Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-q6k6v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T20:12:01.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Biocultural Analysis of Social Organization at Monte Albán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard G. Wilkinson  and
Richard J. Norelli
Richard G. Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY 12222
Richard J. Norelli
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY 12222
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Skeletal material from high and low status interments at Monte Alban, Oaxaca, is used to evaluate the biocultural relationship between the two samples. Analyses of sex ratios, and metric and nonmetric variables fail to demonstrate a significant difference between the two groups, and suggest that class endogamy was unlikely. Analysis of the age structure of the samples provides evidence for a significant difference; social mobility and status achievement are suggested. Models of the growth and development of Monte Alban are evaluated in light of the biocultural analyses.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 743 - 758
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adams, Richard E. W. 1977 Prehistoric Mesoamerica. Little, Brown, Boston.Google Scholar
Bass, William M. 1979 Developments in the identification of human skeletal material (1968-1978). American Journai of Physical Anthropology 51:555-562.Google Scholar
Bender, Susan J. 1979 Paleodemographic analysis of a Late Woodland site in southeastern Michigan. Mid-ContinentaJ Journal of Archaeology 4:183-208.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1971 Mortuary practices: their study and their potential. In Approaches to the social dimensions of mortuary practices, edited by James, A. Brown. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 25:6-29.Google Scholar
Black, Thomas K. 1979 The biological and social analyses of a Mississippian cemetery from southeast Missouri: the Turner site, 23BU21A. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan 68. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Blackith, R. E., and Reyment, R. A. 1971 Multivariate morphometries. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blakely, Robert L. 1971 Comparison of the mortuary profiles of Archaic, Middle Woodland and Middle Mississippian skeletal populations. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 34:43-54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1978 Monte Albán. Settlement patterns at the ancient Zapotec capital. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E. 1980 Cultural ecology reconsidered. American Antiquity 45:145-151.Google Scholar
Brown James, A. (editor) 1971 Approaches to the social dimensions of mortuary practices. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology 25.Google Scholar
Buikstra, Jane E. 1976 Hopewell in the lower Illinois River valley: regional study of human biological variability and prehistoric mortuary activity. Northwestern Archaeological Program Scientific Papers 2. Evanston.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Pedro 1971 Social organization of ancient Mexico. In Handbook of Middle American Indians 10:349-375. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso 1969 EI tesoro de Monte Albán. Memories del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (Vol. III). Mexico, D.F. Google Scholar
Caso, Alfonso, Ignacio, Bernal, and Jorge R., Acosta 1967 La ceramica de Monte Albán. Memorias del Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (Vol. XIII). Mexico, D.F. Google Scholar
Clarke, Steven 1977 Mortality trends in prehistoric populations. Human Biology 49:181-186.Google Scholar
Doran, J. E. and Hodson, F. R. 1975 Mathematics and computers in archaeology. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Everitt, Brian 1974 Cluster analysis. Heineman Educational Books, London.Google Scholar
Faulhaber, Johanna 1965 La población de Tlatilco, México, caracterizada por sus entierros. In Homenaje a Juan Comas 2: 83-121. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Genoves, Santiago 1967 Proportionality of the long bones and their relation to stature among Mesoamericans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 26:67-77.Google Scholar
Gower, J. 1966 Some distance properties of latent root and vector methods used in multivariate analysis. Biometrika 53:325-338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, William A. 1967 Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for ancient Maya demography and social organization. American Antiquity 32:316-325.Google Scholar
Lane, Rebecca A., and Audrey, Sublett 1972 The osteology of social organization: residence pattern. American Antiquity 37:186-201.Google Scholar
Lovejoy, C. Owen 1971 Methods for the detection of census error in paleodemography. American Anthropologist 73: 101-109.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1976 The iconography of militarism at Monte Albán and neighboring sites in the Valley of Oaxaca. In The origins of religious art and iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, edited by Nicholson, H. B., pp. 123-129. UCLA Latin American Center, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Peebles, Christopher S. 1972 Monothetic-divisive analysis of the Moundville burials: an initial report. Newsletter of Computer Archaeology 8:1-13.Google Scholar
Rohlf, F. James, John, Kishpaugh, and David, Kirk 1977 Numerical taxonomy system of multivariate statistical programs. State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook.Google Scholar
Rothschild, Nan A. 1979 Mortuary behavior and social organization at Indian Knoll and Dickson Mounds. American Antiquity 4:658-675.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Robert S., Santley 1978 Review of “Monte Albán. Settlement patterns at the ancient Zapotec capital,” by Richard, E. Blanton. Science 202:303-304.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 1980 Disembedded capitals reconsidered. American Antiquity 45:132-145.Google Scholar
Saxe, Arthur A. 1970 Social dimensions of mortuary practices. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Sneath, Peter H. A., and Robert R., Sokal 1973 Numerical taxonomy: the principles and practice of numerical classification. Freeman, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Spores, Ronald 1967 The Mixtec kings and their people. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.Google Scholar
Tainter, Joseph S. 1975 Social inference and mortuary practices: an experiment in numerical taxonomy. World Archaeology 7:1-15.Google Scholar
Tainter, Joseph S. 1978 Mortuary practices and the study of prehistoric social systems. In Advances in archaeological theory and methods (Vol. I), edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 105-141. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, David H. 1976 Figuring anthropology. First principles o/probability and statistics. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Weiss, Kenneth M. 1972 On the systematic bias in skeletal sexing. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 37:239-250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, Richard G., and Marcus, C. Winter 1975a Trephination by drilling in ancient Mexico. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 57: 383-850.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Richard G., and Marcus, C. Winter 1975b Techniques of ancient skull surgery. Natural History 84(8):84ff.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, Richard G. 1975 Cirugía craneal en Monte Albán. Boletín, Instituto Nacional de Antropoiogía e Historia 12:21-26.Google Scholar
Winter, Marcus C. 1974 Residential patterns at Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico. Science 186:981-987.Google Scholar