New roles, new rules

Research at the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Oaxaca’s Historic Centre and Monte Albán reveals that the transition from chiefdom to early state political organization involved significant shifts in succession rules, moving away from lineal descent toward broader administrative criteria. This transformation is evident in architectural changes between El Mogote (500–300 BC) and El Palenque (300–100 BC), where the emergence of specialized political, religious, and military institutions around 300 BC reshaped social hierarchies and governance structures. The study uses archaeological data to support the hypothesis that such succession-rule changes were pivotal in early state formation.

Spencer, C. S., & Redmond, E. M. (2021). New roles, new rules. Archaeology of Households, Kinship, and Social Change, 293–322. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003109365-14