Revisiting the “Lost Shores” and “Forgotten Peoples” of the Southeastern Chiapan Lowlands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Dynamic Frontiers in the Archaeology of Chiapas" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In spite of the intensity of interest in the ancient Maya, very little research has been conducted to date in lowland eastern Chiapas. This region, crossed by several important rivers and trade routes, connects multiple important areas, including the southern Maya lowlands, the Guatemalan and Caribbean highlands, and the Gulf and Caribbean coasts. Recent research by members of Proyecto Salinas de los Nueve Cerros is focused on a major inland salt producer just over the border in Guatemala, although investigations spilled over into Chiapas in 2017. Over three pre-pandemic field seasons, team members documented multiple new sites and expanded our understanding of several more, with a focus on reconstructing the ancient Maya salt trade. The team has also focused on rediscovering several sites lost to time, especially the colonial period Sak Balam, where the Lakandon were able to maintain their independence from the Spanish Crown until the end of the seventeenth century. In this paper, I discuss some of the findings from this research to understand the changing affiliations and networks in this important frontier zone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Dynamic Frontiers in the Archaeology of Chiapas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36084.0