Women, Rituals, and Social Dynamics at Ancient Chalcatzingo Ann Cyphers Guillen Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 4, No. 3. (Sep., 1993), pp. 209-224. Stable URL hitp:/flinks.jstor-org/sici sici=1045-6635% 28199309%294%3A3% 3C209%3AWRASDA%3E2.0,CO% 3B2-K Latin American Antiquity is currently published by Society for American Archaeology. Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hup:/www,jstororglabout/terms.hml. ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www jstor.org/journals/sam. html ch copy of any part of'a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, ISTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @ jstor.org. hupslwww jstor.org/ Mon Aug 14.09:43:37 2006WOMEN, RITUALS, AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS AT ANCIENT CHALCATZINGO- ‘Ann Cyphers Guillén Female figurines from the Cantera phase at Chalcatzingo, Morelos, depict stages ofthe lifecycle: puberty, pregnancy, and child rearing. Contextual data indicate tha te figurines were used tn fomale-focised fers ‘ceremonies that created a web of social rights and obligations validated by reciprocal exchanges. These rights and ‘Obligations were the means by which power and influence were created, directed. and controlled by particular households. Thus, these figurines and their contexts permit a Better understanding ofthe role of women in the dynamics of social-erarchy formation at Chalcaizingo, and how the formation of social bonds and patterns of ‘exchange were important in the accumulation of power. Las figurilasfemeninas de la fase Cantera de Chalealzingo, Morelos, reresentan las etapas del ciclo de la vida: la pubertad, el embarazo yTaerianza de nis. Las dats de los conteiosindican que ls fgurillas fueron tsadas en ceremoniasrelativas al ciclo de vida que crearon una red de derechos y ebigaciones sociales apovadas Dor el intereambio recproco. Estos derechas } obligactones constiuyeron la manera em que alguna’ grupos ‘omésticas crearon,enfocaron y controlar el poder la infuencia. Estas figurilas y sus contextos permite ut ‘mejor entendimiento de la dindmica de formacton de jerarquas sociales en Chalcatzingo,» como la formacion cde nexos sociales y patrones de intercambio fueron importante en la acumulacdn de poder. Ancient peoples of highland Mexico developed significant degrees of social complexity during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods (2300-400 B.C.) and instituted the processes that led to state development and urbanism in the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods. The way in which at cchaeologists have traditionally diagnosed the level of overall complexity has been to search for salient traits, typical of some ideal form of prestate organization. Wolf (1990) emphasizes a trend to shift away from static trait categorizations to consideration of specific social processes. As part Of this trend, diagnostic traits used by archaeologists are being reexamined for universality of application (Earle 1987; Feinman and Neitzel 1984; Peebles and Kus 1977). The association of significant and diagnostic criteria with the actual nature of developmental diversity should be sought ‘within the archaeological record. In line with this approach, the present investigation examines women's roles and positions in ‘Middle Preclassic society atthe important regional center of Chaleatzingo, Morelos, with regard to the development of social complexity and power accumulation in this prestate political economy. Cantera phase (700-500 B.C.) residential groups and their domestic rituals are interpreted from structural remains and from small clay figurines that generally depict women (Guillén 1987a, 1988, 1989). An emerging picture of Middle Preclassic social dynamics in Chalcatzingo society is related toand clarifies aspects of trade and its consequences, the formation of gender hierarchy, the tendency toward the institutionalization of hierarchical kin-ordered relationships, and the organization, op- ‘ration, and manipulation of reciprocal systems in that society. This study examines the archaeological contexts of the figurines and the figurines themselves, which are discussed with regard to head typologies, thematic analyses, and distributional data. The explanation of figurine use presented here emphasizes the continually changing configurations of interpersonal and intergroup relations, and how this activity can be used by an emerging central authority. “Ann Cyphers Guillén, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropogicas, Universidad Nacional AutGnoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Delegacion Coyoacan, Mexico, DF. 04310 Latin American Antiquity, 43), 1993, pp. 209-224 ‘Copyright © 1993 by the Society for American Archaeology210 LATIN AMERICAN aNTIOUITY Vol. 4 Mo. 3, 1968 [igure 1. Map of Chalatzingo showing internal ste divisions. CHALCATZINGO: AN OVERVIEW Located in the center of the highland alluvial valley of the Rio Tenango in eastern Morelos, the site of Chalcatzingo lies on the piedmont of two impressive granodiorite hills known locally as the Cerro de la Cantera and Cerro Delgado (Figure 1). The archacological settlement is located in order to take maximum advantage of the different ecological zones in the valley (Bugé 1987). Initial occupation dates to the Amate phase, 1500-1100 B.C., and surface indications and strati- graphic information point to a size of 6 ha (Hirth 1987). Salient characteristics include the practice (of maize agriculture and the construction of monumental architecture, The first construction phase of the 70-m-long mound in the Plaza Central (Structure 4) dates to this phase as does a stone-faced low platform structure on Terrace 6 (Grove and Guillén 1987). Architectural and artifactual diversity points to the existence of well-developed social differences even though the 10 regularly spaced Amate-phase sites in the valley do not configure a clear settlement hierarchy (Hirth 1987), probably because early occupation is obscured by later settlements. ‘The ceramics somewhat resemble those ofthe Rio Cuautla area (Grove 1974) and Basin of Mexico sites like Tlatileo (Guillén 1987b; Pifia Chan 1958; Porter 1955). However the “Tlatileo style” of ceramics, principally the complex of stirrup spouts and composite bottles deriving stylistically from West Mexico (Kelly 1974, 1980; Oliveros 1974), is notably absent at Chalcatzingo, contrasting markedly witha strongly patterned distribution of these bottle forms along the Rio Cuautla. Indeed ‘Chalcatzingo appears to be outside the sphere of cultural interaction marked by the distribution of these artifacts. Although Grove (1987a, 1989) believes that this is due to a sampling problem at