JASREP-00665; No of Pages 6

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep

Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological foundations
and new perspectives in Oaxaca
Ricardo Higelin Ponce de León a,⁎, Guy David Hepp b
a
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University Bloomington, 701 Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
b
Department of Anthropology, California State University, San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In recent years, bioarchaeological research has emerged as one of the principal tools for studying diverse aspects
Received 11 July 2016 of ancient society through the analysis of human remains. Oaxaca, Mexico is a culturally diverse region of Meso-
Received in revised form 13 October 2016 america that today boasts at least sixteen discrete ethnolinguistic groups. Bioarchaeology in Oaxaca has tradition-
Accepted 13 October 2016
ally focused on the Late Formative and Classic period (500 BCE–800 CE) Zapotec city of Monte Albán, and on its
Available online xxxx
hinterland. Largely descriptive, these studies provided basic discussions of health, nutrition, and funerary offer-
Keywords:
ings. Beyond the Valley of Oaxaca, much less comprehensive bioarchaeological research has been undertaken
Bioarchaeology to date. Never before have data from the study of human remains in multiple geographical regions and time pe-
Mesoamerica riods within Oaxaca been assembled in a single venue. The goal of this collection of papers is to bring together the
Oaxaca results of bioarchaeological scholarship on diverse topics, time periods, and regions. These studies investigate ap-
Zapotec proximately 3500 years of precolumbian history, from the beginnings of the Early Formative (ca. 1650 BCE) to the
Mixtec Colonial period. The papers discuss five major geographical areas and consider various cultural groups including
Chontal the Zapotec, Mixtec, Chontal, and Chatino peoples. This special issue is the first academic product of which we are
Chatino
aware to provide such a concentrated yet diverse consideration of the social context and bioarchaeological signif-
icance of ancient human remains from Oaxaca.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction discipline has grown to consider many aspects of social organization

Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca has captured the interest of trav-
elers and scholars both within Mexico and internationally (Fig. 1). The
mountainous region's natural biodiversity is well matched by its cultur-
al diversity, which is today demonstrated by the presence of at least six-
teen discrete ethnolinguistic groups among its considerable indigenous
population (e.g., Bartolomé and Barabas, 1996; Joyce, 2010; Monaghan,
1995; Stephen, 2005). Despite this rich cultural heritage, the region has
not received the same intensity of study as have other areas of Meso-
america. Much Oaxacanist research to date has focused on the Zapotecs,
whose ancestors have occupied the Valley of Oaxaca for thousands of
years, and to a lesser extent on Mixtec groups from surrounding high-
land regions (e.g., Acosta and Romero, 1992; Spores, 1984) and the an-
cestral Mixtec and Chatino populations of the western Pacific Coast (e.g.,
Barber, 2005; Barber et al., 2013; Hepp, 2015; Joyce, 1991).
As redefined by Buikstra (1977, p. 69), bioarchaeology is the scientif-
ic study of human remains from archaeological contexts, and which in-
cludes “active participation [by] both archaeologists and physical
anthropologist in all phases of research design.” Over time, this
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rhigelin@indiana.edu (R. Higelin Ponce de León),
guy.hepp@csusb.edu (G.D. Hepp).
such as age, gender, identity, violence, ethnicity, and subsistence in a
wide variety of geographical areas (Blomster, 2011; Geller, 2008;
Gillespie, 2001; Rakita et al., 2005). Scholars have applied
bioarchaeological approaches at multiple scalar levels, from that of indi-
viduals (osteobiographies) to that of populations. Mesoamericanist re-
search has produced numerous bioarchaeological publications, many
of which have focused on the Maya region (Cucina and Tiesler, 2005;
Duncan and Schwarz, 2014; Maggiano et al., 2008; Metcalfe et al.,
2009; Tiesler and Cucina, 2006), and Central Mexico (Chávez Balderas,
2010, 2007; Graulich, 2003; Joyce, 2000; López Luján and Olivier,
2010; Manzanilla, 2002; Spence and Pereira, 2007). Though researchers
have attempted some cross-cultural bioarchaeological comparisons in
Mesoamerica (e.g., Márquez Morfín et al., 2002), Oaxaca has not re-
ceived the same level of attention paid to other areas. The goal of the
present special issue is to address this relative paucity of research by
considering past and ongoing bioarchaeological studies in several
parts of Oaxaca.
2. Bioarchaeological foundations in Oaxaca (1930–1960)
As was true in other regions, the first bioarchaeological studies in
Oaxaca were descriptive in nature. They focused on metrics,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
2352-409X/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
2 R. Higelin Ponce de León, G.D. Hepp / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx

Fig. 1. Regions of Oaxaca.

morphology, and biotypologies of ancient populations as identified
through osteological analysis (López Alonso et al., 1988). Some of this
research was made possible by the work of Alfonso Caso, whose excava-
tions at the ancient Zapotec city of Monte Albán began in the 1930s and
resulted in Oaxaca's first significant osteological collections. Caso's work
enticed Daniel Rubín de la Borbolla (a former student of Aleš Hrdlička at
the Smithsonian Institution) to investigate Monte Albán's mortuary
contexts. Rubín de la Borbolla, with his assistant Javier Romero, ana-
lyzed human remains from over 120 tombs and produced meticulous
descriptions of sex, age, stature, and cultural modifications such as
those to skulls and teeth (Caso, 1969; Romero, 1983). The most remark-
able early findings came from the famous Tomb 7, the study of which
saw the first use in Mexican archaeology of X-ray technology to identify
Paget diseases and other paleopathologies of the skull (Caso, 1932; de la
Rubín, 1969). The interdisciplinary analysis of Monte Albán's osteologi-
cal collection, recovered from contexts such as Tomb 7, marked the be-
ginning of collaborations between physical anthropologists and
archaeologists in Oaxaca and in Mexico at large.
Encouraged by the findings at Monte Albán, Caso and his collabora-
tors expanded their research to other highland sites such as Mitla.
Among the most relevant early results of this research was a better un-
derstanding of taphonomy and decomposition of human remains in dif-
ferent settings, as well as the description of an Omichicahuaztli, or
notched human bone used as a percussion instrument, found in Mitla's
Tomb 5 (Caso and Rubín de la Borbolla, 1936). Later in his career, Caso
sent an archaeological team led by Jorge Acosta and Javier Romero
(who had been trained by Rubín de la Borbolla) to explore the Mixteca
Alta region's Monte Negro site (Acosta and Romero, 1992). Human re-
mains recovered from tombs at Monte Negro were notable for the var-
iation they presented in evidence for intentional cranial and dental
modifications. Osteological collections from Monte Albán and Monte
Negro permitted Romero to undertake Mesoamerica's first comparative
analysis of cultural modification of human remains. In part, this work re-
sulted in a dental modification typology, which bioarchaeologists con-
tinue to use today (Romero, 1970, 1958).
3. Bioarchaeology of Oaxaca in the era of processualism (1960–1990)
Following Caso's foundational work, major projects in the Valley of
Oaxaca brought more international scholars to the region and ultimate-
ly resulted in the significant expansion of Oaxaca's osteological collec-
tions. Kent Flannery's Oaxaca Human Ecology Project (e.g., Flannery,
2009, 1986) and Blanton and Kowalewski's Valley of Oaxaca Settlement
Project (e.g., Blanton, 1978; Kowalewski et al., 1989) expanded archae-
ological research to many new sites in the Valley of Oaxaca and recov-
ered human remains dating from the Formative (1650 BCE–250 CE)
through Postclassic (900–1521 CE) periods (see Joyce, 2010, pp. 11–
12). John Paddock's (Paddock et al., 1968) intensive excavations at
Lambityeco also expanded research in the Valley of Oaxaca.
Lambityeco's Late Classic period occupations (approx. 600–800 CE) pro-
duced the third largest osteological collection in the Valley of Oaxaca.
Denise Hodges analyzed finds from Flannery's and Paddock's projects
(among others) as part of a cohesive bioarchaeological research initia-
tive. By applying the Stress Model proposed by Goodman et al. (1984),
Hodges (1987) addressed the biological strains experienced by ancient
Oaxacans as they intensified their agricultural practices during the For-
mative, Classic, and Postclassic periods. Hodges' work helped to expand
the description of human remains from traditional individual analyses
to macro-scale comparative studies aimed at understanding broad
trends in precolumbian Zapotec life. These studies also helped
bioarchaeological research in Oaxaca to address broader

Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
 R. Higelin Ponce de León, G.D. Hepp / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
anthropological research agendas regarding social inequality and sub-
sistence change.
4. Recent bioarchaeology of Monte Albán and the Valley of Oaxaca
The theoretical paradigms of processual and post-processual archae-
ology left lasting impressions upon bioarchaeological study in Oaxaca.
Building upon new techniques of osteological analysis, researchers
began to test new theoretical frameworks intended to address ques-
tions about social inequality, conflict and conquest, and religion. Exca-
vations at Monte Albán during the latter 20th and early 21st centuries
have prompted a considerable expansion of highland Oaxaca's osteolog-
ical collections (González Licón, 2011; Robles García, 2001; Winter,
1974). The resulting research has included specialized studies of cranial
trepanation (Wilkinson, 1975), social organization and mortuary prac-
tice (Wilkinson and Norelli, 1981), stable isotopic analysis of health,
diet, and social inequality (Blitz, 1995; Brito Benítez and Baños López,
2003), and morphoscopic analyses as part of a Health Index initiative or-
ganized by Steckel and Rose (2002) and as employed in related social
inequality studies (e.g., Márquez Morfín and González Licón, 2006,
2001). Much of this research has sought evidence of social stratification,
though results available to date have found little significant health var-
iation between elites and commoners (Blitz, 1995; Brito Benítez, 2000).
Exceptions to this pattern include Late Formative and Classic period so-
cial inequality evident in burial differentiation by class (but not by sex)
at Monte Albán (Blitz, 1995; Brito Benítez, 2000; Hodges, 1987;
Martínez López et al., 2014; Winter and Martínez López, 1996).
Inspired by the classic study of Tomb 7, recent mortuary research at
Monte Albán has resulted in some of Oaxaca's most interdisciplinary
and collaborative scholarship between archaeologists and
bioarchaeologists (McCafferty and McCafferty, 2003; McCafferty et al.,
1994; Middleton et al., 1998; Winter, 2011; Winter and Martínez
López, 1996). Beyond Monte Albán, researchers have studied musculo-
skeletal markers and made comparisons with Health Index data at three
Formative period sites in the Valley of Oaxaca (Alfaro Castro and López
Alonso, 2009). Other studies of highland Oaxaca's ancient mortuary
contexts have addressed collective memory (Higelin Ponce de León et
al., 2013; Martínez Tuñon and Higelin Ponce de León, 2015; Robles
García and Molina Villegas, 1998), the reuse of mortuary spaces (Lind
and Urcid, 1983; Middleton et al., 1998; Urcid, 2008), and the signifi-
cance of individual mortuary contexts (Feinman et al., 2010; García
Ríos and Higelin Ponce de León, 2015).
Though mortuary practice has been a primary focus of recent ar-
chaeological and bioarchaeological research in Oaxaca, violence and
warfare in support of Late Formative period Zapotec militaristic expan-
sion has been another topic of interest. On the basis of over 60 skull frag-
ments recovered at La Coyotera in the Cañada de Cuicatlán, Spencer
(1982) argued that human crania were displayed as war trophies and
as symbols of Zapotec political dominance across highland Oaxaca.
The possible existence of an ancient Oaxacan skull rack (or Tzompantli)
is enticing, and such finds could be further supported if accompanied by
perimortem cut marks or fractures to the parietal and temporal bones.
In fact, possible evidence for violence has been recovered at another
site in the southern portion of the Valley of Oaxaca, San Martín Tilcajete.
Specifically, Duncan et al. (2009) suggested that a cut mark on a Late
Formative period human left maxilla from the site may indicate an an-
cient war trophy. Urcid (2010) has argued that poor preservation of
human remains and a lack of specialist training to identify cut marks,
trauma, and other wounds have hampered the identification of evi-
dence for ancient violence throughout Mesoamerica. To date, icono-
graphic interpretations of objects such as engraved stones have
proven to be among the most reliable indicators of warfare in
precolumbian Oaxaca (Urcid, 2010). More osteological evidence
would be instrumental in securely demonstrating Zapotec militaristic
expansion in the highlands during the Formative period.
Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
3
Other bioarchaeological research has underscored the symbolic
value of human femora in ancient Oaxaca (Higelin Ponce de León,
2012). Mortuary contexts at sites such as Mitla and Lambityeco have
produced osteological assemblages curiously missing these human leg
bones (Feinman et al., 2010; Urcid, 2008). Other sites, including San
Miguel Albarradas, appear to have a relative surplus of this anatomical
component among their tomb contents, particularly in contexts dating
to the Late Classic and Early Postclassic periods (Higelin Ponce de León
et al., 2013; Martínez Tuñon and Higelin Ponce de León, 2015). Urcid
(2008) suggested that ancient governors might have collected human
femora as staffs to symbolize and legitimate rulership of communities.
Feinman et al. (2010) supported this conclusion but added that these
bones were also used to produce musical instruments known as
Omichicahuaztlis. Ancient Omichicahuaztlis have formed a part of
bioarchaeological discussions regarding Mesoamerica since the late
1800s (Lumholtz and Hrdlička, 1898), and have been documented in
Oaxacan archaeological assemblages for nearly a century (e.g., Caso
and Rubín de la Borbolla, 1936). Scholars have suggested that warriors
or governors played the instruments at funerary rituals (Alvarado
Tezozómoc, 2001 [1598]; Beyer, 1934; Von Winning, 1959) or used
them as shamanic amulets or war trophies (García Payón, 1941;
Pereira, 2005). The artifacts themselves have not been analyzed in detail
until recently, when Sánchez Santiago and Higelin Ponce de León
(2014) reviewed fourteen of them from the Valley of Oaxaca and the
Mixteca Baja. Across Mesoamerica people used human femora, tibiae,
and humeri, as well as animal bones, to produce musical instruments.
Though Oaxacan Omichicahuaztlis are fewer in number than those
from Central Mexico, they likely played a significant role in the region's
ancient funerary rituals (Sánchez Santiago and Higelin Ponce de León,
2014).
5. Bioarchaeology beyond the Valley of Oaxaca
In recent decades, bioarchaeological research in areas of Oaxaca be-
yond the highland valleys has increased. Archaeological projects on the
coast, and particularly in the lower Río Verde Valley, have resulted in
the identification of several communal mortuary areas and formal ceme-
teries representing thousands of years of human occupation (Barber et al.,
2013; Hepp, 2015; Joyce, 2010, pp. 181–185, Joyce, 1991). Significant
finds among these contexts have included evidence for an Early Forma-
tive period farming village in the region (Hepp, 2015), communal ceme-
teries of the Late and Terminal Formative periods (Barber et al., 2013;
Joyce, 1991), and a deer femur flute from a Terminal Formative period
cemetery at Yugüe (Barber et al., 2009; Barber and Olvera Sánchez,
2012; Mayes and Barber, 2008). This deer bone flute underscores the sig-
nificance of music in ritual practice and mortuary contexts in coastal Oa-
xaca, a relationship also demonstrated by the analysis of the region's
Formative period ceramic musical instruments (Hepp et al., 2014). The
osteobiographical approach applied by Mayes and Barber (2008) to the
high-status Yugüe burial that contained the deer bone flute also repre-
sents an innovative new direction for bioarchaeology in the region, as
Oaxaca's first truly osteobiographical study. Other osteological finds
from coastal Oaxaca have elicited comparison with highland deposits.
For instance, Sherman et al. (2010) suggested that a cemetery at the
site of Cerro de La Cruz might indicate violence related to an expansionist
Monte Albán state. Research by coastal scholars over the last three de-
cades has indicated otherwise, however. As summarized by Barber et al.
(2013, p. 101), Late Formative burials at Cerro de la Cruz “represented
continuous interment over a span of decades, if not a century or more,”
of a broad sample of community members demonstrating a lack of evi-
dence for perimortem trauma. This conclusion corresponds with those
of other scholars who have found a general lack of evidence for Zapotec
imperialism in Oaxaca's coastal regions (Levine, 2013; Zeitlin, 1990;
Zeitlin and Joyce, 1999).
In the Mixteca Baja region of Oaxaca, scholars have studied evidence
for cranial trepanation (Christensen and Winter, 1997) and other
4 R. Higelin Ponce de León, G.D. Hepp / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
aspects of precolumbian mortuary practice (e.g., Alfaro Castro and
Rivera Guzmán, 2014). More bioarchaeological research has also taken
place in the Mixteca Alta, where sites such as Huamelulpan, Yucunama,
and Etlatongo have produced osteological collections from Formative
through Classic period occupations (e.g., Blomster, 2011; Gaxiola
González, 1984; Matadamas Díaz, 1991). Research at the site of
Teposcolula has contributed to understandings of the region's Postclas-
sic and Colonial period occupations. In particular, morphoscopic studies
based on the Health Index model, stable isotope research, and DNA stud-
ies (Warinner et al., 2014, 2012), demonstrated that Postclassic period
mortuary differentiation in the region was based more on social class
than on sex. A bioarchaeological analysis of Colonial period contexts in
the Mixteca Alta (Roldán López, 2014) also indicated probable increases
in disease and mortality at the time of contact with Europeans, a conclu-
sion that could be further bolstered by future paleodemographic research.
6. New contributions of the present special issue
Though the regional research projects summarized above demon-
strate significant advancements in bioarchaeological study in Oaxaca
over the past century, few projects have attempted to synthesize such
information across Oaxaca's diverse geographical and cultural land-
scape. Most bioarchaeological research in the area has focused on the
Valley of Oaxaca, and particularly on Monte Albán. Other regions such
as the Mixteca Alta and Baja, as well as large stretches of the coast,
have received relatively little attention despite archaeological evidence
for their rich prehispanic histories. This pattern of unequal research
focus in Oaxaca is beginning to change, as we have also outlined
above, and it is to this continued expansion of bioarchaeological per-
spectives in Oaxaca that we dedicate this edited special issue.
Authors contributing to this issue present new interpretations and
apply novel analytical techniques to expand our understandings of mor-
tuary practice in ancient Oaxaca. In Death on the Early Formative Oaxaca
Coast: The Human Remains of La Consentida (this issue), Hepp, Sandberg,
and Aguilar present the results of their interdisciplinary study of mortu-
ary contexts at an Early Formative period village site. AMS radiocarbon
dates from secure contexts at La Consentida suggest that it has produced
some of Mesoamerica's oldest known pottery and mounded earthen ar-
chitecture. Human remains from the site, among the earliest known ex-
amples in Oaxaca, provide the opportunity to investigate mortuary
practice, subsistence changes, and shifting social organization at one of
Mesoamerica's first agrarian villages. Isotopic values, for instance, sug-
gest more maize reliance at La Consentida than found at other Early For-
mative period coastal sites in Mesoamerica. In The Bioarchaeology of the
Cerro de la Cruz Cemetery, Oaxaca, Mexico (this issue), Mayes and Joyce
discuss a Late Formative through Early Classic period cemetery from
the site of Cerro de La Cruz in the same coastal area of Oaxaca. These au-
thors provide results from morphoscopic and stable isotopic analyses of
twenty-five individuals to expand our understandings of diet and mor-
tuary practice in the region. The results of this research are directly rel-
evant to broader discussions regarding the archaeology of Formative
period Oaxaca, especially those related to the aforementioned lack of
evidence for Zapotec militaristic expansion on the coast. In particular,
this paper contributes to the Zapotec imperialism debate by demon-
strating that not all cultural expansions of Late and Terminal Formative
period Oaxaca were predicated upon warfare, as they sometimes were
among the slightly later Maya (Duncan, 2011, 2005).
Highland regions outside the Valley of Oaxaca also represent a sig-
nificant focus of the present special issue. In Knowing the Dead in the
Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca: Yucuita Phase Burials at Etlatongo (this issue),
Blomster and Higelin Ponce de León review Late Middle Formative peri-
od evidence from a household context at the site of Etlatongo, where
seven individuals were interred over time in a central location. These
authors emphasize the spiritual connection that would have existed be-
tween the house's living occupants and the remains of their ancestors,
who were buried under the house. These findings highlight the
Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
symbolic connection between the living and their ancestors in the
Mixteca Alta, as well as the ways in which a home's biography could
be intimately intertwined with mortuary ritual. Such concepts are
well established for Classic and Postclassic period Oaxaca (and Meso-
america more generally), but have not received much attention in dis-
cussions of the Formative period. In Skeletal Health and the
Abandonment of a Late–Terminal Formative Urban Center in the Mixteca
Alta: A Bioarchaeological Analysis of Human Remains from Cerro Jazmin
(this issue), Pérez Rodríguez, Higelin Ponce de León, and Martínez
Tuñón present their discussion of human remains from Late and Termi-
nal Formative period occupation in the Mixteca Alta. In particular, these
authors question whether changes in the quality of life for residents of
Cerro Jazmin may have been related to the site's abandonment.
The papers collected here also consider other highland contexts that
have received even less research attention than the Mixteca Alta. In
Postclassic and Early Colonial Mortuary Practices in the Nejapa Region of
Oaxaca, Southern Mexico (this issue), King and Higelin Ponce de León
shift our focus to the Nejapa region, which is situated in Oaxaca's Sierra
Sur. Though these authors discuss general patterns of mortuary practice
in Nejapa, they focus particular attention on the remains of eight indi-
viduals from Colonial period deposits at Majaltepec, where younger
women were sometimes interred with the remains of infants or chil-
dren, a pattern that is unusual among Early Colonial burials in Mexico.
In An Osteobiography of a Oaxacan Late Adolescent Female (this issue),
Alfaro Castro, Waters, and Zvorober discuss mortuary practice and call
on the emerging field of osteobiographical research to discuss the par-
ticular history of one young woman from a Late Postclassic or Early Co-
lonial period Chontal community. This research is based specifically on
musculoskeletal markers, evidence for paleopathology identified
through morphoscopic analysis, and dietary information from the
study of stable isotopes. Alfaro Castro and colleagues' use of multiple
lines of evidence represents not only an exciting new trend in
bioarchaeology but also the first ever bioarchaeological and
osteobiographical research focused on the Chontal region. These authors
demonstrate how osteobiography can be a useful bioarchaeological ap-
proach to studying an ancient population through the remains of a single
individual.
For the purposes of comparing research beyond the Valley of Oaxaca
with that better-known region, it is useful to discuss recent
bioarchaeological studies applying new methodologies to previously
studied areas. In Oaxaca and its Neighbors in Prehispanic Times: Popula-
tion Movements from the Perspective of Dental Morphological Traits (this
issue), Cucina, Edgar, and Ragsdale provide another study pushing the
boundaries of bioarchaeological methods. With a particular focus on
the analysis of biodistance markers identified in dental morphology,
Cucina and collaborators address issues of mobility and interaction be-
tween ancient Maya and Zapotec populations during Classic and Post-
classic times. In Collective Memory in San Sebastian Etla, Oaxaca:
Bioarchaeological Approaches to an Early Formative Period (1400–
1200 BCE) Mortuary Space (this issue), Cervantes Pérez, Mijangos García,
and Andrade Cuautle discuss the rare discovery of an Early Formative
period highland Oaxacan cemetery. Building upon their analysis of
grave offerings, body treatment, and demographic information, these
authors argue that the San Sebastian Etla cemetery represents an early
expression of collective identity and memory production. In Differences
in the Classic Period Mortuary Treatment of Adults and Children in the Val-
ley of Oaxaca (this issue), Higelin Ponce de León, Feinman, Robles García,
Nicholas, Ríos Allier, and Ramón Celis discuss in detail highland Zapotec
mortuary practices related to the burial of children during the Classic
period. In particular, these authors question the long-held position
that ancient Mesoamericans treated adults and children differently in
death. They accomplish this goal, in part, by comparing the well-
known Zapotecs with their peers from Teotihuacán in the Valley of
Mexico.
A final component of the present special issue is the commentary es-
says provided by two established researchers in the fields of
 R. Higelin Ponce de León, G.D. Hepp / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
bioarchaeology and mortuary studies, Della Cook and Jane Baxter. In
these concluding statements the reader will find that the papers pre-
sented here fit well within the context of previous research on human
remains in the Americas, but also that they are part of an effort to ex-
pand the methodological, geographic, and cultural boundaries of mod-
ern bioarchaeological study. Collectively, the papers presented in this
special issue discuss human remains from over 3500 years of Oaxaca's
precolumbian and Early Colonial past. With emphasis on everything
from mortuary ritual and social organization to dietary evidence and in-
dividual osteobiographies, these papers build upon previous research
that was largely descriptive and focused on the Zapotecs of the Valley
of Oaxaca. Through investigation of regions as diverse as the Chontal,
Nejapa, Mixteca Alta, and coastal areas of Oaxaca, and through inquiry
into topics as varied as diet, health, ritual activity, life history, social or-
ganization, and mobility, these papers propose to significantly expand
our perspectives on ancient society in Oaxaca.
Acknowledgments
We thank all of the authors who contributed to this special issue and
the editors of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports for working
with us throughout the process. We are also grateful to Della Cook
and Jane Baxter for their thoughtful comments, as well as a large cadre
of anonymous reviewers who helped to improve each paper collected
here. We also express our thanks to those who participated in the orig-
inal Society for American Archaeology conference symposium from
which this project emerged. We hope that this collection will further
the cause of studying the ancient people of Oaxaca, a place we love.
References
Acosta, J.R., Romero, J., 1992. Exploraciones en Monte Negro, Oaxaca: 1937-38, 1938-39 y
1939-40. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Alfaro Castro, M.E., López Alonso, S., 2009. Condiciones de Salud de los Antiguos
Pobladores de los Valles Centrales Oaxaqueños durante el Formativo. La Aliment. en
la América Precolombina y Colon. Una Aproximación Interdiscip 7, pp. 145–158.
Alfaro Castro, M.E., Rivera Guzmán, I., 2014. La Tumba 10 de Cerro de las Minas, un Estudio
Preliminar Sobre las Prácticas Funerarias Prehispánicas del Periodo Clásico en la Mixteca
Baja de Oaxaca. In: Ortiz Escamilla, R. (Ed.), Recuerdos Y Costumbres Vivas En La
Mixteca. Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca, Huajuapan de León, Mexico, pp. 43–74.
Alvarado Tezozómoc, F., 2001. Crónica Mexicana 4. UNAM, Mexico City.
Barber, S.B., 2005. Heterogeneity, Identity, and Complexity: Negotiating Status and Au-
thority in Terminal Formative Coastal Oaxaca (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation). (Un-
published Ph.D. dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.
Barber, S.B., Olvera Sánchez, M., 2012. A divine wind: the arts of death and music in ter-
minal formative Oaxaca. Anc. Mesoam. 23, 9–24.
Barber, S.B., Sánchez Santiago, G., Olvera Sánchez, M., 2009. Sounds of death and life in
Mesoamerica: the bone flutes of ancient Oaxaca. Yearb. Tradit. Music 41, 40–56.
Barber, S.B., Joyce, A.A., Mayes, A.T., Butler, M., 2013. Formative period burial practices and
cemeteries. In: Joyce, A.A. (Ed.), Polity and Ecology in Formative Period Coastal Oaxa-
ca. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, pp. 97–133.
Bartolomé, M.A., Barabas, A.M., 1996. Tierra de la Palabra: Historia y Etnografía de los
Chatinos de Oaxaca. 2nd ed. Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas, Instituto Nacional
de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, Oaxaca City.
Beyer, H., 1934. Mexican bone battles. Studies in Middle America. Tulane University. Mid-
dle American Research Institute, pp. 329–349.
Blanton, R.E., 1978. Monte Albán: Settlement Patterns at the Ancient Zapotec Capital. Ac-
ademic Press, New York.
Blitz, J.A., 1995. Dietary Variability and Social Inequality at Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico.
(Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Blomster, J.P., 2011. Bodies, bones and burials: corporeal constructs and enduring rela-
tionships in Oaxaca, Mexico. In: Fitzsimmons, J.L., Shimada, I. (Eds.), Living with the
Dead: Mortuary Ritual in Mesoamerica. University of Arizona Press, Tucson,
pp. 102–160.
Brito Benítez, E.L., 2000. Análisis Social de la Población Prehispánica de Monte Albán a
través del Estudio de la Dieta. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). UNAM, Mexico City.
Brito Benítez, E.L., Baños López, L., 2003. Alimentación y Estratificación Social en Monte
Albán. Estud. Antropol. Biológica 11, 811–822.
Buikstra, J.E., 1977. Biocultural dimensions of archeological study: a regional perspective.
In: Blakely, R.L. (Ed.), Biocultural Adaptation in Prehistoric AmericaSouthern Anthro-
pological Society Proceedings vol. 11. Athens, GA, pp. 67–84.
Caso, A., 1932. Monte Albán, richest archaeological find in America. Natl. Geogr. Mag. 62,
487–512.
Caso, A., 1969. El Tesoro de Monte Albán, Memorias del Instituto Nacional de
Antropología e Historia 3. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
5
Caso, A., Rubín de la Borbolla, D.F., 1936. Exploraciones en Mitla, 1934–1935. Instituto
Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Publicación 21. Mexico City.
Chávez Balderas, X., 2007. Rituales Funerarios en el Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan.
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Chávez Balderas, X., 2010. Decapitación Ritual en el Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlán:
estudio Tafonómico. In: López Luján, L., Olivier, G. (Eds.), El Sacrificio Humano En
La Tradición Religiosa Mesoamericana. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, pp. 317–344.
Christensen, A.F., Winter, M., 1997. Culturally modified skeletal remains from the site of
Huamelulpan, Oaxaca, Mexico. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 7, 467–480.
Cucina, A., Tiesler, V., 2005. Past, present and future itineraries in Maya bioarchaeology.
J. Anthropol. Sci. 83, 29–42.
Higelin Ponce de León, R., 2012. Symbolism and Use of Human Femora by the Zapotecs in
Oaxaca, México during Prehispanic Times. (Unpublished M.A. thesis). Southern Illi-
nois University, Carbondale.
Higelin Ponce de León, R., Martínez Tuñon, A., Robles García, N.M., Tuross, N., 2013. San
Miguel Albarradas: interpretaciones Culturales de un Espacio Funerario. Estud.
Antropol. Biológica xvi 95–118.
Rubín de la Borbolla, D.F., 1969. La Osamenta Humana Encontrada en la Tumba 7. In: Rubín
de la Borbolla, D.F., Perrin, T.G., Aragón, E.O., Isaac, C., Moreno Valle, R., Vargas y Vargas,
L., Easby Jr., D.T. (Eds.), Estudios Técnicos Sobre La Tumba 7 de Monte Albán. Instituto
Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City, pp. 275–324.
Duncan, W.N., 2005. Understanding veneration and violation in the archaeological record.
In: Buikstra, J.E., Beck, L.E., Williams, S.R. (Eds.), Interacting with the Dead: Perspec-
tives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium. University Press of Florida,
Gainesville, pp. 207–227.
Duncan, W.N., 2011. Bioarchaeological analysis of sacrificial victims from a postclassic
Maya temple from Ixlú, El Petén, Guatemala. Lat. Am. Antiq. 22, 549–572.
Duncan, W.N., Schwarz, K.R., 2014. Partible, permeable, and relational bodies in a Maya
mass grave. Commingled and Disarticulated Human Remains. Springer, New York,
pp. 149–170.
Duncan, W.N., Elson, C., Spencer, C.S., Redmond, E.M., 2009. A human maxilla trophy from
Cerro Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico. Mexicon 108–113.
Feinman, G.M., Nicholas, L.M., Baker, L.C., 2010. The missing femur at the Mitla fortress
and its implications. Antiquity 84, 1089–1101.
Flannery, K.V. (Ed.), 1986. Guilá Naquitz: Archaic Foraging and Early Agriculture in Oaxa-
ca, Mexico, Studies in Archaeology. Academic Press, Orlando.
Flannery, K.V. (Ed.), 2009. The Early Mesoamerican Village: Updated Edition. Left Coast
Press, Walnut Creek.
García Payón, J., 1941. Manera de Disponer de los Muertos entre los Matlatzincas del Valle
de Toluca. Rev. Mex. Estud. Antropológicos 5, 64–78.
García Ríos, C.D., Higelin Ponce de León, R., 2015. La tumba 1 de San Pedro Ixtlahuaca.
Arqueol. Mex. 132, 56–59.
Gaxiola González, M., 1984. Huamelulpan: Un Centro Urbano de la Mixteca Alta.
Colección Científica 114. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Geller, P.A., 2008. Conceiving sex: fomenting a feminist bioarchaeology. J. Soc. Archaeol. 8,
113–138.
Gillespie, S.D., 2001. Personhood, agency, and mortuary ritual: a case study from the an-
cient Maya. J. Anthropol. Archaeol. 20, 73–112.
González Licón, E., 2011. Desigualdad Social y Condiciones de Vida en Monte Albán, Oaxa-
ca. ENAH-INAH-SEP-PROMEP, Mexico City.
Goodman, A.H., Martin, D.L., Armelagos, G.J., Clark, G., 1984. Indications of stress from
bones and teeth. In: Cohen, M.N., Armelagos, G.J. (Eds.), Paleopathology at the Origins
of Agriculture. Academic Press, New York, pp. 13–49.
Graulich, M., 2003. El sacrificio humano en Mesoamérica. Rev. Arqueol. Mex. 11, 18–23.
Hepp, G.D., 2015. La Consentida: Initial Early Formative Period Settlement, Subsistence,
and Social Organization on the Pacific Coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. (Unpublished Ph.D.
dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.
Hepp, G.D., Barber, S.B., Joyce, A.A., 2014. Communing with nature, the ancestors,
and the neighbors: ancient ceramic musical instruments from coastal Oaxaca,
Mexico. World Archaeol. 46, 380–399.
Hodges, D.C., 1987. Health and agricultural intensification in the prehistoric valley of Oa-
xaca, Mexico. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 73, 323–332.
Joyce, A.A., 1991. Formative Period Occupation in the Lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca,
Mexico: Interregional Interaction and Social Change (Unpublished Ph.D. disserta-
tion). (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). Rutgers the State University of New Jersey,
New Brunswick.
Joyce, R.A., 2000. Girling the girl and Boying the boy: the production of adulthood in an-
cient Mesoamerica. World Archaeol. 31, 473–483.
Joyce, A.A., 2010. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Chatinos: Ancient Peoples of Southern Mexico.
Wiley-Blackwell, Malden.
Kowalewski, S.A., Feinman, G.M., Finsten, L.M., Blanton, R.E., Nichols, D.L., 1989. Monte
Albán's hinterland, part II: prehispanic settlement patterns in Tlacolula, Etla, and
Ocotlán, the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology vol.
23. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Levine, M.N., 2013. Examining ceramic evidence for the Zapotec imperialism hypothesis in
the lower Río Verde region of Oaxaca, Mexico. In: Joyce, A.A. (Ed.), Polity and Ecology
in Formative Period Coastal Oaxaca. University Press of Colorado, Boulder, pp. 227–263.
Lind, M.D., Urcid, J., 1983. The Lords of Lambityeco and their nearest neighbors. Notas
Mesoamericanas. 9, pp. 78–111.
López Alonso, S., Lagunas Rodriguez, Z., Serrano Sánchez, C., 1988. La Antropología Física
en Oaxaca. In: García Mora, C., Villalobos Salgado, M. (Eds.), La Antropología En El Sur
de México. INAH, Mexico City, pp. 159–180.
López Luján, L., Olivier, G. (Eds.), 2010. El Sacrificio Humano en la Tradición Religiosa
Mesoamericana. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
6 R. Higelin Ponce de León, G.D. Hepp / Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports xxx (2016) xxx–xxx
Lumholtz, C., Hrdlička, A., 1898. Marked Human Bones from a Prehistoric Tarasco Indian
Burial Place in the State of Michoacan, Mexico (By Order of the Trustees of the Amer-
ican Museum of Natural History).
Maggiano, I.S., Schultz, M., Kierdorf, H., Sosa, T.S., Maggiano, C.M., Tiesler, V., 2008. Cross-
sectional analysis of long bones, occupational activities and long-distance trade of the
classic Maya from Xcambó. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 136, 470–477.
Manzanilla, L., 2002. Living with the ancestors and offering to the Gods: domestic ritual at
Teotihuacan. Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica. Cotsen Institute of Archaeolo-
gy Press, Los Angeles, pp. 43–52.
Márquez Morfín, L., González Licón, E., 2001. Estratificación Social, Salud y Nutrición en
un Grupo de Pobladores. Procesos de Cambio Y Conceptualización Del Tiempo:
Memoria de La Primera Mesa Redonda de Monte Albán. Consejo Nacional para la
Cultura y las Artes, pp. 73–96.
Márquez Morfín, L., González Licón, E., 2006. Salud, Nutrición y Desigualdad Social en
Monte Albán durante el Clásico. In: Márquez Morfín, L., Hernández Espinoza, P.
(Eds.), Salud Y Sociedad En El México Prehispánico Y Colonial. Conaculta. INAH.
PROMEP., Mexico City, pp. 231–264.
Márquez Morfín, L., McCaa, R., Storey, R., Del Angel, A., 2002. Health and nutrition in pre-
hispanic Mesoamerica. In: Steckel, R.H., Rose, J.C. (Eds.), The Backbone of History:
Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere. Cambridge University Press, New
York, pp. 307–338.
Martínez López, C., Winter, M., Markens, R., 2014. Muerte y Vida entre los Zapotecos de
Monte Albán. INAH-Secretaria de las Culturas y Artes de Oaxaca. Fundación Harp-
Helú, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Martínez Tuñon, A., Higelin Ponce de León, R., 2015. Colectividad Funeraria de una Tumba
en San Miguel Albarradas, Oaxaca. Arqueol. Mex. 132, 60–63.
Matadamas Díaz, R., 1991. Rescate Arqueológico en Yucunama, Mixteca Alta de Oaxaca.
Notas Mesoamericanas. 13, pp. 163–176.
Mayes, A.T., Barber, S.B., 2008. Osteobiography of a high-status burial from the lower Río
Verde valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol. 18, 573–588.
McCafferty, G.G., McCafferty, S.D., 2003. Questioning a queen? A gender-informed evalu-
ation of Monte Alban's tomb 7. In: Queens, A. (Ed.), Ancient Queens, Archaeological
Explorations. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek, pp. 41–58.
McCafferty, S.D., McCafferty, G.G., Brumfiel, E.M., Coggins, C., Costin, C.L., Finsten, L.M.,
Gero, J.M., Klein, C.F., McKeever-Furst, J.L., Paddock, J., Stephen, L., 1994. Engendering
tomb 7 at Monte Alban: respinning an old yarn [and comments and reply]. Curr.
Anthropol. 35, 143–166.
Metcalfe, J.Z., White, C.D., Longstaffe, F.J., Wrobel, G., Cook, D.C., Pyburn, K.A., 2009. Isoto-
pic evidence for diet at Chau Hiix, Belize: testing regional models of hierarchy and
heterarchy. Lat. Am. Antiq. 20, 15–36.
Middleton, W.D., Feinman, G.M., Molina Villegas, G., 1998. Tomb use and reuse in Oaxaca,
Mexico. Anc. Mesoam. 9, 297–308.
Monaghan, J., 1995. The Covenants with Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revela-
tion in Mixtec Sociality. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Paddock, J., Mogor, J.R., Lind, M.D., 1968. Lambityeco tomb 2: a preliminary report. Boletín
Estud. Oaxaqueños 25, 1–24.
Pereira, G., 2005. The utilization of grooved human bones: a reanalysis of artificially mod-
ified human bones excavated by Carl Lumholtz at Zacapu, Michoacán, Mexico. Lat.
Am. Antiq. 16, 293–312.
Rakita, G.F., Buikstra, J.E., Beck, L.A., Williams, S.R. (Eds.), 2005. Interacting with the Dead:
Perspectives on Mortuary Archaeology for the New Millennium. University Press of
Florida, Gainesville.
Robles García, N.M., 2001. Breve Historia Sobre las Discusiones de Monte Albán. Memoria
de La Primera Mesa Redonda de Monte Albán: Procesos de Cambio Y
Conceptualización Del Tiempo. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico
City, pp. 15–21.
Robles García, N.M., Molina Villegas, G., 1998. Exploración de una Tumba Prehispánica en
el Sitio Llaadzie en la Comunidad de Mitla, Oaxaca. Cuad. del Sur Ciencias Soc. 12,
21–52.
Please cite this article as: Higelin Ponce de León, R., Hepp, G.D., Talking with the dead from southern Mexico: Tracing bioarchaeological
foundations and new perspectives in Oaxaca, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.10.003
Roldán López, L.L., 2014. El Impacto Biológico de la Conquista Española de Yucundaa. In:
Spores, R., Robles García, N.M. (Eds.), Yucundaa: La Ciudad Mixteca Y Su
Transformación Prehispánica-Colonial. INAH, Fundación Harp Helú, Oaxaca, Mexico,
pp. 353–410.
Romero, J., 1958. Mutilaciones Dentarias: Prehispánicas de México y América en General.
vol. 3. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.
Romero, J., 1970. Dental mutilation, trephination, and cranial deformation. Physical An-
thropology. Handbook of Middle American Indians. 9.
Romero, J., 1983. Las Tumbas y los Entierros Prehispánicos de Oaxaca. Proc. An. Antropol.
20, 91–113.
Sánchez Santiago, G., Higelin Ponce de León, R., 2014. El Quego Xilla en la Antigua Oaxaca:
Una Aproximación a los Idiófonos de Ludimiento. Flower World - Music Archaeol.
Am. 3, 101–121.
Sherman, J.R., Balkansky, A.K., Spencer, C.S., Nicholls, B.D., 2010. The expansionary dy-
namics of the nascent Monte Albán state. J. Anthropol. Archaeol. 29, 278–301.
Spence, M.W., Pereira, G., 2007. The human skeletal remains of the moon pyramid,
Teotihuacan. Anc. Mesoam. 18, 147–157.
Spencer, C.R., 1982. The Cuicatlán Cañada and Monte Albán: A Study of Primary State For-
mation. Academic Press, New York.
Spores, R., 1984. The Mixtecs in Ancient and Colonial Times. University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman.
Steckel, R.H., Rose, J.C. (Eds.), 2002. The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the
Western Hemisphere. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Stephen, L., 2005. Zapotec Women: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Globalized Oaxaca.
Duke University Press, Durham.
Tiesler, V., Cucina, A., 2006. Procedures in human heart extraction and ritual meaning: a
Taphonomic assessment of anthropogenic marks in classic Maya skeletons. Lat. Am.
Antiq. 17, 493–510.
Urcid, J., 2008. El Arte de Pintar Tumbas: sociedad e Ideología Zapotecas (400–800 d.C).
In: de la Fuente, B. (Ed.), La Pintura Mural Prehispánica En México vol. IV. UNAM-
IIAS, Mexico City, pp. 513–626.
Urcid, J., 2010. El Sacrificio Humano en el Suroeste de Mesoamerica. In: López Luján, L.,
Olivier, G. (Eds.), El Sacrificio Humano En La Tradición Religiosa Mesoamericana.
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México, Mexico City, pp. 115–168.
Von Winning, H., 1959. A decorated bone rattle from Culhuacan, Mexico. Am. Antiq. 86–
93.
Warinner, C., Robles García, N.M., Spores, R., Tuross, N., 2012. Disease, demography, and
diet in early colonial New Spain: investigation of a sixteenth-century Mixtec ceme-
tery at Teposcolula Yucundaa. Lat. Am. Antiq. 23, 467–489.
Warinner, C., Tuross, N., Spores, R., Robles García, N.M., 2014. Ancient DNA and stable iso-
tope analysis of the Teposcolula Grand Plaza Cemetery. In: Spores, R., Robles García,
N.M. (Eds.), La Ciudad Mixteca Y Su Transformación Prehispánica-Colonial. INAH,
Fundación Harp Helú, Oaxaca, Mexico, pp. 527–540.
Wilkinson, R.G., 1975. Trephination by drilling in Ancient Mexico. Bull. N. Y. Acad. Med.
51, 838.
Wilkinson, R.G., Norelli, R.J., 1981. A biocultural analysis of social organization at Monte
Albán. Am. Antiq. 743–758.
Winter, M., 1974. Residential patterns at Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico. Science 186 (80),
981–987.
Winter, M., 2011. Social memory and the origins of Monte Albán. Anc. Mesoam. 22,
393–409.
Winter, M., Martínez López, C., 1996. Entierros Humanos de Monte Albán: Dos Estudios.
Proyecto Especial Monte Albán No. 7, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Zeitlin, R.N., 1990. The isthmus and the valley of Oaxaca: questions about Zapotec impe-
rialism in formative period Mesoamerica. Am. Antiq. 55, 250–261.
Zeitlin, R.N., Joyce, A.A., 1999. The Zapotec-imperialism argument: insights from the Oa-
xaca coast. Curr. Anthropol. 40, 383–392.