Archaeological Survey in the Coastal Chontalpa de Oaxaca, México

Conclusion: Settlement Continuity and Chontal Identity

According to the surface finds and excavations, the Late Postclassic settlements of Huamelula and Astata (El Guapote) continued into the colonial period, when written sources describe them as Chontal communities. The documentation of dynastic indigenous local rule (cacicazgos) is complemented by a rich material culture at these sites. Both lines of evidence reflect a sociocultural and economic organization very similar to neighboring Mixtec and Zapotec cacicazgos (see Spores 1983; Lind 1999; Marcus and Flannery 1983; Whitecotton 1977). This similarity probably resulted from the close interaction of coastal communities with outside areas.

It is not yet clear if the people who created and used the Classic period civic-ceremonial centers at the Río Huamelula and associated artwork were Chontal speakers or not. So far, there is no evidence to reject this assumption. Monumental architecture, pottery, and stone sculpture seem to have been introduced into the Río Huamelula valley by the initial settlers. The traditional assumption that the Chontals immigrated around A.D. 700 (see Long 1974; Zárate 1995; Winter 1986) would fit this sequence. However, we need a more precise chronology that could confirm a continuous occupation at Huamelula from the Late Classic to the Late Postclassic period. If the two occupational phases were indeed separated by a phase of abandonment during the Early Postclassic, we may consider that Chontal immigrants reoccupied these sites that had been built by a society of a different ethno-linguistic affiliation.

The traditional stereotype of the Chontals of Oaxaca, in either case, cannot be accepted for the Late Postclassic period at the coast. The stereotype has to be understood in the specific historical context of the more isolated highland portion of the Chontalpa. There, conflicts with Zapotec communities, isolating topography and various frustrated attempts to bring the inhabitants under Spanish rule may have caused both unstable living conditions on the one hand, and pejorative stereotypes on the other. At the more accessible coast, however, Chontal communities were well connected to the pan-regional communication networks. In this context, the communities of the Río Huamelula not only participated in economic, political and ideological exchange throughout the prehispanic periods, but were also rapidly brought under Spanish rule.

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