Protoclassic (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Mendelsohn.

In southern Mesoamerica the transition from the Formative to Classic period (150 BC- AD 200) was a time of population decline, cessation of monumental construction, and abandonment of many sites. At the city of Izapa, located in the Soconusco region of Mexico, evidence for a dramatic shift has been presented for the Hato phase (ca. 150 BC- AD 50). The New World Archaeological Foundation archaeologists, working in the 1960s, noted that an urn burial custom and use of foreign pottery styles...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Mendelsohn.

Izapa is best known as a Formative period (850-50 BC) monumental center with elaborately carved monuments. The site is also known for its Late Classic period monumental construction in Group F, at the northern end of the site. Considerably less attention has been paid to the transitional Terminal Formative or "Protoclassic" period Hato and Itstapa phases (50 BC-AD 250), as well as the Early Classic period Jaritas phase (AD 250-400), which bridge the temporal gap between these two centers. This...