104 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA

Figure 2.17 Map of the

Mixtec region, showing the

Mixteca Alta, Mixteca Baja,

and Mixteca de la Costa.

Alta (Ñu Dzahui Ñuhu). In the Postclassic period the Mixtecs, particularly those

who lived in the Mixteca Alta, experienced a cultural fluorescence, and their influ-

ence was felt across many regions of Mesoamerica.

During the Postclassic period, Mixtec artisans were noted for their brilliant pic-

tographic manuscripts (Figure 2.3; see also Figure 6.5), their spectacular polychrome

pottery, and their fine metalworking and lapidary skills. Mixtec artists are at least

partly responsible for creating an artistic style that is often called the Mixteca-Puebla

style; it is linked to the Postclassic international art style mentioned above, and is

found in codices, polychrome ceramics, and murals. The style was adopted across a

broad area of Mesoamerica where it “served as a common idiom for the validation

of authority among the leaders of this wide area” (Byland and Pohl 1994:6).

The Postclassic also was the time when population in the Mixtec area reached

new heights, both in terms of total population and in number of settlements. Much

of our evidence for Postclassic Mixtec society and culture comes from information

MIHECA BAJA

lejupan Coi.lahuaca

Yanhuilian

Teposcolusa Nochi.Uan

Jaltepec

Tilantongo

MIXTECA ALTA

MIXTECA DE LA COSTA

t

PACifiC OCEAN

Tututepc o

Oaxaca

City

50km

I

Teposcolusa Teposcolusa

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