Society for American Archaeology

Lord 8 Deer "Jaguar Claw" and the Land of the Sky: The Archaeology and History of Tututepec
Author(s): Arthur A. Joyce, Andrew G. Workinger, Byron Hamann, Peter Kroefges, Maxine
Oland and Stacie M. King
Source: Latin American Antiquity, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sep., 2004), pp. 273-297
Published by: Society for American Archaeology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4141575
Accessed: 10-06-2015 17:28 UTC

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 LORD 8 DEER "JAGUAR CLAW"AND THE LAND OF THE SKY: THE
ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF TUTUTEPEC

ArthurA. Joyce, Andrew G Workinger,Byron Hamann,Peter Kroefges, Maxine Oland,

and Stacie M. King

This article balances currentunderstandingsof the political landscape of Postclassic Mesoamerica througha conjunctive
analysis of the archaeology and ethnohistoryof the Mixtec Empire of Tututepecin the lower Rio Verderegion of Oaxaca.
Tututepechas long been knownfrom ethnohistoric sources as a powerful Late Postclassic imperial center. Until recently,
however, little has been known of the archaeology of the site. Wediscuss thefounding, extent, chronology, and aspects of
the internal organization and external relations of Tututepecbased on the results of a regional survey, excavations, and a
reanalysis of ethnohistoricdocuments.Tututepecwasfounded early in the Late Postclassic period when the region was vul-
nerable to conquest due to political fragmentation and unrest. Indigenous historical data from three Mixtec codices nar-
rate thefounding of Tututepecas part of the heroic history of Lord 8 Deer "JaguarClaw."According to these texts, Lord 8
Deer founded Tututepecthrougha creative combinationof traditionalMixtecfoundation rites and a strategic alliance with
a highlandgroup linked to the Tolteca-Chichimeca.Archaeological and ethnohistoricevidence indicate that Tututepeccon-
tinued to expand throughthe Late Postclassic, growing to 21.85 km2,and at its peak was the capital of an empire extend-
ing over 25,000 km2.

Este articuloforma un balance de los entendimientosactuales sobre el paisaje politico del Postcldsico en por
Mesoamdrica
medio de un andlisis conjuntivode la arqueologiay etnohistoriadel imperioMixtecade Tututepec,Oaxaca. Tututepecha sido
conocido desde tiempoatrdsporfuentes etnohistdricascomo la capital de un centro imperialpoderoso del Postcldsicotardio.
Sin embargo,hasta recientemente,poco se ha sabido de la arqueologia del sitio siendo su localizacidn misma un asunto de
debate.Discutimos los origenes, extensi6n,cronologia,y aspectos de la organizacidninternay relaciones externasde Tutute-
pec basadas en los resultadosde un recorridoregional, excavaciones, y un reandlisisde documentosetnohist6ricos.Tutute-
pecfuefundado tempranamenteen el PostcldsicoTardiocuandola regidnhabia sido vulnerablea la conquistaforasteradebido
afragmentacidnpolitica y agitacidn. Lafundacidnde Tututepeccomoparte de la historia heroica del Sehor 8 Venado"Garra
de es narradaen tres c6dices Mixtecas. Segdn estos textos, Sehor 8 Venadofundd Tututepecpor medio de una com-
Jaguar,"
binaci6n creativade ritosfundacionalesmixtecastradicionalesy una alianza estrategicacon un grupo enlazadoa los Tolteca-
Chichimeca.La evidencia indica que Tututepeccontinudsu expansi6na travesde Postcldsico Tardio,creciendoa 21.85 km2,
y en su mdximofue la capital de un imperioextendidosobre 25,000 km2.

Mesoamerica
Postclassic witnessedthe heavily from documentarysources and the per-
Late
rise of a numberof expansiveimperialpoli- spectiveof CentralMexicanurbanelites.This arti-
of the
ties, includingthe SouthernMixtec, Taras- cle worksto balancecurrentunderstandings
can, Mexica, and Tlaxcalan empires. Current political landscape of Postclassic Mesoamerica
scholarshipon Postclassic empires, however, is througha conjunctiveanalysisof the archaeology
dominatedby discussions of the Mexica drawn and ethnohistoryof the Mixtec Empireof Tutute-

Arthur A. Joyce 0 Departmentof Anthropology,Universityof Coloradoat Boulder,Hale Building, CampusBox 233,

Boulder,CO 80309-0233
Andrew G Workinger mSociology, Anthropology,and GeographyDepartment,Universityof Tennessee, Chattanooga;
Chattanooga,TN 37403
Byron Hamann N Departmentof Anthropologyand Departmentof History,Universityof Chicago, 1126 E. 59th St.,
Chicago, IL 60637
Peter Kroefges 0 Departmentof Anthropology,Universityof Albany, SUNY, Social Sciences 263, Albany,NY 12222
Maxine Oland E Departmentof Anthropology,NorthwesternUniversity, 1810 HinmanAve., Evanston,IL 60208-1310
Stacie M. King 0 Departmentof Anthropology,IndianaUniversity,Bloomington, IN 47405

LatinAmericanAntiquity,15(3), 2004, pp. 273-297

Copyright? 2004 by the Society for AmericanArchaeology

273

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274 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

Tulancingo

Diquino
Teposcolula*Chachoapan
0
OAXACA
*Achiutla *Jaltepec
Mixtepec
Tilantongo
Putla
GUERRERO Chalcatongo MZaachila itla

0
Zacatepec

Jicay"n
uchatengo
Pinotepa Jamiltepec
0 Miahuatln
Coatln
e*Juquila
p Acatepec Huamelula Tehuantepec
TUTUTEPEC Suchixtepec

S.C. Huatulco
PacificOcean
PuertoAngel
0 50 km

Figure 1. Map of the Tututepec Empire showing sites mentioned in the text (redrawn from Spores 1993: Figure 1).

pec in the lower Rio Verderegion of the western
coast of Oaxaca-a region that sixteenth-century
Mixtecsreferredto asRundeui("Landof the Sky")
(Reyes 1593:ii;Smith1973:97).Thesite of Tutute-
pec has long been known from ethnohistoric
sources as a powerful Late Postclassic (A.D.
1100-1522) imperialcenterthatwas independent
of the Aztec Empire(Barlow 1949; Davies 1968;
Gerhard1993; Joyce 1993; Smith 1973; Spores
1993). The empirewas ruledby a Mixtec dynasty
and extended over approximately 25,000 km2,
incorporatingat least five other ethnolinguistic
groups:Amuzgo, Chatino,Zapotec,Chontal,and
Nahuatl(Figure1).
The documentaryrecordof Tututepecextends
back to the late eleventh and early twelfth cen-
turies,providedby accountsof the Mixtec noble
Lord8 Deer"JaguarClaw"recordedin threeof the
Mixtec pictographic manuscripts, the codices
Colombino-Becker,Nuttall, and Bodley (Caso
1960, 1966, 1977, 1979;Smith1963, 1966;Troike
1974). In addition to this indigenous historical
record, Tututepecis richly documented in six-
teenth-centuryalphabeticsources-sources that
led ethnohistorian Mary Elizabeth Smith to
describe the site as the "majorcity of the south
coast"(Smith 1963:288),a view echoed by other
scholars (Davies 1968; Gerhard1993:379-380;
Spores 1993). Until recently,however,little was
knownof the archaeologyof the site, with its very
locationa subjectof debate(DeCicco and Brock-
ington 1956; O'Mack 1990; Spores 1993).
We discuss the origins,extent,chronology,and
aspects of the internalorganizationand external
relations of Tututepecbased on the results of a
regional full-coveragesurvey,excavations,and a
reanalysisof ethnohistoricdocuments.We take a
conjunctiveapproachto the readingof indigenous
and archaeologicalrecords,which in our eyes is
crucial.Wecomparetheimageof thepastrecorded
in indigenoushistoricaltextsto archaeologicaldata
from the sametime, and considerhow indigenous

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Joyce et al.] ARCHAEOLOGY
ANDHISTORY
OFTUTUTEPEC 275

modes of historicalunderstandingshaped repre- Villa de Tututepecde Melchor Ocampo (Berlin

sentationsof ancientsocial processes.We do not 1947;Bevan 1934;Maler1883;MartinezGracida
argue that archaeological findings "prove"the 1910;PifiaChan1960;Tib6n1961).1Whilethevil-
detailedcodical narrativesof the Mixtec presence lage of Tututepecwas not surveyed by Donald
on the coast of Oaxaca in any simplistic way. Brockington's1969-1970 OaxacaCoast Project,
Rather,using MarshallSahlins'snotion of instan- he did photographseveralcarved stones nearthe
tiative "heroic history"-a mode of historical church during his earlier reconnaissance with
understandingin which broad social transforma- GabrielDeCicco (DeCiccoandBrockington1956;
tionsareretrospectivelyunderstoodto be theresult also see Jorrin 1974:69). As summarized by
of specific actions by specific individuals-we O'Mack(1990),the surveyby DeCiccoandBrock-
pointouta numberof parallelslinkingfeaturesreg- ingtonled to some confusionconcerningthe loca-
isteredin the archaeologicalrecordof the coast totion of the prehispanic site. DeCicco and
the codex-recorded coastal exploits of Mixtec Brockington (1956:61-70) surveyed a site they
heroes. Rejectingthe long historyof Eurocentric namedCerrode los Paijaros,locatedon a series of
prejudiceagainst non-Westerntexts (e.g., Cohn hills aboutone hour'swalksouthof thetown.Based
1996:92;Landa1994[1566]:185;cf. Fox 1971),our on the presenceof polychromeand red-on-cream
discussionaddressesthe questionof the "reliabil- pottery, DeCicco and Brockington (1956:65)
ity" of indigenousMesoamericanhistories. arguedthat Cerrode los Piijaroswas "unalocali-
We arguethatthe cacicazgo of Tututepecwas dadmixteca,"implyingthatit was a Postclassicsite.
foundedearlyin theLatePostclassicby a highland They noted reports from informants that small
Mixtec faction.Archaeologicaldatareveala sud- objectsof gold had been found at the site. Unfor-
den expansionof the site at thattime, a time whentunately,this claim for gold or metal work was
the lowerVerderegion would have been vulnera- repeatedseveral times (Davies 1968; Pifia Chan
ble to foreign conquestdue to the political frag-1960:72) and may have led Spores (1983:260) to
mentationandunrestthatfollowed the collapseof suggestCerrode los Pij arosas themostlikelyloca-
the Late Classic (A.D. 500-800) Rio Viejo polity tion for prehispanicTututepec.
(Joyceet al. 2001). Indigenoushistoricaldatafrom The first study designed specificallyto exam-
threeMixteccodicesnarratethefoundingof Tutute- ine the archaeology of Tututepec was Scott
pec as partof the heroic history of Lord 8 Deer O'Mack's (1990) three-week surface reconnais-
"JaguarClaw."Accordingto these texts, Lord 8 sance in and aroundthe modem town. O'Mack's
Deer foundedTututepecthrougha creativecom- (1990:21) strategyconsistedof locatingandexam-
binationof traditionalMixtec foundationritesand ining the few sites that had previouslybeen sug-
a strategicalliancewith a highlandgrouplinkedto gested as possible locations for prehispanic
the Tolteca-Chichimeca.While Tututepecdisap- Tututepec,examiningplacesnearthemodemtown
pears from the codical record after the death of whereinformantsreportedarchaeologicalremains,
Lord8 Deer, archaeologicaldataas well as Early and conductingan archaeologicalreconnaissance
Colonial documentsshow that the city expanded in accessibleareasaroundthe town. O'Mackcon-
into one of the largestsites in Mesoamericaas itscluded that Cerrode los Paijaroswas not a likely
leaderscame to dominatea multiethnicempire. candidateforprehispanicTututepec.He was unable
to securelylocatethesitediscussedby DeCiccoand
A History of Archaeological Research Brockington(1956), because the only hill in the
at Tututepec regionnamedCerrode los Paijaros was locatedjust
a few minuteswalk from town, ratherthan a one
Priorto 1986, the archaeologyof Tututepecwas hourwalk to the south.Based on the resultsof his
knownonlyfroma numberof briefvisitsby archae- reconnaissance,O'Mackarguedconvincinglythat
ologists (O'Mack 1990). Most of the early men- the modemrn town of Tututepecwas also the pre-
tionsof thesite'sarchaeologyinvolveddescriptions hispanicsite. He noted a nearlycontinuous,low-
of the carvedstones thatuntil recentlywere con- densityscatterof Postclassicmaterialfromthehills
centratednear the colonial churchthat sits on a at the foot of Tututepecsouthto the coastalhigh-
largeprehispanicplatformat the moderntown of way. O'Mack's (1990) time limitations,and the

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276 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
fact thathe carriedout the reconnaissanceduring
therainyseasonwhenvegetationcoverlimitedsur-
face visibility,preventedhim fromrecognizingthe
full extentof the site. Nevertheless,he speculated
thatTututepecmightbe a very largesite with dis-
persed settlement,therebyanticipatingour find-
ings.
DespiteO'Mack's(1990) suggestionsaboutthe
extent of prehispanicTututepec,scholarscontin-
ued to view the site as small and unimpressive
(Spores1993:167;Weaver1993:418).Thisimpres-
sioncreatedanapparentinconsistencybetweenthe
ethnohistoricrecord,depictingTututepecas a pow-
erful imperialcenter,and the identifiedsmall site
withonlyone moundandseveralcarvedstonemon-
uments. This puzzle formed the context of our
research.
Overthe past 18 yearsthe lowerRio VerdeVal-
ley has been the focus of field researchthat has
begun to clarify the archaeology of Tututepec
(Grove 1988; Joyce 1991a, 1991b; 1993, 1999;
Joyce and King 2001; Joyce et al. 1998, 2001;
Urcid and Joyce 2001; Workinger2002). This
researchhas included large-scale archaeological
excavationsat 5 sites as well as test excavationsat
13 others.In 1986, the entireregionwas the focus
of a nonsystematicsurfacereconnaissance(Grove
1988). Since 1994, a full-coveragesurveyhas sys-
tematically studied 152 km2 of the lower Verde
region (Joyce 1999; Joyce et al. 2001; Workinger
2002). The survey zone included transectsfrom
the coast to the piedmont and covered most of
ancientTututepec,althoughtime constraintspre-
cluded complete survey of a 1.5 km2 area of the
northeasternend of the site. Field methods fol-
lowed generalproceduresused in otherfull-cover-
age surveys in Mesoamerica (Blanton 1978;
Blanton et al. 1982; Kowalewski et al. 1989;
Sanderset al. 1979) with some minor modifica-
tions, primarilythe use of a Global Positioning
System(GPS)to mapsiteboundaries,features,and
surfacecollections.Fields were surveyedat 20 m
intervals.Insteepareas,surveyteammemberscov-
ered all ridgelines,piedmontspurs, and hilltops,
while steep slopes thatwere unlikelyto have had
settlementwere checkedless intensively.Artifacts
and/orfeatureswere consideredpartof the same
site if foundwithin100m of one another(the"100-
meter rule;" see Blanton et al. 1982:10; Stiver
2001).
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[Vol.15, No. 3, 2004
Originsof Tututepec:
EthnohistoryandArchaeology
The full-coveragesurvey in the lower Rio Verde
Valley found that Late Postclassic Tututepec
(RV64)covers21.3 km2(Figure2). The LatePost-
classic component of San Francisco de Arriba
(RV62)is separatedfromTututepecby only a 600
m stripthathas been washed out by the Rio San
Francisco. Because the San Francisco drainage
wouldnothavebeenappropriate for settlementand
floodplain sites wouldnothave been preserved,we
suspect that the Late Postclassic component of
RV62was alsopartof Tututepec,bringingtheover-
all site areato 21.85 km2.Three other sites clus-
terednearthenortheastern tipof Tututepec(RV150,
RV151, RV153) may also representoutlying set-
tlements,but were not includedas partof Tutute-
pec. A total of 168 surfacecollectionswere made
at Tututepecproperwith an additional43 surface
collections at the Late Postclassic componentof
San Franciscode Arriba.Workinger(2002) has
carriedoutexcavationsat SanFranciscode Arriba.
The resultsof the full-coveragesurveysandexca-
vationsas well as a reanalysisof theMixteccodices
providea clearerpictureof the origins and devel-
opmentof ancientTututepec.Ourdataresolve the
previouscontradictionsbetween the archaeologi-
cal andethnohistoricrecords,andshowthatTutute-
pec was one of the largest and most powerful
polities of the LatePostclassic.
TheArchaeologyof Tututepec'sOrigins
SettlementatTututepecdatesbackto the LateFor-
mative(400-150 B.C.),withanearlierMiddleFor-
mative (700-400 B.C.) componentexcavatedat
San Franciscode Arriba(Workinger2002:244).
San Franciscode Arribawas a majorpopulation
centerfrom the Late Formativeto the Late Clas-
sic, while settlementat Tututepecfluctuatedcon-
siderablythroughtime. By the Early Postclassic
(A.D. 800-1100), however,theareaaroundTutute-
pec was almostdevoidof settlement.Elsewherein
the region a major sociopolitical reorganization
was occurringwith the collapse of the Rio Viejo
polity (Joyceet al. 2001).
The Early Postclassic was a time of major
changesin settlementandsociopoliticalorganiza-
tion in the lower Rio VerdeValley (Joyce et al.
2001).2 Rio Viejo, the Late Classic capitalof the
Joyce et al.] ANDHISTORY
ARCHAEOLOGY OFTUTUTEPEC 277

Villade Tututepec
de MelchorOcampo
San Franciscode (ModemTown)
9/ Arriba
Y aat] LatePostclassic
Vi5 L Tututepec
Cerrode s Pajaros

0 3 6 kilometers
NORTH

Figure 2. Survey map of ancient Tututepec and associated sites.

lowerVerdestate,was in decline, with decreasing the occupationalarearecordedin the surveywas

population,fewer carved stone monuments,and
cessationof monumentalarchitectureconstruction
(Table 1). Excavationsindicate that Early Post-
classic peoples did not treatearliersacredspaces,
objects,andbuildingswiththe samereverencethey
hadbeen affordedpreviously.The Mound1 acrop-
olis at Rio Viejowas takenoverby commonersliv-
ing in residences whose foundations were
apparentlybuiltby tearingapartthe publicbuild-
ings of the Late Classic. A Late Classic carved
stone monumentwas reutilized as a metate and
laterplacedin a wall (Joyce and King 2001; King
2003).
Rio Viejo continuedas a first-ordercenterdur-
ing the Early Postclassic (Joyce et al. 2001),
althoughsettlementat the site declined from 250
to 140ha (Figure3).At thesametime,anotherfirst-
order center emerged at San Marquitos(RV57),
which grewfrom7 ha in the LateClassicto 191 ha
in the EarlyPostclassic.The overalloccupational
areain the surveydeclinedfrom605 ha in the Late
Classic to 452 ha in the EarlyPostclassicand set-
tlementlocationsshiftedfromthe floodplainto the
piedmont.In the LateClassic only 34.2 percentof
in the piedmont,whereasby the EarlyPostclassic,
61.7 percentwas in thepiedmont.Theregionalset-
tlement/administrativehierarchydeclined from
sevenlevels in the LateClassicto fourby theEarly
Postclassic.
Thereis evidencefor an increasein interpolity
conflict duringthe EarlyPostclassic (Joyce et al.
2001). The dramaticsettlementshiftintothe pied-
mont would be consistentwith the movementof
people to defensive locations. In addition,Early
Postclassic settlementis concentratedin a very
small areaof the piedmontwith 58 percentof the
totaloccupationalareawithin3 km of thefirst-order
centerof San Marquitos(RV57). This nucleation
also couldhavebeenfordefensivepurposes.Exca-
vationsandsurfacesurveyatEarlyPostclassicsites
have recoveredlarge numbersof chert projectile
points. For example, ten point fragments were
recovered from excavations of commoner resi-
denceson RioViejo'sacropolis.InthelowerVerde,
only two projectilepointswererecoveredfromall
excavateddepositsthatpredatethePostclassic.The
regionaldatasuggestthattheEarlyPostclassicwit-
nessed the collapse of rulinginstitutions,the frag-

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 Table 1. Lower Rio VerdeValley Settlement PatternData

Late Classic Early Postclassic L

Site # Size (ha) Environment Site # Size (ha) Environment Site #
RV20-1* 250.00 f RV57-3 190.94 p RV64-1
RV62-1 57.61 p = 27.61; s = 30.00 RV20-1 140.00 f RVI-1
RV1-1 52.00 f RV57-6 21.08 p RV62-1
RV64-7 33.41 p RV20-2 20.00 f RV57-3
RV47-1 26.18 f RV8-1 16.74 p RV153-1
RV144-1 14.95 p RV70-1 14.25 p RV57-5
RV140-1 14.50 cp RV137-1 12.30 p RV156-1
RV64-6 14.47 s RV57-1 10.20 p RV151-1
RV64-9 12.68 p RV140-1 5.14 cp RV150-1
RV64-8 11.52 p RV32-1 4.60 p RV57-2
RV70-1 10.80 p RV57-4 3.80 f RV70-1
RV66-3 10.23 p RV57-5 2.85 p RV57-4
RV57-2 8.56 p = 5.00; f= 3.56 RV66-1 2.50 p RV129-1
RV57-5 7.50 p RV47-1 2.00 f RV147-1
RV64-11 7.43 p RV57-2 1.40 p RV120-1
RV57-3 6.80 p RV64-1 1.00 p RV57-1
RV59-1 6.31 p RV76-1 1.00 p RV57-6
RV66-1 6.00 p RV 110-1 .85 f RV141-1
RV64-10 5.95 p RV12-1 .52 f RV124-1
RV64-2 5.12 p RV77-1 .43 f RV66-1
RV78-1 4.80 p RV117-1 .07 f RV70-2
RV32-1 4.60 p RV103-1 .01 f RV135-1
RV80-1 3.75 p RV119-1
RV57-4 2.85 p 451.68 p = 278.86 (61.7%) RV122-1
RV84-1 2.75 p f= 167.68 (37.1%) RV118-1
RV137-1 2.60 p cp = 5.14 (1.1%) RV31-1
RV66-2 2.50 p RV115-1
RV5-1 2.40 f RV116-1
RV143-1 nr p RV40-1
RV154-1 2.23 p
RV12-1 2.20 f

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RV147-1 1.50 p
RV57-1 1.40 p
RV8-1 1.25 p
RV64-1 1.00 p
RV64-3 1.00 p
RV64-4 1.00 p
RV64-5 1.00 p
RV66-4 .61 p
RV126-1 .60 f
RV133-1 .60 f
RV70-2 .56 p
RV73-1 .55 f
RV18-1 .50 p
RV83-1 .49 f
RV130-1 .24 f
RV131-1 .20 f
RV132-1 .20 f
RV117-1 .07 f
RV77-1 .01 f

TOTAL 605.48 p = 207.21 (34.2%)

f = 339.30 (56.0%)
s = 44.47 (7.3%)
cp = 14.50 (2.4%)
*Sites are subdividedto indicate components from differentphases (f = floodplain;p = piedmont;cp = coastal plain; s = secondary valley; nr =

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280 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

Tututepec

R
* anMarquitos

RioKEY

SRegionalcenter
SSecond ordersite
1 Thirdordersite

* Fourthordersite

Surveyboundary
Pondsandestuaries

IZ Piedmont

Figure 3. Early Postclassic settlement hierarchy, lower Rio Verde Valley,Oaxaca.

mentationof politicalcenters,andincreasingwar- beenethnicallyChatino(alsosee Christensen1998;

fare.The periodimmediatelyprecedingthe rise of
theTututepecEmpire,therefore,was characterized
by politicalinstabilityandprobablyconflict.
The almost complete absence of Early Post-
classic settlementat Tututepecsuggests that the
LatePostclassiccity did not developout of an ear-
lier community,but was foundedinsteadas a new
andlinguisticsources
politicalcenter.Ethnohistoric
furtherindicatethatthe foundingof Tututepecwas
the resultof an intrusionof Mixtec-speakingpeo-
ples into the lower Rio VerdeValley at ca A.D.
1100. At the time of the SpanishConquestmost
people of the lowerVerdewereMixtec as aremost
indigenouspeople in the region today.Linguistic
studiesby Josserandandhercolleagues(1984:154)
suggest that the coastal Mixtec dialect probably
originatedin the highlandregionof SanJuanMix-
tepec. Glottochronologicalestimates suggest the
coastalandhighlanddialectsdivergedaroundA.D.
900-1000 (Josserandet al. 1984:154).Priorto the
Postclassicrelativelyfew culturalsimilaritiesare
apparentbetween the lower Verderegion and the
MixtecaAlta and Bajaregions(Joyce 1993;Win-
ter 1989), leadingJoyce andWinter(1989) to sug-
gest thatbeforethePostclassicthelowerVerdewas
not inhabitedby Mixtecs, but instead may have
Urcid1993:159-163).Whilesimilaritiesin ceramic
styles between the lower Verdeand the Mixteca
Alta increasedduringthe EarlyPostclassic,there
arefew apparentsimilaritiesin othercategoriesof
materialculturesuch as architecture,monumental
art, andmortuarycustoms(Joyceet al. 2001). By
the Late Postclassic,however,archaeologicaland
ethnohistoricdataindicatethatMixtecs were pre-
sentin thelowerRioVerde.LatePostclassicYucud-
zaa Phase ceramic and architecturalstyles in the
lower Verdearevery similarto those of the Mix-
teca Alta (Hutson 1996; O'Mack 1990). In addi-
tion,theMixteccodicesdescribeTututepecasruled
by aMixtecdynastydatingbackto thelateeleventh
century(Smith 1973).
While some Mixtecs could have entered the
region duringthe EarlyPostclassic,the dataindi-
catethatthemajorimmigrationoccurredduringthe
LatePostclassic,concurrentwiththeemergenceof
Tututepecas animperialcenter.Settlementdataare
consistentwithLatePostclassicimmigration,as the
totaloccupationalareain thesurveyzone increased
from 452 ha duringthe EarlyPostclassic (Figure
3) to 2315 ha by the Late Postclassic (Figure4).
This 512 percentrise in occupationalarearepre-
sents by far the largestincreasein the entirepre-

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Joyce et al.] ANDHISTORY
ARCHAEOLOGY OFTUTUTEPEC 281

ututep KEY

center
S SanVicente
Piedra
* Regional
Secondordersite
O Thirdordersite
l Fourthordersite
.
m Fifthordersite
Non-residential
site
0• ?
6•
SRedondSurvey Boundary
Pondsandestuaries
o1 U Piedmont

?
Figure 4. Late Postclassic settlement hierarchy, lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca.

hispanic sequence. Late Postclassic populations andviewed as havingbeen instigatedby, a specific

includedbothMixtecsandChatinosas bothgroups
were presentin the lowerVerdeat the time of the
SpanishConquest(Spores1993:169).Recentcen-
susdatarecordalmostequalnumbersof Mixtecand
Chatinospeakersin the municipioof Tututepecon
the east side of the Rio Verde (Aguilar et al.
1994:61).
In sum,archaeologicalandlinguisticdatareveal
a numberof concurrentsocialtransformations tak-
ing place on the coast of Oaxacaduringthe Early
andLatePostclassic.Thesetransformations include
the collapse of old social orders,an escalationof
militarism,a reorganizationof settlementpatterns,
the expansionof Tututepecfroma smallhamletto
a majorurbancenter,populationexpansionpossi-
bly linkedto Mixtec immigration,andan increase
in highland-lowlandinteractions.Intriguingly,all
of these changes are also attestedin retrospective
indigenous accounts of the same era. Painted
aroundthe fifteenthcentury,the codices Nuttall,
Bodley,andColombino-Becker provideMixtecper-
spectiveson the social transformations of the early
LatePostclassicon the Oaxacacoast.As is typical
for Mixtec codical history-indeed, for genresof
"heroic history" in general (see below)-broad
processesof socialtransformation areembodiedin,
elite individual-in this case, Lord8 Deer "Jaguar
Claw."The following sectionsthereforeshiftfrom
archaeologyto ethnohistoryin orderto illustrate
the ways in which fifteenth-centuryindigenous
understandingsof coastalhistoryparallelthe find-
ings of twentieth-andtwenty-firstcenturyarchae-
ology.
Heroic History
Inestablishinga linkbetweenthetextuallyrecorded
actionsof Lord8 Deer andarchaeologicallyregis-
teredsocial transformations on the coast,we argue
that the codical recordcan be read not simply as
esoteric elite biography,but ratheras "heroichis-
tory."3As discussedby MarshallSahlins,heroichis-
tory is an anthropomorphic mode of interpreting
socialprocesses,in whichtheactionsof structurally
central individuals(e.g., divine kings) are inter-
pretedas havingmassiveimplicationsfortheirsoci-
ety as a whole (cf. Pohl 1994:110-12; Sahlins
1985a:35,1991:65;Stuart1995:153).Suchheroes
are "endowedwith the powerto embody a larger
social order"and "encompassand incarnatethe
existence of theirpeople, such thattheirpersonal
histories, what they do and what they suffer,
become collective destinies" (Sahlins 1991:47,

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282 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
62-63, 80-83; 1994:60).This embodimentrecip-
rocallylinksa largersystemwithindividualaction.
On the one hand,heroic agents are understoodto
embody largersocial orders("instantiation"). On
theother,theactionsof thoseagentsareunderstood
to have massiveimplicationsfor the social system
in whichthey areembedded("totalization"). Thus
it was through instantiationthat Captain Cook
becamesucha symbolicfigurefor eighteenth-cen-
turyHawaiiansandEuropeans,andit was through
totalizationthatChief RatuQara'sseizureof a pig
triggeredthe FijianWarsof the nineteenthcentury
(Sahlins 1985b:109,128, 131; 1991:51ff.).
Our Oaxacanuse of heroic history is focused
on questions of instantiation:that is, how broad
social transformationswere understoodthrough
theirembodimentin theactionsof Lord8 Deer and
his associates. Sahlins is fortunatein that he can
base his historicalethnographiesof Polynesiaon
dozensof sourcescontemporaryto theirevents.He
is thereforeableto ask specificquestionsof instan-
tiationand agencyandits totalization;he canmake
powerfulclaims aboutthe ramifyingimplications
of the actionsof a CaptainCook or a Chief Ratu
Qara.We, however,are workingwith documents
paintedfourcenturiesafterthe eventsthey depict,
and so even if we accept that Lord 8 Deer was a
historicalindividual,it is difficultto make argu-
ments about the actual totalizing effects of his
actions (for example, we cannotdetermineif his
expeditionto the coast was really what triggered
Mixtec migration).But suchfocusedclaims about
thetotalizationof Lord8 Deer'sagencyarenotnec-
essaryfor our argument.Whatis importantis that
fifteenth-centuryMixtecsunderstoodthehistoryof
theirpresenceon thecoastas personifiedin anelite
hero-and that we now can see how these bio-
graphicalclaims parallel archaeologicallyregis-
teredtransformations. Thefollowingpagespresent
this heroic historyin two acts. First,we consider
the arrivalof Lord8 Deer andhis followerson the
coast (instantiatinglarge-scale highland-to-low-
land migration)and his foundationof Tututepec
(instantiatingthe sudden expansion of that site
archaeologically).Second,we considerthe effects
of Lord8 Deer'snew status:his conquests(instan-
tiatingincreasedcoastal militarism)and the con-
nections linking his access to coastal tribute,his
alliance with Lord4 Jaguar,and his returnto the
highlandsto become rulerof Tilantongo(instanti-
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[Vol.15, No. 3, 2004
atingincreasedhighland-lowlandinteractions).
Sacred Objects,Visitations,and the Foundation
of Tututepec
Lord8 Deer"JaguarClaw"is a majorfigurein sev-
eralof theMixteccodices(Caso 1979;Rabin1981;
Smith 1973; Spores 1993;Troike 1974). Accord-
ing to these accounts,Lord8 Deer was bornin the
highlandtown of Tilantongoon the Day 8 Deer in
the Year 12 Reed (A.D. 1063). He was the son of
Lady 11 Water"BlueParrot"andLord5 Alligator
"Rain-Sun." AlthoughLord8 Deer wouldeventu-
allybecometherulerof bothTilantongoandTutute-
pec, neitherof his parentshadgenealogicalties to
the ruling families of either polity.4Instead,we
arguethatthe codices presentLord8 Deer'sruler-
ship at Tututepecas based not on the inheritance
of anexistingpolity,buton thefoundationof a new
one. Furthermore, we arguethatLord8 Deer'ssub-
sequentrulership Tilantongowas madepossible
at
by the unintendedconsequencesof coastal cam-
paignsthatculminatedin thefoundationof Tutute-
pec as a new politicalcenter.
According to the codices, these coastal cam-
paignsbeganwhen Lord8 Deer was 18, as he and
a groupof followersset out for the Oaxacancoast.
The codices Nuttall, Bodley, and Colombino-
Beckerrecordsomewhatdifferentversionsof this
journey.By comparingtheseaccountswithpolity-
foundation stories from other codices, Lord 8
Deer's journeycan be seen as partof a genre of
"foundationnarratives"(Furst1986;Garcifa-Zam-
brano 1994). In other words, the codices present
Lord8 Deer as foundingthe city of Tututepec.The
codices datethiseventtoA.D. 1083,whichclosely
parallelsthe archaeologicalrecordfor the period
of expansionsof both Tututepecand the coastal
populationas a whole. As mentionedabove, the
almostcompleteabsenceof EarlyPostclassicset-
tlement at Tututepecsuggests that the Late Post-
classic city did not develop out of an earlier
community,butwas insteadfoundedas a newpolit-
ical center.
All threecodicalaccountsof thisjourneyto the
coast begin with a meetingbetween Lord 8 Deer
andLady9 Grassat herChalcatongoshrine(Caso
1966:123; Figures 5 and 6). The "foundational"
eventsthatfollow this meetingvaryfromcodex to
codex, butall threenarrativescome into alignment
again with Lord8 Deer's arrivalat Tututepec.As
Joyce et al.] ARCHAEOLOGY
ANDHISTORY
OFTUTUTEPEC
thefollowingparagraphs illustrate,Lord8 Deerand
his followersundertakethreebasictypes of "foun-
dational"activitiesin theirjourneyfromthe high-
lands to the coast. These are: (1) peregrinations
with "objectsof authorityand rulership,"(2) visi-
tations of local places and local authoritieson a
"journeyof rulershiprecognition,"and(3) demar-
cationsof polity boundariesthroughballcourtrit-
uals (Furst 1986:58, 62; cf. Garcia-Zambrano
1994:219).
In the Codex Nuttall (1987) account, Lord 8
Deer follows his meeting at Chalcatongoby per-
forming two sacrifices and conquering several
unidentifiedlocations(Figure5). Then-in anevent
thatlooks aheadto Lord8 Deer'spoliticalfuture-
he meets in a cave and in a ballcourtwith men
wearing"Toltec"costumes.Followingthesemeet-
ings, the place sign of Tututepec,a bird's beak
emergingfrom a stone hill (Smith 1963:277-78),
appearsin the CodexNuttallfor the firsttime.
In the Codex Bodley (1960) account, Lord 8
Deer's meetingat Chalcatongois followed by the
conquest of River of the Mouth, which may be
Atoyaquillo,a highlandcommunitynearAchiutla
(Pohl 1996:35).Lord8 Deer thenpresentshimself
before the king and queen of the lowland site of
Juquila,a coastal site 35 km northeastof Tutute-
pec (Smith 1973:75-76). After this visit, Lord 8
Deer is enthronedat the bird-headed-stoneplace
sign of Tututepec.
InthelengthyCodexColombino-Becker (1892)
account,Lord8 Deerbeginshisjourneyto thecoast
by receivinga seriesof objectsat Chalcatongo:an
owl spear,a shielddecoratedwith a skull, a fish, a
conchshell,a vessel containinga bloodyheart,and
a wartytobaccogourd(Figure6; Caso 1966:124;
Troike 1974:130).Lord 8 Deer and his followers
carrythese objects, along with a flint staff and a
sacredbundle,on theirjourneyto the coast. As in
the CodexNuttall,thefirststopis at Hill of theTree
of the Sun (Figures5 and 6). Lord8 Deer and his
followerLord5 Rainthenbringthe flintstaff,skull
shield,conch, andowl spearto a seriesof six place
signs,fourof which(HillWheretheNuhuEmerges,
SplitHillDarkHill,River,andTempleof theSkull)
represent the Mixtec cardinal points (Jansen
1982a:230-236;1982b).Finally,Lord8 Deerburns
incenseinside a ballcourt,perhapsa cognateto the
ballcourtsceneon codexpage45 of the CodexNut-
tall (Troike 1974: 140; Figure 5). The ballcourt
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283
scene is followed by a processionof seven indi-
viduals(carryingthe flintstaff,sacredbundle,owl
spear, skull shield, and conch) to the compound
place sign of Tututepec-Juquila. Fourof theobjects
carriedfromthehighlands-the sacredbundle,the
flint staff, the golden fish, and the skull shield-
are placedin the site's temple(Figure6).
Since the foundationalnatureof Lord8 Deer's
journey to the coast has not been previouslyrec-
ognized,a comparativereviewof the storiesof two
other polity founders(Lady 3 Flint and Lord 10
Reed) is necessary to show how Lord 8 Deer's
actions fit into an established"foundational"nar-
rativegenre.Lady 3 Flint's story is told on pages
14 to 20 of the CodexNuttall(Furst1986). She is
accompaniedon herfoundationaltravelsby a con-
sortandfourpriests;they carrybowls of offerings,
a fire drill, a conch, sacredbundles,and flint and
bundlestaves. Duringtheirjourney,Lady 3 Flint
andherfollowersvisit localized,landscape-inhab-
iting gods and goddesses (Furst 1986:62-63; cf.
Houstonand Stuart1996). These travelsend with
the enthronementof Lady3 Flint;the flintstaffand
sacredbundlearethenplacedwithinthe templeof
her polity.Overseeingthe enthronementare gods
of thefivedirections,againlinkingfoundationwith
place-basedauthorities(Anders et al. 1992:122;
cf. Garcia-Zambrano 1994:218).
The comparableaccount of Lord 10 Reed's
foundationof Jaltepecis told on codex pages3 and
4 of the CodexSelden(1964). The narrativebegins
with Lord 10 Reed pointingto a series of sacred
objects, includingan ornamentedspear,a sacred
bundle, and a bowl containing a heart.Lord 10
Reedthenundertakesa "journeyof rulershiprecog-
nition,"visiting 15 places and 16 rulers.Lord 10
Reedendshisjourneyby makinganofferingbefore
the temple of Jaltepec, within which has been
placeda sacredbundle(JansenandP6rezJimenez
2000:102-114).
In addition to the translationof "objects of
authorityandrulership"duringa "journeyof ruler-
ship recognition,"a thirdfeatureof Lord8 Deer's
journey is activity in a ballcourt,which can be
linked to foundationritualsthrougha considera-
tion of ballcourtboundarysymbolism (Gillespie
1991; Koontz 1994;Kowalewskiet al. 1991;Pohl
et al. 1997). In both the Nuttall and Colombino-
Beckeraccounts,Lord 8 Deer's arrivalat Tutute-
pec is immediately preceded by actions in a
284 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

tribute tribute tribute Lord8 Lord8 Deer

offering offering offering conquered Lord9 Deer and Lord Lord8 Deer
of cacao of feathers of a jaguar sites Wind "Toltecs" in cave 12 Motion at Chalcatongo

471 461 45, 441

conquered tribute conquered Tututepec Lord8 Deer Lord8 Deer Lady 9
sites offering sites and "Toltec" at Hill of Grass at
of cacao at ballcourt the Tree of Chalcatongo
the Sun

Figure 5. CodexNuttall, codex pages 44-47 (the sequence begins at the lower right hand corner of page 44 and then pro-
ceeds right to left; from Codex Zouche Nuttall 1987).

Lord8 Deer Lord8 Deer procession

Year6 Reed, sacred and Tututepec- and conquests with sacred
Day 6 Serpent Chalcatongo objects. Lord5 Rain Juquila Lord12 Motion begin objects

Hillof Lord8 Deer Lord8 Deer Four Directions MalinalliHill Lord8 Deer Lord8 Deer
the Tree and Lord 5 Rain at Malinalli at Hill of in ballcourt
of the Sun Hill the Tobacco
Bundles

Figure 6. Codex Colombino-Becker,codex pages 3-6 (the sequence begins at the upper left hand corner of page 3, and
then travels back and forth across two-page spans; from Codex Colombino1892).

ballcourt(Figures5 and6). Thesescenesmayshow The arrivalof Lord8 Deer andhis followerson

Lord8 Deer performinga ritualat the "boundary"
of his future kingdom, before implantingritual
objects withinthe temple at the polity's symbolic
center.A possible location of Lord 8 Deer's ball-
courtritualis atthe site of SanFranciscode Arriba,
which contains a Late Postclassic ballcourt
(Workinger2002:150-158). As discussed above,
this site would have been an outlying barrioof
Tututepecduringthe LatePostclassic,placingthe
ballcourton thecity's northeastboundary.Another
possible ballcourthas also been identified near
Tututepec'scenter,on Cerrode los Pajaros.
the coast is thereforedepictedas an act of founda-
tion. The visitationsof local places andauthorities
in the narrativesof Lady3 FlintandLord 10 Reed
parallelLord 8 Deer's meeting with the rulersof
Juquila in the Bodley account. The presence of
directionalgods at Lady3 Flint'senthronementin
the Nuttall parallelsLord 8 Deer's visit to direc-
tionallysignificantplacesin theColombino-Becker
account.The translationof sacredobjects (orna-
mentedspears,conchshells,staves,bowls of offer-
ings, andsacredbundles)in the narrativesof Lady
3 FlintandLord 10 Reedparallelsthe uses of such

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Joyce et al.] ARCHAEOLOGY
ANDHISTORY
OFTUTUTEPEC
objects by Lord 8 Deer and his followers in the
Colombino-Becker account. Finally, ballcourt
activities in the codices Nuttall and Colombino-
Beckermayindicatetheperformanceof boundary-
markingceremonies.
WhyDid Lord8 Deer Travelto the Coast?
Coastal Resourcesand HighlandAlliances
The codices recountthatLord8 Deer came to the
Oaxacacoastas a warriorandsitefounder,although
theirexplanationsof his motivesin foundinga king-
dom at Tututepecarenot entirelyclear.One factor
mayhavebeensheerambition,spurredby his meet-
ing with the oracle Lady 9 Grassand by his lack
of directconnectionsto the rulinglineageof Tilan-
tongo (Jansenand Perez Jim6nez2000:179-181;
Spores 1993:172). A more general factor would
have been the unstable political conditions of
eleventh-andtwelfth-centuryOaxaca(Bylandand
Pohl 1994;Joyce et al. 2001). The EarlyPostclas-
sic in the lowerVerdewas a time of politicalfrag-
mentation and conflict (Joyce et al. 2001), and
codex narrativesinstantiatethis instabilityby sug-
gestingLord8 Deertookstrategicadvantageof this
collapse of political authority.Immediatelyfol-
lowinghis foundationof Tututepec,theNuttalland
Colombino-Beckeraccounts depict Lord 8 Deer
conqueringdozensof places,violentlyconsolidat-
ing his poweron the coast (Figures5 and7; Jansen
1998:100-107; Troike1974:150).
In additionto issues of ambitionand oppor-
tunism,anothermotivationalpossibilitysuggested
by codex narrativesis thatLord 8 Deer soughtto
take advantageof the ecological verticalityof a
highlands-to-coastalcorridor(Joyce 1993:67, 79;
Monaghan 1994). The lower Verde would have
been an attractivelocationto establisha kingdom,
given the rich agriculturallands of the floodplain
and the presenceof coastal resourceslike cacao,
cotton,feathers,fish, and salt (Joyce 1993; Joyce
andKing2001; Joyceet al. 2001; King2003). Sig-
nificantly,coastal resources are explicitly refer-
enced in the Nuttallaccount.Among the list of 25
placesconqueredby Lord8 Deer in theNuttallare
an additionalfour sites not shown in the Codex
Colombino-Becker.These sites are significant
because they may show places thatbecame tribu-
tariesof Lord8 Deer throughcomplianceinstead
of conquest. Unlike the conqueredplaces, these
four place glyphs are not piercedby the spearof
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285
conquest,andunliketheconqueredplacesthey are
accompaniedby humanfigures(Figure5). Fourof
the six individualsassociatedwith these noncon-
queredplaces are shown holding objects specifi-
cally coded as the products of lowland tropical
environments.The man from Town of the Head
holds a jaguar,while the threemen fromthe Town
of the Dove hold tropicalfeathersand two differ-
ent forms of cacao. Thus the CodexNuttallhigh-
lights access to lowlandgoods as a consequenceof
Lord8 Deer'scoastalconquests-instantiating the
increasedhighland-lowlandtradeinteractionsreg-
isteredarchaeologically.
By gaining access to these exotic resources,
Lord8 Deer became an attractivealliancepartner
for powerfulhighlandnobles.The centraleventof
the "secondact"of Lord8 Deer's Tututepecsaga
is his alliance with Toltec foreigners,who were
marked with the attributes of merchants. The
codicesNuttall,Colombino-Becker, andBodleyall
show Lord8 Deer being visitedby a groupof for-
eign travelers(Figures 5, 7, 8) wearing topknot
hairstylesandblack"masks"of face paint,andcar-
rying feather fans and wooden staves. As inter-
preted by Pohl (1994:83-108), these unusually
costumedtravelersandtheirleader,Lord4 Jaguar,
are markedas Toltecs. Lord4 Jaguarand his fol-
lowers came from Place of Reeds, a glyph repre-
senting the highland communityof San Miguel
Tulancingo-a town with unusual links to the
Tolteca-Chichimeca (Byland and Pohl
1994:138-150; Smith 1973:70-75). While the
advantagesfor Lord 8 Deer of this alliance with
prestigious foreigners has been discussed else-
where--the alliancepavedthe way for his foun-
dationof theseconddynastyof Tilantongo(Byland
and Pohl 1994; Pohl 1994; Smith 1973)--the
advantagesfor the Toltecs have not been consid-
ered. We argue that this alliance instantiates
increasedLatePostclassicaccess to coastalgoods
for highlandcommunities,heroicallypersonified
by Lord4 Jaguarandhis followers.
The costumesof Lord4 Jaguarandhis associ-
ates supportour interpretationthat highlanders
were understoodby codex authorsto have sought
an alliancewithLord8 Deerin orderto gainaccess
to valuable coastal commodities. As mentioned
above, Lord4 Jaguarand his associatesare con-
sistentlydepictedwith stavesand fans (Figure8).
For the Aztecs, both of these items were insignia
286 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

Lord 8 Deer
Lord8 Deer and Lady 9 Reed Lord8 Deer performs conquered
and Lord4 Jaguar at Hillof Blood sacrifices at Tututepec sites

5241 51< 50< 49<

Lord8 Deer's Lord12 Motion Lord8 Deer conquered
nose piercing as warrior as warrior sites

Figure 7. Codex Nuttal, codex pages 49-52 (the sequence begins at the upper right hand corner of page 49, and then
proceeds right to left; from Codex Zouche Nuttall 1987).

wedding Place of Lord8 Deer's Lord8 Deer and

procession wedding Reeds nose piercing Lord4 Jaguar

D11 12 ? 13 >14
ballcourt Lord8 Deer cave Lord9 Wind conquest of
meeting and Lord and "Toltecs" Acatepec
4 Jaguar(?)

Figure 8. Codex Colombino-Becker,codex pages 11-14 (the sequence begins at the upper left hand corner of page 11, and
then travels back and forth across two-page spans; from Codex Colombino 1892).

carriedby thepochteca,the men andwomenof the tecuhtli, designatingmembershipin the Tolteca-

merchant class (Bitman and Sullivan 1978;
Sahagdn 1954-1982:9:4, 22; Codex Mendoza
1980:Folio66r).By portrayingthesemenas "mer-
chant-ambassadors" (Pohl 1994:88-89), the Bod-
ley and Colombino-Beckeraccounts suggest that
Lord8 Deer's new access to highly valuedcoastal
goods (as depictedin the CodexNuttall)was a key
factorin his alliancewith highlandToltecs.
This mutuallybeneficial alliance is sealed by
Lord 8 Deer's famous nose-piercing ceremony
(Figures 7 and 8). In A.D. 1097, Lord 4 Jaguar
oversawa ritualwhereLord8 Deer'snasalseptum
waspiercedandornamentedwitha turquoisejewel.
This ritualinvestedLord 8 Deer with the title of
Chichimecaroyal house (Pohl 1994:89-93). This
eventtookplaceone yearafterthemysteriousdeath
of Lord 2 Rain, the heirless ruler of Tilantongo.
Gainingthetitleof tecuhtliwasone aspectof a legit-
imizing strategyby whichLord8 Deer was ableto
claim the throneof Tilantongoand establishthe
polity's seconddynastyin A.D. 1098. Lord8 Deer
ruledTilantongountil he was capturedand sacri-
ficed in A.D. 1115.
Surprisingly,Tututepecdisappearsfromthecod-
ical recordafterLord8 Deer'sascendancyatTilan-
tongo. Despite numerousclaims thatLord8 Deer
createda kingdomthatunitedtheMixtecaAltaand
coast (Caso 1979:390; Smith 1973:68; Spores

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Joyce et al.] ANDHISTORY
ARCHAEOLOGY
1993:169), this is never explicitly shown in the
codices. Lord 8 Deer neverreturnedto Tututepec
afterusurpingthe throneof Tilantongo.Highland-
lowlandties were,however,maintainedfor several
generationsafterhis deaththroughthe marriages
of descendantsof Lord 8 Deer and the rulersof
Juquilainto the rulingline at Tulancingo,Lord4
Jaguar'shome(Smith1973:73).Suchalliancesres-
onate with Alva Ixtlilxochitl's later account of
Toltecancestriesalong the southerncoast of New
Spain:"los de Tututepecdel Mar Del Sur ... ser
del linaje de los tultecas" (Alva Ixtlilxochitl
1975[ca. 1600]:1:283). As Alva Ixtlilxochitl
recounts(1975[ca. 1600]:1:272),anddespitecod-
ical silence on the subsequentfortunesof Tutute-
pec and its rulingfamily,by the sixteenthcentury
Tututepechadbecome a powerfulimperialcenter,
threateninghighlandsettlementsas distantas Mitla
andAchiutla.Inorderto understandcoastalhistory
for the remainderof the Postclassic,it is necessary
to leave heroichistoriesandreturnto the archaeo-
logical record.
Archaeological Survey of
Late Postclassic Tututepec
The full-coveragesurveydatashowthatduringthe
Late PostclassicTututepecgrew to 2185 ha if San
Franciscode Arribais includedas partof the site
(Figure2). Tututepecwas the first-ordercenterin
a five-tiered settlementhierarchy(Figure 4 and
Table1). CharcoRedondo(RV1)was the only sec-
ond-ordersite at 70 ha. Third-ordersites ranged
from6 to 15 ha, fourth-ordersites variedfrom I to
4 ha, and fifth-ordersites were all 1 ha or less.
Tututepecwas the only Late Postclassicsite with
moundedarchitectureorcarvedstonemonuments.
The surveyresultsshow the continuationof an
EarlyPostclassictrendof people moving into the
piedmontandfromthe west to the east side of the
Rio Verde. Piedmont settlement increased from
34.2 percentof the total occupationalarea in the
Late Classic to 61.7 percentin the EarlyPostclas-
sic, andthen to 93.2 percentby the Late Postclas-
sic. The settlementshift to higherelevationsis in
markedcontrastto Late Postclassic settlementin
theMixtecaAlta wherepeoplemovedto lowerele-
vations adjacentto the valley floors (Byland and
Pohl 1994:61;Spores 1972:190;Stiver2001). An
even morecurioussettlementchangeinvolvedthe
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OFTUTUTEPEC 287
almost complete shift to the east side of the Rio
Verde.Duringthe Late Postclassiconly two sites
coveringa totalof 3 hawerefoundwest of theriver.
These settlementcharacteristicsmay reflect con-
tinuedinterpolityconflict.TheMixteccodices and
EarlyColonialdocumentsindicatethatmorethan
anyotherMixtecpolity,Tututepecwasbenton mil-
itaryexpansion(Smith 1973; Spores 1993). Why
settlementin the lowerVerdewas concentratedon
the east side of the Rio Verdeis not clear,although
therivermayhaveprovideda naturaldefensivebar-
rieragainstthreatsto the west. EarlyColonialdoc-
umentsrecordwarsbetweenTututepecandpolities
to the west such as Zacatepec, Jicayain, and
Pinotepa(Smith 1973:84-88; Spores 1993:172).
Anotherpotentialexplanationfor the Postclassic
changes in settlement patterns could relate to
changes in land tenureor land use. It is possible
thatthe vastincreasein populationduringthe Late
Postclassicnecessitatedmoreintensiveagricultural
practices,encouragingpeopleto moveoff theflood-
plain to open up moreland for cultivation.
The 2185 ha size of Tututepecduringthe Late
Postclassicmakesit the largestsite by areaknown
in Late Postclassic Mesoamerica(Smith 2004).
The largestsites in the Oaxacanhighlandsat this
timeincludethePuebloViejoof Teposcolulaat239
ha, Diquino at 441 ha (Stiver2001), and several
sites in the Nochixtlin Valleythatappearto have
covered 100 to 400 ha (see Pohl 1994:Map6). In
comparison,theAztec capitalof Tenochtitlinin the
Basin of Mexico covers 1250 ha (Smith 2004).
While Tututepec is considerably larger than
Tenochtitlin,its dispersedsettlementpatternindi-
catesa muchlowerpopulationdensity.In addition,
we recognizethatour site, definedusing standard
full-coveragesurveymethods,may not have been
conceivedemicallyas a single communityby pre-
hispanicMixtecs.5
Tututepecis locatedalmostentirelyon thepied-
montoverlookingthe lower Rio Verdefloodplain.
While Tututepecwas covered with a nearlycon-
tinuousscatterof domesticdebris,the overallden-
sity of settlement appeared generally lower,
althoughmorevariable,thanat earliersites on the
floodplainsuch as Rio Viejo. Artifactdensitiesin
some areasof the site, especiallytowardits south-
ernend, tendedto be low (<1 artifact/m2).In other
areas,especiallyto thenorth,settlementwas dense
with artifactdensitiesoften in the moderate(5-10
288 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY
artifacts/m2)to heavy range (10-25 artifacts/m2).
Preliminarycounts of prehispanicresidentialter-
races mirroredthe artifactdensities with much
higher concentrationsof visible terraces to the
north.A total of 386 terraceswas recorded.Of
course, artifactdensitiesand terracevisibility are
both significantly affected by site formation
processes,includingerosion,modernlanduse, and
vegetation,so these patternsshouldbe considered
tentative.Due to these factors, the terracecount
clearlyunderrepresents the actualnumberof pre-
hispanic residential terraces. While the overallset-
tlementpatternatTututepecappearsless densethan
in earlierurbancenterslike Rio Viejo, settlement
in the regionas a whole was highly nucleatedwith
Tututepec/SanFranciscode Arribaaccountingfor
94.4 percentof the occupationalarea in the full-
coveragesurvey.This regionallynucleatedpattern
differsfromthebalkanizedpatternseenin theOax-
acanhighlands(Balkanskyet al. 2000;Kowalewski
et al. 1989:317;Spores 1972; Stiver2001).
Whilethe site areais large,it is difficultto trans-
late site size into population estimates. Many
researchershave commentedon the unreliability
of Early Colonial period census data (Denevan
1976; Spores 1984:104-106), especiallydatalike
those from Tututepecthat are based on counts of
tributariosratherthan total population(Woens-
dregt1996:59-61). Populationestimatesbasedon
thedensityof surfaceartifactsrecordedby full-cov-
eragesurveymethodsarehighlyspeculativeas they
arebasedon assumptionsinvolvingsite formation
processes, contemporaneityof settlementwithin
ceramicallydefined phases, and the relationship
betweenartifactdensitiesandpopulation(O'Brien
andLewarch1992).Recognizingtheselimitations
andusingtheconversionfactorsof Sandersandhis
colleagues(1979:38-39), which assumea popula-
tion of 5-10 peopleperha in areaswith sherdden-
sities in our "moderate" range (i.e., 5-10
artifacts/m2), yields an estimateof 10,925-21,850
for LatePostclassicTututepec.
Surfaceartifactsprovidedevidencefor domes-
tic activities throughoutthe site, including food
procurementand processing,potteryproduction,
chertandobsidianworking,textileproduction,and
householdrituals.Ceramicartifactsrecoveredin
the surfacecollections includedsherds,figurines,
spindlewhorls,beads,andwhistles.The most dis-
tinctive ceramics were from Mixtec Polychrome
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[Vol.15, No. 3, 2004
potterythat was common throughoutthe site. A
concentrationof figurinemoldswasrecordedin the
southernpart of the modern town, suggesting a
possiblefigurineworkshop.Lithicsincludedobsid-
iantoolsanddebitage,chertflakes,manos,metates,
hammerstones,barkbeaters,beads,anda stonefig-
urinefragment.
Obsidianartifactswereverycommonin surface
collections,includingcores,bladefragments,pro-
jectile points,and debitage.The dominanttype of
obsidianwas the greenvarietyfromPachucain the
Basin of Mexico, indicatingtradewithAztec mer-
chants(Smith 1990). Evidencefor the production
or consumptionof obsidiantools was foundin an
area on a ridge approximately1 km southeastof
the Yucudzaahill. The ridgetopwas coveredwith
obsidiandebitageas well as blade fragmentsand
cores. Densities were estimated as high as 100
obsidianartifacts/m2. Two otherconcentrationsof
obsidian tools and debitage were also located,
althoughthe density of materialwas much lower
thanon this ridgeeast of Yucudzaa.
Architecturalremainsincludedresidentialter-
races, moundedarchitecture,and structurefoun-
dationsalong with frequentexamplesof building
materialsincludingcut stoneandclay bricks.Most
of the terracesandstructurefoundationsvisible on
the surface appearedto be relatively modest in
terms of architecturalelaborationand were pre-
sumablyfromcommonerresidences.Severalareas
exhibitedevidence of more elaboratenonmound
architecture in theformof structureswithrelatively
large floor areas or dense concentrationsof con-
structionmaterial.One buildingmaterialthatwas
usuallyassociatedwithlargernonmoundstructures
or with moundedarchitecturewas well-madebun-
shapedbricks.
There were five separateareas with mounded
architectureatTututepecalongwith theLatePost-
classicballcourtfromSanFranciscodeArriba(Fig-
ure9). The areaswithmoundedarchitecturemight
correspondto the internalorganizationof the site,
perhapsreflectingelite residences and/orpublic
buildingsassociatedwith particularbarrios.Early
Colonialperiodcommunitiesin the MixtecaAlta
were dividedinto barriosor siqui in Mixtec, as is
modernTututepec,althoughthe compositionand
function of these barrios has been debated
(Dahlgren 1990; Spores 1984:168; Stiver 2001;
Terraciano2000:106).
Joyce et al.] ANDHISTORY
ARCHAEOLOGY OFTUTUTEPEC 289

NorthPatioGrou
SF allcourt
P tform
Church Late
Postclassic
Sites
Monumental
Architecture

100 m contours
S..

Cerrode los PdjarosGroup

SozthPlatform
LaMaqIuina
Group

0 3 6 kilometers t
NORTH

Figure 9. Monumental architecture at 'Itutepec.

The civic-ceremonialcoreof the site is thelarge
prehispanicplatformon whichthe Colonialperiod
churchis located.The platformis about10 m high
and covers an area of approximately2.9 ha with
the long axis measuring270 m. The ChurchPlat-
form supportedthe Late Postclassic and Early
Colonialperiodruler'spalace.Oralhistoriesfrom
Tututepecclaim thatthe royalpalaceat the time of
theSpanishConquestwaslocatedwherethechurch
was built(Tib6n1961:72).Set intothe walls of the
church are several architecturalelements in pre-
hispanicstyle, includingat least four disc friezes.
The disc frieze is an architectural decoration
depictedon Late Postclassicpalaces and temples
in the codices. Its use continued into the Early
Colonialperiodas shown in Colonialdocuments.
An exampleof the use of the disc friezeelementis
foundat the Casade la Cacica,a sixteenth-century
royalresidencethatstill standsin SanPedroy San
Pablo Teposcolulain the Mixteca Alta (Kiracofe
1995; Figure 10).
Locatedon the southeasternend of the Church
Platformis a group of eight carved stone monu-
ments as well as a plain stone columnand a stone
basin (O'Mack 1990).6The originalproveniences
of the carved stones are not certain. Maler
(1883:158-159) reports that Monument 6 was
intentionallyburiednearthe churchandwas exca-
vatedby the local priestin 1830 (Figure11).Tib6n
(1961:72) reportsan informant'sstorythatMonu-
ment 6 had been locatedin frontof the palace of
Coaxintecuhtli,Tututepec'scaciqueat the time of
the SpanishConquest.Monument6 is especially
significantbecause of its resemblanceto Tolteca-
Chichimecaiconography.Manyresearchershave
comparedthis monumentto theAtlantidwarriors
fromPyramidB atTula(Jorrin1974:68;PifiaChan
1960:72;Pohl 1999:184),the Tolteccapital.Pohl
(1999:184) arguesthatMonument6 is probablya
representationof the CentralMexicandeity Itzpa-
palotl, the ObsidianButterfly,based on the stiff
pose, tezcacuitlapilliback mirror(i.e., a circular
mirror worn at the small of the back), and her
quechquemitl(i.e., a triangularcape) lined with
whatmaybe an obsidianknifeborder;all arechar-
acteristicof the CentralMexican Goddess. Pohl
(1999:184) suggeststhatthe image may be shown
with a black-paintface maskindicativeof the fig-
ure's Tolteca-Chichimecaassociation.Monument
6 providesarchaeologicalsupportforLord8 Deer's

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290 LATIN AMERICAN ANTIQUITY [Vol. 15, No. 3, 2004

Figure 10. The Casa de la Cacica, Teposcolula, Oaxaca.

alliancewith the Tolteca-Chichimecaas shownin Anotherconcentrationof moundedarchitecture

the codices. Early Colonial documents (Acufia
1984 I:188, 193, 1985;Alva Ixtlilxochitl1975[ca.
1600]:1:283;Pohl 1999:183-184) as well as oral
histories (Tib6n 1961:71) record that people of
Tututepecand its subjectcommunitiesclaimedto
be Tolteca-Chichimeca andworshippedItzpapalotl
as a goddess.
Presumablymost of the othercarvedstones on
the ChurchPlatformwere originally associated
with the palace,althoughMonument1 (see Urcid
andJoyce 2001:Figure22) is a stelathatis clearly
Late Classic in style and was probablymoved to
Tututepecfrom anothersite. Among the carved
stones on the ChurchPlatformare three zoomor-
phic tenonedheads (Monuments3, 4, and 8; see
PifiaChan 1960: Foto 9). Monument7 is a sculp-
ture of a feline (Jorrin1974: Figure 3D), while
Monuments2 and9 arefragmentsof carvedstones.
Monument5 is a small sculptureof an individual
with the arms crossed on his/her chest that was
removedfromTututepecfor displayin the Museo
Nacionalde Mexico (see PifiaChan1960:Foto 8).
If the ChurchPlatformwas the originallocationof
the majorityof these stone monuments,the build-
ings on the platformwouldhave been some of the
most architecturallyelaboratestructuresin Late
PostclassicOaxaca.
is located on Cerrode los Paijarosapproximately
1.4km southof theChurchPlatform.Twomounded
structuresarebothbadlydamagedby erosionand
looting. One structureis a low platform,while the
otherappearsto be a ballcourt.Surfacecollections
recoveredonly LatePostclassicpottery.An eroded
pictographwas also found on a boulderon Cerro
de los Pajarosandtwo otherpictographswere dis-
coveredatthe site.All of the pictographsconsisted
of a series of bars and dots in red pigment, sug-
gestingthatthese may havebeen glyphs, although
the bar-and-dotnotationsystem would indicatea
Classicperioddate.A moreelaborateseriesof pic-
tographshas been recordedat PiedraSan Vicente
(RV40) 9 km west of Cerro de los P"jaros(Orr
2001).
South of Cerro de los Paijaros,the survey
recordedtwo otherconcentrationsof monumental
architecturedesignatedthe SouthernPlatformand
theLaMaquinaGroup(Figure9). TheLaMaquina
Groupconsists of four structuresnearthe town of
La Maquinarangingin elevationfrom .3 to 2 m.
Surface collections yielded concentrations of
domestic artifactsincluding obsidian and poly-
chromepotteryas well as a finelymademetate,sug-
gesting that the La Maquina Group was a
high-statusresidentialsector.A fragmentof a pos-

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Joyce et al.] ARCHAEOLOGY
ANDHISTORY
OFTUTUTEPEC 291

Figure 11. Tututepec, Monument 6.

sible tenonedhead(Monument11) was foundin a the platformwest of the patiogroupand a sixth is

looter'spit andinformantsreportedthata zoomor-
phic tenonedhead (Monument12) locatedtoday
in thechurchatLaMaquinawas removedfromthis
area.The SouthernPlatformmeasured12 m x 20
m, but was badly damagedby plowing.
Anotherprobablehigh-statusresidentialareais
the NorthernGroupon a ridge 1.25 km northwest
of the ChurchPlatform.The NorthernGroupcon-
sists of two probablepatiogroupsin an areaof par-
ticularlydensesettlementwithdozensof well-made
terraces.The firstpatio groupis more formaland
consists of a platformsupportingfour structures
surroundinga centralpatio.A fifth structureis on
locatedimmediatelyadjacentto the southwestern
cornerof theplatform.Thesecondpatiogroupcon-
sists of two to fourlow moundssurrounding a patio
at the end of the ridge.The morphologyof the two
patio groupsresemblesLate Postclassichigh-sta-
tus residencesexcavatedby Lind (1979) at Cha-
choapanin the NochixthinValley.
The survey data show that Tututepecwas an
urbancenter and the largest communityin Late
PostclassicOaxaca.The site was organizationally
complex, with at least six zones of monumental
architecture(includingtheSanFranciscode Arriba
ballcourt)as well as areasof ritualactivityandcraft

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292 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

production.We now returnto the ethnohistoric recordedby the survey(Workinger2002; also see
record to consider Tututepec'sbroaderpolitical Ball and Brockington1978). Fernindezde Recas
relationsat the time of the SpanishConquest. (1961) recordsthatPedrode Alvarado(bornIxtac
Quiautzin), cacique of Tututepecfrom 1522 to
Tututepec at the Time of the 1547, controlledresources includingjade, gold,
Spanish Conquest silver,turquoise,and pearlsas well as salt works,
lagoons for fishing, and cacao fields. In the early
The size and complexityof ancientTututepecas seventeenth century, Burgoa (1989:352-353
shownby the surveydataareconsistentwithEarly [ 1674]) recordedan accountof a prehispanicmar-
Colonialdocumentsthatdescribethesiteas thecen- ket at Putla where the people of Achiutla,which
ter of an expansionistic empire that dominated was part of an Aztec tributaryprovince, were
much of southernOaxaca (Acufia 1984; Barlow orderedto bringtributepaymentsfor the cacique
1949; Berlin 1947; Davies 1968; Gerhard1993; of Tututepec.PoliticalrelationsbetweenTututepec
Smith 1973:84-88; Spores 1993; Woensdregt and Tenochtitlinwere tense with the Aztecs per-
1996). Early Colonial documents that provide haps pursuinga strategydesigned to isolate the
insightson laterPostclassicTututepecincludehis- powerful southern coastal polity (Davies
toricdocumentsof litigation(1540-1600), therela- 1987:208-209).Townsalongthe borderof Tutute-
ciones geogrcificas(1579-1580), and the writings pec's empire,suchas MiahuatlinandCoatlin,used
of FrayFranciscode Burgoa(mid-seventeenth cen- the competitionbetween the two empiresto their
tury).TheseEarlyColonialrecordsindicatethatat advantageby petitioningtheAztecemperorattimes
its maximum extent, Tututepec controlled an for protectionfromTututepec(Spores 1993:172).
empireextendingfromthe modem Oaxaca-Guer- The wealth and power of Tututepec also
rerobordereast to Huamelulaand the Isthmusof attractedthe attentionof Hernin Cort6s shortly
Tehuantepec,southto the PacificOcean,andnorth afterhis conquestof theAztec capitalof Tenochti-
approximately80 km to towns such as Zacatepec, tlan on August 13, 1521. In January1522, Cort6s
Juchatengo,andSochixtepec.Communitiesas dis- dispatchedhis lieutenant,Pedrode Alvaradoand
tantas Achiutla,125 km to the north,andTehuan- 200 Spanishsoldiersto thePacificcoastwherethey
tepec, 250 km east, reportedhavingfoughtbattles werejoined by a ZapotecarmyfromTehuantepec,
with Tututepec.Rulers of subject communities Tututepec'senemy to the east (Cort6s 1971:276
wereoftenleft in place,buttheethnohistoricrecord [1519-1525]; Diaz del Castillo 1955:101[1580]).
indicatesthat Tututepecplaced its own adminis- Alvaradoarrivedin Tututepecsometimein Febru-
tratorsandmilitaryforcesin theprovincesto assure ary of 1522. In describingAlvarado'sarrivalin
political control and tribute payments (Spores Tututepec, Diaz del Castillo (1955:101-102
1993:170). [1580]) statedthat"theywere takento residein the
The extentof Tututepec'sempire,rangingfrom mostpopulatedpartof thetown,wherethecacique
the coastalplainto townslike Suchixtepecat 2,500 hadhis altarsandhis largesthouses,andwherethe
m above sea level, suggeststhatthe polity contin- houses were very close together, and made of
uedto pursuea strategyof verticalityto gainaccess thatch"[translationby the authors].Alvaradocon-
to resourcesfromthedifferentenvironmental zones quered Tututepec by March 4, 1522 (Cort6s
of themacroregion.Tributerangedfromgold, cop- 1971:276 [1519-1525]). Before he died in prison,
per,feathers,textiles,andcacaofromlowlandcom- the cacique of Tututepec,Coaxintecuhtli,turned
munities to cochineal and cotton mantas from overgold valuedat 30,000 pesos toAlvarado.After
highlandtowns. Many subjectcommunitieswere the region was conquered, Cort6s (1971:286
also requiredto provide slaves or soldiers to the [1519-1525]) orderedAlvaradoto establisha town
rulersof Tututepec.Tututepec'srulersapparently nearTututepec,which becameVilla Segurade la
used their control over rich lowland-coastal Frontera,the secondmunicipalityin Mexico (Ger-
resourceslike cacao, cotton,fish, quetzalfeathers, hard 1993:381).
and salt to establishexchangeties with peoples of The town lasted less than one year. Unhappy
distanthighlandcenters,includingAztecmerchants with the tropicalclimateandhigh ratesof disease,
as indicatedby the abundanceof Pachucaobsidian the Spanishsettlementwas moved to Antequera,

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Joyce et al.] ARCHAEOLOGY
ANDHISTORY
OFTUTUTEPEC
which laterbecameOaxaca.In 1523 the people of
Tututepecrose up in revoltagainstthe Spaniards.
Alvarado,with new soldiers,againfoughtagainst
the Mixtecs, forcingthem to surrender.Tututepec
was sacked and thousandsof pesos of gold and
othergoods weretaken.Oppressionandepidemics
rapidlydecimatedthe coastalpopulation.Oursur-
vey resultsare consistentwith the EarlyColonial
census records, as we recordedcolonial pottery
fromonly about1.5 km2in the areaof the modern
town, although this figure could be deceptive
because prehispanicpotterytypes probablycon-
tinuedto be used for decadesafterthe conquest.
Conclusions
Ourresearchdemonstratesthatthe archaeological
recordof Late PostclassicTututepecis consistent
with the ethnohistoricaldepictionof the site as the
political capital of a conquest empire. At 21.85
km2,Tututepecwas largerandmorecomplexthan
typicalhighlandMixteccacicazgos.Ourdataagree
with Spores's(1993:170) argument,basedlargely
on ethnohistory,thatin termsof scale,bureaucratic
complexity,and militaryprowess, the Tututepec
stateresembledthepolitiesof CentralMexico such
as Tenochtitlin,Tlaxcala,and Cholulaas well as
theTarascanEmpiremorethanthe smallerpolities
of highlandOaxaca.
Thesesimilaritiesin sociopoliticalorganization
may be relatedto the historicalcircumstancesof
the founding of Late Postclassic Tututepec as
depicted in the codices and supported by our
archaeologicalresearch.An example of "heroic
history,"codical accountsassertthatLord 8 Deer
was ableto founda newpolityatTututepecthrough
a combinationof advantageoushistorical,political,
economic,andecologicalcircumstances.We have
arguedthat these codex-recordedcircumstances
can be readas instantiationsof broadsocial trans-
formationsalso registeredarchaeologically.The
archaeologicalrecordshowsthataroundthebegin-
ning of the twelfthcenturythe lowerVerderegion
wouldhavebeenvulnerableto outsideconquestfol-
lowingthecollapseof theRio Viejostateandensu-
ing politicalfragmentationandunrest(Joyceet al.
2001). Codical recordssuggest that Lord 8 Deer
took advantageof these circumstancesto found a
new Mixtecpolity atTututepec.The huge increase
in populationinferredfrom the settlementdata,
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293
along withthe shiftin ceramicsandarchitectureto
highlandMixtec styles, parallelcodical accounts
of a Mixtec intrusioninto the lower Verderegion
at ca. A.D. 1100. As discussed by Pohl (1994),
Lord8 Deerdidnotuse traditionalmeansto accede
to the throneof Tilantongosince he was not eligi-
ble to inheritthat kingdom.Instead,Lord 8 Deer
foundeda new polity at Tututepecthroughthe use
of traditionalMixtecfoundationrites.Codicalepics
recountthatby controllingthis richcoastalregion,
Lord8 Deer was able to pursuea strategyof verti-
cality, which was realizedin his alliancewith the
Toltec merchant-ambassador Lord 4 Jaguar.The
iconographyof Monument6, as well as EarlyColo-
nial (Alva Ixtlilxochitl1975[ca. 1600]:1:283)and
recent oral histories (Tib6n 1961:71), suggest
Tututepec's more distant connections to the
Tolteca-Chichimeca.The alliance with Lord 4
Jaguarresultedin Lord8 Deer attainingthe title of
tecuhtli,designatinghis membershipintheTolteca-
Chichimecaroyalhouse.Whetherby designorcir-
cumstance,these events allowed Lord 8 Deer to
establishthe second dynastyof Tilantongo.
The archaeologicaldata recordedin our full-
coveragesurveyareconsistentwithEarlyColonial
documents,which show thatTututepeccontinued
as a powerfulpolityuntiltheSpanishConquest.The
datasuggest a complex internalorganizationwith
multiplezones of public architecture,high-status
residences,craft production,and ritualactivities.
The regionaldataalso suggest a relativelynucle-
ated settlementpatternwith most people residing
in Tututepecand with vast areasof the floodplain
virtuallyuninhabited.EarlyColonialethnohistory
suggests that Tututepeceventuallydominatedan
areaof approximately25,000 km2andthreatened
towns well into the Oaxacaninterior.Tututepec
hada tense,probablycompetitiverelationshipwith
theAztec Empire,althoughone thatdoes not seem
to have resultedin all-outwarfare.
Much researchremainsto be done on ancient
Tututepecand its empire,yet for the firsttime we
can see a correspondence betweentheethnohistoric
andthearchaeologicalrecords.As multiplesources
of datanow show,Tututepecwas indeedthe"major
city of the southcoast"(Smith1963:288)andakey
participantin the Late Postclassic political land-
scape.
Acknowledgments.We would like to thank the Instituto
294 LATINAMERICAN
ANTIQUITY [Vol.15, No. 3, 2004

Nacional de Antropologifa e Historia;especially the President tacts, editedby ThomasA. Lee, Jr.andCarlosNavarrete,
of the Consejo de Arqueologia,JoaquinGarcia-Bircena,and pp. 107-114. PaperNo. 40. New WorldArchaeological
the director of the Centro INAH Oaxaca, EduardoL6pez Foundation,BrighamYoungUniversity,Provo,Utah.
Calzada, who have supportedthe researchin the lower Rio Barlow,RobertH.
VerdeValley,Oaxaca.Fundingfor the full-coveragesurveyin 1949 The Extentof the Empireof CulhuaMexico. Iber-
the lowerVerdewas providedby grantsfromNationalScience Americana,No. 28. Universityof California,Berkeley.
Berlin,Heinrich
Foundation (Grant No. 0096012), Foundation for the 1947 Fragmentosdesconocidosdel cddicede Yanhuitldn y
Advancementof MesoamericanStudies (#99012), Vanderbilt otrasinvestigacionesmixtecas.AntiguaLibreriaRobredo,
University Research Council and Mellon Fund, Fulbright Mexico.
Foundation, H. John Heinz III CharitableTrust, and the Bevan, Bernard
Universityof Colorado.Researchat San Francsicode Arriba 1934 Travels with a Donkey in Mexico. National Geo-
was funded by the Wenner-GrenFoundation (Gr. 6419), graphicMagazine66:757-788.
Sigma Xi, Explorers Club, VanderbiltUniversity, and an Bitman,Bente, andThelmaSullivan
1978 The Pochteca. In Mesoamerican Communication
anonymousdonor.We thankthe following scholarsfor com- Routesand CulturalContacts,editedby ThomasA. Lee
ments on earlierversionsof this manuscript:CathyCameron,
and Carlos Navarrete,pp. 211-220. Papersof the New
Frank Eddy, James Hester, John Hoffecker, Steve Lekson, WorldArchaeologicalFoundation,BrighamYoungUni-
John Pohl, Payson Sheets, Michael Smith, and five anony-
versity,Provo,Utah.
mous reviewers. We would like to thank Chris Ward and Blanton,RichardE.
Curtis Nepstad-Thornberry for draftingmost of the figures.1978 Monte Albdin:Settlement Patterns at the Ancient
We would like to thankJohnPohl for informationon Tolteca- ZapotecCapital.AcademicPress,New York.
Chichimecaiconography.We thankDoris Kellnhofer,Rights Blanton,RichardE., StephenA. Kowalewski,GaryFeinman,
and Permissions,AkademischeDruck-undVerlagsanstaltfor andJill Appel
the use of the CodexNuttall images. We would like to thank 1982 MonteAlban's Hinterland,Part I: PrehispanicSet-
all of the membersof the Rio Verde Project,especially the tlementPatternsof the Centraland SouthernPartsof the
Valleyof Oaxaca, Mexico. Prehistoryand HumanEcol-
people of Rio Viejo, San Jose del Progreso,San Franciscode ogy of the Valleyof Oaxaca,Vol. 7, Memoirsof the Uni-
Arriba, La Boquilla, and Villa de Tututepec de Melchor versity of MichiganMuseum of Anthropology15, Ann
Ocampo who have worked with us in the field. We would Arbor.
especially like to thank Don Leobardo Pinta Mata for his Burgoa,FrayFranciscode
friendshipand guidanceduringthe Tututepecsurvey. 1989 [1674] Geogrdficadescripci6n.2 vols. EditorialPor-
ria, M6xico, D.F.
Byland,BruceE., and JohnM. D. Pohl
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Notes
1. The carved stones were recentlyrelocatedto the com-
munity museum.The town was previouslynamed San Pedro
Tututepec and changed to Villa de Tututepec de Melchor
Ocampoin 2000.
2. The Postclassicin the lower Rio VerdeValley has been
examined through full-coverage survey and excavation
(Gillespie 1987: Joyce 1999; Joyce et al. 2001; Joyce and
King 2001; King 2003: Workinger2002). Test excavations
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297
recovered Postclassic deposits at the sites of Rio Viejo
(RV20), Charco Redondo (RV1), San Francisco de Arriba
(RV62), and Corozo (RV12). At San Francisco de Arriba,
Workinger (2002) tested a Late Postclassic ballcourt.
Gillespie (1987) recoveredthree Late Postclassic burials at
CharcoRedondo.In additionto test excavationsat Rio Viejo,
two EarlyPostclassicresidentialareaswere exposed by hori-
zontal excavations covering a total of 526 m2 (Joyce et al.
2001; Joyce and King 2001: King 2003). Urcid and Joyce
(2001) discuss Postclassic carved stone monumentsand Orr
(2001) reports on Postclassic pictographs at Piedra San
Vicente. The Postclassic ceramic typology has been
described and illustrated, although the Late Postclassic
assemblageis at presentbased largely on surfacecollections
(Hutson 1996; Joyce et al. 2001; O'Mack 1990; Workinger
2002). The division of the Earlyand Late Postclassicis based
on two radiocarbondates from Early Postclassic residential
excavationsat Rio Viejo (Joyce et al. 2001): 899 ? 44 B.P., or
A.D. 1051 (AA40034) and 997 ? 47 B.P., or A.D. 953
(AA37669). Ceramicphases are based on uncorrectedradio-
carbondates, which is the conventionin Oaxaca.A calibrated
date for the transitionfrom Early to Late Postclassic would
therefore be ca. A.D. 1200. That ceramic styles did not
change immediatelyupon the entry of highlandMixtecs into
the region is not surprising,becauseit would have takensome
time for local populationsto be displacedor acculturated.
3. For debates on the reading of indigenous documents
from the New World,and the 500-yearhistoryof theirdegra-
dation and dismissal as neither "writing"nor "history"in
Western discourse, see Debates/Historyor Propaganda?in
Bakewell and Hamann (2001); Cafiizares-Esguerra
(2001:60-129); Coe (1993); Houston (2000:125-126) and
Mignolo (1995).
4. AlthoughAlfonso Caso suggested that Lady 11 Water
may have come from Tututepec(Caso 1977:147; repeatedin
Marcus 1992:385; Spores 1993:169), this claim is based
solely on the fact of Lord 8 Deer's laterrulershipof that site.
In contrast,page 24 of the Codex Nuttall clearly shows that
Lady 1I Watercame from the (unidentified)Hill of the Face
and the Tail. Lord 8 Deer's fatherwas the high priest of the
first dynasty of Tilantongo,but not genealogically relatedto
its royal family (Byland and Pohl 1994:125-138).
5. When Pedro de Alvaradofirst arrivedin Tututepecin
1522 he was taken to reside in the site center (Diaz del
Castillo 1955:101-102 [1580]), which was almost certainly
in the area of the Church Platform. In his third letter to
Charlesthe Fifth, Cort6s (1971:276 [1519-1525]) describes
how shortly after his arrival,Alvarado discovered a plot
against him by the cacique and decided to move his troops
from the hilly, central portionof the city down to the plain
below (i.e., the southeasternpart of the archaeologicalsite,
perhapsnearthe La MaquinaGroup).These accounts,while
sparse, suggest that at least the Spanishrecognized much of
the site as a single community.
6. The stone column and basin are probably from the
Colonial period.
ReceivedJune 24, 2002: AcceptedApril 1, 2003; Revised
May 13, 2004.