Abstract

This paper will focus upon prehispanic agricultural resource use in a high altitude, marginal zone of the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca. The study area is located between 350-400 km south of Mexico City in an area long referred to simply as Los Penoles. The Penoles region forms a boundary zone between the Mixtec culture to the north and west and the Zapotecs of the Valley of Oaxaca to the east. Archaeological survey of the area has revealed a long history of occupation in the region and of contact with neighbours; on all sides. The evidence also points toward the development of a local Penoles polity in the Formative period which by the mid-Postclassic was comparable in size to petty kingdoms which had evolved in the Valley of Oaxaca. The paper explores how the Penoles population was able to support itself in such a marginal environment for agriculture and the nature of their contact with other groups.