Recent research about the Chiapanec and the Central Depression of Chiapas, Mexico, during the Postclassic period

Summary

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

Five years of survey and excavations are providing data regarding Postclassic and Contact-period Central Chiapas, allowing new proposals regarding the functioning of the Chiapanec polity. This study presents an analysis of the distribution of the population near ancient Chiapan, the capital of the Chiapanec polity at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards. To do this, we use a landscape perspective, which allows us to broadly compare the changes in the valleys of Terán, Suchiapa, and Tuxtla, the Copoya mesa, and the banks of the Grijalva river between the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1524) and the present time. The identification of fifty archaeological sites belonging to four different classes suggests that the population was distributed according to the economic and political needs of the Postclassic period when the Chiapanec polity controlled a vast territory of the Central Depression. Surface and excavation materials also provide new perspectives regarding commerce and politics.

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): 39771.0