Dating Early Ceremonial Centers in Southern Veracruz: Preliminary Results of the Suchilapan Archaeological Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Suchilapan Archaeological Project investigates the relationship between the development of monumental architecture and the transition to sedentary life in Formative period Mesoamerica (c. 2000 BC - AD 300). Through excavation, radiocarbon dating, and ceramic analysis, we are building a chronology for multiple early ceremonial centers clustered along the Coatzacoalcos River in the Olmec area of southern Veracruz, Mexico. We also investigate Formative era diets through paleobotanical analyses, asking if and when the builders of these centers relied on maize agriculture. Via these means and the survey and excavation of potential residential areas, we will estimate levels of residential mobility throughout the sites’ occupations. In this paper, we report preliminary results of our research during 2024 and 2025. This work contributes to a broader understanding of the origins of Mesoamerica as a cultural area, including the relationship between the Olmec and Preclassic Maya.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50946