SETTLED village life led to the rapid development of complex religious as well as social organisations, according to a detailed chronology from the Oaxaca valley in Mexico. Within 1300 years, people in the region had moved from constructing the oldest ritual buildings 鈥� simple 鈥渕en鈥檚 huts鈥� 鈥� to the first temples of the Zapotec state.
Until now, the co-evolution of religious ritual and society was an assumption. 鈥淭his is the first study to show how it occurred,鈥� says Joyce Marcus of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, who led the work.
But when Marcus and co-author Kent Flannery carbon-dated sites from the valley they found that the oldest ritual site, a cleared area 20 metres long and 7 metres wide, dates from 8600 years ago (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0408551102). This 鈥渄ancing ground鈥� might have been used by local nomadic hunter-gatherers for initiation rites. There is evidence of debris from shelters nearby, and it is likely that rituals were held here during times when the maximum number of families could participate.
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Permanent villages were set up in the valley 3500 years ago, when people would have learned to schedule some ceremonies around solar or astral events. Within about 150 years, one-room ritual buildings appeared, each with the same geographic orientation. These were probably men鈥檚 huts, to which all initiated men were admitted.
From about 3100 years on, the population of the largest village in the valley rose roughly to 1000. There are also clear signs of the rise of an elite class who lived in large homes. During this period, men鈥檚 houses were replaced by temples, which are likely to have been run by part-time priests. Temple sanctification rituals and an increase in ritual bloodletting and human sacrifice emerged around this time.
鈥淭emple sanctification and an increase in ritual bloodletting and human sacrifice emerged around 3100 years ago鈥�
The next step in social evolution, starting some 2450 years ago, was the formation of the Zapotec state. Temple architecture also changed: the buildings gained second rooms, which were probably the living quarters of full-time priests.
