Mixtec culture
Religion | Mixtec religion |
---|---|
Geographical range | Present day Mexico
|
Period | 1500 BC |
Dates | 1500 BC - 1523 AD |
The Mixtec culture (also called the Mixtec civilization) was a
The chronology of the Mixtec culture is one of the longest in Mesoamerica, due to its continuity and antiquity. It began as a result of the cultural diversification of the Otomanguean language speaking people in the area of Oaxaca. The Mixtecs shared numerous cultural traits with their Zapotec neighbors. In fact, both populations call themselves "people of the rain or of the cloud". The divergent evolution of the Mixtecs and Zapotecs, favored by the ecological environment, encouraged urban concentration in the cities of San José Mogote and Monte Albán, while in the valleys of the Sierra Mixteca the urbanization followed a pattern of smaller human concentrations in numerous towns. Relations between Mixtecs and Zapotecs were constant during the Preclassic, when the Mixtecs were also definitively incorporated into the network of Pan-Mesoamerican relations. Some Mixtec products are among the luxury objects found in the Olmec heartland.
During the Preclassic Mesoamerican period, the prime of Teotihuacán and Monte Albán stimulated the flourishing of the ñuiñe region (Lowland Mixteca). In cities such as Cerro de las Minas, stelae have been found that show a style of writing that combines elements of Monte Albán and Teotihuacán writing. The Zapotec influence can be seen in the numerous urns found in the sites of the Lowland Mixteca, which almost always represent the Old God of Fire. In the same context, the Highland Mixteca witnessed the collapse of Yucunundahua (Huamelulpan) and the balkanization of the area. The concentration of power in Ñuiñe was the cause of conflicts between the cities of the region and the states of the Highland Mixteca, which explains the fortification of the Ñuiñe cities. The decline of the Ñuiñe culture coincided with that of Teotihuacan and Monte Albán. At the end of the Mesoamerican Classic (c. 7th and 8th) many elements of the classic culture of the Lowland Mixteca became obsolete and were forgotten.
The conditions that allowed the flourishing of the Mixtec culture took place from the 13th century onwards. Ocho Venado's political temperament led him to consolidate the Mixtec presence in La Costa. There he founded the kingdom of Tututepec (Yucudzáa) and later undertook a military campaign to unify numerous states under his power, including important sites as Tilantongo (Ñuu Tnoo Huahi Andehui). This would not have been possible without the alliance with Cuatro Jaguar, a lord of Nahua-Toltec affiliation who ruled Ñuu Cohyo (Tollan-Chollollan). The reign of Ocho Venado ended with his assassination at the hands of the son of a noblewoman who in turn had been assassinated earlier by Ocho Venado himself.
Throughout the Postclassic period, the network of dynastic alliances between the Mixtec and Zapotec states intensified, although paradoxically the rivalry between the two populations increased. However, they acted together to defend themselves from Mexica incursions. Mexico-Tenochtitlan and its allies would win over powerful states such as Coixtlahuaca (Yodzo Coo), which was incorporated as a tributary province of the Aztec Empire. However, Yucudzáa (Tututepec) maintained its independence and helped the Zapotecs resist in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. When the Spaniards arrived in La Mixteca, many lords voluntarily submitted as vassals of Spain and retained some privileges. Other lordships tried to resist but were militarily defeated.
La Mixteca
The historical territory of the Mixtecs is located in southern Mexico. With an area of more than 40,000 km2, La Mixteca, as it is known today, occupies the south of Puebla, the east of Guerrero, and the west of Oaxaca. La Mixteca was called Mixtecapan by the Mexica, which in Nahuatl means Country of the Mixtecs. In the ancient Mixtec language, the country was called Ñuu Dzahui, which Janssen and Pérez Jiménez translate as Country of the caneliata.[1]
The Mixtecs never formed a political unit that integrated all the villages occupied by members of that people, although the largest political unit known to that pre-Columbian nation was formed under the government of
The Highland Mixteca is the area occupied by the intermontane valleys of Tlaxiaco, Nochixtlán, Putla and Coixtlahuaca, nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Mixteca, an extremely mountainous area that is the point where the Sierra Madre del Sur and the Neovolcanic Axis meet. The climate in this region ranges from temperate to cold, and is relatively more humid than in the rest of the Mixtecs. Several rivers originate in the Highland Mixteca and are tributaries of important watersheds such as the Balsas and Atoyac rivers.
To the north of the Highland Mixteca is the Lowland Mixteca, which includes several municipalities in northwestern Oaxaca and southern
Geographic location
The region where the Mixtec civilization settled is known as the Mixtec region. There are three zones that form the Mixtec region:
- Lowland Mixteca: northwestern part of the state of Oaxaca and southeastern part of the state of Puebla.
- Highland Mixteca: northwest of the state of Guerrero and west of Oaxaca.
- Coastal Mixteca: corresponds to the Costa Chica, which is divided between the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.
The mythical origin of the Mixtecs
Mixtec mythology shares many elements with the rest of Mesoamerican traditions. As in the case of the
Legend has it that one of the four sons of the primordial couple made a hole in a tree that was in the clouds and copulated with it. This character is identified with the calendrical name Nueve Viento, one of the names of the Feathered Serpent. In this way, the tree gave birth soon after. From it was born a man who would challenge the sun, lord of La Mixteca, in a duel to death. The myth of the Arrowman of the Sun relates that this character shot his arrows against the star, while the sun fought him with its rays. They did this until sunset, when the sun fell mortally wounded (and this would be the explanation for the flesh-colored color of the sunsets) and hid behind the mountains.[7] As the Arrower of the Sun feared that the star would be reborn and reclaim his ancient lands, he brought the people and made them settle on the land he had won, and hastened them to cultivate the corn milpas that very night. So, when the Sun was reborn the next day, nothing could be done thus the Mixtecs became owners of the region by divine and military right.
According to their mythology, the Mixtecs were descendants of the sons of the Apoala tree. One of these sons defeated the Sun and won the land for the Mixtec people. The main deity of the Mixtecs in pre-Hispanic times was Dzahui, god of rain and patron of the Mixtec nation. Another divinity of great importance was Nueve Viento-Coo Dzahui, civilizing hero who gave them the knowledge of agriculture and civilization.
History
The Mixtecs are one of the oldest populations of
The history of the Mixtec in the Preclassic and Classic periods is little known, especially in relation to other contemporary Mesoamerican populations or to the period of flourishing of La Mixteca, corresponding to the Postclassic. At that time emerged the expansionism of Tututepec, a city founded by Ocho Venado that came to dominate a large territory between Coastal Mixteca and Highland Mixteca, while establishing a series of alliances with some states of central Mesoamerica. Except for isolated cases, such as Tututepec, most of La Mixteca was occupied peacefully by the Spaniards from the second decade of the 16th century.
Preclassic Period
In La Mixteca, the first sedentary populations began to appear from the 16th century BC onwards. This stage in the history of the Mixtec people corresponds to the Cruz phase in Highland Mixteca, the Pre-Ñudée and Ñudée phases in Lowland Mixteca and the Charco phase on the Coast. The development of these early agricultural villages in the region was contemporary to what was occurring in other areas of Mesoamerica, such as central Mexico, the Central Valleys of Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast of Mexico. However, the Mixtec communities of the Formative period never reached the dimensions of the protourban populations of the Central Valleys, such as San José Mogote and Monte Albán. The settlement pattern of the Mixtecs in those years consisted of small communities dedicated to incipient agriculture, although there is evidence of their incorporation into the international exchange network of Mesoamerica.
An example of this link to other Mesoamerican societies is the influence of the Olmec style in the ceramics of Highland Mixteca. In sites such as
Towards the end of the Middle Preclassic — a period in which Mesoamerica saw the flourishing of the Olmec style, which was widely spread in the area — some towns began to appear in Highland Mixteca that were home to thousands of people in their heyday. Among them were Monte Negro and Huamelulpan, the former located near Tilantongo, which several hundred years later would become the head of one of the most powerful Mixtec states; and the latter, in the area of Tlaxiaco. On the other hand, in Lowland Mixteca, the population of Cerro de las Minas began to flourish in the valley of the Mixteco River. In this period, which spans approximately from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD, Mixtec societies were undergoing a process of social differentiation that is reflected in the appearance of some public buildings in towns such as Yucuita, Etlatongo, Tayata and Huamelulpan in Highland Mixteca; and Cerro de las Minas and Huajuapan in Lowland Mixteca. The increasingly defined stratification of the Mixtec populations of this period is a reflection of the process that gave way to the foundation of the first states in the area based on chiefdom societies. The political structure at the end of the Late Cruz phase in Highland Mixteca was made up of a series of states that dominated small territories where numerous hierarchically organized populations existed. The hierarchy of the populations has been observed in the amount of architectural monuments that each locality housed, which has allowed inferring the type of relationships that existed between the center of regional relevance and the second line towns. A well-known case is that of Huamelulpan, whose rapid growth relegated Tayata — which was one of the largest Mixtec towns of the Middle Preclassic — to a second position, causing population contraction and the cessation of architectural works in Tayata around the 3rd century BC.[10]
The urban revolution in La Mixteca was contemporary with the process that led to the formation of the Zapotec state headed by
Classic Period
In the Mixtec culture, the Classic Period covers approximately the period between the 1st and 8th/9th centuries, with some variations according to the local history of each cultural area. Throughout Mesoamerica, cities of considerable dimensions and populations appear, with a clear specialization in the use of space and a social differentiation that is reflected in the diverse characteristics of the remains of the constructions. The Teotihuacan cultural influence is felt throughout the region, although only in some localities has the political and military domination of this metropolis been proven. The commercial ties became stronger between the different towns, already specialized in the production of certain goods for subsistence and sumptuary use.[12]
As with the Preclassic period, the history of the Mixtec people in this phase of urbanization and the emergence of large states in Mesoamerica is little known. The Classic period in La Mixteca is marked by a process of substitution of the centers of political power throughout the region. Some characteristics of the Preclassic Mixtec states were inherited by their successors, among them the fragmentation of control over the territory among numerous hierarchically organized populations. In Highland Mixteca, Yucuita was replaced by Yucuñudahui as the seat of political power in the Nochixtlán valley; in other areas of Highland Mixteca, such as the Huamelulpan valley, this replacement did not occur, and Huamelulpan, which was one of the main towns during the Late Ramos phase, collapsed and lost an important part of its population, although the occupation of the city was continuous until the Postclassic. Throughout Highland Mixteca, population density increased, which led to the appearance of new urban localities in the valleys and mountains of the area. Among these are Monte Negro, Diquiyú, Cerro Jazmín in the center; and the Poblano river basin in the valley of Coixtlahuaca.[13]
Although during the Preclassic period the urbanization process in La Mixteca and Los Valles had similar characteristics, for the Classic period the situation is different. Some works want to see in Yucuñudahui a Mixtec counterpart of Monte Albán.[14] However, unlike the Zapotec society, with a single capital in Monte Albán, the Mixtecs were organized in small city-states that rarely exceeded twelve thousand inhabitants. According to Spores, Yucuñudahui was only one of many states that had their headquarters in the valley of Nochixtlán.[15] On the other hand, in some cases the population density in La Mixteca was higher than in the valleys, as shown by the study of settlement patterns in Highland Mixteca.[16] During the Mixtec Classic period, there were signs of a clearly stratified society and the characteristic features of the Mixtec religion were consolidated, among them, the cult of rain and lightning, condensed in the divinization of Dzahui.
On the other hand, a cultural complex with its own characteristics appeared in Lowland Mixteca, which spread throughout that area and the eastern part of the current state of Guerrero. The main center of this culture — which Paddock called ñuiñe to differentiate it from the Mixtec culture[17] — was Cerro de las Minas (to the north of Huajuapan de León), a population whose beginnings date back to the Late Preclassic, but whose flourishing occurred from the second century of the Christian era. Cerro de las Minas has urban characteristics similar to the cities of Highland Mixteca. It was built around a group of several small plazas around which the rest of the population was distributed — and this is one of the differences of Mixtec urbanism in comparison with other Mesoamerican towns whose cities were organized around a single large main plaza. The space on which it was built was modified by the construction of terraces, called coo yuu (lama-bordo), so the city has numerous stairways. Cerro de las Minas was embellished with numerous reliefs containing inscriptions in a writing system that is little known to date, called ñuiñe. The similarities between these inscriptions and those on the Zapotec stelae of Monte Albán suggest a very strong relationship between Los Valles and Lowland Mixteca during the Classic.
Other sites where vestiges of the ñuiñe culture have been found in Lowland Mixteca are San Pedro and San Pablo Tequixtepec, the Tonalá cave and the Colossal Bridge in Oaxaca; Acatlán de Osorio, Hermengildo Galeana and San Pablo Anicano (Puebla);[18] and in numerous sites in La Montaña de Guerrero, such as Copanatoyac, Malinaltepec, Zoyatlán, Metlatónoc and Huamuxtitlán.[19] In many cases they are ceramic samples with similar characteristics to those produced in Cerro de las Minas: fragments of vessels with little or no decoration, made with a brownish orange paste whose composition is similar to the Anaranjado Delgado pottery produced in Ixcaquixtla (Puebla), on the northern border of Lowland Mixteca. Other characteristic elements of the ñuiñe culture are the so-called colossal heads, small stone sculptures representing anthropomorphic heads — some of which are objects of worship by the indigenous communities of La Mixteca guerrerense; as well as certain urns representing the god of fire and a local version of Dzahui, whose characteristics were similar to the contemporary effigies of Pitao Cocijo produced by the Zapotecs of Los Valles.
During the Classic period, Lowland Mixteca was the seat of the main political centers of La Mixteca. The relay of Highland Mixteca states seems to have involved a series of events that destabilized the region politically, so that one of the main characteristics of the cities in Ñuiñe is their location in strategic points that facilitated their defense. In the same way that Huamelulpan and its satellites during the Late Preclassic;[20] Cerro de las Minas, Diquiyú and other cities of Lowland Mixteca had fortifications and their administrative and religious buildings were built on the slopes of the hills, while the habitable areas were built in areas of relatively easier access.[21] The war in Lowland Mixteca during the Classic period could have been caused not only by the competition between the states of the region, it is also probable that the rivalry with the Zapotecs of Los Valles was the cause of conflicts in the area. It is to be noted that the warlike activity could also have been related to the ritualism of human sacrifices and the ballgame.[22]
Towards the 7th century of the Christian era, most of the Mesoamerican towns faced serious crises that led to the decline of several of the most powerful states, among them Teotihuacan and Monte Alban. The Mixtec states also faced these widespread upheavals. In the Lowland Mixteca, the ñuiñe culture disappeared towards the end of the Classic period and several of the most important cities were partially or completely abandoned, both in the Lowland Mixteca and in the Highland Mixteca. However, there were not few cities such as Cerro Jazmín and Tilantongo that had a continuous occupation in the Classic and Postclassic transition.
Postclassic Period
The Postclassic is by far the best known period of pre-Hispanic Mixtec history, thanks to the preservation of oral history in colonial documents, but also to the codex that survived the destruction and the time after the arrival of the Spaniards in La Mixteca. In Mesoamerica, the Postclassic is marked by the flourishing of militaristic states. This does not mean that the societies of the previous stages had ignored the war, because the city-states of La Mixteca were protected by walls since the first millennium before the Christian era. What happens is that in this period, military activity seems to have taken on greater importance, as evidenced by the proliferation of paraphernalia associated with war and the cult of warrior deities throughout the region.[23]
By the end of the eighth century, the ñuiñe style was beginning to decline in Lowland Mixteca, until it was gradually supplanted by the iconographic style of the Mixtec codex. The appearance of a new artistic style, accompanied by other cultural changes, such as the deep-rooted veneration of the Feathered Serpent and the construction of interethnic alliances, is not exclusive to the Mixtecs of the Early Postclassic period and has its antecedents in the political and social changes of the end of the Classic period in central Mexico.[24] Throughout La Mixteca the population began to increase dramatically, although the most important demographic changes took place in Highland Mixteca. According to archaeological research, in Highland Mixteca the number of localities corresponding to the Natividad phase (10th-16th century A.D.) doubled with respect to those existing in the previous phase, that is, the Las Flores phase. In the same way, the area occupied by these localities increased significantly, reaching 10,450 hectares of urban area.[25] These populations were organized in small states hostile to each other, each headed by a city of first importance that ruled over other settlements subject to its authority. The construction of a hierarchical structure in the relations between the head towns of the Mixtec lordships (called ñuu) and their satellites (called siqui) is constant in Mixtec history, although in this period it is accentuated due to the increase in population and the political strategies of the ruling elites.[26]
From the Postclassic onwards, the Mixtecs had more extensive contacts with other populations of what is now
Colonization of the Costa Region
Since the Preclassic,
The massive movement of the Mixtecs to the towns of La Costa caused a change in the power relations in these communities. The Zapotec towns, like the Chatinos, came under the political domination of the Mixtec elites. The Mixtec chiefdoms of La Costa had, for this reason, a multi-ethnic population, as in the case of Tututepec. Although this locality was occupied before the Postclassic period, it shows signs of a spectacular demographic growth between the 9th and 10 centuries, related precisely to the Mixtec migration from the highlands.[30] From the 11 century, Tututepec would play a fundamental role in the Mixtec history, being the first seat of Ocho Venado, a Mixtec lord who would dominate a territory of more than 40,000 square kilometers after unifying numerous hostile states, defeating them militarily and establishing political alliances with them.
Ocho Venado Chiefdom
The political fragmentation of the Mixtec people in pre-Hispanic times was a constant that transcended the centuries. However, between the 11th and 12th centuries CE, numerous lordships in the three Mixtecs formed a unit under the rule of Ocho Venado-Garra de Jaguar (in Mixtec, Iya Naacua Teyusi Ñaña; Tilantongo, 1063-1115). This character is fundamental in the postclassic history of Mesoamerica, not only for the power he acquired in La Mixteca, but also for the relations he established with other populations, especially with the Nahua people of central Mexico.
Ocho Venado was born of the second marriage of Cinco Lagarto-Dzahui Ndicahndíí, priest of the Temple of Heaven that was located in Tilantongo (in Mixtec, Ñuu Tnoo Huahi Andehui). He was, therefore, outside the line of succession to the throne of the lordship of Tilantongo. Thanks to the prestige obtained in military campaigns — according to Codex Nuttall, the first of them occurred in 1071, when Ocho Venado was eight years old — Ocho Venado occupied in 1083 the throne of Tututepec (in Mixtec: Yucudzáa), in the valley of the lower Verde River, near the Pacific coast.[31] Later, Ocho Venado sealed an alliance with the Toltecs, from whom he received the rank of tecuhtli in Ñuu Cohyo.[32] On the 13 Lizard day of the 7 House year (1097), Ocho Venado met with Cuatro Jaguar who was an important ally in his rise to power.
The alliance between Ocho Venado and Cuatro Jaguar helped legitimize Ocho Venado's rise to the throne of Tilantongo after the death of lord Dos Lluvia, the local cacique. To avoid the probable claims of Dos Lluvia's descendants, Ocho Venado eliminated them all and became the sole heir to the lordship. The conquest of Lugar del Bulto de Xipe, where a branch of the royal lineage of Tilantongo was located, was of special importance. In Lugar del Bulto de Xipe ruled Once Viento-Jaguar Sangriento, married to Seis Lagartija-Abanico de Jade (half-sister of Ocho Venado) and Seis Mono-Quexquémitl de Guerra (heir to the throne of Jaltepec).[33] On the 12 Monkey day of the 11 House year (1101), Ocho Venado defeated the defenders of Lugar del Bulto de Xipe. It is unknown how Seis Mono and Once Viento died. Their sons Diez Perro-Águila de Tabaco Ardiendo and Seis Casa-Sarta de Pedernales were sacrificed, the former by gladiatorial sacrifice and the latter by ritual arrowing. In this way, Ocho Venado added the important lordships of Jaltepec and Lugar del Bulto de Xipe to the territories under his dominion.
During his reign in Tilantongo, Ocho Venado managed to conquer around one hundred Mixtec lordships. In addition, he established an important network of alliances through his marriages. Among others, his wives were the ladies Trece Serpiente-Serpiente de Flores, daughter of the first marriage of Once Viento of Lugar del Bulge de Xipe (13 cane year, 1103); Seis Águila-Jaguar Telaraña and Diez Zopilote-Quexquémitl de Conchas. His first son was born in the year 6 house (1109) of his marriage with Seis Águila and was heir to the throne of Tilantongo. Ocho Venado died sacrificed in 1115, after being defeated by a coalition of rebel lords that were under his dominion. The rebel alliance was led by Cuatro viento, the only son of Once Viento and Seis Mono who had escaped death after the fall of Lugar del Bulto de Xipe. Ocho Venado's remains were probably deposited in the royal grotto of Chalcatongo. At his death, the Mixtec kingdom dissolved into numerous states, ending the only period of political unity in the pre-Hispanic history of the region.[34]
Mexica Conquest
Upon the death of Ocho Venado, his sons inherited some of the most important lordships that were part of the kingdom under the rule of Tilantongo. In other Mixtec cities, the old local elites regained their power. The reestablishment of the old system of political organization in small states implied the revival of conflicts between some of them or the establishment of alliances or confederations. By this time, La Mixteca — and especially Highland Mixteca — was one of the most prosperous regions of Mesoamerica. It exported luxury goods to other regions, such as polychrome ceramics, featherwork, goldsmithing, rock crystal, bone, and wood carvings, as well as livelihood assets typical of tropical regions and temperate climate zones.[35]
La Mixteca is strategically located between the central part of Mexico and the Mesoamerican southeast, so that in the time of expansionism of the
Spanish Conquest
The arrival of the Spaniards on the coast of Veracruz in 1519 provoked different types of reactions. Several populations saw the Spaniards as an opportunity for liberation, among them the Zempoaltecs and the Tlaxcaltecs. After the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521, the Spaniards and their indigenous allies concentrated their attacks on other populations such as the Mixtecs. But unlike what happened in central Mexico, most of the Mixtecs established agreements with the Spaniards, giving rise to a process of mutual cultural adaptation that in turn allowed the Mixtecs to retain many of their traditions and customs, such as their language, commercial practices, agricultural methods, etc. Only some parts of La Mixteca militarily resisted the Spanish conquest, as in the case of Tututepec.
Society
Kinship system
According to the available data, they have stated that in the Postclassic, the Mixtecs had a Hawaiian-type
Social classes
During pre-Hispanic times, Mixtec society was characterized by its high hierarchy. However, differences did not appear spontaneously. The process of stratification was parallel to the development of Mixtec society. The strata of Mixtec society have their origin in the sedentism of this people and were influenced by the political, historical, economic and cultural processes that took place in La Mixteca since the 16th century B.C. At the beginning, Mixtec populations had an incipient stratification. The remains of the Late and Middle Preclassic populations do not present great differences when comparing some dwellings with others, and the use of the constructions of these settlements does not seem to be too specialized. The goods available to the Mixtecs in those centuries seem to have been limited, and there is no evidence to clearly distinguish the living areas of the elite from the rest of the population, although it is possible to admit the existence of a gradation in the levels of welfare among the inhabitants of the same locality.
The transition to the Classic marks the development of full urban life in this region and in most of Mesoamerica. The consolidation of state organizations in La Mixteca implied a process of greater differentiation that tended to be legitimized through the use of ideology and alliances at the elite level with the purpose of reproducing the inequalities between the strata of society. The emergence of the ñuiñe style in Lowland Mixteca — the most prosperous area of La Mixteca in the Classic period — is a sign of the will of the ruling groups to make clear the differences between themselves and the rest of the people.[37] Colonial Spanish chronicles speak of numerous strata of Mixtec society, however, all of them can be reduced to the following major groups:[38]
- yya is the title given to the lord of each Mixtec chiefdom;
- dzayya yya was the group constituted by the Mixtec nobility, they were the same category as the king;
- tay ñuu, the free people;
- tay situndayu, terrazgueros;
- tay sinoquachi and dahasaha, servants and slaves respectively.
In general, there was not much chance of moving up the social ladder. Marriages between dzayya yya implied that this group would always retain their privileged position and inherit it to their descendants. The nobles of different Mixtec villages practiced endogamy, which also generated a complicated network of alliances at the elite level that served as a means of reproducing social inequality as well as maintaining order in the region. The free people, the tay ñuu, owned themselves and the product of their work on the land, which was communally owned. The terrazgueros, on the other hand, were people who, because of the war, had lost the power over the product of their work and had to pay tribute to the nobles. The last groups in the social scale of the Mixtecs had fewer rights than the others and their lives could be disposed of by the nobility for whatever purpose was necessary.
Political organization
One of the most accentuated characteristics of the political system of the pre-Columbian Mixtecs was the fragmentation into numerous states that dominated small territories and that on several occasions were in conflict with each other. From the Middle Preclassic a hierarchical structure appears among the populations that were part of the same state. The place that each community occupied in this structure is manifested in the number of monumental constructions that each one of them possessed. On the other hand, the power of each small city or town was not static, but was in constant play in the face of competition between the different population centers. Thus, it can be understood that in the transition from the Preclassic to the Classic, some populations ceded their privileged position to others, as happened with Yucuita, replaced by Yucuñudahui.
The ñuu (in Mixtec: people, community) were the primary unit of political relations among the Postclassic Mixtecs. A ñuu could or could not be the head of a state. The political life of the Mixtec states unfolded in a network known as yuhuitayu (the seat, petate). This political unit consisted of the dynastic union of two local lineages through the marriage of a yya toniñe (noble lord) and a yya dzehe toniñe (noble lady).
Militarism
The Mixtecs developed their own arts of war, invented their own weapons and carried out their own conquests, as well as defended their territories from any invaders.[40] Their conflicts and alliances were mainly between Mixtec cities and Zapotec towns. The most prominent hero in Mixtec history was Ocho Venado, ruler of Tututepec and conqueror; his exploits are recounted in the Codex Nuttal.
The codex give us a glimpse of the weapons and uniforms used by the Mixtecs.
- Long-range attack weapons: Among the long distance attack weapons used by the Mixtecs were the typical bows and arrows, whose tips must have been made of atlatlwas also present, a common weapon throughout Mesoamerica.
- Close-range attack weapons: Among the melee weapons, the Mixtecs fought with a variety of clubs and spears, some similar to the Mexica tepoztopilli, but smaller. A weapon that appears frequently in the codex is striking; it is a wooden stick bent at a 90° angle, with stone blades (whether flint, flint or obsidian) on top; this weapon seems to have been representative of the Mixtec and Zapotec area.
- Military clothing: Warriors are depicted in the codex wearing zoomorphic costumes, from jaguar skins, to eagle-headed helmets, to deer skins. Zoomorphic uniforms were common in Mesoamerica, the most representative examples being the Mexica orders of eagle and jaguar warriors.
-
Mixtec warrior throwing darts with an atlatl. Codex Colombino. Page 1.
-
A Mixtec warrior wearing a jaguar skin and a helmet in the shape of a bald eagle's head. Codex Selden, p. 17.
-
Mixtec archer disguised as a deer, as shown in Codex Bodley.
-
A ruler is executed by a priest of Xipe-totec. Codex Nuttal.
Economic activities
Economy
Like the rest of the populations of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the subsistence of the Mixtecs was based on
One of the major problems faced by the Mixtecs in pre-Columbian times was the abrupt relief of La Mixteca and the scarcity of water in the region. Agriculture offered better yields in the intermontane valleys of Highland Mixteca, at least in comparison with the warmer and drier Lowland Mixteca and Coastal Mixteca. Evidence of artificial terraces have been found on the mountain slopes surrounding valleys such as Tlaxiaco. The purpose of the terraces was to increase the scarce arable land by intentionally flattening the slopes, as well as to make better use of the available water. On the other hand, alternative crops, such as pitayo, were developed in the drier areas.[43]
The rugged geography of La Mixteca forced its inhabitants to develop a set of technologies that allowed for profitable agriculture. On the slopes of the Mixtec mountains they built
Supplementary activities
A very small number of animal species were domesticated in Mesoamerica. The guajolote (
The basis of the economy of all Mesoamerican populations was agriculture. The Mixtecs, like the rest of the Mesoamerican populations, resorted to
The inhabitants of La Mixteca were incorporated into the vast Mesoamerican trade network. In addition to the fruits of agricultural labor and cochineal, the Mixtecs traded precious materials and manufactured goods. From very early dates, they were integrated as producers of minerals, among them magnetite. It has been proven that during the Middle Preclassic (12th-5th centuries BC), the Red pottery on Bayo de Tayata (Highland Mixteca) was a product of trade with the Olmecs of the Gulf Coast of Mexico.[47]