MOSAICOS DE TURQUESA DEL POSCLÁSICO TARDÍO HALLADOS EN OAXACA, MÉXICO LATE POSTCLASSIC TURQUOISE MOSAIC ARTIFACTS FROM OAXACA, MEXICO

Los mosaicos de turquesa se han encontrado en varios sitios arqueológicos del Posclásico Tardío en el centro-norte de Oaxaca. Además de objetos de Monte Albán y Zaachila, hay máscaras de la Cueva de Ejutla y Cueva Cheve, escudos de Cueva Cheve y la Cueva de Tenango, una orejera y un malacate de la Cueva de Ejutla, y placas rectangulares de Cueva Cheve. Las teselas sueltas fueron encontradas en la Cueva del Diablo y en Yucuita. En este texto se describen los materiales utilizados en los mosaicos, la función de los artefactos y posibles mecanismos de intercambio para adquirir estos objetos.

RECTANGULAR PLAQUES Cueva Cheve. (Cuicatec region) Artifact type not identified Loose tesserae have been found at two sites; the backings had disintegrated. Cueva del Diablo near Mitla (Zapotec region). A jadeite earspool found in the same area as the mosaic fragments may indicate the mosaics correspond to a mask. Yucuita in the Nochixtlán Valley (Mixtec region).
https: //periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/clioarqueologica clioarqueologica@ufpe.br Clio Arqueológica 2020, V35N2, p.152-189, MARKENS;WINTER, LOPEZ DOI: 10.20891/clio.V35V2p152-189 161 In this text we describe the production of these artifacts including the materials used, the distribution of the artifacts, their functions and the possible mechanisms through which the objects were exchanged. We also note some patterns which help to document Late Postclassic city-states in southern Puebla and north central Oaxaca.
In addition to the kinds of artifacts listed above, Alfonso Caso (1969) found some unique items in Tombs 7 with turquoise mosaics: a skull covered with mosaics, a carved bone weaving tool with mosaic inlays, two other bones with pieces of turquoise, and a gold disc with turquoise mosaic inlays. ( Figure 5) A lot of loose tesserae were once displayed with other materials from Tomb 7 in the Oaxaca Regional Museum; they may have fallen off the skull or a bone object. Caso also reported turquoise beads from the tomb.

OBJECT PROVENIENCES
The sites of Monte Albán and Zaachila are well known to Mesoamerican archaeologists and the objects with turquoise mosaics have been published (CASO, 1969;WINTER, 2001). As noted, the objects from Monte Albán's Tomb 7 are not of primary concern here and do not fit the patterns we define for the other objects. While preparing illustrations of the materials in our archaeological laboratories in Cuilapan, scientific illustrator Philippe Cottenier made several interesting discoveries and observations about the production of the objects with turquoise mosaics ( Figure 8): 1-In the case of the shield from Cueva Cheve, the tesserae were classified by color before affixing them to the backing, since the designs are based in part on color; 2-Again in the case of the Cueva Cheve shield, the tesserae were glued to some kind of thin backing material in sections and these sections were then placed on and glued to the wooden backing. This is evident because some of the sections came off the backing after the objects were deposited, notably in the case of the mask from Cueva Cheve. The mask was partially burned, the wooden backing seems to have shrunk, and the sections came off in strips; 3-Two objects (Figures 9 and 10) with mosaics from the Cueva de Ejutla, initially identified as an ear spool and a spindle whorl, are not individual artifacts but are part of an hour-glass-shaped ear spool that was fastened to and stuck out from the mask. The "spindle whorl" covered the distal (exterior) end of the ear spool; 4-The masks from the two sites are very similar in features including teeth, recessed mouth, and beveling around the eyes. The masks have a curved shape in horizontal cross-section; 5-The wooden backings which have lost some of the mosaics show that the designs were first outlined and carved on the backing, and the tessarae were added later. The tessarae were selected by color to fill section on the backing. (In the case of the gold disc from Zaachila the tessarae do not appear to have been selected by color.) In the case of the masks, even the teeth were outlined or carved before being covered by mosaics. This is evident from the objects which have lost some of the mosaics. The teeth are missing in our examples but were presumably made of white shell, as in similar objects. Photograph by Cira Martínez López and drawing by Phillipe Cottenier.
The discovery in 1986 of 54 wooden objects in the Cueva de Santa Ana Teloxtoc about 23 km southwest of the city of Tehuacán, Puebla, provides a key to understanding the production of the turquoise mosaic artifacts (VARGAS, 1989) ( Figures 11 and 12). It is possible that the artifacts may have been placed in the cave as offerings and were found next to the cave walls as if they had formed parts of bundles. If so, these may have been ritual but not mortuary bundles since only one human bone was found in the cave. Some of the artifacts from the cave appear to be incomplete and unfinished which suggests that the cave may have The quantity of wooden artifacts and the different stages of completion suggest that the objects were produced in a nearby community, though we have no information on other archaeological sites in the immediate area. The wood was prepared, the designs drawn and incised or carved on the wooden backing and the mosaic pieces then glued to the backing. The wood may have been obtained locally. In many cases the preferred wood for mosaic objects was cedar, Cedrela odorata, because of its insect-resistant properties (MCEWAN, et al. 2006: 34).
The mosaic pieces on the other hand are not local and it is unclear how or from whom they were acquired.  Figure 11. Masks from Santa Ana Teloxtoc. Taken from Vargas (1989: Figure 1 and 4). The objects found in Oaxaca are relatively rare and all were finished pieces which contrasts with those found in the Cueva de Santa Ana Teloxtoc where both finished and unfinished pieces may have been intentionally hidden away. If so, this would suggest that Santa Ana Teloxtoc was an important regional center of mosaic artifact production. Further, there is no evidence that the Oaxaca mosaic pieces were made locally, and it seems more likely that they were acquired through exchange. For example, the wooden plaque backing (without tesserae) designated Object 20, a "tabla rectangular," is almost exactly the same size (34. x 13.5 x 1.9 cm) as the two plaques found in the Cueva Cheve. Some of the masks have precisely the same configuration as the Oaxaca pieces.
Santa Ana Teloxtoc is in the Popoloca region of Puebla. We hypothesize that the objects reported here and found in Oaxaca were made in the workshop near

FUNCTIONS OF THE MOSAIC OBJECTS
Masks. The use of masks has a long history in Mesoamerica (Figure 14). Carved stone masks in the La Venta Olmec Horizon (900-400 BC) found at Río Pesquero may have been fastened to bundles or placed over the faces of the dead. Stone masks also occur at Teotihuacan and may have been used with funerary bundles. Veneration of bundles that represented gods is recorded in the early 16 th century from the southern Basin of Mexico ( Figure 14). The mosaic masks found in the

OBJECTS
Although objects with mosaic inlays were surely displayed and used in a wide variety of contexts during Oaxaca's pre-Hispanic past, archaeologists find them in places that favor their preservation, namely in masonry tombs installed in palaces and temples and as offerings in caves where they sometimes accompanied burials.
As caves and tombs were spaces where deceased individuals were laid to rest, it seems reasonable to assume that these places shared some meanings in the minds https: //periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/clioarqueologica clioarqueologica@ufpe.br Clio Arqueológica 2020, V35N2, p.152-189, MARKENS;WINTER, LOPEZ DOI: 10.20891/clio.V35V2p152-189 of pre-Hispanic peoples. These meanings provide a useful frame of reference for considering some of the ways these mosaic objects may have been used.
The insights of Alicia Barabas (2006), Johanna Broda (1989), Doris Heyden (1989) and Alfredo López Austin (2002) among others establish that the significance of caves is tied to a wider geographical and symbolic frame of reference among traditional peoples today, as well as their pre-Hispanic ancestors.
Those caves that contain water and are also located in the side of a mountain or hill constitute a long enduring symbolic complex in ancient Oaxaca and Mesoamerica stretching back to the Middle Preclassic period (SCHELE AND GUERNSEY, 2001). Together, they represent a "Mountain of Sustenance" or storehouse believed to contain the natural resources that sustain the community: water, plants and animals. Further, it is also a common belief today that the Mountain's bounty is the property of a Dueño or Owner, a supernatural being dwelling within the mountain and to whom one appeals for success when undertaking farming, hunting or other procurement activities (STALLER AND STROSS, 2013: 157-160;VOGT, 1970: 6). In addition, the Mountain of Sustenance is often considered the place of community origin and in some cases ethnic origin as well. Just as it is a place of human origin, it is also the place where the souls of the community's dead reside in eternity. Macuilxóchitl (GALLEGOS, 1978;MARTÍNEZ et al., 2014: 9;. If the interpretation is valid that some temples and palaces were built as replicas of Mountains of Sustenance, then it follows that first, the tombs found within are analogous to caves and second that the deceased rulers buried within the tomb are https: //periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/clioarqueologica clioarqueologica@ufpe.br Clio Arqueológica 2020, V35N2, p.152-189, MARKENS;WINTER, LOPEZ DOI: 10.20891/clio.V35V2p152-189 179 One petition in particular that today has no counterpart in the ethnographic record associated with caves is indicated by some of the turquoise and other objects  The set of figurines found in the patio of the mausoleum consist of thirteen clay individuals that appear to be conducting a ritual in front of a masked mummy bundle, presumably a deceased ruler, who may have been buried in the structure ( Figure 16). The five principal participants wear headdresses featuring images of owls and the Fire Serpent, both of which are symbols presaging war; three of them hold mirror-like objects which were used in rituals connected with warfare among the Mexica. Commoners in the group accompany the ritual by playing music. The turquoise jaguar mask, turquoise shields and jaguar claw vessels found in tomb 1 at Zaachila suggest that similar petitions took place there as well.
Finally, the same petitions may have taken place in the Cueva Cheve cave where archaeologists found a high-status burial bundle with mask and sacrificial knives as well as a mosaic plaque in which warriors are portrayed taking captives and the playing the ballgame.

CONCLUSIONS
The Postclassic period mosaic artifacts from Oaxaca and the Cueva de Santa Ana Teloxtoc, Puebla, considered in this study point to a highly complex and https: //periodicos.ufpe.br/revistas/clioarqueologica clioarqueologica@ufpe.br Clio Arqueológica 2020, V35N2, p.152-189, MARKENS;WINTER, LOPEZ DOI: 10.20891/clio.V35V2p152-189 183 specialized industry whose products were intended for principally for the noble class. The industry involved the acquisition of raw materials that were either scarce or available only at a great distance (MELGAR AND SOLÍS, 2010;POHL, 2012;WEIGAND et al., 1977); these include turquoise, greenstone and shell among other raw materials. These materials were channeled to specialized craft centers like the one that presumably existed in the proximity of the Cueva de Santa Ana Teloxtoc via long-distance exchange, or by members of a specialized merchant class or perhaps by tribute. The details remain unclear. Once the necessary materials were in hand, artisans at the production center near Santa Ana Teloxtoc made the objects which we hypothesize were subsequently distributed throughout the highlands of Oaxaca by means of gift exchange among the ruling elite; these objects may have played a role in the formation of alliances between royal houses of city-states occupying points along the alliance corridor.
Additionally, some mosaic masks and similarly decorated items may have been acquired by the rulers of Oaxaca city-states by imposing tribute on vanquished rivals. We know of no Colonial documents indicating that these goods were available to the public at large in regional market centers. The presence of finished and unfinished mosaic artifacts in the Cueva de Santa Ana Teloxtoc and the near absence of burials there suggest that the cave was used to hide these prized objects from the Spaniards.