Ritual and Domestic Plant Use on the Southern Pacific Coast of Mexico: A Starch Grain Study of the Formative to Classic Period Transition at Izapa

Summary

In southern Mesoamerica, the transition from the Formative period to Classic period (100 B.C.- A.D. 400) was a time of population decline, cessation of monumental construction, and the abandonment of many sites. Environmental explanations such as drought and volcanic activity have been proposed as potential trigger factors for the widespread collapse at the close of the Formative period. Current evidence suggests that residents of the early capital of Izapa, located on a piedmont environmental zone of the southern Pacific coast, fared better than neighbors in other early cities during this transition. From their piedmont location, residents of Izapa would have had access to plant resources from a wide variety of environmental zones, including the coastal plain, estuaries, mangrove swamps, and the beach. This study applies starch grain analysis, a microbotanical technique, to ceramics and ground stone pieces recovered from domestic ritual and refuse deposits at the Formative period capital of Izapa. Documentation of the diversity of plant foods used by Izapa’s population is intended to better understand the resilience of this coastal population during a period of potential environmental stress, when maize agriculture may have been a less reliable source of food.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21344