Landscape ecology, settlement, and land use in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, México: An unusual case for coastal Mesoamerica

AbstractThis article examines the roles of coastal environments in prehispanic settlement patterns and land use within the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca, México using interdisciplinary methods. We first compare population levels in the coastal zone—including areas by the estuaries and sea—to inland habitats such as the floodplain. Second, we discuss resource extraction and trade associated with the coastal zone. Excavations and a 224 km2 full-coverage survey indicate that, except during the initial Early Formative period (1600–1350 BC), coastal zone habitats were not a settlement focus. Land use concentrated on the extraction of resources such as fish, salt, and ornamental shell. These goods were consumed locally and exchanged via long-distance networks for obsidian, pottery, and during the Postclassic period (AD 800–1522), copper items. Archaeofaunal and isotopic data suggest that aquatic resources from estuarine and marine environments constituted a small proportion of the total caloric input, but may have been important sources of protein. Finally, we compare settlement patterns between the lower Verde and other Mesoamerican coastal regions. Lower Verde population in the coastal zone was low, especially relative to areas which practiced mixed subsistence into the Middle/Late Formative periods (ca. 700–150 BC). This is related to the proximity of arable lands to estuaries.Keywords: Fishingfloodplain farmingsalt productionlong-distance exchangedemographic change AcknowledgementsWe are grateful for the friendship and assistance of the San José del Progreso community. Permission to conduct our work was generously granted by the Consejo de Arqueología, the INAH, the Centro INAH Oaxaca, the Municipios of Tututepec and Jamiltepec, the Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua (PNLC), local town officials, and numerous patient landowners. This article was greatly improved by the thoughtful comments of anonymous reviewers. We would also like to thank Andrew Workinger for sharing settlement data from his dissertation and Marc Levine for his input on Postclassic copper axes in Mesoamerica. The GIS suitability model benefited extensively from the expertise of Devin White.Disclosure statementThis is to acknowledge no financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct applications of the research in this manuscript.Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the National Science Foundation under grants 1548941, BCS-0096012, and BCS-1123388; The Historical Society under the Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs Grant (for both Arthur Joyce and Sarah B. Barber), funded by the Templeton Foundation; the Vanderbilt University Research Council and Mellon Fund; the Fullbright Foundation; the H. John Heinz III Charitable Trust; the Colorado Archaeological Society under the Alice Hamilton Scholarship Fund; and the University of Colorado Boulder under the Anthropology Graduate Student Research Award, the Tinker Foundation Grant, the Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant, and the CARTSS Graduate Student Fellows Grant.