The proposed archaeological study at Cerro Jazmin, a first-tier urban center in the Mixteca Alta, Mexico, will increase our understanding of urbanism and how Prehispanic cities functioned. In the Mixteca Alta region, urbanism developed early (about 300 BC) and independently, just as it did in neighboring Central Mexico and the Valley of Oaxaca. In this region, no single urban center dominated the sociopolitical landscape; instead, polities were headed by hilltop cities that had smaller satellite communities in their hinterlands. Urban communities included complex systems of contour terraces (terraces following the natural contour of the slope) and lama-bordo terraces (check-dam terraces in adjoining drainages). Given the monumental investment in terracing, scholars have posited that Mixtec cities were centers of agricultural administration and production. This research asks:
1. How were Mixtec urban centers structured? 2. What functions did contour and lama-bordo terraces serve within the urban system? 3. What impact did Mixtec urban centers and their terracing have on surrounding landscapes? 4. Were Mixtec urban centers agrarian? Did Mixtec urban centers like Cerro Jazmin function as centers of agricultural administration and production?
A two-phase research program is proposed. The work described here relates to Phase I.
Phase I: mapping, intensive survey, and surface collecting at Cerro Jazmin. Mapping will record the extent and layout of the site. Survey and surface collections will identify the various temporal and functional components of the site. A geomorphic survey of the surrounding area will record stratigraphic sequences and collect soil samples to identify and date geomorphic events that can be related to cultural periods of land use change, settlement expansion, and abandonment.
Phase II: stratigraphic, exploratory excavations, followed by extensive excavations to investigate the temporal extent and functional differences among different sectors of the site to obtain a holistic view of site structure through time (300 BC-AD 1521).
Intellectual merit. The project will contribute to Mesoamerican archaeology and theoretical debates on the nature of early urbanism and its environmental impacts by studying a regionally prominent yet understudied Prehispanic city. It employs a landscape perspective and cutting-edge technology to study the structure of Cerro Jazmin to learn about the site's agricultural function and its environmental impact on the surrounding landscape.
Broader impacts. This project will train graduate students from US and Mexican institutions, cultivate a new generation of researchers, foster international collaboration and synergies, and include underrepresented groups in the sciences. It will support efforts to educate the public about archaeology and cultural resource management, especially resources in danger of looting and erosion, like Cerro Jazmin.
In addition, the Mixtec environment presents special challenges to farming and is currently losing agricultural soils and people as farmers seek better opportunities elsewhere. Despite of this, the archaeological record shows that Prehispanic communities thrived for millennia. This study is significant in that it investigates: the urban strategies that the ancient Mixtec followed to feed dense populations in a challenging environment. The answer to this question will be of great importance to scholars and Mixtec communities trying to practice agriculture in the region today.
