Joseph “Weston” Wardle is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. Since 2023, he has directed the Cerro Danilín Archaeological Project at Jalieza in Oaxaca, Mexico. The project aims to understand how the Zapotec state centered at Monte Albán fragmented, and the role that conflict and resistance played in the process.

Sometime during the Early Classic (AD 200-500) in the Valley of Oaxaca, a community was founded on the hilltop of Jalieza, in its westernmost section called Cerro Danilín. It has long been assumed that Monte Albán was at the peak of its power at this time, but archaeological fieldwork in recent decades suggests that fragmentation may have begun in outlying provinces, and in the valley, close to Monte Albán. Because of its sudden founding and relatively rapid growth, I propose that Jalieza was a refuge for people resisting Monte Albán inside the valley. Resistance was a major force during the rise of the expansionist state and likely never went away. I will present the preliminary results of two field seasons of excavations at Jalieza and a study of fortification in the Valley of Oaxaca, both of which suggest that conflict and resistance were present inside the valley during the Early Classic.