The Western Chontalpa: What’s in the Archaeological "Black Hole" of the Mesoamerican Gulf Coast?

Summary

The Mesoamerican Gulf Coast figures prominently in grand schemes of interregional population interactions from Olmec to contact eras. However, most models of exchange, migrations, or identities rely on samples from Southern Veracruz, the Usumacinta, and the southern Isthmus without considering the vast Chontalpa in-between. This paper synthesizes new and old data on sites, intrasite spatial organization, and material culture from the Mezcalapa Delta for a synopsis on prehispanic settlement history, settlement patterns, and interpretations on intra- and interregional identities in the Western Chontalpa. These sources suggest low populations during Olmec times, growth in the Late Formative, a hiatus in the Early Classic, and significant growth in the Middle-Late Classic when the first states appeared. The greatest political centralization was in the coastal-levee transition zone, without significant incorporation in trade networks, suggesting a tributary economy focused on diverse local resources. The people of the region cannot be viewed as Olmec, Chicanel, Maya, Nahua or their subjects. Instead, changing local to interregional layers of cultural identities are interpreted for Formative to Late Classic times, which in the latter were variably negotiated by class. Implications on modeling broader patterns of exchange/interaction spheres in the Gulf Coast are discussed.

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): 20427