations and data, he also provides a discussion of Prehispanic Tarascan subsistence patterns and a sum- mary comparison of Tarascan and Mexica settlement patterns and urbanization along with some thoughts on political ramifications. With a focus on the Tarascan population, he discusses the political and social system, then explicates the economy, through brief examina- tions of occupation, tribute, and general commerce, and finally he looks at the sixteenth-century Tarascan popu- lation in the period after the Spanish conquest. In his conclusions, Beltran offers some remarks on theories of the state and state formation and the application of such theories to the Tarascan situation. Certainly, he recog- nizes the complexity and diversity of state formation in the whole of Mesoamerica. Part two of the volume is more archaeological than ethnohistorical and is led off by an article by Eduardo Williams on the archaeological data of earlier periods in the Tarascan area, covering particularly El Opeio, Chupicuaro, a number of Classic-period sites, and including also a description of the Tarascan capital, Tzintzuntzan, based in good part on Helen Perlstein Pollard's work. Pollard, herself, writes a substantial section on factors in the formation of the Tarascan state. She considers metallurgy, an industry with a unique history in west Mexico; ethnicity, both in the Lake Patzcuaro basin and in the 75,000-km2 territory tributary to the Tarascans; and ideology, as manifested particularly in Tarascan religion. She studies these mat- ters in the context of the roles they played as challenges to, catalysts for, and supports of the Tarascan state. By using this historical perspective, she is able to illumi- 90 [Vol. 7, No. 1, 1996] This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:52:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTES nate the process of formation and to characterize the emergence of the singular Tarascan state, which is dif- ferent from the Mexica state, as characteristically Mesoamerican. Pollard's articles expand and develop the original substantive and interpretative scholarship she offered in her book, Tariacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State. The penultimate articles in the book are on obsidian sources and on production and use, the former by Efrain Cardenas Garcia and the lat- ter by Dan M. Healan. The final article, by Francisco Valdez and Catherine Liot, is on the salt beds on the western Tarascan frontier in the Sayula Basin. My message to readers of Latin American Antiquity is to seize the opportunity to read about west Mexico. The publications are now at hand. You will find new information on Mexico, challenges to current ideas about civilization, and fresh insights on the formation of states. Once you read them, Mesoamerica will never look the same. The Politics of Symbolism in the Mixtec Codices. JOHN M. D. POHL. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 1994. xii + 171 pp., 56 figures, footnotes, bibliography, appendix. Price unknown (paper). Reviewed by Mark B. King, Georgia State University. As the largest corpus of Late Postclassic manuscripts in existence, the Mixtec codices preserve a wealth of information pertaining to every aspect of society and culture. Codex studies have traditionally focused on genealogical constructs and toponymic decipherments, but new analytical methods have transformed our com- prehension of these codices. In this book, Pohl uses the symbolic features of costuming to isolate four specific political roles, supported by archaeological data, colo- nial documentation, and modern ethnographic accounts. Further, Pohl outlines aspects of Postclassic political competition based on codical accounts of the tactics used by rival elites claiming succession to the same hereditary titles. In the first chapter, Pohl summarizes the literature on Mixtec sociopolitical organization, and lays the methodological groundwork for his analysis of political maneuvering as reflected in the costume symbolism of rival elites and the costumes of individuals giving sup- port to elite competitors, including ritual arbitrators, stewards, oracles, and foreign ambassadors. Chapters 2 through 5 each focus on one of these supporting roles. The sixth and final chapter is a brief summary. The ambitious scope of Pohl's book is also a signif- icant weakness. By this I mean that the average length nate the process of formation and to characterize the emergence of the singular Tarascan state, which is dif- ferent from the Mexica state, as characteristically Mesoamerican. Pollard's articles expand and develop the original substantive and interpretative scholarship she offered in her book, Tariacuri's Legacy: The Prehispanic Tarascan State. The penultimate articles in the book are on obsidian sources and on production and use, the former by Efrain Cardenas Garcia and the lat- ter by Dan M. Healan. The final article, by Francisco Valdez and Catherine Liot, is on the salt beds on the western Tarascan frontier in the Sayula Basin. My message to readers of Latin American Antiquity is to seize the opportunity to read about west Mexico. The publications are now at hand. You will find new information on Mexico, challenges to current ideas about civilization, and fresh insights on the formation of states. Once you read them, Mesoamerica will never look the same. The Politics of Symbolism in the Mixtec Codices. JOHN M. D. POHL. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 1994. xii + 171 pp., 56 figures, footnotes, bibliography, appendix. Price unknown (paper). Reviewed by Mark B. King, Georgia State University. As the largest corpus of Late Postclassic manuscripts in existence, the Mixtec codices preserve a wealth of information pertaining to every aspect of society and culture. Codex studies have traditionally focused on genealogical constructs and toponymic decipherments, but new analytical methods have transformed our com- prehension of these codices. In this book, Pohl uses the symbolic features of costuming to isolate four specific political roles, supported by archaeological data, colo- nial documentation, and modern ethnographic accounts. Further, Pohl outlines aspects of Postclassic political competition based on codical accounts of the tactics used by rival elites claiming succession to the same hereditary titles. In the first chapter, Pohl summarizes the literature on Mixtec sociopolitical organization, and lays the methodological groundwork for his analysis of political maneuvering as reflected in the costume symbolism of rival elites and the costumes of individuals giving sup- port to elite competitors, including ritual arbitrators, stewards, oracles, and foreign ambassadors. Chapters 2 through 5 each focus on one of these supporting roles. The sixth and final chapter is a brief summary. The ambitious scope of Pohl's book is also a signif- icant weakness. By this I mean that the average length of each chapter is about 25 pages-much too brief to adequately cover any of the four topics. A collection of four large monographs would be more appropriate. Therefore each chapter is like an analytical "pilot study," using only two or three codical examples to establish the diagnostic symbolic features of an institu- tionalized sociopolitical role. Although Pohl initially acknowledges the tentative nature of each construct, subsequent references tend to present these constructs as firmly established postulates. Another significant problem lies in Pohl's transla- tion and interpretation of Mixtec terminology. Lexical data must be treated like any other systematic database; Pohl uses only terms that agree with his constructs, ignoring alternative forms and meanings that do not "fit." This is comparable to an archaeologist who asserts that "the occupants of Building X used poly- chrome ceramics" but fails to say only two polychrome sherds were found among five hundred other sherds. Worse, some terms are contextually inappropriate and a few translations are incorrect. Readers should ignore Pohl's use of Mixtec terminology and evaluate each chapter accordingly. Fortunately, this adjustment is of little consequence in chapters 2, 4, and 5, but half of the analysis in chapter 3 is affected by this problem. Chapter 2 examines evidence for the existence of a council of four priests that functioned in an advisory and judicial capacity within each Mixtec kingdom. Pohl demonstrates that the council helped settle dis- putes between local elite factions when legitimate inheritance or succession is contested. Pohl also claims the council had a responsibility to maintain certain "sacred bundles." These bundles appear to represent tangible proof of ancient elite origins and, in some sense, the bundles sanctify the territorial rights of local elite lineages. Pohl's argument is convincing, although he never explains how the council of four priests can be distinguished from scores of other priests who appear in Mixtec codices. Chapter 3 considers individuals who wear the tor- toise-shell costuming of the fire-serpent. Examples of this costume are quite rare in the codices, but we know these individuals are called "sorcerers that fly in dark- ness" in sixteenth-century language sources. Using data from the 1544 Yanhuitlan Inquisition trial together with fascinating examples of Spanish symbolism asso- ciated with St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. John, Pohl constructs an excellent argument that associates the fire-serpent costume with a priest that carries out ritual acts of human sacrifice. The office is often given to a ruler's sibling. Pohl also claims the fire-serpent priest was something like a steward, managing tribute, food stores, and the market, but these economic functions of each chapter is about 25 pages-much too brief to adequately cover any of the four topics. A collection of four large monographs would be more appropriate. Therefore each chapter is like an analytical "pilot study," using only two or three codical examples to establish the diagnostic symbolic features of an institu- tionalized sociopolitical role. Although Pohl initially acknowledges the tentative nature of each construct, subsequent references tend to present these constructs as firmly established postulates. Another significant problem lies in Pohl's transla- tion and interpretation of Mixtec terminology. Lexical data must be treated like any other systematic database; Pohl uses only terms that agree with his constructs, ignoring alternative forms and meanings that do not "fit." This is comparable to an archaeologist who asserts that "the occupants of Building X used poly- chrome ceramics" but fails to say only two polychrome sherds were found among five hundred other sherds. Worse, some terms are contextually inappropriate and a few translations are incorrect. Readers should ignore Pohl's use of Mixtec terminology and evaluate each chapter accordingly. Fortunately, this adjustment is of little consequence in chapters 2, 4, and 5, but half of the analysis in chapter 3 is affected by this problem. Chapter 2 examines evidence for the existence of a council of four priests that functioned in an advisory and judicial capacity within each Mixtec kingdom. Pohl demonstrates that the council helped settle dis- putes between local elite factions when legitimate inheritance or succession is contested. Pohl also claims the council had a responsibility to maintain certain "sacred bundles." These bundles appear to represent tangible proof of ancient elite origins and, in some sense, the bundles sanctify the territorial rights of local elite lineages. Pohl's argument is convincing, although he never explains how the council of four priests can be distinguished from scores of other priests who appear in Mixtec codices. Chapter 3 considers individuals who wear the tor- toise-shell costuming of the fire-serpent. Examples of this costume are quite rare in the codices, but we know these individuals are called "sorcerers that fly in dark- ness" in sixteenth-century language sources. Using data from the 1544 Yanhuitlan Inquisition trial together with fascinating examples of Spanish symbolism asso- ciated with St. Dominic, St. Francis, and St. John, Pohl constructs an excellent argument that associates the fire-serpent costume with a priest that carries out ritual acts of human sacrifice. The office is often given to a ruler's sibling. Pohl also claims the fire-serpent priest was something like a steward, managing tribute, food stores, and the market, but these economic functions 91 91 This content downloaded on Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:52:41 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions