Arthur A. Joyce is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and has carried out field research in Oaxaca since 1986. His current research interests include social theory in archaeology, human ecology, and the origins, development, and collapse of complex societies in Mesoamerica.

"It is recommended reading for any serious student of Mesoamerican prehistory, and will likely shape the theoretical orientation of much Oaxacan archaeology to come." (Journal of the Royal Astronomical Institute, 2011)

• List of Figures ix Preface xiii1 People, Culture, and History 1Sources of Evidence 5Theorizing Oaxaca's Ancient Past 172 Peoples and Landscapes on the Eve of the Spanish Conquest 35The Physical Geography of Oaxaca 36Mixtec and Zapotec Peoples at the Time of the Spanish Conquest 423 From Foragers to Village Life 64First Peoples 65The Archaic Period and the Origins of Agriculture 66The Transition to Sedentism 70Negotiating Initial Village Life 734 Negotiating Community and Complexity 84Constructing Community and Identity in the Early Formative 85Community and Identity in the Early Middle Formative 104Structures of Authority in the Early to Middle Formative 1105 From Village to City: The Founding and Early Development of Monte Albán 118The Late Middle Formative Political Crisis 120The Founding of Monte Albán 128Political Consolidation and Upheaval at Monte Albán 1556 Political Centralization in the Mixteca and Coast 160Social Transformations in the Mixtec Highlands 160Interregional Interaction and the Rise of Mixtec Centers 173Political Authority and Ideology 177Urbanization in the Lower Río Verde Valley 180Political Collapse in the Mixteca and the Oaxaca Coast 1957 Authority and Polity in the Classic Period 197Classic-Period Society in the Valley of Oaxaca 199Classic-Period Polities of the Mixtec Highlands 226Political Fragmentation and Centralization on the Oaxaca Coast 2398 Collapse and Reemergence 248The Collapse in the Oaxacan Highlands 249The Classic-Period Collapse and the Early Postclassic on the Oaxaca Coast 252Postclassic Heroic History 258Lord 8 Deer “Jaguar Claw” and the Archaeology of Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa) 266Late Postclassic Archaeology of the Oaxacan Highlands 270The Spanish Conquest 2809 Conclusions 283Beyond Functionalism and Neo-Evolutionism in Oaxaca 284Poststructural Theory and the Archaeology of the Mixtec, Zapotec, and Chatino 287Endnotes 296Bibliography 299Index 336