Interregional Networks of the Oaxacan Early Postclassic: Connecting the Coast and the Highlands

Abstract

Rulers of successful highland Mesoamerican cities, such as Teotihuacan and Monte Albán, had good reason for establishing and maintaining ties with coastal Oaxacan communities during the prehispanic era. The climatological and ecological regime of coastal Oaxaca made it a highly valuable and politically important region throughout prehispanic and early Colonial Mesoamerica. The raw material for many desirable Mesoamerican luxury goods, such as feathers, marine shell, pupura dye, cacao, and cotton were abundantly available in coastal Oaxaca, as were salt and palm products (e.g., oils and fibers) (Byland and Pohl 1994; Feinman and Nicholas 1992; Monaghan 1994; Spores 1993). The lower Río Verde Valley, in particular, has extremely fertile agricultural land owing in part to the alluvial deposition of eroded topsoil from the highlands along the coastal plain (Figure 8.1) ( Joyce and Mueller 1992, 1997). The lower Verde site of Río Viejo grew to its largest size and maintained control over a vast coastal area during most of the Classic period (250– 800 CE) ( Joyce and King 2001; Joyce and Workinger 1996) in part because of the wealth and power generated from managing the export of coastal resources to the highlands.