Etlatongo is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

Oaxaca Oaxaca ( , also , , from nci, Huāxyacac ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Oaxaca), is one of the 32 states that compose the Federative Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 570 municipaliti ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. Situated in the Nochixtlán Valley within the

Mixteca Alta La Mixteca is a cultural, economic and political region in Western Oaxaca and neighboring portions of Puebla, Guerrero in south-central Mexico, which refers to the home of the Mixtec people. In their languages, the region is called either Ñuu Dja ...

, Etlatongo encompasses both a Formative Period site, located between two rivers, and a Classic/Post-classic site, on a hill to the north. Etlatongo experienced a sharp population growth beginning in roughly 1150

BCE Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

and lasting for 300 years. It was during this period that trade goods, including figurines, ceramics, and

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as silicon ...

, including artifacts identified with the Zapotecs,

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...

s, and the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico w ...

, enter the archaeological record. Studies of Etlatongo artifacts, including obsidian and pottery, indicate that Etlatongo participated in a wide-ranging trade network. Etlatongo continued to be occupied through the Post-classic period. In 2020, a ballcourt was discovered at Etlatongo, dating to 1374 BCE.

References

Bibliography

*Blomster, Jeffrey (2000), "Etlatongo (Oaxaca, Mexico)" in Evans, Susan, ''Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America'', Taylor & Francis. *Blomster, Jeffrey (2003), ''Etlatongo: Social Complexity, Interaction, and Village Life in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico'', Wadsworth Publishing, Case Studies in Archaeology Series. *Blomster, Jeffrey
"Diachronic and Synchronic Analyses of Obsidian Procurement in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca"Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI)
accessed February 2006. {{coord, 17, 26, 15, N, 97, 18, 0, W, display=title Mesoamerican sites Archaeological sites in Oaxaca

See also

References

Bibliography