blanton 1980

8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

1/8

Society for merican rchaeology

Cultural Ecology ReconsideredAuthor(s): Richard E. BlantonSource: American Antiquity, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Jan., 1980), pp. 145-151Published by: Society for American ArchaeologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/279668.

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8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

2/8

COMMENTSOMMENTS

1978 Obsidian

exchange,

economic

stratification,

and the evolution

of

complex society

in the Basin

of

Mexico.

Manuscript

on

file,

Department

of

Anthropology,University

of New

Mexico.

Spence,

Michael W.

1976 The

development

of the Teotihuacan obsidian

productionsystem. Manuscript

on

file,

Department

of Anthropology,Universityof Western Ontario.

1978

The

archaeological

objectives

of

obsidian

characterization

tudies

in

Mesoamerica.

Paper presented

at the

symposium

entitled ObsidianCharacterization

nd

Exchange Systems

in

Prehistory.

Washing-

ton,

D.C.

Spores,

Ronald

1967

The Mixtec

kings

and

their

people.

University

of Oklahoma

Press,

Norman.

Starbuck,

David R.

1975 Man-animal

elationships

n

Pre-Columbianentral Mexico.

Unpublished

Ph.D.

dissertation,

Depart-

ment of

Anthropology,

Yale

University,

New Haven.

Steggerda,

Morris

1941

Maya

Indians

of

Yucatan.

Carnegie

InstitutionPublicationNo. 531.

Steward,

Julian

H.

1955

Theory

of

culture

change. University

of Illinois

Press,

Urbana.

Varner,

Dudley

1974 Prehispanicsettlementpatterns in the Valleyof Oaxaca, Mexico,the Etlaarm.UnpublishedPh.D.

dissertation,

Department

of


of

Arizona,

Tucson.

Webster,

David L.

1976

Defensive earthworksat

Becan,

Campeche,

Mexico:

mplications

or

Maya

warfare.Middle

Ameri-

can Research

Institute

Publication

41,

Tulane

University.

1977

Warfare and

the evolution of

Maya

civilization.

In

The

origins

of

Maya

civilization,

edited

by

RichardE. W.

Adams,

pp.

335-372.

University

of New

Mexico

Press,

Albuquerque.

CULTURAL

ECOLOGY

RECONSIDERED

Richard E. Blanton

This

is a

response

to

Santley's

criticisms

of

my

suggestions

concerning

Monte

Alban,

the ancient

Zapotec

capital.

It

consists

of

first

questioning

his

cultural

ecological

theoretical

base,

then

showing

that

his

interpre-

tation

of

the

nature

of

Monte Alban and

its

hinterland s

faulty.

A

complete

response

to

Santley's

comments

would

require

a

longer

article

than

I

am

able to

present

here. Such

an extended

discussion

would be

repetitive

anyway,

since in

several

forth-

coming

works

(Blanton

et al.

n.d.;

Blanton

1980;

Flannery

et

al.

1980) my colleagues

and

I

discuss

in

detail the

kinds of issues

raised in

Santley's

article. The

response

to

Santley's

criticisms

pre-

sented

here

consists of two

parts,

this

article and

the

following

one

by

Steve

Kowalewski.

Kowalewski's contribution has primarily to do with environmental and land-use issues, while my

paper

has

more to do with

issues

pertinent

to

regional

political

and

economic

organization

and

considers

some more

general

problems

in

cultural

evolution.

To

fully

understand

the

nature of our

disagreements

with

Santley,

the

reader

should

consult

both

papers.

Below

I

will

air

my specific

disagreements

with

Santley's interpretation

of

Monte Alban's

role

in

the

Oaxaca

region

and the

reasons for

its

foundation,

but first

I

will

make

several

comments

concerning

the

theoretical

perspective

represented

by

Santley,

which

I

will

refer to in

this

text as

cultural

ecology (even though

I

know

this does

a

disservice

to those

followers

of

Julian

Steward

who in

some

cases refer to

themselves

as

cultural

ecologists).

The

cultural

ecologists

(Sanders

and

Price

1968;

Logan

and

Sanders

1976;

Sanders

et al.

1976;

Sanders

and

Santley 1978)

have

been

very

consistent

(and

prolific)

over the

years

in

their

presen-

tation of

a

theory

of cultural

change

that is

highly

linear,

simple

(in

the

sense

that

it

emphasizes

1978 Obsidian

exchange,

economic

stratification,

and the evolution

of

complex society

in the Basin

of

Mexico.

Manuscript

on

file,

Department

of


of New

Mexico.

Spence,

Michael W.

1976 The

development

of the Teotihuacan obsidian

productionsystem. Manuscript

on

file,

Department

of Anthropology,Universityof Western Ontario.

1978

The

archaeological

objectives

of

obsidian

characterization

tudies

in

Mesoamerica.

Paper presented

at the

symposium

entitled ObsidianCharacterization

nd

Exchange Systems

in

Prehistory.

Washing-

ton,

D.C.

Spores,

Ronald

1967

The Mixtec

kings

and

their

people.

University

of Oklahoma

Press,

Norman.

Starbuck,

David R.

1975 Man-animal

elationships

n

Pre-Columbianentral Mexico.

Unpublished

Ph.D.

dissertation,

Depart-

ment of

Anthropology,

Yale

University,

New Haven.

Steggerda,

Morris

1941

Maya

Indians

of

Yucatan.

Carnegie

InstitutionPublicationNo. 531.

Steward,

Julian

H.

1955

Theory

of

culture

change. University

of Illinois

Press,

Urbana.

Varner,

Dudley

1974 Prehispanicsettlementpatterns in the Valleyof Oaxaca, Mexico,the Etlaarm.UnpublishedPh.D.

dissertation,

Department

of


of

Arizona,

Tucson.

Webster,

David L.

1976

Defensive earthworksat

Becan,

Campeche,

Mexico:

mplications

or

Maya

warfare.Middle

Ameri-

can Research

Institute

Publication

41,

Tulane

University.

1977

Warfare and

the evolution of

Maya

civilization.

In

The

origins

of

Maya

civilization,

edited

by

RichardE. W.

Adams,

pp.

335-372.

University

of New

Mexico

Press,

Albuquerque.

CULTURAL

ECOLOGY

RECONSIDERED

Richard E. Blanton

This

is a

response

to

Santley's

criticisms

of

my

suggestions

concerning

Monte

Alban,

the ancient

Zapotec

capital.

It

consists

of

first

questioning

his

cultural

ecological

theoretical

base,

then

showing

that

his

interpre-

tation

of

the

nature

of

Monte Alban and

its

hinterland s

faulty.

A

complete

response

to

Santley's

comments

would

require

a

longer

article

than

I

am

able to

present

here. Such

an extended

discussion

would be

repetitive

anyway,

since in

several

forth-

coming

works

(Blanton

et al.

n.d.;

Blanton

1980;

Flannery

et

al.

1980) my colleagues

and

I

discuss

in

detail the

kinds of issues

raised in

Santley's

article. The

response

to

Santley's

criticisms

pre-

sented

here

consists of two

parts,

this

article and

the

following

one

by

Steve

Kowalewski.

Kowalewski's contribution has primarily to do with environmental and land-use issues, while my

paper

has

more to do with

issues

pertinent

to

regional

political

and

economic

organization

and

considers

some more

general

problems

in

cultural

evolution.

To

fully

understand

the

nature of our

disagreements

with

Santley,

the

reader

should

consult

both

papers.

Below

I

will

air

my specific

disagreements

with

Santley's interpretation

of

Monte Alban's

role

in

the

Oaxaca

region

and the

reasons for

its

foundation,

but first

I

will

make

several

comments

concerning

the

theoretical

perspective

represented

by

Santley,

which

I

will

refer to in

this

text as

cultural

ecology (even though

I

know

this does

a

disservice

to those

followers

of

Julian

Steward

who in

some

cases refer to

themselves

as

cultural

ecologists).

The

cultural

ecologists

(Sanders

and

Price

1968;

Logan

and

Sanders

1976;

Sanders

et al.

1976;

Sanders

and

Santley 1978)

have

been

very

consistent

(and

prolific)

over the

years

in

their

presen-

tation of

a

theory

of cultural

change

that is

highly

linear,

simple

(in

the

sense

that

it

emphasizes

Richard

E.

Blanton,

Department

of

Sociology

and

Anthropology,

urdue

University,

West

Lafayette,

N

47907

ichard

E.

Blanton,

Department

of

Sociology

and

Anthropology,

urdue

University,

West

Lafayette,

N

47907

14545

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8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

3/8

AMERICAN

NTIQUITY

the

operation

of

only

a

few

variables),

and

totally

dependent

on

several

questionable

assumptions.

Basically,

they

argue

that

population growth

(which

is

assumed)

leads

to

competition

over

resources,

which in

turn leads to

social

stratification and

centralized

political

institutions. At the

local

level,

the

emergent

stratified

sociopolitical organization (Santley,

this

issue) developed

to

quell disputes arising

due

to

shortages

of

preferred

land

in

a

situation of

population

pressure.

At

the

regional

level,

an

overarching

political

institution

evolves as one

local

group

(the

one

with a

demographic advantage

and

a more

productive

agricultural

support base )

is able to

dominate

neighboring

political

units in

competition

for land.

The

problems

inherent in the cultural

ecologist's

scheme

have been

discussed

previously

(cf.

Blanton

1976a;

Flannery

1972, 1977;

Millon

1973;

Wolf

1976),

but

it

is

worthwhile

to

briefly

reiterate these

points

here.

The

key

assumptions

on

which

the

whole cultural

ecological

scheme is

based-that the

tendency

for

populations

to

grow

is

assumed to be a normal

condition,

and

that

the

resulting pressures

result

in

change-are

assumptions

that the cultural

ecologists

have

adhered

to

eve

though

a number

of

people

have

argued,

based

on both

theory

and

observation,

that

they

are

highly questionable

(cf.

Blanton

1976b;

Cowgill

1975; Earle

1978;

Flannery

1972;

have

found

that

in

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca

the

transition

from

egalitarian

to

rank

organization,

as

well

as the transition to state

organization,

occurred in

the

context of

populations

operating

at

well

below the

region's potential productivity

and

in a

situation

in which there would

have

been

abundant unused land

of the most desirable

type.

Given

this,

we find it difficult to

understand

how

social stratification based on differential access to desirable land

could

have

developed.

Nor

is it

likely

that

warfare

between

local units

in

the

valley

would have been warfare

due to

population

pressure.

We have noted

(Blanton

et

al.,

n.d.)

that

rapidpopulationgrowth

in the

valley

occurred

after

the

development

of

complex regional

governmental

nstitutions,

a

finding

that is

consistent

with

the

idea that

such

institutions

may encourage

or

indirectly

cause

population growth (Blanton

1976b).

In

my

own

readings

on

population

dynamics,

I have arrived at the conclusion that it

is

far

more

common,

in the context

of chiefdoms and

states,

for the elite to

cognize

labor

shortages

rather than

population

pressure,

and that such

shortages

are often the

pretext

for warfare

against neighboring

groups (cf.

Bloch

1978;

Fallers

1964:126;

Goody

1978;

Ruyle

1973;

Wilks

1978).

This is a factor not at all considered

by

the cultural

ecologists.

According

to the cultural

ecologists,

we are to

believe that the

only way

a

centralized

regional

political system

can

grow

is

throughconquest,

as the best-situated

ocal

group

is able

to

conquer

and

subjugate

its

neighbors.

There are

two

problems

with this.

First,

if we were to

accept

this

idea,

then in the

Valley

of Oaxaca

the center

of the

regional polity

would have been located

either

in the Etla arm

of the

valley

or the southern

arm,

where

agricultural

conditions

are better

than

the area around

Monte

Alban

(Kirkby

1973;

and see Kowalewski's

article,

which

follows),

and

where most of

the

valley's population

resided

prior

to the foundation

of Monte Alban. It is clear

that

the

center

of the new

polity,

at

Monte

Alban,

was founded

in

an

area

that

was

relatively

marginal agriculturallyand relatively sparsely occupied (Fisch, n.d.).

A

second

problem

with

the cultural

ecologist argument

s that it

fails

to

cognize

the fact

that

for

some

time there

has been a debate

over whether

centralized

regional political

institutions

develop

through conquest

or

by agreement

among co-joining

groups

or individuals

(cf.

Service

1975).

The

cultural

ecologists

are not

interested

in

contributing

o this

debate-they simply

state that

con-

quest

is

the

only

factor to consider.

It

is

likely

that

conquest

has

had a role

in the

growth

of

some

political

institutions

at

some

times,

but

it is

equally likely

that

in

other instances

such institutions

grew

in other

ways.

The

fact

that

conquest

is

an

integral

part

of the cultural

ecologist's

theory

is

the

major

reason

why Santley

(Sanders

and

Santley 1978)

is

opposed

to

my arguments

concerning

he

founding

and

functioning

of

Monte

Alban

(Blanton

1978). My argument

s that a

new

capital

was

founded

in

a

neutral,

marginalplace

because

it was a

capital

shared

by co-joining

members

of a

new

regional

political institution that was a league. The neutral location was essential to avoid a situationin

which

any given

member

group

would have had

excessive influence

(which

would

happen

if the

capital's

activities

were located

in

any

existing center).

The

location

chosen,

agriculturally

146

[Vol.45,

No.

1,

1980]


8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

4/8

COMMENTS

marginal

but central

to the

region

involved,

would have

presented

no

problems

from the

point

of

view of the

subsistence

for

the

city's

population,

since most of its

support

would have come from

the

region

as a whole. It is

strange

that the cultural

ecologists

are so

opposed

to the idea that a

political

institution

could evolve

through

the voluntaristic

joining

of several otherwise

autonomous

ocal territorial

units. Such

institutionswere common

among

the American

Indians,

as

elsewhere.

We are all familiar with the

IroquoisLeague

and the famous

Triple

Alliance of the

Valley

of

Mexico,

but other

aboriginal examples,

even in the Central

Plateau of

Mexico,

can be

cited:

the

cuatro senores of

Ixtapalapa,

Mexicaltzingo,

Culhuacan,

and

Huitzilopochco Ixtlil-

xochitl

1952: vol.

1:

141);

the five

cojoining

tlatoque

of Amecameca

(Sanders

1970);

Cholula,

which

according

to

Kubler

(1968)

was not unlike a

league

of six

towns

sharing

a

common

center ;

and the Tlaxcalan

League,

consisting

of

Teteticpac,

Quiahuixtlan, Tizatlan,

and

Ocetelulco

(Gibson1967).

Given

that

Santley

can

only

visualize

a

regional

political

institution

developing through

con-

quest,

he

cannot

understand

why

local elites

would

willingly support

an

institution like Monte

Alban,

given

that

this would

require

the

channeling

of resources

away

from

themselves

and

toward the capital.What he has failed to consideris the fact that institutionsof this sortdevelop

when local elites see

advantages

in

joining.

Normally

he

majoradvantage

would be

in

the

greater

potential

for

military

protection

from outside invaders as well

as in

the

greater

potential

for ex-

ternal

conquest

inherent in the

larger

grouping.

An

additional

potential

advantage

in

the forma-

tion

of Monte Alban is the role the

center

could have

played

in the

movement

of

food

in the

valley

from

surplus

to deficit

areas,

given

the

unpredictability

of

agricultural production

n

any given

year.

Up

to this

point

I

have

focused

on broad

areas of

disagreement

between

me and the

cultural

ecologists.

Now

I

wish to turn to

specific

statements

in

the

Santley

article with

which

I

disagree.

I

will

not comment at

length

on the more obvious

failings

and errors in the

Santley

criticism. He

states,

for

example,

that

Monte Alban consists

of several thousand natural terraces that

would

have been ideal for use

as

calmil

gardens;

f

he had read

my

book

carefully

he would have realized

that all but a few of the MonteAlban terraces are culturalfeatures, and all but a few of the ter-

races

were

residential

in function.

Since

he has

obviously

never visited the

site,

I

suppose

he

should not be criticized too

harshly

for

saying

that it

is

only

a

400

m walk down from

Monte

Alban

to

good

farmland;

the 400 m in

question

is vertical

elevation,

not lateral

distance,

as

he im-

plies-the

lateral distance

is much

greater.

Nor

will

I

comment

on

misinformation

present

in his

article

concerning

the settlement

patterns

of

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca-that,

for

example,

the

region

was

always

characterized

by

a

primate

rank-sizedistribution.

This was the case in some

periods

(although

never to the

degree

that this

was

true

in

the

Valley

of

Mexico under

Teotihuacan's

hegemony),

but the

Early

Classic

(period

IIIa),

or

example,

was

log-normal,

as was

the

Late Post-

classic. The

whole

section

concerning

the

populationdynamics

of

the

Valley

of Oaxaca after the

formation

of

Monte

Alban is

wrong

and should have been deleted

(Blanton

et

al.,

in

preparation).

Santley'sstatement that normalcentral-placehierarchies do not occur in HighlandMesoamerica

indicates he has failed to

read

an

article

in a

recent edition of American

Antiquity

in which

Michael Smith

(1979)

found

that the

marketingsystem

in

the

Late

Postclassic

Valley

of Mexico

comes

very

close to the

predictions

of Christaller.

Several statements made

by Santley

deserve

more extended comment.

According

to

him,

a

military

league

in the

Valley

of Oaxaca

has

to

imply

that

the

neighboring

polities

themselves

formed

a

confederacy.

This is a

non

sequitur.

Anyone

who

has

read Chinese or Near Eastern

history

is

aware of

the fact that

small,

noncentralized

segmentary

groups

(such

as nomadic

herders in

parts

of

the Old

World)

can

pose

serious

military

problems

to

large

state-organized

societies. This is so because such small

groups

can raid at

will,

unpredictably,

hen

escape

into

uncontrolled areas

(as

did the

revolutionaries

n

the Mexican

Revolution

[Wolf

1969]).

The con-

quest

of such

segmentary

groups

by

state armies is

difficult and

costly

because it must

proceed

group-by-group.Neither single centers nor leaders controlling arge numbers of people exist, so

that no

single conquest

or

capture

means the

simultaneous

incorporation

of

large

regions.

The

Spaniards

found t

quite easy

to

quickly

dominate

he

complex

societies in

Mesoamericaand Peru

147


8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

5/8

AMERICAN

NTIQUITY

by

dominating

a few

key places

and/or

eaders,

but

they

found the

going

very

rough

and

very risky

in

northern

Mexico

where

large-scale

sociopolitical

groupings

did

not exist

(Service

1955).

In

my

view,

even

as

early

as the

Formative,

villages

in

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca

would often have

been ex-

posed

to

the

risk of

raids

by

mountain

groups

when,

for

example, crop

failures forced

these

groups

to obtain

food

from

outside.

No doubt

it would

have been true

then,

as it

is

now,

that the

Valley

of

Oaxaca

would

have

been

thought

of

as a

kind of breadbasket

because

of its

superior

agricultural

resources.

My suggestion

s that

military

problems

of

this sort

eventually

reached

the

point

where

they

could

only

be

resolved

through

the concerted

effort

of the entire

population

of

the

valley

united

in a

single

military

unit.

Given

hat

militaryproblems

may

have had

much to

do

with

why

Monte

Alban was

founded,

s

it

possible

to conclude

that

warfare

was the

reason for the

placement

of Monte

Alban on

the

top

of

a

high

mountain?

According

to

Santley,

Monte

Alban's

hilltop

location

was due

to a

competitive

political

atmosphere

within

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca,

which,

he

says,

would have

made

occupation

of the

adjacent

valley

floor

a

very

risky prospect.

I

have to

disagree

with this

point

since

no other

Early

I

center

(and

virtually

none

of the

rest of the

sites)

is

located

in

a defensible

position.

To date

we have located and mappedfive EarlyI district capitals. One is located on a low, broadridge,

but

not

in

a

way

that

could

be

interpreted

as an

orientation

o defense.

All other

centers

(and

most

of

the remainder

of the

sites

of the

period)

were

situated

on the

valley-bottom

lluvium

or

nearby

in the lower

piedmont

(Blanton

et al.

in

prep.). Although

we do believe that

there

were

military

problems

n

Early

I,

we feel

the

responses

to these

did

not

include the

placement

of sites

in defen-

sible

locations.

Given

this,

I

still

favor

my

argument

that the

placement

of

the

new

capital

in

an

out-of-the-way

place

was

designed

to

assure

its

neutrality.

Not

only

do

I

disagree

with

Santley's

explanation

for the

specific

location

of

Monte

Alban,

I

also

disagree

with

his comments

on the

economic

role of the

capital

in

the

Oaxaca

region.

I have

argued

that

since

Monte

Alban

was

primarily

a

political

capital,

it

would not

have been

par-

ticularly

important

as

a commercial

center-not

to

deny

that

some

production

and

some

marketing

would

have

taken

place

there.

In his

comments

on economic

functions,

Santley

dwells

on obsidian

production

and distribution, a

product

that was

obviously

very important at

Teotihuacan,

but

for

which there

is no

analog

at

Monte

Alban.

If

we look at

ceramic

production

and

distribution

nstead

of

obsidian,

the vast

differences

between

these

two

centers

in

economic

terms

is easier

to

see.

Teotihuacan

combined

its

region's

political

and economic

functions

in

a

highly

centralized

fashion

in one

place.

Very

little

evidence

for

any

manner

of

production

activity,

including

ceramic

production,

has

been

found

in the

Valley

of

Mexico

outside

this

one

center

(Blanton

1976c).

The

Valley

of

Oaxaca

under

Monte

Alban's

hegemony

was

quite

different.

There

we

have

located

in

every

period

a

series of

ceramic

production

sites

scattered

throughout

he

valley,

indicating

a

more

dispersed

system

of

production

and

distribution

of

craft

goods

than

was

ever

present

in

the

Valley

of

Mexico

when Teotihuacan

was the dominant

center

(Blanton

et

al.,

n.d.).

The same

could

be said

for

lithic

production

(Appel,

n.d.).

CONCLUSIONS

In

conclusion,

I

have

several

suggestions

to

make to the

cultural

ecologists.

In

my

opinion,

t

is

exciting

that the

evolutionary

histories

of two

of our

most

important

Mesoamerican

nuclear

regions

appear

to

have

been

so

different,

suggesting

that

culture

change

in the direction

of

in-

creased

scale

and

complexity

can

occur

in varied

ways.

I

suggest

that the

cultural

ecologists

should

do as others

have

and

view this

variety

as a source

of stimulation

for

theory-building,

rather

than

deny

that

variety

exists

simply

for

the sake

of

fitting everything

into

a

single

ex-

planatory

scheme.

Likewise,

I

would

suggest

that

cultural

ecologistsstop

using assumptions

hat

are

demonstrably

faulty

(e.g.,

constant

population

growth).

We must

all

employ

assumptions

n our

work,

but

prog-

ress in explanationwill come aboutonlythrough he gradualabandonmentof those assumptions

that

are

demonstrably

oversimplified

and

misleading.

A

robust

theory

of cultural

evolution

will

explain

population

transitions,

not

simply

assume

growth.

148

[Vol.45,

No.

1,1980]


8/10/2019 Blanton 1980

6/8

COMMENTS

The cultural

ecologists

should,

as

well,

develop

a better

understanding

of

the nature

of

and

variety

in

large-scale regional

institutions

in

complex

societies.

Santley's

comments

on

the

nature

of

marketing

organization

in

Oaxaca,

for

example,

fail to include

any concept

of

marketing

hierar-

chy,

a

concept

which

is,

to

say

the

very least,

basic.

Santley's

naive statement

that the

concept of

political

disembeddedness

applies only

to

modern

industrial

nation-states

flies in

the face

of

evidence from

numerous

preindustrial

societies for

arrangements

of this

sort. At the

moment

I

can

think of several

examples

in

addition

to those I

discussed

previously (Blanton

1976d),

in-

cluding

Assyria (e.g.,

Calah,

Nineveh,

and

Dur-Surrakin;

see

Oppenheim

1964),

and

Yamato

period Japan

(Bingham

1966).

Another

form of

political

disembeddedness is

that of

circulating

succession. This is

a mechanism

for

tying

together

a series

of

otherwise

autonomous

regional

en-

tities,

but in

the absence

of

conquest.

As

Goody

has

put

it,

based on his

analysis

of

the

Gonja,

north of

Ashanti:

The

centrifugal

tendencies

inherent

in

so

great

a

degree

of

regional

autonomy

are

only

too

apparent.

But

countering

hese were the

centripetal

attractions

offered

by

the

circulationof

the

paramountcy

hrough

he

major

erritorial

segments,

which

meant

that the greater partof the rulingestate was directlyconcerned o

maintain

the

existence of

the state as a

whole

(Goody

1966:150).

I

included

Mecca as

an

analog

to

Monte

Alban

because both

exemplify regional

institutions

that

served

to bind

together

otherwise

autonomous local

groupings.

Obviously

the

disembedded

capitals

(and

circulating

successions

of

paramountcies)

do

this in

a

more

political

way,

while

Mecca is

one of a

genus

of

such

institutions

that

operated

(initially)

primarily

in

the

context of

goods

exchange

(markets

like

the

Suqs

of

the Berber

Highlands

[Benet

1957]

could be

included

in

this

type).

Santley

would

have to

stretch the

evidence

quite

far

to

argue

that the

United

States

was

a

modern

industrial

nation-state in

the 1780s

when the new

(and

neutrally

located)

political

capital

was

founded at

Washington,

D.C.

Numerous

sources

could

be

consulted

by

the

cultural

ecologists

in

developing

a

better under-

standing

of

the

nature of

regional organization in complex societies. I usually recommend

Christaller

(1933),

Haggett

(1965),

Skinner

(1977),

Smith

(1976),

and

Wallerstein

(1974).

Acknowledgments.

All

errors and

misinterpretations

re

my

responsibility,

but

I

acknowledge

he

aid of

Steve

Kowalewski,

Gary

Feinman,

Jill

Appel,

and

Eva Fisch.

My

work n

Oaxaca

has been

supported

primarily

from

NSF

grants

GS-28547,

GS-38030,

and

BNS76-19640.

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8/8

COMMENTSOMMENTS

Sanders,

William

T.,

Jeffrey

R.

Parsons,

and Michael

H.

Logan

1976

Summary

and conclusions.

In

The

Valley

of

Mexico,

edited

by

Eric

R.

Wolf,

pp.

162-178.

The

University

of New Mexico

Press,

Albuquerque.

Sanders,

William

T.,

and Robert

S.

Santley

1978 Review of MonteAlban by RichardE. Blanton.Science 202:303-304.

Service,

Elman

R.

1955

Indian-European

elations

in

colonial

Latin

America. American

Anthropologist

7:411-425.

1975

Origins

of

the state and

civilization.

Norton,

New

York.

Skinner,

G.William

(editor)

1977

The

city

in

late

imperial

China.

Stanford

University

Press,

Stanford.

Smith,

Carol

(editor)

1976

Regional

analysis,

two volumes.

Academic

Press,

New

York.

Smith,

Michael

1979 The

Aztec

marketing

system

and

settlement

pattern

in

the

Valley

of

Mexico:

a

central

place

anal-

ysis.

American

Antiquity

44:110-124.

Wallerstein,

Immanuel

1974

The modern

world-system.

Academic

Press,

New

York.

Wilks,

Ivor

1978 Land, labour,capital, and the ForestKingdomof Asante: a model of early change.In The evolu-

tion

of

social

systems,

edited

by

J.

Friedmanand M.

J.

Rowlands,

pp.

487-534.

University

of

Pittsburgh

Press,

Pittsburgh.

Wolf,

Eric R.

1969

Peasant

wars

of

the

twentieth

century.

Harper

and

Row,

New York.

1976

Introduction. n The

Valley

of

Mexico,

edited

by

Eric

R.

Wolf,

pp.

1-10.

University

of

New

Mexico

Press,

Albuquerque.

Wright,

Henry

T.,

and

Gregory

Johnson

1975

Population,

exchange,

and

early

state

formation n

southwestern

Iran. American

Anthropologist

177:267-289.

POPULATION-RESOURCE

BALANCES

IN

PERIOD I

OF

OAXACA,

MEXICO

Stephen

A.

Kowalewski

The

implications

of

speculative

population

pressure

models are

checked

against

the

archaeological

record in

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca,

Mexico,

by

means

of

a

detailed

comparison

of

maize

potentials

and

ancient

populations,

as

both

change

over

time.

There s

virtually

no

fit.

Santley's

evolutionary

model,

nasmuch

as it is

operationalizable,

hould

therefore

be

drastically

rethought.

For the first thousand years of settled farming life in the Valley of Oaxaca (Figure 1) the

number of

people

living

at

any

one

time

was

far

fewer

than

the

resources

of

the land

could

sup-

port

(Curran

1978).

A

vastly

increased

economic

demand

and

increased

population

apparently

did

not

come

about until

the

founding

of

the new

and

much

larger

capital

at

Monte

Alban.

Within

a

hundred

years

or so

of

500 B.C.

entirely

new

demands

were

placed

on

the

valley's

economy.

The

most

salient

difficulty

was

the

provisioning

of

roughly

5,000

people

at

Monte

Alban.

How

was

that

accomplished?

In

the

rural

area,

what

might

account for

the

universal

increase in

population

and

the

emergence

of

larger

towns

as

well

as

villages

and

hamlets?

The

means

by

which

half

the

valley's

population

was

sustained on

a

mountaintop

and

the

reasons

why

the

population

was

distributed

the

way

it

was

are

the

themes of

this

article.

The

emphasis

is

on

the

possible

relation-

ships

between

agricultural

productivity

and

population

distribution.

Sanders,

William

T.,

Jeffrey

R.

Parsons,

and Michael

H.

Logan

1976

Summary

and conclusions.

In

The

Valley

of

Mexico,

edited

by

Eric

R.

Wolf,

pp.

162-178.

The

University

of New Mexico

Press,

Albuquerque.

Sanders,

William

T.,

and Robert

S.

Santley

1978 Review of MonteAlban by RichardE. Blanton.Science 202:303-304.

Service,

Elman

R.

1955

Indian-European

elations

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1977

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1976

Regional

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1979 The

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1974

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177:267-289.

POPULATION-RESOURCE

BALANCES

IN

PERIOD I

OF

OAXACA,

MEXICO

Stephen

A.

Kowalewski

The

implications

of

speculative

population

pressure

models are

checked

against

the

archaeological

record in

the

Valley

of

Oaxaca,

Mexico,

by

means

of

a

detailed

comparison

of

maize

potentials

and

ancient

populations,

as

both

change

over

time.

There s

virtually

no

fit.

Santley's

evolutionary

model,

nasmuch

as it is

operationalizable,

hould

therefore

be

drastically

rethought.

For the first thousand years of settled farming life in the Valley of Oaxaca (Figure 1) the

number of

people

living

at

any

one

time

was

far

fewer

than

the

resources

of

the land

could

sup-

port

(Curran

1978).

A

vastly

increased

economic

demand

and

increased

population

apparently

did

not

come

about until

the

founding

of

the new

and

much

larger

capital

at

Monte

Alban.

Within

a

hundred

years

or so

of

500 B.C.

entirely

new

demands

were

placed

on

the

valley's

economy.

The

most

salient

difficulty

was

the

provisioning

of

roughly

5,000

people

at

Monte

Alban.

How

was

that

accomplished?

In

the

rural

area,

what

might

account for

the

universal

increase in

population

and

the

emergence

of

larger

towns

as

well

as

villages

and

hamlets?

The

means

by

which

half

the

valley's

population

was

sustained on

a

mountaintop

and

the

reasons

why

the

population

was

distributed

the

way

it

was

are

the

themes of

this

article.

The

emphasis

is

on

the

possible

relation-

ships

between

agricultural

productivity

and

population

distribution.

Stephen

A.

Kowalewski,

Department

of

Anthropology,

Baldwin

Hall,

University of

Georgia,

Athens,

GA

30602

Stephen

A.

Kowalewski,

Department

of

Anthropology,

Baldwin

Hall,

University of

Georgia,

Athens,

GA

30602

15151

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