Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T16:49:26.660Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE FORMATIVE TO CLASSIC PERIOD TRANSITION AT IZAPA: UPDATES FROM THE IZAPA HOUSEHOLD ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2019

Rebecca R. Mendelsohn
Rebecca R. Mendelsohn*
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archaeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Ave. Roosevelt, Balboa Ancon, Edific. Tupper #401, Panamá, República de Panamá
*
E-mail correspondence to: MendelsohnR@si.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In southern Mesoamerica, the period between 100 b.c. and a.d. 400 saw both the apogee and fall of several powerful Formative-period cities. Previous reports have suggested that conquest from the southeast may have prompted a unique decline at Izapa around 100 b.c., when many neighboring cities were prospering. Over the last five years, new archaeological data has emerged for the Formative to Classic period transition at Izapa. The present work summarizes these updates and highlights recent deposits excavated during the Izapa Household Archaeology Project. These updates raise questions about the Hato-phase intrusion hypothesis proposed by Lowe and colleagues (1982). I close with an alternative proposal that, beginning around 100 b.c., increased network participation and a change in the institution of kingship produced some of the dramatic changes in ceramics and burial patterns observed at the site.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 29 , Special Issue 2: Recent Research on Izapa Archaeology and Iconography , Fall 2018 , pp. 309 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bishop, Ronald, Demarest, Arthur A., and Sharer, Robert J. 1989 Chemical Analysis and the Interpretations Late Preclassic Intersite Ceramic Patterns in the Southeast Highlands of Mesoamerica. In New Frontiers in the Archaeology of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica, edited by Bove, Frederick and Heller, Lynette, pp. 135–145. Arizona State University Anthropological Research Papers No. 39. Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Blanton, Richard E., Feinman, Gary M., Kowalewski, Stephen A., and Peregrine, Peter N. 1996 A Dual-Processual Theory for the Evolution of Mesoamerican Civilization. Current Anthropology 37:1–14.Google Scholar
Brady, James E., Ball, Joseph W., Bishop, Ronald L., Pring, Duncan C., Hammond, Norman, and Housley, Rupert A. 1998 The Lowland Maya “Protoclassic”: A Reconsideration of its Nature and Significance. Ancient Mesoamerica 9:17–38.Google Scholar
Bryant, Douglas Donne, and Moore, Jerry D. 1984 San Jacinto Pottery in Terminal Preclassic Mesoamerica. Cerámica Maya de Cultura Maya et al. 13:48–68.Google Scholar
Bryant, Douglas Donne, and Clark, John E. 2005 Protoclassic Ceramics. In Ceramic Sequence of the Upper Grijalva Region, Chiapas, Mexico, Part 1, edited by Bryant, Douglas Donne, Clark, John E., and Cheetham, David, pp. 283–349. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 67. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Callaghan, Michael G. 2013 Politics through Pottery: A View of the Preclassic-Classic Transition from Building B, Group II, Holmul, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:307–341.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 2013 Some Observations on Pre-Classic Izapa. In Minor Excavations in Lower Izapa, edited by Clark, John E. and Lee, Thomas A. Jr., pp. 117–148. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 75. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Cheetham, David 2005 Cerámica del formativo de Chiapas. In La producción alfarera en el México Antiguo, edited by Carrión, Beatriz Leonor Merrino and Cook, Ángel García, pp. 285–433. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Lowe, Gareth W. 2013 Izapa History. In Middle and Late Preclassic Izapa: Ceramic Complexes and History, edited by Lowe, Gareth W., Ekholm, Susanna, and Clark, John E., pp. 69–87. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Lee, Thomas A. Jr. 2013 Minor Excavations in Lower Izapa. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 75. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1961 La Victoria: An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Flannery, Kent V. 1967 Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Vol. 3. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
de Borhegyi, Stephen F. 1965 Archaeological Synthesis of the Guatemalan Highlands. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, Part One, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 3–58. Handbook of the Middle American Indians, Vol 2. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1986 The Archaeology of Santa Leticia and the Rise of Maya Civilization. Middle American Research Institute Publication 52. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 2011 The Political, Economic, and Cultural Correlates of the Late Preclassic Southern Highland Material Culture: Evidence, Analyses, and Controversies. In The Southern Maya of the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 345–386. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., and Sharer, Robert J. 1982 The Origins and Evolution of Usulutan Ceramics. American Antiquity 47:810–822.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., and Sharer, Robert J. 1986 Late Preclassic Ceramic Spheres, Culture Areas, and Cultural Evolution in the Southeastern Highlands of Mesoamerica. In The Southeast Maya Periphery, edited by Urban, Patricia A. and Schortman, Edward M., pp. 194–223. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Dull, Robert A., Southon, John R., and Sheets, Payson 2001 Volcanism, Ecology, and Culture: A Reassessment of the Volcán Ilogango TBJ Eruption in the Southern Maya Realm. Latin American Antiquity 12:25–44.Google Scholar
Ekholm, Susanna M. 1969 Mound 30a and the Early Preclassic Sequence of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A., and Schele, Linda 1988 Kingship in the Late Preclassic Maya Lowlands: The Instruments and Places of Ritual Power. American Anthropologist 90:547–567.Google Scholar
Gómez Rueda, Hernando, and Sierra, Liwy Grazioso 1997 Nuevos elementos de la iconografía de Izapa: La Estela 90. In X simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1996, edited by Laporte, J. P. and Escobedo, H., pp. 227–242. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 1995 Transformations of Maya Society at the End of the Preclassic: Processes of Change Between the Predynastic and Dynastic Periods. In The Emergence of Lowland Maya Civilization: The Transition from the Preclassic to the Early Classic, edited by Grube, Nikolai, pp. 1–5. Acta Mesoamerica, No. 8. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2006 Ritual & Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Henderson, Lucia 2016 Time Tested: Re-Thinking Chronology and Sculptural Traditions in Preclassic Southern Mesoamerica. Antiquity 90:456–471.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Ortiz, Raúl, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia J. 2014 Chronological Revision of Preclassic Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala: Implications for Social Processes in the Southern Maya Area. Latin American Antiquity 25:377–408.Google Scholar
Lee, Thomas A. 1969 Post-Formative Ceramics of Izapa. Unpublished manuscript on file at the New World Archaeological Foundation, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.Google Scholar
Lee, Thomas A. 1973 Secuencia de fases postformativas en Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. Estudios de Cultura Maya 9:75–84.Google Scholar
Lieske, Rosemary 2013 Izapa Group B: Excavations, Burials, and Offerings. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Love, Michael 2002 Ceramic Chronology of Preclassic Period Western Pacific Guatemala and Its Relationship to Other Regions. In Incidents of Archaeology in Central America and Yucatán: Essays in Honor of Edwin M. Shook, edited by Love, Michael, de Hatch, Marion Popenoe, and Escobedo, Héctor L., pp. 71–73. University Press of America, Lanham.Google Scholar
Love, Michael 2007 Recent Research in the Southern Highlands and Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica. Journal Archaeological Research 15:275–328.Google Scholar
Love, Michael 2011 Cities, States, and City-State Culture in the Late Preclassic Southern Maya Region. In The Southern Maya of the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 47–75. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth 1962 Monthly Report to the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation Board, April 1962. Archives of the New World Archaeological Foundation, San Cristobal de las Casas.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth 1977 The Mixe-Zoque and Competing Neighbors of the Early Lowland Maya. In The Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Adams, Richard E. W., pp. 197–248. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth 1993 La gran importancia de las ofrendas del Preclásico Terminal en Izapa. In Segundo y tercer foros de arqueología de Chiapas, pp. 179–210. Instituto Chiapaneco de Cultura, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth, Ekholm, Susanna M., and Clark, John E. 2013 Middle and Late Preclassic Izapa: Ceramic Complexes and History. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth, Lee, Thomas A. Jr., and Espinoza, Eduardo Martinez 1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 31. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Macías, J. L., Espíndola, J. M., García-Palomo, A., Scott, K. M., Hughes, S., and Mora, J. C. 2000 Late Holocene Peléan-Style Eruption at Tacaná Volcano, Mexico and Guatemala: Past, Present, and Future Hazards. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112:1234–1249.Google Scholar
Macías, José Luis, Luis Arce, José, Capra, Lucia, Saucedo, Ricardo, and Sánchez-Nuñez, Juan Manuel 2018 Late Formative Flooding of Izapa after an Eruption of Tacána Volcano. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:361–371.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2017 Resilience and Interregional Interaction at the Early Mesoamerican City of Izapa: The Formative to Classic Period Transition. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 2013 Excavaciones tempranas de Izapa. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 75. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Pearsall, Deborah M., Jones, John G., de Pieters, Bárbara Arroyo, and Freidel, Dorothy E. 2006 Climate Change and Population History in the Pacific Lowlands of Southern Mesoamerica. Quaternary Research 2006:390–400.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Bishop, Ronald L., and Bove, Frederick J. 1989 Compositional Patterning in Ceramics from Pacific Coastal and Highland Guatemala. Archeomaterials 3:97–109.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Mudd Britt, Georgia 2000 A Ceramic Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 11:139–161.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher, Loughlin, Michael L., and Ceballos, Ponciano Ortiz 2018 Transisthmian Ties: Epi-Olmec and Izapan Interaction. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:413–437.Google Scholar
Popenoe de Hatch, Marion 2002 New Perspectives on Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala: Regional Interaction During the Preclassic and Classic Periods. In Incidents of Archaeology in Central America and Yucatán: Essays in Honor of Edwin M. Shook, edited by Love, Michael, de Hatch, Marion Popenoe, and Escobedo, Héctor L., pp. 277–296. University Press of America, New York.Google Scholar
Pring, Duncan C. 1977 Influence or Intrusion? The “Protoclassic” in the Maya Lowlands. In Social Process in Maya Prehistory: Essays in Honour of Sir Eric Thompson, edited by Hammond, Norman, pp. 135–165. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Reese-Taylor, Kathryn, and Walker, Debra S. 2002 The Passage of the Late Preclassic into the Early Classic. In Ancient Maya Political Economies, edited by Masson, Marilyn A. and Freidel, David A., pp. 87–122. Altamira Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rice, Don Stephen 1993 The Making of Latin American Horizons: An Introduction to the Volume. In Latin American Horizons, edited by Rice, Don Stephen, pp. 1–13. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1977 Whiteware Pottery Production in the Valley of Guatemala: Specialization and Resource Utilization. Journal of Field Archaeology 4:221–233.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2016 The Izapa Kingdom Revealed with Lidar and Pedestrian Survey. Poster presented at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., Culleton, Brendan, Kennet, Douglas, Lieske, Rosemark, Mendelsohn, Rebecca, and Núñez-Cortés, Yahaira 2018 The Early Izapa Kingdom: Recent Excavations, New Dating, and Middle Formative Ceramic Analyses. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:373–393.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., Gasco, Janine, Antonelli, Caroline, Mendelsohn, Rebecca, Navarro Castillo, Marx, and Vidal-Guzman, Cuauhtémoc 2012 Proyecto de reconocimiento regional de Izapa 2011: Informe técnicos parciales. Report submitted to the Consejo de Arqueología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., and Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2016 Izapa and the Soconusco Region, Mexico, in the First Millennium A.D. Latin American Antiquity 27:357–377.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., Mendelsohn, Rebecca, Antonelli, Caroline, Lieske, Rosemary, and Núñez Cortés, Yahaira 2014 Proyecto de reconocimiento regional de Izapa 2012: Informe técnico parcial. Report submitted to the Consejo de Arqueología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., López-Torrijos, Ricardo, Antonelli, Caroline E., and Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2013 Lidar Mapping and Surface Survey of the Izapa State on the Tropical Piedmont of Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:1493–1507.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1978 The Prehistory of Chalchuapa, El Salvador, Volume III: Pottery and Conclusions. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sheets, Payson D. 1979 Environmental and Cultural Effects of the Ilopango Eruption in Central America. In Volcanic Activity and Human Ecology, edited by Sheets, Payson D. and Grayson, Donald K., pp. 525–564. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara 1976 The Chantuto People: An Archaic Period Society of the Chiapas Littoral, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 41. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Wetherington, Ronald K. 1978 The Ceramic Chronology of Kaminaljuyu. In The Ceramics of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala, edited by Wetherington, Ronald K., pp. 115–149. The Pennsylvania State University Press Monograph Series on Kaminaljuyu. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., and Gifford, James C. 1961 Pottery of the Holmul I Style from Barton Ramie, British Honduras. In Essays in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, edited by Lothrop, Samuel K., pp. 152–170. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar