Ceramic Microtypology and the Territorial Expansion of the Early Monte Albán State in Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

The Late and Terminal Formative (ca. 300 B.C. to A.D. 200) was the crucial period during which the early Monte Albán state came into being and began to extend its political influence over a wide area in what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. One of the most distinctive and frequent ceramic types of this period is the G.12, which is a grayware (gris) bowl with characteristic incising on the interior rim and base. Originally defined by Alfonso Caso, Ignacio Bernal, and Jorge Acosta based on their excavations at Monte Albán, the G.12 bowl has also been found at many other Oaxacan sites. The incised motifs on the interior bases of G.12 bowls show substantial variability, but researchers have been uncertain whether any portion of this variability shows chronological patterning. We present a new microtypology of G.12 bowls based on our recent excavations at three sites near SanMartín Tilcajete, some 27 km south of Monte Albán. Our analysis yields a finer-grained chronology that helps elucidate the step-by-step territorial expansion of the emergent Monte Albán state.