American Pompeii: Old evidence on Late Classic ties between the Pacific Coast and the Antigua valley

Summary

An archaeological collection from finca Pompeya in the Antigua Guatemala valley provides significant information about Late Classic interaction with the adjacent Pacific coast. Excavated in 1893, the collection was eventually scattered to several museums in Germany, the United States, and Guatemala. However, it can be reconstructed from a photograph made not long after the discovery, and from newspaper reports that provide rough descriptions of the excavations. The objects themselves are still preserved, and provide important data for the study of highland-coastal interaction during the Late Classic period. This time period marked the height of the expansion of the Cotzumalhuapa polity in the coastal piedmont of Escuintla, which exerted a strong influence in elite culture at several sites in the Antigua Guatemala valley. The Pompeya collection also illustrates the history of early archaeological research and collecting in Guatemala.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Maya Highland and Pacific Coast Archaeology: New Data, Debates, and Directions, Part 2

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14820