preface
Without Dr. John Paddock, to whose memory this book is dedicated, the excavations at Lambityeco and this book never would have happened. In the summer of 1961, Paddock together with Dr. Charles Wicke initiated excavations in Mound 195 at Lambityeco as directors of an archaeological field school project for Mexico City College, later to become the University of the Americas. The students participating in the field school included Peggy Baird, William Bittler, Camilla Blaffer, John Carr, Emily Rabin, Marie Steadman, Ed Traverso, Natalie Turcotte, and Starr Warner. For a few days during the summer Dr. Eduardo Noguera visited the site and together with a few students excavated a stratigraphic test pit in Mound 190, ten meters directly south of Mound 195.
In 1967, Paddock obtained funding to establish the Instituto de Estudios Oaxaqueños, which he directed until his death in 1998. His first concern was to finish the Lambityeco excavations and to this end he invited a second University of the Americas archaeological field school project, directed by Dr. Evelyn Rattray and Dr. Dan Wolfman, to continue excavations in Mound 195 from January to March of 1967. Students participating in this field school included Hugh G. “Sam” Ball, Halina Cesarman, Peter Goodwin, Bob Hohl, Joe Mogor, Paul Morrissey, Emily Rabin, Kathy Ritchie, Robin Russell, and Janet Long de Solís.
Beginning in the summer of 1967, Paddock decided to continue excavations in Mound 195 and Mound 190 on a more or less fulltime basis with a field director and his assistants carrying out the day-to-day operations in conjunction with a crew of Zapotecs from Tlacolula headed by Don Nicolás Antonio and his son, Pedro. Michael Lind was chosen to be the first field director and served from June 1967 until May 1968. During the summer of 1967 he was assisted by William Bittler and Frank Harrah and, from January to May 1968, he was assisted by Joe Mogor. Mogor served as field director from May 1968 until November 1969. He was assisted at various times by Hugh G. “Sam” Ball, Richard Crane, Ned Madonia, and Robin Russell. Mogor and Lind also worked together during July and August 1969.
Dr. Dave Peterson served as field director from November 1969 to September 1972. He was assisted at various times by Victoria Bach, Hugh G. “Sam” Ball, Richard Crane, Judy DiMaio, Steve Kowalewski, Ned Madonia, Steve Rasnik, Robin Russell, Sara Stebbins, George Thomas, and Marcia Truell. Peterson and Lind worked together from June to December 1971. David Potter served as field director from July to November 1973 and during April 1974 and was assisted by John Carroll, William Fowler, and Bob Long. All of the individuals listed above contributed to the excavations and analysis of materials from Mound 195 and Mound 190 at Lambityeco and provided the data upon which this study is based. All, except the field school students, were also financially supported by Paddock’s successful efforts to obtain funding from anonymous private donors to keep the excavations going. We especially thank those anonymous private donors whose funding made the excavations possible.
Excavation, of course, is only one part of any archaeological study that requires analysis for its completion. During the 1979–1980 school year, Lind received a sabbatical from Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, California, which permitted him to focus on analysis of materials from Lambityeco for half of the year. During this time, the architectural analysis of the sequence of structures in Mound 195 was carried out with considerable assistance from the late Dr. David Peterson. During 1983, Lind received a postdoctoral fellowship from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, which allowed him to complete an analysis of the tomb and burial offerings and other features in and around Mound 195. Throughout this time, Paddock assisted Lind by covering the costs for the printing of photos from the excavation archives and reading and commenting on drafts of the manuscript.
The analysis of almost 100 sets of human remains and their archaeological context recovered in excavations at Lambityeco between 1961 and 1973 was conducted by Javier Urcid between October 1980 and January 1981 and during the summer of 1982, aided on both occasions by a grant from the Instituto de Estudios Oaxaqueños headed by Paddock. Subsequent analysis of inscribed materials from Lambityeco by Urcid in 1987 was feasible thanks to a grant from the Social Science Research Council, with funds provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Many people over a long period of time contributed to this study. The late Dr. David A. Peterson enthusiastically shared his broad knowledge of Lambityeco and much of the analysis would not have been possible without his help. Dr. Marcus Winter of the Centro Regional INAH–Oaxaca was always available through the years to discuss and share his incomparable knowledge of Oaxaca archaeology, which aided immensely in completing this work. Dr. Robert Markens read and commented on an earlier draft of this study and made many helpful suggestions. He and his wife, Cira Martínez, have shared a great deal of unpublished information and discussed many aspects of Lambityeco that were exceedingly helpful. Robert Markens, Marcus Winter, and Cira Martínez also contributed an appendix to this book regarding the first calibrated radiocarbon dates for the Late Classic and Postclassic periods in the Valley of Oaxaca, for which we are extremely grateful.
The late Howard Leigh was always willing to discuss his considerable knowledge of past and present Zapotec culture, including Lambityeco, and some of his observations have been included in this work. Dr. Steve Kowalewski was especially gracious in providing unpublished material from his survey of the valley and from studies he did at Lambityeco and took time to discuss this material without which sections of this study would not have been possible. Likewise, Dr. Gary Feinman and Dr. Laura Finsten provided valuable unpublished materials from their studies in the valley, which were very useful. The late Cecil Welte of the Oficina de Estudios de Humanidad del Valle de Oaxaca generously provided information on the Valley of Oaxaca and surrounding areas, and some of his excellent maps have been incorporated into this study. Very constructive criticisms from an anonymous reader benefited this study immensely. We are deeply grateful to Elbis Domínguez Covarrubias for the carefully crafted figures that accompany the study. Finally, we appreciate the efforts of Darrin Pratt, Laura Furney, Daniel Pratt, and the staff and board of the University Press of Colorado for their help in seeing this work through to its completion.
MICHAEL LIND, SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA
JAVIER URCID, WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS