INTER-SECTION Volume III | Page 25

| | of Cocijo’s mask (editing done by author). Drawing: Farmsi.org (registration key: MAt/104). Photo: Taken by author, courtesy to the Museo Nacional de Antropolgía. Tomb 104 - were crafted by the Zapotec people who inhabited the site known as Monte Albán between 450 BCE and 750 CE, in the Oaxaca province in Cocijo is the Zapotec deity of storms, lightning, rain and fertility and many different representations of this character are known from Monte Albán. Much is known about the iconography and meanings of discussed in this paper remains widely unknown. Few assumptions have been made about the purpose do exist (e.g.: Caso and Bernal 1952; Marcus 1983; Sellen 2007). The aim of this research is to develop new means of understanding the three vessels from tomb 104 in regards to their purpose, by analysing their iconography, position and orientation in relation to current knowledge on the Zapotec worldview. Methodology This research is based on an extensive literary the tomb context from which these vessels were recovered and the worldview of the ancient Zapotec people whom inhabited Monte Albán. Tomb 104 was selected due to the fact that is one of the few funerary contexts in Monte Albán with secure provenance and positional data on the vessels. It is also one of the few contexts for which detailed archaeological maps and drawings exists, which clearly indicate the vessels’ in situ locations. The iconography on two of the three vessels portrayed full body representations and one partial representation of the Cocijo mask investigation of possible connections between vessel types and representational styles, in relation to their orientations and locations in the tomb. Theoretical orientation One important aspect of ancient Zapotec religious practice, was the veneration of ancestral spirits and deities through the manufacturing and ritual use of 2017 | INTER-SECTION | VOL III | p.23