Corporate Power Strategies in the Late Formative to Early Classic Tequila Valleys of Central Jalisco

Abstract

Corporate political strategies (Blanton et al. 1996) that privilege power-sharing over exclusionary tactics are recognized to be important yet understudied forms of political behavior in early complex polities. I present the case of the Tequila valleys of western Mexico to illustrate several points about this corporate system: that the component descent groups can be recognized through their different approaches to architectural construction and burial patterns; that they form groups of counterpoised lineages that shared power; that the relationships between these groups become more fixed and hierarchical across different scales of architecture; and that there are distinct strata within the burial patterns that separate power-sharing groups from the rest of the community. It may be easier to identify and trace aspects of political organization here than in complex and layered urban settings that have been the focus of similar research.

Recent Research in Western Mexican Archaeology

“…Elsewhere, the ballgame has been considered a mechanism for channeling social competition between groups into a safer and less conflictive form (Gillespie 1991;Taladoire and Colsenet 1991). This may very well be the case here between these corporate groups, which may have been lineages or ''houses'' (Beekman , 2008a, the latter including strong ties to place and membership defined by other mechanisms as well as biological descent (Joyce and Gillespie 2000).…”

“…There is some use of spatial analysis at the regional level (Cárdenas García 1999a; Crespo Oviedo 1996;Ohnersorgen and Varien 1996), and world systems or core-periphery models continue to be applied at larger scales (Beekman 1996bJiménez Betts 1998Pollard , 2005a. Other investigations into power and inequality are based on excavations in public architecture and mortuary contexts (Beekman 2008a;López Mestas and Montejano Esquivias 2003;Pollard 1996;Pollard and Cahue 1999). Some approaches develop models that originated in other areas of the world, such as the segmentary state (Beekman 1996c;Weigand and Beekman 1998) or the chiefdom (Mountjoy 1998), but models developed from western Mexican ethnohistoric and ethnographic models need greater consideration (e.g., Coyle 1998;Liffman 2000;Neurath 2002;Paredes Martínez 1997a, b).…”

“…Excavations at Llano Grande and Navajas over the past several years have found that the symmetry visible on the surface obscures what are actually quite distinct construction methods for the surrounding rectangular structures (Beekman , 2008a. Different artifacts were found as well, with some structures housing large pottery vessels, others with a larger number of stone tools, and others with fragments of hollow ceramic figures better known from tombs.…”

“…I interpret these as elite lineages or perhaps elite members of lineages present on the broader landscape, but authority was shared in some way in a corporate mode (in the sense of Blanton et al 1996). In larger circles the relationships are distinct, and there may be structures around a circle that were constructed using disparate methods, suggesting larger social alliances (Beekman 2008a). Individual ceremonial centers may have from one to ten guachimontones of varying sizes (Ohnersorgen and Varien 1996;Weigand 1985), creating a conundrum for archaeologists as to how this shared power structure may have been instantiated at larger scales.…”

Advances in the Household Archaeology of Highland Mesoamerica

“…Beekman (2008) associates the circular patio groups of the Late Formative-Early Classic periods in the Tequila region of Jalisco with corporate power-sharing between lineage groups. Large rectilinear house compounds and neighborhood organization are apparent in Epiclassic sites recently excavated by Pereira and colleagues (2001Pereira and colleagues ( , 2005Pereira and colleagues ( , 2007Migeon and Pereira 2007) in Cerro Barajas, Guanajuato.…”