Shifting Tides along the North Coast of Quintana Roo: Recent Research at Conil and Vista Alegre

Summary

In the northern lowlands, there is strong evidence for a coastal Maya presence since at least the Middle Preclassic, and scholars have long discussed how inland-coastal connections served as a catalyst for the development of social complexity. The scope and scale, however, of maritime commerce and interaction was closely linked to the ever-changing political and economic landscape. The work of the Proyecto Costa Escondida at the neighboring port sites of Conil and Vista Alegre highlight the shifting nature of coastal-inland relations over millennia. During the Terminal Preclassic and Early Classic periods, both Vista Alegre and Conil appear to have been involved in robust trade with regional inland polities, which may have been facilitated by seasonally navigable interior waterways as well as overland routes. The parallel occupational histories of these sites, however, diverge in the Terminal Classic. The Terminal Classic period at Vista Alegre was characterized by participation in larger peninsular networks of exchange, controlled or influenced by more distant polities, like Chichen Itza. In the Late Postclassic period, while Vista Alegre was largely abandoned, the coast remained a dynamic locale as evidenced by the reoccupation and growth of Conil into a large center at the time of Contact.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Ports, Trails, and Waterways: Trade and Economy in the Ancient Maya World

Keywords

Spatial Coverage