Scholarship of ancient Mesoamerica has traditionally focused on ruling institutions and elite culture, contributing to the often-unchallenged assumption that elites dominated their unwitting commoner subjects. Similarly, the political economy is typically conceived of as an exclusive product of elite strategies. Researchers are now paying greater attention to commoner lives, yet many continue to think of social relationships dichotomously, in terms of elite domination and commoner resistance. I argue that an analysis of political economy through the lens of social negotiation, as informed by postructural theory, encourages more dynamic characterizations of commonerelite social relationships. I utilize this approach to examine the political economy of Late Postclassic Tututepec (Oaxaca), drawing on the results of household excavations and ethnohistoric data. I argue that commoners may have negotiated a favorable position with Tututepec elites by offering their support in return for a range of benefits, including a measure of economic autonomy and wealth. [household archaeology, Mixtec, Oaxaca, Postclassic, negotiation]ABSTRACTO Estudios de Mesoamérica antigua se han enfocado en las instituciones de gobernantes y cultura elitista. Esta mentalidad ha contribuido a la presunción que lasélites dominan a los sujetos inconscientemente.Típicamente se concibe la economía política como un producto exclusivo de estrategias de lasélites. Investigadores han empezado a prestar atención a la vida plebeya, pero muchos siguen pensando en relaciones sociales dicotómicamente, en términos de dominación elitista y resistencia plebeya. Sostengo que el análisis de economía política con una mirada de negociación social, inspirado en la teoría posestructuralista, promueve caracterizaciones más dinámicas en los relatos entre plebeyos y elites. Utilizo este método al examinar la economía política posclásica tardía de Tututepec basada en resultados de excavaciones de habitaciones e información etnohistórica. Sostengo que los plebeyos pudieron haber negociado una posición favorable con lasélites de Tututepec ofreciendo apoyo a cambio de beneficios, incluyendo medidas de autonomía económica y riqueza.

In this paper, we present a diachronic analysis of obsidian procurement patterns during the Postclassic period in the Lower Río Verde region of Oaxaca. The study is based on x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and visual analysis of obsidian artifacts from excavated household contexts at Early Postclassic (a.d. 800-1100) Río Viejo and Late Postclassic (a.d. 1100-1522) Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa). We report the presence of at least six sources of obsidian imported to the lower Río Verde region in the Early Postclassic, whereas during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of the Late Postclassic, the local assemblage was dominated by obsidian from Pico de Orizaba and Pachuca. Changes in obsidian procurement patterns in the lower Río Verde region through time are interpreted in light of sociopolitical change at the local, regional, and macroregional scales. The study represents the most detailed analysis of Postclassic period obsidian exchange yet reported from Oaxaca.

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Map of the state of Oaxaca showing geographical regions and archaeological sites mentioned in the book.

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