Bioarchaeology of the Lower Rio Verde, Oaxaca, Mexico
Dr. Arion Mayes, Associate Professor of Biological Anthropology and a director of the Biological Anthropology Laboratory, will discuss finding from two sites located on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Occupied from the Middle Formative to the Early Post-classic, Río Viejo is a 250-hectare site on the west bank of the Río Verde. It was an urban center and the political seat of a regional polity. Cerro de la Cruz is a small Late Formative site covering 1.5 hectares that is located in the floodplain. Suggestions that Cerro de la Cruz is an example of territorial expansion of Monte Alban, as well as the evidence against this, have been offered. While distant influences are evident on the skeleton and dentition, it does not appear to be in the form of violent conquest, supporting the archaeological evidence. Info: 858-538-0935.