Zaachila

Zaachila, an archaeological site located 9 miles south of Oaxaca City, within the present-day village of Zaachila in Oaxaca, Mexico. Zaachila was excavated by Roberto Gallegos in the 1960s. It includes ten visible mounds, one of which, Mound A, was the locus of excavations. Although evidence of older occupations exists at Zaachila, the excavated remains date from the Postclassic period (c. a.d. 900–1521). Excavations atop Mound A revealed a large residence with rooms arranged around a central patio. Beneath the patio floor were two elaborate tombs with offerings of Mixteca polychrome pottery, onyx vessels, turquoise masks, carved jade, engraved bone, and delicate gold jewelry. The Mixteca polychrome vessels are among the finest ever discovered, and the delicate goldwork rivals that of Monte Albán Tomb 7. Most remarkable, however, are the stucco reliefs on the walls of Tomb 1. Two owls decorate opposite walls of the antechamber. On the east wall of the main chamber, the stucco figure of a god of death beckons an individual who is identified by the calendrical name Nine Flower. On the west wall, another god of death with a hummingbird above him beckons an individual named Five Flower. Alfonso Caso has identified Five Flower in the painted manuscripts, or Codices, that detail the genealogies of Mixtec rulers. He has shown that Five Flower, related to the rulers of the Mixteca Alta center of Yanhuitlán, ruled Zaachila about a.d. 1280. Tomb 1, then, with its rich offering was most likely the final resting place of Five Flower. He and his ancestors and descendants had in all likelihood occupied the residence of Mound A and were among the twenty-three individuals buried in the two tombs beneath its patio floor.

See alsoArchaeology; Oaxaca (City).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Roberto Gallegos, "Zaachila: The First Season's Work," Archaeology 16, no. 4 (1963): 226-233.

Alfonso Caso, "The Lords of Yanhuitlán," in Ancient Oaxaca, edited by John Paddock (1966), pp. 313-335.

Roberto Gallegos, El Señor 9 Flor en Zaachila (1978).

John Paddock, Lord Five Flower's Family: Rulers of Zaachila and Cuilapán (1983).

Marcus Winter, Oaxaca: The Archaeological Record (1989), pp. 123-124.

Additional Bibliography

Anders, Ferdinand, Maarten E. R. G. N. Jansen, and Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez. Crónica Mixteca: el rey 8 Venado, Garra de Jaguar, y la dinastía de Teozacualco-Zaachila: libro explicativo del llamado Códice Zouche-Nuttall, Ms. 39671 British Museum, Londres. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica; Graz: Akademi-sche Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1992.

Byland, Bruce E., and John M. D. Pohl. In the Realm of 8 Deer: The Archaeology of the Mixtec Codices. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

Jansen, Maarten E. R. G. N., Michel R. Oudijk, and Peter Kröfges. The Shadow of Monte Alban: Politics and Historiography in Postclassic Oaxaca, Mexico. Leiden: Research School CNWS, School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies, 1998.

Melchor Calvo, Gerardo. Historia de un pueblo: relatos y costumbres de Zaachila. Oaxaca, Mexico: Instituto Oaxaqueño de las Culturas: Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes, 1996.

                                          Michael D. Lind