106 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
class. Instead, members of the lesser nobility traded on behalf of the rulers, traveling
to distant locations to acquire the raw materials needed to produce manufactured
goods. Materials like turquoise and gold were brought to the royal courts where royal
artisans created fine stone and metal objects. Highly skilled artisans who were part of
the royal courts also created polychrome ceramics and painted manuscripts.Mixtec Politics. The Mixtec rise to prominence in the Postclassic period is
often linked to relationships between Mixtec ruling dynasties and the Toltecs or
other Central Mexican polities. Early in the Postclassic period these dynasties may
have stepped in to fill a power vacuum following the decline of Toltec power.
Several major Mixtec dynasties in the Postclassic period claimed Toltec or Central
Mexican ancestry and dynastic histories, portrayed in Mixtec codices that depict
founders of these dynasties making the journey to Tula or other Central Mexican
centers to receive a nose ornament that was a symbol of authority (see Box 2.4).
Postclassic Mixtec society was divided into numerous small competing indepen-
dent city states (kingdoms) or chiefdoms (ñuuin Mixtec) governed by hereditary
rulers. There was no formal centralized political organization above the level of the
state or chiefdom, but alliances were often forged between kingdoms creating con-
federacies that worked together to pursue common interests. Elaborate gift ex-
changes, feasting, and marriage ties between royal families served to maintain these
alliances. Generally, the territory of a Mixtec polity was small enough to walk across
in a day. Typically these territories consisted of a centrally located palace and asso-
ciated buildings that were home to the ruler’s family, and the surrounding country-
side where the dependent communities and agricultural lands populated by
commoners and governed by the lesser nobility were found.
Some of the major Mixtec city states and chiefdoms in the Late Postclassic period
(see Figure 2.17) included centers in the Nochixtlan Valley and others such as
Teposcolula, Tejupan, Coixtlahuaca, and Tilantongo. The Mixteca Baja has not been
systematically surveyed, but evidence from sites like Tepexi and Tecomaxtlahuaca
suggest that settlements were similar to those in the Mixteca Alta. In the Mixteca de
la Costa, the best-known center is Tututepec, but as with the Mixteca Baja, much
work remains to be done in this region.
In the Late Postclassic period, Mixtecs began to expand into Zapotec territory
in the Valley of Oaxaca. This expansion does not appear to have been entirely the
result of military conquest. To a large extent, the Mixtec presence in the Valley of Oax-
aca was based on strategic marriage alliances between Mixtec and Zapotec royalty.
Mixtec brides (or grooms) who married into Zapotec royal families apparently
brought with them not only finely crafted goods produced by Mixtec artisans—ce-
ramics, metal objects, and other materials—but also Mixtec serfs or servants (the tay
situndayu,discussed before). Spectacular examples of Mixtec craftsmanship were
found in royal tombs at Monte Alban (Tomb 7) and at Zaachila (Tombs 1 and 2).
These tombs were filled with exquisite Mixtec-style gold and silver jewelry, pottery,
and carved bones.
At the site of Mitla in the Valley of Oaxaca (Figure 2.2), we find further evidence
of Mixtec influence in the valley. Although Mitla was fundamentally a Zapotec cen-