Ancient Mesoamerica, 15 (2004), 251–266

Copyright © 2004 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U.S.A.

DOI: 10.1017/S0956536104040155

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC SPECIALIZATION

AND SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION
The stone-tool assemblage at El Palmillo, Oaxaca

Helen R. Haines, Gary M. Feinman, and Linda M. Nicholas

Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA

Abstract
This paper examines the stone-tool assemblage recovered from excavations of six Classic-period residential terraces at El Palmillo,
a terraced hilltop community in the eastern arm of the Valley of Oaxaca. Based on this analysis, stone-tool production and the
processing of xerophytic plants—most important, maguey—were found to be important household craft industries at the site. Yet
certain craft activities were practiced in only a few households, while others were enacted more widely but in varying intensities
or degrees. This house-to-house variability in production implies a reliance on a system of economic integration in which domestic
units at El Palmillo exchanged specific goods with other households at the site as well as more broadly. Through comparison of
domestic units, we also found that exotic obsidian and semiprecious stone artifacts were distributed differentially between
households, although the extent of the differentiation was less marked than might have been expected at one of the largest
Classic-period settlements in the Valley of Oaxaca. Together, these findings point toward a high degree of horizontal,
socioeconomic interconnection and integration among household units at El Palmillo.

In pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, households constituted a fundamen-
tal unit of economic production and sociopolitical organization
(Balkansky et al. 1997; Feinman 1999; Feinman and Nicholas
1993, 1995; Hirth 1993a). Yet we know relatively little about the
range of economic activities in which Mesoamerican households
engaged or the diverse ways in which these domestic units were
socially and economically articulated into larger communities and
networks. We are only beginning to understand the different ways
in which these domestic units that were part of larger communi-
ties and polities varied socially and economically.
Stone tools are ubiquitous in the archaeological record. For
pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, stone remained the principal produc-
tive technology up to the Spanish Conquest. Because stone arti-
facts often vary in form, use, physical attributes, and source material,
they frequently have served to identify different craft activities;
craftworkers not only make stone tools (craft goods in them-
selves) but also employ them to manufacture other goods (Al-
denderfer 1991a; Hayden 1987; Keeley 1980; Lewenstein 1991;
Misner 1993; Sievert 1992). By investigating the differential dis-
tributions of stone materials, archaeologists also have examined
questions regarding the subsistence and craft activities in which
households engaged. Broader questions dealing with variability
among households, both in terms of access to goods and economic
and social differences, also have been studied (Hirth 1993b). With
these attributes, stone tools provide an important means through
E-mail correspondence to: gfeinman@fmnh.org
which to examine work and access distinctions among domestic
units.
In this paper, we focus on the Valley of Oaxaca, a core region
of pre-Hispanic political and demographic importance situated in
the highlands of southern Mexico (Palerm and Wolf 1957). More
specifically, we examine five domestic units at the large Classic-
period (a.d. 200–800) community of El Palmillo, a terraced hill-
top site at the eastern edge of the Tlacolula subvalley. With an
emphasis on stone materials recovered in domestic contexts, we
investigate the nature and diversity of residentially situated sub-
sistence and craft activities. The study of stone materials in con-
junction with other artifacts becomes a platform to unravel some
of the activities that occurred in most, if not all, El Palmillo houses,
as well as those that were more spatially limited. We also look at
the distribution of stone artifacts across the excavated terraces to
assess possible differences in house-to-house access and status.
This research outlines the economic foundations of El Palmillo, a
town at the fringes of the Classic-period Zapotec polity (Fig-
ure 1), which at that time was centered at the city of Monte Albán
(roughly 50 km to the west). At the same time, we attempt to gain
a better understanding of how domestic units were interconnected
into larger social and economic groupings in pre-Hispanic Oaxaca
and beyond in the ancient Mesoamerican world.
THE VALLEY OF OAXACA AND EL PALMILLO
The Valley of Oaxaca was dominated for more than a millennium
(ca. 500 b.c.–a.d. 750) by Monte Albán—a hilltop capital and one
of Mesoamerica’s first cities—situated at the hub of the valley’s

251
252
Figure 1. State of Oaxaca, showing the location of the Valley of Oaxaca and places mentioned in the text.
three arms (Blanton 1978; Caso et al. 1967). With a large number
of terraces arranged on the slopes of the hill and surrounding a
core of monumental architecture, Monte Albán, by virtue of its
size and monumentality, has long attracted archaeological inter-
est. Yet archaeological perspectives on Monte Albán come princi-
pally from excavations conducted on the Main Plaza, the civic-
ceremonial core at the apex of the city (Caso 1982), and a systematic
survey of the entire site that was undertaken several decades ago
(Blanton 1978). Until Ernesto González Licón’s (2003) recent in-
vestigation of a dozen houses at Monte Albán, only a handful of
houses at the site had been excavated and published (Kuttruff and
Autry 1978; Winter 1974).
Regional archaeological surveys have recorded many other set-
tlements across this large Y-shaped valley (Blanton et al. 1982;
Kowalewski et al. 1989). These systematic investigations first re-
ported and described El Palmillo (Kowalewski et al. 1989:226,
239) as one in a ring of terraced ridgetop towns that straddled the
topographic limits of the Valley of Oaxaca (to the east and the
south) during the Early Classic period (Feinman 1997; Feinman
and Nicholas 1990, 1999; Feinman et al. 1985). In fact, roughly
two-thirds of the Valley’s Classic-period residents lived in such
hilltop communities (Kowalewski et al. 1989). Yet until the 1990s,
few Classic-period archaeological sites (and no terraced settle-
ments) outside Monte Albán had been intensively mapped or ex-
Haines et al.
cavated (although Laura Finsten [1995] completed a detailed survey
of a significant sample of terraces at the large hilltop site of Jalieza).
In 1990, Gary Feinman and Linda Nicholas (1993, 1995; Fein-
man et al. 1993) undertook archaeological excavations at the Ejutla
site, a large, multicomponent settlement located in alluvial terrain
at the southern end of the Valley of Oaxaca (Figure 1). Over the
course of four field seasons they exposed a Classic-period domes-
tic compound and the immediate surrounding area, finding that
the inhabitants of this residential complex actively engaged in a
wide range of craft activities (Feinman and Balkansky 1997; Fein-
man and Nicholas 1993, 1995, 2000a; Feinman et al. 1993; Mid-
dleton et al. 2002). Many of the items the artisans produced were
destined for exchange (marine-shell ornaments, onyx artifacts, and
ceramic vessels and figurines), although some appear to have been
manufactured more for immediate use, including stone micro-
drills for perforating the worked shell in the manufacture of orna-
ments (Feinman and Nicholas 1993, 1995; Middleton 1998).
To examine further the nature of production and consumption
in Classic-period households, we then turned our attention to ter-
raced sites, specifically El Palmillo. Situated high above the val-
ley floor, the investigation of a large sample of residential units is
somewhat easier to achieve at terraced hilltop sites (than at those
settlements on the valley floor such as Ejutla). Furthermore, the
location of settlements, such as El Palmillo, in remote, elevated,
Household economic specialization and social differentiation
marginal areas, well above the more fertile bottomlands (Kirkby
1973), generated questions about the economic underpinnings of
the inhabitants of such piedmont and mountain sites. With the
Classic-period population at El Palmillo likely exceeding the ag-
ricultural productivity of the immediately surrounding terrain (based
on estimated maize yields; Nicholas 1989), questions exist regard-
ing how the inhabitants at El Palmillo and perhaps other such
communities supported themselves.
El Palmillo was first visited and mapped systematically during
the 1980s as part of a regional survey of the Valley of Oaxaca
(Kowalewski et al. 1989). In the late 1990s, Feinman and Nicho-
las directed an intensive terrace-by-terrace surface investigation
of the site (Feinman and Nicholas 2000b, 2004b). They mapped
more than 1,400 terraces at El Palmillo, making it the largest
Classic-period terraced site in the eastern Tlacolula Valley (and
one of the largest sites in the valley at that time). Tightly packed
on the steep western face of the hill, the terraces at the site are
arranged in concentric rings, often sharing terrace walls (Fig-
ure 2). This layout would have served to channel (and, at times,
likely impede) the movement of people into and out of the site
core, located on the apex of the hill (Feinman and Nicholas
2004b:98).
Surface findings from the regional and intensive surveys yielded
architectural indications of residential architecture and artifactual
residues of productive activities on many of the terraces (Feinman
and Nicholas 2004b; Kowalewski et al. 1989). With a focus on
households and the domestic economy, we have excavated six
terraces at El Palmillo (Figure 3). We began in 1999 and 2000
with four adjacent terraces (1147, 1148, 1162, and 1163) located
close to the base of the hill, where we uncovered three residential
complexes (Feinman et al. 2001). (Terraces 1147 and 1148, the
two smallest terraces, began as separate entities that subsequently
were incorporated into a single residential complex comparable in
size to the other terraces. We treat them as one unit in our analy-
ses.) Each complex consists of several rooms around three sides
of a small patio (Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002:Figure 5).
The rooms had foundation walls of cut and shaped stone and floors
of lime plaster. Each terrace had been rebuilt several times, with
the residential occupations spanning several centuries. Associated
domestic features include hearths, two ovens for roasting maguey,
human burials placed under house and patio floors, and debris
from several craft activities mixed in with domestic refuse.
In 2001 and 2002, we exposed two additional terraces (Ter-
races 925 and 507) located farther upslope but still below the
site’s public core (Figure 3; Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002;
Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark 2002). Here we encounter-
ed two more residential complexes that, while similar in size and
layout to those on the lower terraces, were a bit more elaborate
architecturally. The residential complexes on these two terraces
centered on small patios with floors and narrow banquettes made
of lime plaster (Figure 4; Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002:Fig-
ure 6). Each residence also housed (in the uppermost occupational
level) a small domestic subfloor tomb. Although we observed re-
fuse from the same basic suite of activities as on the lower ter-
races, we noted variation in the artifactual assemblages that point
to different emphases in craft activities. Taken together, our sam-
ple of five residential units from three different areas of the set-
tlement provides the opportunity to assess both similarity and
variation in household activities across the community as well as
the degree and nature of differences in patterns of consumption
and access among households at El Palmillo.
253
To discover the spatial arrangement of households and their
associated features and debris, the terrace-excavation strategy at
El Palmillo has been to clear large contemporaneous surfaces.
Excavations on each terrace were started with a test unit or small
trench to identify relevant stratigraphic changes and pinpoint im-
portant features or living surfaces. We then expanded these trenches
in a series of contiguous 2- 3 2-m units arranged in a grid across
the surface of each terrace. On a specific terrace, excavations
continued until a side wall (defining the edge of a terrace) or a
new set of rooms that was part of a new patio group was reached.
Although well-preserved architecture was left in place, excava-
tions continued through lower surfaces until bedrock was reached.
All deposits below the upper colluvial fill were screened through
either .25- or .125-inch wire mesh, depending on the nature of the
material and context. Additional samples from a number of loca-
tions on each terrace were taken for flotation, soil analysis, and
carbon dating.
As part of the 2001 field season, William Middleton undertook
a botanical survey at El Palmillo and a nearby hill that served as a
“control site” (Middleton et al. 2001). Although the plant commu-
nity on El Palmillo comprises many species that are common in
eastern Tlacolula, the dense concentration of so many economi-
cally useful xerophytic plants on the site today, centuries after its
abandonment, is not repeated on nearby hills. Many plants that
provide edible fruit or leaves, such as Opuntia pilifera (nopal) and
Myrtillocactus schenckii (garumbullo), are present in greater abun-
dance at El Palmillo; other plants, such as several Agave species,
or maguey, and Yucca periculosa, a palm-like plant called pal-
millo, all of which are sources of food/fruit and/or fiber, grow at
the site but not on the control hill. Although eight species of Agave
thrive today in the Tlacolula Valley, it is unusual to find more than
two or three distinct species in the same location (Sánchez López
1989:34). Specific varieties often prefer narrow, specific locales
and microenvironments (Gentry 1982). Yet all eight of these spe-
cies can be found on El Palmillo; we suspect that some of the
magueys were initially moved to the hill and fostered there by the
site’s pre-Hispanic residents (e.g., Hodgson 2001). The range and
abundance of economically important xerophytic plants at El Pal-
millo would seem to be a vestige of pre-Hispanic patterns of use
and exploitation (Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002, 2005).
Our work at El Palmillo gives us an opportunity to investigate
many different facets of Classic-period economy and social orga-
nization in the Valley of Oaxaca. Using information gathered from
five houses (all of roughly similar size [both the residential com-
plex and the area of excavation] and length of occupation), we
address questions regarding the economic organization at hilltop
terrace sites (specifically, how did the inhabitants make a living?).
Given the hilltop location of the houses and the limited flat space
on the terraces, some refuse undoubtedly was disposed of or washed
away from all the terraces. Yet considerable quantities of both
domestic and craft debris remained as deposits on the terraces.
Thus the five domestic units that we examine are suitable for
comparison and contrast. We also explore the ways in which house-
holds interrelated economically and sociopolitically with one an-
other (were there status differences between households?). On a
larger scale, we endeavor to understand how terraced sites were
articulated into the larger network of settlement in the Valley of
Oaxaca during the Classic period, when Monte Albán reached its
greatest size and monumentality. Here we probe these questions
through a distributional study of the stone (and other artifact)
assemblages from excavated terraces at El Palmillo. We frame our
Figure 2. El Palmillo map. Area inside box is enlarged in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Plan of El Palmillo showing the location of the excavated terraces.
256
Figure 4. Final residential complex on Terrace 507.
comparative analyses to determine not only the basic activities on
which the site’s residents depended to sustain themselves but also
how these productive tasks (as well as patterns of consumption
and, perhaps, status) varied from house to house.
EL PALMILLO’S STONE ASSEMBLAGE
Stone Assemblage Composition
Geologically, the Valley of Oaxaca is diverse, consisting primarily
of Precambrian gneisses and schists, Mesozoic limestones, and
Haines et al.
Middle Tertiary volcanic tuffs known as ignimbrites (Flannery
1986:31; Smith 1983:13; Whalen 1971:4). The eastern part of the
Tlacolula Valley is volcanic, with ignimbrite formations inter-
laced with numerous chert deposits suitable for use as raw mate-
rials (Flannery 1986:31; Kirkby et al. 1986; Smith 1983:13; Whalen
1971:4). At El Palmillo, a range of these stone materials, includ-
ing ignimbrite and chert, would have been available (Feinman
and Nicholas 2004b). Yet the inhabitants of the site did not depend
solely on local stone resources, having access through exchange
to a variety of other nonlocal stone (the most numerically impor-
tant was obsidian).
Household economic specialization and social differentiation 257

Table 1. Quantities and percentages of lithic material on each terrace at El Palmillo

Lower Terraces
Upper Terrace Middle Terrace
507 925 1147/1148 1162 1163 Total

Chert 4,803 (78.7%) 5,697 (90.6%) 8,968 (96.1%) 11,270 (96.4%) 9,007 (93.8%) 39,745 (92.4%)
Obsidian 570 (9.3%) 447 (7.1%) 194 (2.1%) 219 (1.9%) 404 (4.2%) 1,834 (4.3%)
Other stone 713 (11.7%) 133 (2.1%) 172 (1.8%) 195 (1.7%) 189 (2%) 1,402 (3.3%)
Semiprecious stone 17 (.28%) 6 (.1%) — 2 (.02%) 3 (.03%) 28 (.07%)
Total stone 6,103 6,283 9,334 11,686 9,603 43,009

Chert is the most common raw material in the stone assem-
blage, accounting for 92% (almost 40,000 pieces) of the roughly
43,000 stone objects recovered from the six excavated terraces
(Table 1). As chert can form in a wide range of geological con-
texts, color and quality can vary significantly within and between
local sources (Luedtke 1992; Parry 1987:19). Because of this vari-
ability, what we call chert broadly includes silicified sandstones
such as quartzite that have similar properties and were used for
making similar suites of tools (Luedtke 1992:5). At El Palmillo,
one of the most common chert sources is a dull red that occurs in
small veins that interlace the bedrock on the main part of the hill
(Feinman and Nicholas 2004b:91). Although chert resources are
readily accessible at El Palmillo, much of the material is of poor
quality, a factor that did not keep the site’s residents from using it
to make a range of stone artifacts.
Debris and production debitage (the by-products of intentional
knapping activities; see Inizan et al. 1992) constitute the majority
of the chert material at El Palmillo (Table 2). Many of these pieces
were used as expedient or informal tools, the primary criterion of
which is an edge suitable for the current task (Aldenderfer et al.
1989:56; Andrefsky 1998:30). Chert was a key resource in the
manufacture of chipped-stone tools at El Palmillo, including many
of the formal tools (objects created on preconceived templates
[Andrefsky 1998:30; Sievert 1992:31]) in the assemblage. Few
ground-stone implements were made from chert.
Obsidian, although a substantially smaller component of the
assemblage (4.3%), constitutes the second most numerous single
class of stone materials (Table 1). As no obsidian sources have
been identified in the Valley of Oaxaca (Finsten 1995:75), all the
obsidian at El Palmillo was imported from outside the region.
Virtually all the obsidian artifacts at El Palmillo are formal tools
(N 5 1,721; 95.6%), especially prismatic blades (N 5 1,693).
Some blades had been fashioned into S-shaped or crescent eccen-
trics (Figure 5).
Other fairly common stone materials at El Palmillo include
basalt, granite, and rhyolite (Table 1, “Other Stone”). These stone
varieties are either available locally (on or adjacent to the site) or
in nearby areas of the Tlacolula Valley. These raw materials were
used primarily for ground-stone tools, although a few chipped-
stone tools were made from such materials.
Despite the range of stone materials found at the site, local
chert debris and debitage that often became the platform for ex-
pedient tools dominate the El Palmillo stone assemblage. Of the
more than 5,000 tools (formal and expedient; Table 3) manufac-
tured from chert and other stone (excluding obsidian), roughly
75% are expedient in nature. Such expedient stone tools constitute
the majority of stone implements in many collections in the Valley
of Oaxaca and other parts of Mesoamerica (e.g., Drennan 1976;
Flannery and Winter 1976; Hole 1986; Misner 1993:125–127; Parry
1987:53; Sievert 1992). To identify expedient tools at El Palmillo,
we used a 103 jeweler’s loupe to examine the production debit-
age and debris for signs of use wear (following Keeley 1980).
Economic and Subsistence Activities at El Palmillo
With a focus on the stone-tool assemblage, we have attempted to
define the economic activities carried out by many, if not most,
households at the site, as well as other select production activities

Table 2. Amounts and percentages of select formal tools and waste material on each terrace area at El Palmillo

Lower Terraces
Upper Terrace Middle Terrace
Artifact Class 507 925 1147/1148 1163 1162

Chert production debitage 4,500 (96.7%) 4,244 (96.3%) 8,103 (98.3) 7,349 (97.9) 9,744 (97.6)
Secondary and tertiary flakes a 2,221 3,445 6,916 6,223 7,466
Decortification flakes a 109 92 224 247 1,045
Cores a 57 59 127 63 124
Preforms a 4 — 1 7 3
Chert formal tools 154 (3.3%) 163 (3.7%) 141 (1.7%) 157 (2.1%) 241 (2.4%)
Large granite flakes 6 0 1 2 7
Metate production by-products b 1 1 1 7 13

a
Included in production debitage.
b
Includes granite, basalt, and rhyolite.
258 Haines et al.

Figure 5. Obsidian eccentrics from El Palmillo: (a–c) from Terrace 507 Burial 53; (d–e) from Terrace 507.

that might have been more localized in their distribution. The
production of craft goods has been identified as a key aspect of
the economy of terraced sites, particularly those in the arid east-
ern parts of the valley (Feinman and Nicholas 2000b, 2004b;
Kowalewski et al. 1989:241–245). During the regional and inten-
sive surveys in the eastern arm of the valley, surface artifactual
debris associated with craft activities (such as defective ceramic
pieces or wasters and spindle whorls in addition to stone working
debris) was observed on terrace surfaces. Such items often oc-
curred in association with building stone and exposed foundation
walls indicative of residential architecture (Feinman and Nicho-
las 2004b; Kowalewski et al. 1989). Interestingly, elsewhere in
Mesoamerica expedient tools have been used predominately for
craft production rather than in basic food-preparation tasks (Al-
denderfer et al. 1989).
Stone working long has been hypothesized as a likely eco-
nomic focus for the pre-Hispanic residents of the eastern Tlaco-
lula Valley (Hester and Heizer 1972; Holmes 1897; Lorenzo and

Table 3. Quantities and proportions of expedient tools and formal tools a from each terrace area at El Palmillo

Lower Terraces
Upper Terrace Middle Terrace
507 925 1147/1148 1162 1163 Total

Expedient 264 (42.1%) 267 (53.9%) 1,076 (84.9%) 1,890 (84.9%) 388 (61.6%) 3,885 (74.1%)
Formal 362 (57.9%) 228 (46.1%) 192 (15.1%) 335 (15.1%) 241 (38.4%) 1,358 (25.9%)

a
Tools made from all stone materials excluding obsidian.
Household economic specialization and social differentiation 259

Messmacher 1966; Robles 1994; Williams and Heizer 1965). In
this arm of the valley, the inhabitants easily could have exploited
numerous deposits of chert and other suitable stone materials. At
El Palmillo, some pre-Hispanic inhabitants manufactured stone
tools. Production debitage constitutes a significant part of the chert
assemblage and includes a sizable number of primary, or decorti-
fication, flakes (Table 2). Given the large quantities of decortifi-
cation flakes recovered, the inhabitants at El Palmillo actively
processed and worked chert. Stone tools, along with tool blanks
and preformed cores (also found at El Palmillo), could have been
exchanged among households at the site and circulated to other
parts of the valley.
The pre-Hispanic stone tools recovered in eastern Tlacolula
vary in certain key respects from those recovered elsewhere in the
Valley of Oaxaca. Specialized stone scrapers for xerophytic plant
processing constitute a significant segment of tool assemblages in
this sector of the valley (Feinman and Nicholas 2004b; Feinman
et al. 2001; Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002; Feinman, Nicho-
las, Haines, and Clark 2002; Hester and Heizer 1972; Holmes
1897; Robles 1994). At the same time, microdrills, common tools
at the Ejutla site in the southern part of the valley (Feinman and
Nicholas 1993, 2000a, 2004a; Feinman et al. 1993) as well as at
Preclassic sites in the northern or Etla Valley (Parry 1987), are all
but absent in eastern Tlacolula (for a preliminary comparison of
stone assemblages at Ejutla and El Palmillo, see Feinman and
Nicholas 2004a.)
Raspadores are one of the tool varieties most characteristic of
the eastern Tlacolula stone assemblage (Hester and Heizer 1972;
Robles 1994). These large specialized scrapers are abundant at El
Palmillo, where they occur in association with all the excavated
households (Table 4). Although often crudely made (Figure 6),
raspadores have long been considered effective in extracting fi-
bers from maguey leaves, or pencas (Hester and Heizer 1972).
The importance of maguey as a pre-Hispanic economic resource
has been documented for Aztec times when it served as food,
drink, and raw material for a variety of craft goods (Brumfiel
1991; Evans 1990; Nichols et al. 2000; Parsons 2001). Fibers
from the plant (ixtle) could be processed into a variety of goods
(including textiles, rope, sandals, nets), some of which were ex-
changed in Mesoamerica during the later Postclassic period (Par-
sons and Parsons 1990; Sahagún 1961 [ca. 1570]:73–74, 83–84).
The production of maguey fiber (and possibly cloth) appears to
have been a significant household craft activity at El Palmillo
(Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002). Spindle whorls—most in
the size range typically used to spin coarse maguey fibers (Par-
sons and Parsons 1990:177; Parsons 1972)—are found in all the
excavated households (Table 4; Feinman et al. 2001; Feinman,
Nicholas, and Haines 2002; Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark
2002). Other weaving tools found on several terraces include small
stone “bowls” for holding the distal end of the spindles, similar in
design to those depicted in the Codex Mendoza and Codex Flo-
rentine (Anawalt 1981:11; Berdan and Anawalt 1992:54; Sahagún
1954 [ca. 1570]:49, Plate 75, 1969 [ca. 1570]:201, Plate 30;
Table 4). Many of the bone tools recovered during excavations
(e.g., battens, awls, needles, and several perforated disks that may
have been used as spindle whorls) also were associated with a
fiber industry (Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark 2002). Based
on the house-to-house differences in the bone-tool assemblages
and the different sizes of spindle whorls associated with each house,
we suspect that all households made maguey products, at least in
part for exchange.
Although many households at El Palmillo appear to have en-
gaged in stone working and xerophytic plant processing, each
domestic unit did not carry out the same suite of productive activ-
ities, a pattern of house-to-house variation also noted at Monte
Albán (Misner 1993:32; see also Blanton 1978). Even where dif-
ferent El Palmillo households carried out similar productive tasks,
those activities did not have equal importance in each residential
unit. For example, given the greater abundance of decortification
flakes on the lower terraces, households there engaged more ac-
tively in stone-tool production (Table 2). Antler billets (N 5 7)—
key implements in the manufacture of stone tools (Aldenderfer
1991b; Parry 1987:42)—are found only on the lower group of
terraces (Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark 2002; Middleton
et al. 2002). Households on these lower terraces also had the most
chert cores (314 of 430 in the collections, roughly 73%) and pre-
forms, or tool blanks (11 of 15, 78%). We observed a similar
pattern in a preliminary analysis of microdebitage in the .5–2 mm
heavy fraction. The analyzed sediment from the lower terraces
contained three to four times as many microflakes and other minute
pieces of chert debris per kilogram.
While most households at El Palmillo engaged in some stone
working, on the two upper terraces this activity may have largely
involved retouching or sharpening existing pieces (Hester and
Heizer 1972), or “nodule smashing” (in the sense of Boksenbaum
1980) to create expedient tools. In contrast, the residents of the

Table 4. Tools associated with fiber processing and textile manufacture

Lower Terraces
Upper Terrace Middle Terrace
Material Tool 507 925 1147/1148 1162 1163

Stone Spindle bowl 7 1 4 3 1

Raspador 34 38 13 29 18
Spindle whorl — — — 1 —
Bone Awl 26 15 5 19 7
Batten — 13 8 13 5
Needle 5 3 1 4 3
Perforator 1 3 — — 3
Perforator/needle 7 3 4 6 —
Perforated disk 3 — 1 5 2
Ceramic Spindle whorl 22 7 15 13 15
Total spinning and weaving tools 107 75 44 85 54
260
Figure 6. Sample of raspadores from El Palmillo: (a) Terrace 1162; (b) Terrace
1163; (c, d) Terrace 507.
lower terraces appear to have been more intensively involved in
the manufacture of formal tools (and possibly preforms and cores)
that were intended for house-to-house exchange. Large granite
flakes and a greater abundance of metate fragments (especially of
granite) also were found on Terrace 1162; these residents also
likely fashioned ground-stone tools.
Like stone working, other craft industries varied from house to
house. Although present in the tool assemblages of all households,
raspadores are more abundant on Terraces 507, 925, and 1162
Haines et al.
(Table 4). Interestingly, although the residents of Terrace 925 pos-
sessed a large number of raspadores, they had the fewest spindle
whorls of any household (N 5 7) and only one small stone spindle
bowl. In contrast, there are 25 complete or partial whorls on Ter-
race 507 and an average of 17 whorls (mostly ceramic but also a
few of bone and stone) on each of the lower terraces (Terraces
1147/1148, 1162, and 1163). Thus, although the inhabitants of
Terrace 925 are likely to have processed maguey on par with the
residents of Terrace 507, they may have engaged less actively in
spinning than did the residents of other households. Other bone
tools on Terrace 925 (e.g., awls and needles) may have been used
in the manufacture of other maguey-based craft goods such as
baskets or sandals, and the occupants of Terrace 925 may have
made such goods.
Yet the amount of material spun is not the only axis of varia-
tion when it comes to spinning activities at El Palmillo. The resi-
dents of the upper terraces (925 and 507) generally used lighter
whorls with smaller hole diameters (Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines
2002; Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark 2002; Figure 7). Stud-
ies of textile production in ancient Mesoamerica combined with
ethnographic research have illustrated that variation in the hole
diameter of spindle whorls affects the thickness (and therefore
quality) of the spun thread (Parsons and Parsons 1990; Parsons
1972). Larger whorls are used to spin coarse maguey fibers, whereas
smaller whorls are more suitable for spinning cotton and fine
maguey thread. Fine threads and textiles produced from either of
these plants likely were valued more highly than cloth made from
coarser maguey threads (Berdan 1987:244–245) spun with the
larger whorls found in greater proportions on the lower terraces.
Lapidary craft production also appears to be an activity prac-
ticed only by specific households. Evidence for this craft industry
includes both unfinished or broken goods (beads and ornaments)
and tools that could be used to manufacture these items (abraders
and polishers; Adams 2002:213; Charlton 1993; Charlton et al.
1993; Hayden 1987:Table 5.2). On Terrace 507, we found a larger
number of stone artifacts that show abrasion or polishing wear
(Table 5), as well as the only two unfinished beads in the El
Palmillo collections. These beads are part of a collection of 11
unfinished and miscellaneous lapidary items and six pieces of
worked stone recovered from this domestic context. These 17 items
contrast sharply with the two unfinished stone pieces found on
both Terrace 925 and Terrace 1147/1148 and the total of two pieces
of worked stone recovered from the lower terrace group. Terrace
507 also yielded more production debris from ornamental or pre-
cious stone (N 5 9) and pieces of other nonlocal materials suit-
able for ornaments (N 5 16). On the lower terraces, we recovered
only two pieces of ornamental stone debitage, a few unfinished
obsidian eccentrics, and one piece of potential lapidary material
(Table 5).
As at Ejutla, production for exchange at El Palmillo was situ-
ated in domestic units. Although all households used local sources
of stone and xerophytic plants, such as maguey, the particular
suite of economic activities varied from house to house. For ex-
ample, the spinning of fine fiber was more important on Terrace
507, as were certain kinds of lapidary production. Residents of
Terrace 925 also spun fine thread but on a more limited basis,
focusing instead on weaving cloth or making other perishable
maguey (or other fiber) products such as rope, sandals, or baskets.
Residents on the lower terraces (1147/1148, 1162, and 1163) spe-
cialized in stone working and likely supplied neighboring house-
holds with tools, preforms, and possibly cores from which expedient
Household economic specialization and social differentiation 261

Figure 7. Spindle whorls at El Palmillo.

The smaller whorls were probably for
spinning fine maguey or cotton threads;
the larger whorls, for coarser maguey
fiber.

tools could be chipped. As the finished products from several of
these specialized craft industries are present in other El Palmillo
residences, house-to-house exchange of craft products seems to
have been a key aspect of the intrasite economy.
Patterns of Access, Consumption,
and Social Organization
To this point, we have drawn on our findings to examine the
distribution of productive activities at El Palmillo. Yet an exami-
nation of the stone and other artifacts at the site also provides a
means to compare patterns of consumption and economic access
across the site. A definition of these differences among domestic
units can help unravel the nature of status distinctions at the site,
thereby further informing our perspective on the intracommunity
organization of El Palmillo and other hilltop settlements in Oaxaca.
Based on our excavations, the residents of the uppermost ex-
cavated household had greater amounts of exotic obsidian than
did their neighbors farther down slope, with the quantities of ob-
sidian increasing as one ascends the site (Table 1). On Terrace 507
(the uppermost terrace), obsidian constituted a larger proportion
of the total stone assemblage (9.3%), with more total pieces re-
covered (N 5 507) than on any other terrace. In contrast, at the
bottom of the hill, the occupants of Terraces 1147/1148 and 1162
had access to less than half the amount of obsidian (194 and 291
pieces, respectively) than the residents of Terrace 507.

Table 5. Distribution of lapidary materials and tools (all materials)

Lower Terraces
Upper Terrace Middle Terrace
507 925 1147/1148 1162 1163

Lapidary raw material 16 4 — — 1

Ornaments
Bead, finished 1 7 — — 2
Bead, unfinished 2 — — — —
Carved ornament 1 — — — —
Eccentric, finished 9 4 — 6 5
Eccentric, unfinished — 2 — 3 1
Lapidary piece 8 1 2 — —
Ornament, unfinished 1 1 — — —
Worked/cut and carved stone 6 — — 2
Lapidary production debitage 9 — — 2 —
Tools
Abraders 48 18 13 16 22
Polishers 85 18 1 4 4
262
The upper households had greater access to semiprecious stone
(Table 1). None of the burials on the lower terraces included stone
beads, whereas four greenstone beads (all associated with burials)
were recovered on Terrace 925 (Figure 8; Feinman et al. 2001;
Feinman, Nicholas, and Haines 2002). The residents of Terrace
507 possessed three beads (one finished and two unfinished) and
many finished obsidian eccentrics (Table 5). Although obsidian
eccentrics are present on several other terraces, many of them are
unfinished, whereas all nine eccentrics on Terrace 507 are fin-
ished. Even though these differences in access to exotic and orna-
mental stone are not marked, they are consistent.
The greater access to ornamental and exotic stone noted for the
occupants of Terraces 925 and 507 corresponds to architectural
and other evidence that seems to signal a status gradient that var-
ied from the bottom to the top of the site (Table 6; Feinman,
Nicholas, and Haines 2002; Feinman, Nicholas, Haines, and Clark
2002). This pattern is similar to what has been noted at Monte
Albán (Blanton 1978:77; Misner 1993:45). The residential com-
plex on the uppermost terrace is a bit larger than those below, and
patio size increases slightly from the lower terraces to the highest.
On a per capita basis, interments on Terraces 507 and 925 in-
cluded more grave goods than burials on terraces below. Subfloor
tombs have been found in association only with the final occupa-
tional surfaces on the two highest terraces. The quantity of animal
bones in refuse (possibly indicating greater meat consumption)
also tends to increase from the bottom of the hill to the top. Nev-
ertheless, the extent of the differences along each of these dimen-
Haines et al.
sions of variation is not marked. Access and status appear to have
increased as one moves upslope, but the distinctions are rather
subtle.
IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
This study, focused on domestic assemblages of stone artifacts
recovered on residential terraces at El Palmillo, contributes to an
expanding empirical perspective on household organization and
economy in ancient Mesoamerica (Manzanilla 1986; Plunket 2002;
Santley and Hirth 1993; Wilk and Ashmore 1988). At the same
time, it provides a terrace-based vantage of these hilltop commu-
nities, which formed a major component of the Valley of Oaxaca
settlement system during the Classic-period apex of the Monte
Albán polity. More specifically, our analyses illustrate that domes-
tic units at the hilltop terrace site of El Palmillo produced a range
of craft goods at least partly for exchange. Although reliant pri-
marily on locally available stone sources along with xerophytic
plants, each residential unit at El Palmillo appears to have made a
slightly different range of craft goods, which it then exchanged
with other households at the site and likely beyond. In conse-
quence, El Palmillo residents do not appear to have produced
merely for their own immediate needs. At the same time, they
procured goods (such as obsidian) from other communities or re-
gions, even from outside the Valley of Oaxaca.
In our sample from El Palmillo, access to certain craft goods,
such as stone ornaments and exotic obsidian, varied among house-
Figure 8. Illustration of ornaments from different ter-
races at El Palmillo: (a) unfinished greenstone ornament
from Terrace 507; (b–e) greenstone beads from Terrace
925; (f) chert bead from Terrace 925.
Household economic specialization and social differentiation
Table 6. Broad axes of variation on excavated terraces at El Palmillo
Upper Terrace
507
Quantity of greenstone 4 4
Quantity of stone ornaments 13
Quantity of shell ornaments 18
Quantity of animal bones 3,573
Ceramic vessels per interred individual 1.4
Size of largest residential complex (m 2 ) 97.9
Size of measurable patio (m 2 ) 26.1
holds. Consumption of these products increased from the bottom
to the top of the hill, in line with other axes of variation that
indicate that those living closer to the top of site likely had higher
status. Yet these differences in consumption and residential life
are more graded and subtle than extreme.
An examination of production and consumption together pro-
vides added support for interhousehold exchange at El Palmillo.
Beads made from ornamental or semiprecious stone were present
only on Terraces 507 and 925. Chert cores and tools produced on
the lower terraces and ground-stone tools made on Terrace 1162
also could have supplied households elsewhere at the site, while
xerophytic plant products, including fine and coarse cloth, proba-
bly were exchanged from one domestic unit to another. Else-
where, we proposed that a broad open plaza near the base of El
Palmillo that lacked monumental architecture may have served as
a marketplace (Feinman and Nicholas 2004a, 2004b:98). Several
paths up from the bottom of the hill intersect at this open area.
This open area, near major access routes, is similar to a large open
plaza at Monte Albán that has been interpreted as a marketplace
(Blanton 1978:86). If the open area at El Palmillo served as an
arena for exchange, then domestic exchanges easily could have
attracted the participation of people at neighboring sites.
Whatever the specific mechanisms of circulation, household
units at El Palmillo were closely linked economically. Yet the
interconnections among households went beyond production and
exchange. Adjacent terraces at the site are tightly packed, often
RESUMEN
En la Mesoamérica prehispánica, los grupos domésticos han sido recono-
cidos por mucho tiempo como unidades claves en la producción económica
y la organización social. Aún así, poco es lo que se conoce sobre el rango
de actividades económicas que practicaban los grupos domésticos
mesoamericanos, o sobre las diversas formas en que estas unidades
domésticas estaban articuladas social y económicamente dentro de las
comunidades y las redes de interacción. Este artículo examina el conjunto
de los artefactos líticos recolectados en las excavaciones de seis terrazas
residenciales del periodo clásico en el sitio El Palmillo, una comunidad en
la cima de un cerro en el este del sub-valle de Tlacolula.
En base a este análisis, la producción de artefactos de piedra y el
procesamiento de plantas xerófitas, especialmente maguey, representaban
la base económica de todas las unidades domésticas que fueron excavadas.
Núcleos y herramientas de sílex fueron manufacturados principalmente en
las terrazas más bajas y herramientas grandes de piedra pulida en la Ter-
raza 1162, mientras que el hilado y tejido de textiles hechos de maguey
263
Lower Terraces
Middle Terrace
925 1147/1148 1163 1162
— 1 2
9 2 2 —
10 10 11 15
2,119 1,388 1,158 2,023
1.6 .69 .75 .25
74 94.7 83.7 —
22.8 21.6 2.2 —
sharing retaining walls. Numerous ramps and paths link nearby
terraces, with low side walls often separating contiguous terrace
units. At the same time, the terraces share a basic residential plan,
while the excavated household units are not that variable in over-
all size. With the minimal differences in access to exotics and the
small distinctions in burial accoutrements, there appears to have
been significant house-to-house horizontal integration among do-
mestic units at El Palmillo. Strong horizontal links among houses
contrast with the small size of the structures, platforms, and plazas
at the apex of the site. For such a large population center, the
public buildings at El Palmillo are not particularly massive; this
also may indicate that low-level horizontal links were emphasized
in the socioeconomic integration of this settlement.
Based on our findings, we infer that the households at El Pal-
millo functioned as the focal point for the manufacture of goods for
exchange and that households formed the foundation of the settle-
ment’s economic system. These households were not homogeneous
producers of domestically consumed items but manufactured spe-
cialized craft items for interhousehold exchange. Moreover, these
house-to-house transactions integrated households into a complex
series of economic and sociopolitical networks that saw domesti-
cally produced craft goods exchanged both within settlements and
on a larger, valleywide scale. Continued investigations will allow
us to further our understanding of pre-Hispanic households, both in
Oaxaca and beyond, along with the Classic-period economic and
social networks in which these residences functioned.
fino o de algodón fueron las actividades claves en la Terraza 507. Aunque
la evidencia para la producción de lapidaria se encontró únicamente en la
Terraza 507, se obtuvieron cuentas hechas de piedras ornamentales o pre-
ciosas en las Terrazas 507 y 925. Variaciones en las especialidades de
producción artesanal proveen la base para la integración económica de las
unidades domésticas donde los productos circulan entre las residencias de
El Palmillo y otras comunidades.
También examina las diferencias en la distribución de los artefactos de
piedra. Se encuentra que las unidades domésticas más cercanas al centro
del sitio en la cima del cerro tienen una mayor abundancia de obsidiana y
otras materias primas preciosas no locales que los vecinos de elevaciones
más bajas. Estas diferencias en el acceso a los artefactos de piedras pre-
ciosas o de gran elaboración artesanal corresponden a ejes de variación en
los cuales los ocupantes de las terrazas superiores eran enterrados con más
ofrendas mortuorias y tenían más acceso a carne que los residentes de las
terrazas inferiores. Sin embargo, la extensión de estas diferencias en ac-
264
ceso a todos estos productos parece ser menos marcado de lo esperado en
una de las comunidades más grandes del periodo clásico en el Valle de
Oaxaca.
Esta falta de distinción social grande entre las unidades domésticas de
El Palmillo en conjunto con el alto grado de interdependencia económica
entre estas unidades sugiere que existió un alto grado de integración hori-
zontal entre las unidades residenciales del sitio. Esta interdependencia está
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the National Science Foundation for its essen-
tial support awarded to Gary Feinman for investigations at El Palmillo
(SBR-9805288). We also thank the National Geographic Society, the H.
John Heinz III Fund of the Heinz Family Foundation, and the Field Mu-
seum. This research would not have been possible without the dedicated
assistance of our Oaxacan and North American field, laboratory, and mu-
seum crews, to whom we are grateful for all their hard work. Jennifer
Clark, Lora Lee Fry, Adam Leon, William D. Middleton, Jennifer Ring-
berg, and Jill Seagard have made particularly significant contributions
over the years. Richard Blanton, William Fowler, and three anonymous
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