Differential access to faunal resources (meat) is one index of
socioeconomic inequality that traditionally has been considered but rarely
investigated in ancient Mesoamerica. Recent excavations in residential
contexts at the Classic-period hilltop terrace site of El Palmillo, in the
Valley of Oaxaca (Mexico), have produced a large faunal assemblage from a
set of different households. Terrace-by-terrace comparisons reveal spatial
variability in the distribution of faunal remains, with the gradient of
access running from households near the base of the hill to contexts near
the site's apex. Residents of households near the top not only had
more overall access to meat but greater access to specific species.
Nevertheless, these gradations in access to fauna are not as strikingly
marked as architectural differences between various residential units at
the site, nor do they coincide entirely with patterns of architectural
variation or the distribution of portable wealth items such as obsidian
and green stone. Socioeconomic inequality appears to have been manifested
through multiple dimensions at pre-Hispanic El Palmillo, with the
overarching variation not easily definable into two or three categorical
divisions or classes.