Settlement and Political Ecology in the Lower Lacantun River Landscape

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Archaeological Investigations in Chiapas, Mexico" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over three field seasons, the Lower Lacantun Archaeological Project has examined the political organization and settlement of the region surrounding the confluence of the Lacantun and Usumacinta Rivers in Chiapas, Mexico. This riverine landscape is unique in the Western Lowlands, presenting risks and opportunities related to seasonal and long-term flooding of the alluvial plain. During the Classic period, this region was likely associated with the poorly understood Lakamtuun kingdom, known from inscriptions from Piedras Negras to Ceibal. This paper addresses recent work in the region, namely the documentation of monuments at the sites of Benemerito de las Americas Primera Seccion, El Palma, and San Lorenzo; the identification of a ceramic workshop at Benemerito de las Americas Primera Seccion; test excavations at El Palma and Yaxun; regional survey; and ongoing community outreach to develop a long-term project with the modern community of Benemerito de las Americas. These efforts have also included the analysis and ground verification of several lidar datasets, particularly focused on agrarian landscapes and drained fields. Future work will involve additional drone lidar data collection and the generation of a predictive model to locate households and agrarian features based on local knowledge, survey, and ecology, contrasting uplands and floodplains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Archaeological Investigations in Chiapas, Mexico   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39684.0