ABSTRACT
The Preceramic period is documented in the three Oaxaca regions: the Valley of Oaxaca and the Mixteca Alta in the highlands, and the Pacific coastal plain of the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Excavations in the 2000s at the MRG-6 rockshelter and Guhdz Bedkol open site in the Mitla area provide new data on the Mitla preceramic and complement existing data from Guila Naquitz, Cueva Blanca and Gheo Shih. At MRG-6, distinctive one-hand manos were used with relatively small flat metates for processing plants, perhaps for grinding teosinte or maize kernals. They contrast with the heavy two-hand manos and large metates that appear as part of the maize technology in early villages in the Oaxaca highlands. Some fine layers in MRG-6 may represent single events but most deposits were thicker and contained mixed artifacts that lead us to question the “living floors” identified in Guila Naquitz and Cueva Blanca. Rock alignments at Guhdz Bedkol may define early agricultural terraces. Just as at Mitla, the main concentration of Isthmus sites also occurs near a source of high quality, abundant toolstone. Some Isthmus projectile points show stylistic similarities to highland examples, indicating possible use of both regions by the same or related groups, possibly during seasonal rounds. We review projectile point types from Oaxaca and their distribution.
