Oaxaca, Mexico
Oaxaca, Mexico [Si].A highland plateau and valley at about 1550m above sea level in the southern part of the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Surveys and excavations directed by Kent Flannery, Richard MACNEISH, and others provide a detailed picture of cultural development in the area.
Archaic Stage remains have been found at the cave site of Guila Naquitz and Cueva Blanca, the former providing abundant evidence of over a dozen species of plants being exploited by communities living in the area between c.8700 and 7000 BC. Incipient agriculture was being practised from about 7400 BC. By 1500 BC Formative Stage villages were being built. Houses were of wattle and daub, rectangular in plan, and arranged around an open area of plaza which may have served as a dancing ground or a place for public rituals.
In the Rosario Phase, 700–500 BC, the town of SAN JOSÉ...
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