Early Urbanism in Oaxaca

Period IIIb is the best known archeologically of all the Monte Alban periods. Among other things, it is the time when Monte Alban's population reached its peak and when nearly all the now visible buildings there were constructed. Finally, it is the most dramatic period of the city's history, since the great flowering of Monte Alban IIIb and its parallels in Teotihuacan III and Maya Tepeu—came just before the great collapse of Early Urbanism in Mesoamer­ica. One of the most interesting questions about IIIb is why the immense so­cial, economic, and physical structures of Monte Alban suffered so striking a failure after well over a millennium of growth.

Abandonment of the great "Classic" capitals of Mesoamerica is much dis­cussed as a major mystery, but this is looking at it wrong end to; the mystery is how they were able to go on so long and accomplish so much with so little sign of trouble. These were, we have said, "first-generation" urban centers— the first cities in their part of the world, and derived from simpler forms of society. They began with a system capable of highly effective exploitation of their environment, but with a relatively small population. So long as the grow­ing population could find new land on which to increase production, all was well. Surpluses went into the building of more and more overpoweringly ma­jestic monuments. Offerings in gratitude to the gods were splendid, and the priests who enjoyed a monopoly of specialized knowledge, including technical as well as religious procedures, lived sumptuously

The Valley of Oaxaca has obvious mountain boundaries; but any region has equally effective functional limits. So long as any needed increase in the food supply could be produced by bringing new lands within the region under cul­tivation, the Early Urban system worked smoothly.

Questionnaire:

• Explain about the early Urbanism in Oaxaca