
































Between Animatism and Pantheism: Religion and the Supernatural in 

Ancient Oaxaca 

Review by Hilary M. Leathem 

Ancient Zapotec Religion: An Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Perspective 

by Michael Lind 

University Press of Colorado, 2015

In  Ancient  Zapotec  Religion:  An  Ethnohistorical  and  Archaeological  Perspective,  anthropological

archaeologist Michael Lind offers an interdisciplinary approach to defining and understanding ancient

Zapotec religion. By focusing on sixteenth and seventeenth century Spanish colonial documents, the

archaeological record, and brilliant murals, his project encompasses expertise from a variety of fields

and  methodologies  (ethnohistory,  archaeology,  and  art  history).  The  book is  truly  integrative,  and

instead of being divided into sections according to methodology, the individual chapters end up flowing

rather  seamlessly  into  each  other.  Chapters  1-4  are  where  Lind  imparts  to  the  reader  a  general

knowledge  of  Oaxaca  and  the  Zapotec,  surveys  the  different  ways  that  anthropologists  and

archaeologists have approached the study of religion, and then analyzes Spanish colonial documents,

slowly  painting  a  picture  of  Zapotec  religion  and  its  caretakers.  These  chapters  are  primarily

ethnohistorical and document-based.

It is also in this section that Lind makes one of the major interventions of his research project.

According to Lind, and as he demonstrates rather effectively throughout the book, ancient Zapotec

religion includes both a pantheon of deities (whether these be gods or deified ancestors), animatistic

beliefs, and a hierarchal priesthood. On one hand, his argument contests the view Joyce Marcus put

forth—that  the  Zapotec  had  no  pantheon  of  gods,  and  were  animatistic,  imbuing  objects  with

supernatural force—in the now classic edited volume The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the

Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations (Flannery &amp; Marcus 2003 [1983]). His point is not that she is



“incorrect,” but rather partially correct in that there is a certain degree of animatism in ancient Zapotec

religion; however, Lind maintains that scholars who argued that Zapotec religion included a pantheon

and shared some similarities with other Mesoamerican religions are also correct (8-10). In essence,

Lind asks and argues: why not both? In doing so, he shows us how ancient Zapotec religion defies

neatly packed categories.

The next section, Chapters 5 and 6, are the most archaeologically-intensive. Lind takes an old

problem to task—that is, the problem of the temple. Not only does Lind seek to understand the place of

temples in Zapotec religious life, but he also aims to parse out the distinction between Zapotec palaces

and temples (116). “Nothing is ever easy in archaeology, and this is especially true when trying to

distinguish Zapotec palaces from temples,” he writes (115). And so he focuses on two instances of

Zapotec temples: one in Mitla, the second in Yagul. His juxtaposition of Mitla against Yagul is colored

by  typological  dualities.  For  instance,  he  argues  that  there  are  two  types  of  temples  among  the

Postclassic Zapotec — a Classic-style called a TPA (temple-plaza-altar) and TRPA (temple-residence-

plaza-altar), which is Postclassic. Lind’s assemblage of data eventually leads him to conclude that the

Mitla temple was a far more “special place” and most likely unrivaled in the Valley of Oaxaca (349).

In Chapters 7, 8, and 9, Lind returns to the archives,  although this section focuses on very

different aspects of what he perceives to be integral to Zapotec religion. In this section, Lind attempts

to reconstruct the lives and roles of the  colaní, a class of Zapotec priests in Prehispanic times that

dedicated  themselves  to  the  community;  he  also  interrogates  timekeeping  among  the  Zapotec,

providing his view on what their sacred calendar was like, and then turns his careful and well-trained

eye to an illuminating examination of the Mitla murals. Finally, Chapter 10 synthesizes the evidence

that  Lind  procured  and  demonstrated  to  the  reader,  yielding  exactly  what  Lind  set  out  to  do:  a

comprehensive  overview  and  description  of  ancient  Zapotec  religion  at  the  time  of  the  Spanish

conquest.

Herein he also makes his second major intervention. The archaeologist Arthur A. Joyce argued

once  “that  religion  served to  legitimate  the  elite.”  Lind  states  that  this  is  compelling  but  asserts:

“However, religion encompassed more than legitimating the elite. It also served to create a unifying

force within any given Zapotec city-state” (349). Thus, in a way, Lind’s vision of religion is a less

menacing and oppressive one. Indeed, it is generous, and bolstered by his increasing evidence (and data

emerging elsewhere from other archaeologists in the Valley of Oaxaca), that the most integrative force

was the cultural center of Mitla. Overall, Lind’s book provides substantial evidence that Mitla was and

is the most important place in Zapotec religion. Even in the twentieth-century “Zapotecs in the Sierra

Juárez believed the souls of their dead resided in Mitla” and people from all over pilgrimed there to



acquire pieces of the ruins to take home due to their extraordinary sacredness (350). His conclusion is,

in essence, of three parts: 1) Zapotec religion features a pantheon of gods, a hierarchy of priests, and

animatistic beliefs; 2) Zapotec religion unified city-states into a cohesive identity and, perhaps, formed

a specific ancient Zapotec imaginary; and 3) Mitla’s significance cannot be overstated.

As many scholars of Oaxaca and of ancient Mesoamerican religion in general know, there is a

paucity of literature on Zapotec religion when compared to what is known about the Maya and Nahua

belief  systems. Lind’s  project is  thus timely and offers new insights into this  little  known area of

ancient Zapotec society. Until now, most of what was known about the Zapotec was inferred from

archaeological excavations or from Mixtec codices. In recent years, rediscoveries of lienzos (in this

case,  painted Zapotec genealogies) and a burgeoning interest  in the Postclassic period has enabled

scholars  to  shed  new  light  in  this  area.  Moreover,  research  in  Oaxaca  on  the  Zapotec  has

overwhelmingly focused on the Formative and Classic periods, on craft economies, and on agricultural

and  ecological  practices  and  knowledge.  Recently,  though,  this  has  begun  to  change  and  should

continue, a trend well represented by Lind’s text. In short, I highly recommend this book for scholars of

Mesoamerican religion, Oaxacanists, and those interested in conducting interdisciplinary research in

challenging historical subjects.

References Cited

Flannery, Kent V. and Joyce Marcus, eds.

2003 [1983]. The Cloud People: Divergent Evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec Civilizations. New

York: Eliot Werner Publications, Inc.

Hilary M. Leathem is a PhD student at the University of Chicago in the Department of Anthropology.

Her research focuses on the intersections of authenticity,  materiality,  and conceptions of time and

history  in  urban  Oaxaca,  with  ongoing  interests  in  ethnohistory,  museums,  and  the  history  of

archaeology. She recently completed her MA in Anthropology at UChicago.

© 2015 Hilary M. Leathem


