Epi-Classic Cultural Dynamics in the Mezquital Valley

Social Interaction Throughout the Epi-Classic

In an interesting article, Ringle, Gallareta and Bey (1998) address the wide distribution of jade plaques in Mesoamerica as a reflection of the ideological dispersion of a religion connected with Quetzalcóatl. As opposed to these authors, the data and contexts examined in this work and their iconographic analysis, would suggest the expression of a different cult, related to the Mesoamerican complex of water and fertility, after one of its major examples: the feathered serpent. This aspect has been widely explored in a work we are now preparing (Solar, in preparation).

Finally, the possibility exists that the buried individuals were priests who presided such a religion, and that the jade plaques were a part of their peculiar costumes. The fact that, simultaneously, some status or political power was granted upon them, is also feasible (see pages 33-34, this volume). These individuals, while alive, might have arranged that some of their belongings were included in their votive offerings in ceremonies connected with the cult they represented, or that after their passing, these objects would accompany them as a testimony of their privileges. For the time being, we are interested in the fact that we can observe this expression not only in a city or a region, but throughout two thirds of the Mesoamerican territory.

In his excellent work about continuity as a common social denominator, John Paddock states: "[…] the Mesoamerican ’Classic’ did not ’decline’, it did not become ’extinct’ and was not followed by a ’Middle Age’ that anticipated the emergence of the ’Post Classic’ […] it was followed, directly and indirectly, by a Pan-Mesoamerican phase […]" (Paddock, 1987:26, see also Flannery and Marcus, 1983:183; L. Austin and L. Luján, 2000:23; Jiménez, 2001:4). This phenomenon is probably the result of an opening in the system of ideological communication and exchange that the decline of the Teotihuacán splendor gave way to. One obstacle for approaching such system is represented by the existing concept about Mesoamerica during the Epi-Classic, as a period very much full of tensions and permanent confrontations among human groups.

The rapprochement of ideological links and the social separation are arguments not only opposed to one another, but contradictory. This does not mean that being participants of an identical ideological tradition rules out the possibility of political confrontations, but it does mean that the communication required to express in a same way such an ideology would be diminished, should it exist a never ending and unsolvable intercultural conflict. How to explain ideological common schemes and the material manifestations thereof among societies in the process of mutual annihilation?: a "scenario designated by competition and the poor level of integration", an "unreliable environment", where the "poor resources" were being disputed, and where "political instability makes the military permeate all spheres of social life" (López Luján, 1995:262, see also Paredes, 1990:30, note 21; Sugiura 2001:347) and the populations are involved in "an endless struggle to maintain their autonomy in front of their ambitious neighbors" (Marcus, 2001:29), are some of the characteristics brought forward as descriptive of the Epi-Classic.

One cannot deny that in pre-hispanic times conflict between populations existed, but considering that the notion by which the difference between the Classic and Post Classic periods lay in the exclusively theocratic character of the first, and the exacerbated military character of the second,⁴³  has been ruled out, the Epi-Classic should neither be assumed as the period of hostilities some authors refer to (i.e. Pasztory, 1988;71; Hers, 1988:30-36: López Luján, 1995; Florescano, 1995:225-228; Ringle et al., 1998:185, 195; L. Austin and L. Luján, 2000; Marcus, 2001; Sugiura, 2001:347, 349, 385). In a situation like this, it is difficult to conceive that channels for such a close communication and integration like those reflected in the obtention, distribution and contextualization of the features examined here, could be maintained.

The presence of allochthonous materials has been an argument for those who favor political impositions, war invasions and conquests (i.e. Bernal, 1976:133), as if the only way that objects could travel was through the hands of their manufacturers, with no intermediaries and no sophisticated exchange systems: "[…] we mistakenly take a humble potter for an imperial army […] we create great empires to explain that which just a few traders may account for […]", are John Paddock’s words (1972b:251).

It is difficult to separate aspects that have been essentially articulated, such as politics, economy and religion were (Drennan, 1998). In Mesoamerica, trade was closely connected with all three, and we may even say it constituted precisely the core of such connections.

It would seem that the splendor of Epi-Classic sites was the result of a shift in the religious, political and economical significance of Teotihuacán, which was able to propitiate the restructuring (not the nullification) of the patterns of commerce and exchange, and give other centers the opportunity to participate in the economic network from a more favorable position (Senter, 1981:149; Flannery and Marcus, 1983:185; Ball and Taschek, 1989; Jiménez, 2001:2-3). Elsewhere we delve deep into some of the ways through which such societies interacted, as the cause and consequence of their immersion in an open system of communications, whose origin has more to do with the natural drive of human beings to participate in the global dynamics of a civilization, than with the existence of mere passive receptors (Solar, in preparation).

Close relationships among human groups have existed across the entire territory of Mesoamerica (geographically and temporarily speaking), and this system has not been a victim of drastic interruptions, like our chronological charts seem to show. The fact that Teotihuacán constituted an attractor during the Classic, was not enough to cause the extinction of such structure. We agree with Sanders that perhaps the most important heritage that Teotihuacán has left to the rest of Mesoamerica has been precisely the integration of the existing networks (Sanders, 1989:214; see also Willey and Phillips 1958, in Jiménez Moreno, 1959:1058; Jiménez, 1989:29-30; Jiménez and Darling, 1992:22). Such articulation between societies lasted all through the Epi-Classic (and not only at a local level, as has been suggested, see Sugiura, 1996:239; 2001:376), and maybe its complexity was even enhanced.

Precisely as a consequence of such non-confrontational expressions, the interaction between societies achieved a greater complexity, and in irregular and unpredictable ways, phenomena of a geographical scope never heard of before, began to insinuate.

Among the observations of the authors mentioned above, it results that even though there were several places where jade could be obtained, the physical production of the figurines we are interested in, took place towards the Pacific Coast, in the territory presently occupied by the States of Guerrero (southern portion), Oaxaca and Chiapas, in México, and Guatemala and El Salvador, in Central America. Through what distribution networks did these jade plaques arrive to the States of Querétaro and Hidalgo? And inversely, through what routes could turquoise be distributed as far north as the Yucatán Peninsula?

In the following section we shall sketch some of the networks through which these objects may have spread, with emphasis made on the northern portion of the Central Mesa. This region, whose role in the Mesoamerican dynamics has been underestimated, is crucial for going deep into the magnitude and scopes of this social system.

Like we shall see, as the scope of the analysis is reduced from a macro to a regional level, the connections frequently tend to involve a larger number of material elements.

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Endnotes

43. The definition of the Classic world as a theocracy has been introduced by Wigberto Jiménez, Pedro Armillas, Ángel Palerm, Ignacio Bernal and Alden Mason, among others (Jiménez Moreno, 1959:1056-1057), and the transformation of this latter into a militarist world has been mainly a proposal of the first (ibid.:1063-1064). The scheme was adopted and became quite popular until the past few years, but now, indications of militarism have been found in the "theocratical" Classic capital, and it has been found as well that the Epi-Classic and the Early Post Classic have not exclusively been periods of social conflict.

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