Abstract
Epigraphic and functional comparisons of carved monuments in highland and coastal Oaxaca are used to address questions concerning (1) the origin and development of writing in southwestern Mesoamerica, (2) macroregional interactions, and (3) past linguistic affiliations of coastal groups. Given the scarcity of known inscriptions, particularly along the littoral of Guerrero and Oaxaca, it is concluded that the writing system in the coast is derived from central (Zapotec) Oaxaca and that the littoral did not play a role in the origins of writing in Mesoamerica. Since most of the inscribed material presently available from the coast dates between a.d. 600 and 900, relatively few traces of interregional contacts can be detected by means of epigraphy. Discernible interactions include contact with post-Teotihuacan sites in the central highlands via Guerrero; central Oaxaca through intermediate regions like Sola de Vega and Miahuatlan; and Tabasco, the latter apparently the result of migrations. The close epigraphic similarities between the coast and central Oaxaca suggest that groups speaking Chatino and other languages of the Zapotecan family had a wider distribution along the littoral in former times.