Household and Ritual in the Eastern Olmec Heartland

The Olmec (1200-400) are one of the best-known early complex societies in Mesoamerica, yet scholars know very little about the organization of their social, economic, ritual, and political systems. This can be attributed to the fact that most fieldwork has been conducted in elite areas of large centers, and we lack household scale data from smaller sites. Recent investigations at the Middle Formative sites of Los Soldados and Arroyo Pesquero help resolve this bias by collecting household and ritual data at a medium sized site and a special purpose site in the La Venta region. The papers in this session utilize data from subsurface testing (GPR and augering) and excavations to reveal information on economic, ritual, and political organization of Middle Formative Olmec in the Eastern Heartland.