Territorial Strategies in Western Chiapas.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper explores the different strategies used by a small polity to gain influence in long distance communication routes and access to resources and their changes through time. The research is based on spatial models and an archaeological survey conducted in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The survey was performed in an area in between two major archaeological sites, Mirador and Ocozocoautla, with occupations spanning from the Middle Formative (ca. 1000-250 BCE) to the Postclassic (ca. 900-1521 CE). The survey identified 53 archaeological sites in an area that was a border region between the two polities. I contrast four alternative strategies and link them to social processes at different scales, from the local to the macroregional, to understand the political organization of space in non-expansionist political units. The results suggest that prior to any attempt to influence long-distance communication routes the polities needed to exploit the resources in their immediate region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39160.0