Contemplating Disjoint Change in the Tuxtlas Formative-Classic Transition

Summary

This is an abstract from the "El principio del fin, el inicio del principio: Arqueología de la transición del Formativo al Clásico en Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Like a schizophrenic Mesoamerican Janus, the first centuries CE in the Tuxtlas region look backward or forward with neck-snapping deviation depending on where, when, and at what an observer looks. A millennium-old tradition of differentially fired wares persists in some parts as fine-paste orange wares dominate serving assemblages in others. Hieroglyphic writing and monumental sculpture are embraced or rejected differentially between and within lowland and highland settings. Subregionally distinctive autochthonous and allochthonous architectural layouts are elaborated, modified, and replaced as individuals and collectives jockey to employ tradition, novelty, and extraregional networks to their advantage. In this paper I reflect on a model of change I proposed in the early 2000s focused on ceramic use and production in the central Tuxtlas from a perspective expanded regionally, empirically, and theoretically by subsequent survey, excavation, analysis, and historical research at Tres Zapotes and in its environs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• El principio del fin, el inicio del principio: Arqueología de la transición del Formativo al Clásico en Los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, México   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38675.0