The Izapa Polity

Summary

Long-known as an important Late Formative political center, 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 the organization of the Izapa state. This poster reports the results of 300 sq km of lidar data that map out the location, layout and orientation of Izapa itself as well as over three dozen lower order centers. Together these data lay-out the Izapa polity in its entirety.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage