Material Markers of Community Identity in Postclassic Nejapa, Oaxaca, Mexic

My dissertation research explores the types of shared community identity that existed between the residents of Greater La Amontonada, a cluster of archaeological sites, forming a distinct sociopolitical unit during the Middle Postclassic period (AD 1000-1300) in the region of Nejapa in southeastern Oaxaca, Mexico. The Nejapa region is considered a frontier area, located on a trading route between two politically important zones of Oaxaca and between several historically known ethnic groups. I look for evidence of a shared community identity by examining artifacts and architecture, the material expressions of community. Forming and maintaining communities is a fundamental part of human experience, and it is through collective groups that most people engage in political action. Studying community at Greater La Amontonada led to a better understanding of political organization, economic systems, and settlement patterns in both the region and the Postclassic period, a time of change and movement of people in Oaxaca.;My field research employed standard archaeological methods of survey, mapping, excavation, and artifact analysis. Artifact analysis included ceramic, lithic, faunal, and metal materials. Analytical analysis included spatial analysis using geographic information system software and statistical methods to test for homogeneity and heterogeneity. The multiple lines of evidence have revealed Greater La Amontonada to be a dynamic community where local community identity was important to the residents of Greater La Amontonada, but that was not the only community identity. During this unique time on the frontier, Greater La Amontonada was shaped by both top-down policies from local elites and bottom-up organization from non-elite individuals. The individual residents of Greater La Amontonada belonged to complex, overlapping, and intersecting networks, whereby they saw themselves as members of households, neighborhoods, towns and urban communities, and the Nejapa region with all of the rights, obligations, and benefits that would have come from such memberships.