New Perspectives on the Izapa State

Long-known as an important Late Formative political site, Izapa was one of a string of early states extending down the Pacific coast from Chiapas to El Salvador. Izapa's extensive sculpture, part of a pan-regional public art style, demonstrates ties with both the Guatemalan Highlands and Isthmian traditions. Philip Drucker first brought Izapa to world attention during the 1940s in the pages of National Geographic Magazine. In the 1960s, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) established a ceramic chronology and produced wonderfully detailed maps and drawings of the monumental architecture and sculpture that define the site core. Yet, despite these early efforts, surprisingly little is actually understood about how Izapa's residents lived or the world they inhabited. This session brings together a dozen scholars whose recent work provides new insights on Izapa. Reanalysis of NWAF data as well as recent excavations and regional settlement survey contribute to improved understanding of the chronology, demography, and economy of Izapa and its sustaining area. New perspectives on the site's iconography and writing place the site's public art and elite culture in regional context. These exciting new data situate Izapa and the Pacific coast as one of the centers of early Mesoamerican civilization.