Description
Book SynopsisEncapsulating two decades of research, 'Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca' is the first major treatment of the lower Rio Verde region of Oaxaca, investigating its social, political, and ecological history. Tracing Formative period developments from the earliest known evidence of human presence to the collapse of lower Rio Viejo (the regions first centralized polity), the volume synthesizes the archaeological and paleoecological evidence from the valley. This period saw the earliest agricultural settlements in the region as well as the origins of sedentism and early village life, witnessed major changes in the lower Rio Verdes floodplain and in environments along the coast that expanded the productivity of subsistence resources, and experience the emergence of social complexity. The book addresses theoretically significant questions of broad relevance such as the origins and spread of agriculture, the social negotiation of complex political formations, the effects of long-distance trade and interaction, the macroregional effects of landscape change, and prehispanic ideology and political power. Focusing on questions of interregional interaction, environmental change, and political centralization, 'Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca' provides a comprehensive understanding of the Formative period archaeology of this important and long neglected region of Oaxaca.
