Project objectivesThe Cerro Jazmin project integrates archaeological and geomorphological methods to map and study the site of Cerro Jazmin, a first-tier Prehispanic urban center in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico. The project seeks to expand our understanding of urbanism and how Prehispanic urban centers functioned and impacted their surrounding landscape.
Cerro Jazmin
Human occupation at Cerro Jazmin began in the Early Ramos period (300-100 BC) when the settlement was established on the hilltop. At this point Cerro Jazmin was one of many early urban centers that were established across the Oaxaca highlands, including Monte Alban. It is unclear whether Cerro Jazmin's occupation continued into the Late Ramos period (100 BC-AD 200) or if the center reflected a regionally identified pattern of reorganization and local abandonment, but by the Classic period the site had become reinvigorated again as it extended beyond the earlier occupation.
During the Classic period (AD 200-600) Cerro Jazmin covered about 2.29 square kilometers with an estimated population of about 17,000 people. The regional settlement data suggest that Cerro Jazmin was the capital of a Classic period state. Again, it is unclear whether the occupation continued into the Late Classic period (AD 600-800) or if the site reflected the greater re-organizational trends of the Mesoamerican Epiclassic. However, by the Postclassic period (AD 800-1521) Cerro Jazmin was one of the largest and most densely populated urban centers in Oaxaca. The site extended for about 5.8 square kilometers with more than half of this area covered by hundreds of agricultural and residential terraces that supported between 21,000 to 32,000 people.
The longevity of occupation at Cerro Jazmin suggests a pattern of urbanism capable of supporting a large population for centuries, no small feat even for modern urban standards. Thus, this project focuses on Cerro Jazmin as a valuable case study to investigate a long-lived and potentially sustainable pattern of highland urbanism.
The Mixteca Alta and Terraces
In the Mixteca Alta, urbanism developed early (around 300 BC) and independently, just as it did in neighboring regions of Central Mexico and the Valley of Oaxaca. However, in the Mixteca Alta, no single primate urban center ever dominated the entire sociopolitical landscape; instead, many polities developed and each was headed by hilltop city that had smaller satellite communities in their hinterlands. Cerro Jazmin was one of such cities.
In the Mixtec region urban centers 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 some researchers have posited that Mixtec urban centers served as centers of agricultural administration and production.
With this in mind this research project investigates:
- How were Mixtec urban centers structured?
- What functions did contour and lama-bordo terraces serve within the urban system?
- What impact did Mixtec urban centers and their terracing have on surrounding landscapes?
- Were Mixtec urban centers agrarian? Did Mixtec urban centers like Cerro Jazm’n function as centers of agricultural administration and production?
Phase one of the Cerro Jazmin Project
The first phase of the research project consists of fully mapping Cerro Jazmin, conducting an intensive systematic survey of the city, and a geomorphic survey of the surrounding area. The mapping project aims to record the entire extent and layout of the city while intensive archaeological survey is used to identify the various temporal and functional components of the site. A geomorphic survey of the surrounding area is used to 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.
2008 Season Results
Cerro Jazmin Maps
2008 Season photo gallery
Reporte técnico temporada 2008 (en español)
Project contributions to anthropology and Mesoamerican archaeology
This project seeks to 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 urban center in Oaxaca. It employs a landscape perspective and current methodologies, including GIS, to study the structure and terracing of Cerro Jazmin to learn about the siteÕs agricultural and urban function and its environmental impact on the surrounding landscape.
Project contributions to students of anthropology and the community
This project is currently providing research and training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students from US and Mexican institutions. The objective is to cultivate a new generation of researchers, to conduct solid research, and include underrepresented groups in the sciences. The project's efforts also support applied archaeology efforts to educate the public about archaeology and cultural resource management, especially resources in danger of looting and erosion, such as Cerro Jazmin. The project director, Veronica Perez Rodriguez (CV) is currently working with the community and authorities of Santa Maria Tiltepec to devise a culturally appropriate and effective plan to protect Cerro Jazmin.
Relevance of this project to the Mixtec people today
The Mixteca Alta is losing agricultural soils and people as farmers seek better opportunities elsewhere. The region presents special challenges to farming due to erosion and the constant risk of frost. The archaeological record shows that despite environmental challenges, Prehispanic communities thrived for millennia. Archaeology is strategically poised to make a broader contribution to current socio-natural studies and debates pertaining to sustainability and the environmental impacts of human action and urbanism. The significance of the proposed study is that it begins to investigate: what urban strategies did the ancient Mixtec follow to grow food for dense urban populations in what appears to be a challenging environment? Any efforts directed towards answering this question will produce information that will be of great interest to scholars and Mixtec communities trying to make a living from agriculture in the region today.
