Controlling the Flow: Interregional Interaction, Community Prosperity, and Politics at the Highland/Pacific Frontier of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Summary

Lake Atitlan sits within the Sierra Madre mountain chain which represents the physical divide between the Guatemalan highlands and the Pacific lowlands. It was thus ideally situated to act as a hub for cultural and economic exchanges between these two contrasting ecological zones. The three imposing volcanoes that line its southern shore, however, severely limited options for travel between these areas and commerce and settlement thus concentrated around obvious natural corridors such as those near San Lucas Toliman and Santiago Atitlan. Archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, nevertheless indicates that communities in the western half of the basin made use of several alternative routes to the coast, some of which continued to appear on maps into the 20th Century. These lesser known routes enabled the Preclassic and Classic communities of this area to establish independent ties to centers like Chocola and Palo Gordo, and to act as middlemen for exchanges originating to the north and east. During the Middle Classic (c.400-600 AD), however, many of the centers connected to this network were abandoned and the elites of Chukmuk began to be buried with Teotihuacan-style vessels, signalling dramatic changes in the political and economic organization of the lake.

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): 16088