Robert Markens
Originario de Canadá, Robert Markens es doctor en antropología por Brandeis University, Massachusetts EE.UU. e Investigador desde 2011 en el Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas—Unidad Oaxaca de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Actualmente su área de investigación es el poder político en la época prehispánica de Oaxaca y cómo se plasman los principios del poder en las obras de arte, los edificios públicos y la planificación urbana. Ha impartido materias en varias universidades como la UNAM, la Universidad Autónoma “Benito Juárez” de Oaxaca, La Universidad del Sureste, la Universidad de Costa Rica, Linfield University, the University of Chicago y New York University.
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Papers by Robert Markens
Ceramic Chronology in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico during the Late Classic and Postclassic Periods and the Organization of Ceramic Production
A dissertation presented to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts
by Robert Joel Markens
The social, political and economic transformations that surely took place in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico during the Postclassic Period (A.D. 800-1521) following the decline of Monte Albán -- one of Mesoamerica’s earliest urban centers –- remain largely invisible due to longstanding problems with this portion of the regional ceramic chronology. This dissertation attempts to clarify that interval through a ceramic seriation of seventy-four ceramic tomb and grave offerings recovered from Valley of Oaxaca sites and through stratigraphic excavations carried out at the site of Macuilxóchitl.
Based on these studies, the Postclassic Period is divided into three ceramic phases; the Early (A.D. 800-1000) and Late (A.D. 1000-1200) Liobaa Phases corresponding to the Early Postclassic Period, and the Chila Phase corresponding to the Late Postclassic Period (A.D. 1200-1521).
A second theme addressed in this study is the organization of ceramic production at Monte Albán during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 500-800). The presumed relationship between increasing metrical standardization of ceramic vessel form with increasing scale of pottery production is tested through observations of contemporary ceramic specialists from the Valley of Oaxaca town of Santa María Atzompa and measurements of several hundred vessels they produced. If valid, the relationship provides a way of addressing the issue of scale of ceramic production in antiquity in the absence of more direct evidence of ceramic production sites themselves. Based on observations of the ceramic production in Atzompa and the vessel measurements, I conclude that the relationship between metrical standardization and scale of production is neither straightforward nor predictable.
A review of published and unpublished reports regarding the few known ceramic production sites at Monte Albán suggests that pottery manufacture was organized at the scale of the household or workshop industry during the Late Classic Period. Ceramic production appears to have been widely dispersed throughout the ancient center during this time.
Ceramic Chronology in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico during the Late Classic and Postclassic Periods and the Organization of Ceramic Production
A dissertation presented to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Brandeis
University, Waltham, Massachusetts
by Robert Joel Markens
The social, political and economic transformations that surely took place in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico during the Postclassic Period (A.D. 800-1521) following the decline of Monte Albán -- one of Mesoamerica’s earliest urban centers –- remain largely invisible due to longstanding problems with this portion of the regional ceramic chronology. This dissertation attempts to clarify that interval through a ceramic seriation of seventy-four ceramic tomb and grave offerings recovered from Valley of Oaxaca sites and through stratigraphic excavations carried out at the site of Macuilxóchitl.
Based on these studies, the Postclassic Period is divided into three ceramic phases; the Early (A.D. 800-1000) and Late (A.D. 1000-1200) Liobaa Phases corresponding to the Early Postclassic Period, and the Chila Phase corresponding to the Late Postclassic Period (A.D. 1200-1521).
A second theme addressed in this study is the organization of ceramic production at Monte Albán during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 500-800). The presumed relationship between increasing metrical standardization of ceramic vessel form with increasing scale of pottery production is tested through observations of contemporary ceramic specialists from the Valley of Oaxaca town of Santa María Atzompa and measurements of several hundred vessels they produced. If valid, the relationship provides a way of addressing the issue of scale of ceramic production in antiquity in the absence of more direct evidence of ceramic production sites themselves. Based on observations of the ceramic production in Atzompa and the vessel measurements, I conclude that the relationship between metrical standardization and scale of production is neither straightforward nor predictable.
A review of published and unpublished reports regarding the few known ceramic production sites at Monte Albán suggests that pottery manufacture was organized at the scale of the household or workshop industry during the Late Classic Period. Ceramic production appears to have been widely dispersed throughout the ancient center during this time.