Dune Settlement in the Wake of Tres Zapotes

Summary

As the Tres Zapotes polity’s economic and political power diminished in the Early Classic, the eastern lower Papaloapan Basin (ELPB) became a political frontier as sites in this contested region strengthened ties to both Classic Veracruz and Central Mexico. It is during this time that a series of near-coastal paleodunes and estuarine lakes see an increase in occupational intensity. The ecological diversity of the dune landscape provides a unique setting to explore how the intersection of environmental, political, and economic factors impacted settlement patterns in the region through time. Over the course of field seasons in 2014 and 2015, 17 square kilometers of systematic pedestrian survey was conducted on the dune landscape. Through the analysis of architecture and surface artifacts, this paper sheds light on the processes that brought people to the dunes during the Classic Period, in the wake of Tres Zapotes’ decline.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Charting the Evolution of the Tres Zapotes Polity: Results of the RRATZ 2014–2016 Field Seasons

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16012