Women’s Ritual in Formative Oaxaca: Figure-making, Divination, Death and the Ancestors

Joyce Marcus

This book covers divination, figurine-making, and women’s ritual treatment of ancestors in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, from 1600 to 500 BC. Women’s ritual was distinguished from men’s through excavation strategy: houses, dooryards, activity areas, features, middens, and public buildings were excavated and studied as separate units, and context was used to link artifacts with women’s domains. They were then interpreted using ethnographic and ethnohistoric data on women’s ritual. Included are illustrations of more than 800 figurines or figurine parts. This monograph is part of a series on the prehistory and human ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca.

Order from the University of Michigan Press.

Read more about the Oaxaca Project at Archaeological Research in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Explore the other volumes in the Prehistory and Human Ecology of the Valley of Oaxaca series here.

Publisher: Museum of Anthropology

Year of Publication: 1998

Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Pages: 333

Price: $55

Print ISBN: 978-0-915703-48-7

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-951519-93-3

Monograph Series / Number: Memoirs No. 33

Tables / Illustrations: 1 table, 372 illustrations

Purchase