1. Excavations of Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca, Mexico

Marshall Saville, the first Curator of Mexican and Central American Archaeology at the AMNH (1894-1907), used the relatively new technology of the camera to great effect in documenting his excavations. A brief report of the Xoxocotln excavations is available in American Anthropologist (1899, vol. 1, pages 350-362).

The Xoxocotln collection is stored at the American Museum. It is currently being reanalyzed to place the results of Saville's work in the context of the past 100 years of Oaxaca archaeology. The full data set from Xoxocotln is to be published in a forthcoming AMNH monograph.

Excavations of Xoxocotlán

Mound 1 from the principal mound group at Xoxocotlán

Mound 7 before excavation

A ceramic drainpipe inside Mound 7

Zapotec funeral urns at the entrance of Tomb 1, inside Mound 7

The entrance of Tomb 2, inside Mound 8

Excavation of Mound 9, Tomb 3

Carved stone lintel above the entrance of Tomb 3

Inside Tomb 3, after the ceramic offerings and human remains were removed