Multilevel selection and political evolution in the Valley of Oaxaca, 500-100 BC

Although Monte Alban I in the Valley of Oaxaca (500-100 B.C.) is widely rec ognized as a period of major political change, researchers have found it di fficult to establish whether the key institutions of the Zapotec state emer ged during this or the succeeding Monte Alban II period (100 B.C.-A.D. 200) . Also unresolved has been the issue of when the three major subregions of the Oaxaca Valley (Etla, Tlacolula, Ocotlan/Zimatlan) all became integrated into a single polity under the rule of Monte Alban, the state capital. Thi s paper presents recent theoretical and empirical contributions that have n ot yet been brought to bear on the problem of Monte Alban I. Concepts drawn from multilevel selection theory and evolutionary trend theory are utilize d in an analysis of Oaxaca Valley regional settlement pattern data. The ana lysis provides a multilevel context fur a discussion of recent survey and e xcavations at San Martin Tilcajete, the results of which are clarifying the sequence of institutional development in Oaxaca. Taken together, the regio nal analysis and the discoveries at Tilcajete indicate that: (1) the Zapote c state emerged during Late Monte Alban I (300-100 B.C.) in a context of in tensifying competition-including violent conflict - among rival polities wi thin the Oaxaca Valley; and (2) even though the early Zapotec state began a campaign of territorial expansion during Late Monte Alban I, political uni fication of all three major subregions of the Valley was not achieved until Monte Alban II. (C) 2001 Academic Press.