An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

of constructions. This formal architectural pattern is documented in central Veracruz
(Daneels 1997), the lower Papaloapan drainage (Stark 1999), and throughout the
Southern Gulf Coast lowlands (Blom and LaFarge 1926; Ceja-Tenorio 1997; Coe and
Diehl 1980a; Killion and Urcid 2001). Although these types of complexes are a Classic
period phenomenon, there is debate concerning whether the ancestral roots of this
complex design extend back into the Middle Formative period.
Examination of the 400 m long river cut that intruded into the eastern border of
the Late Classic period architectural complex does not reveal evidence of any previous
occupations under the Villa Alta complex. Materials recovered from the surface
collection in and around the complex also do not suggest any prior occupation of this
particular space. Conversely, there is no evidence that any Classic or Postclassic period
residences at Marquesillo were constructed where the original Early and Middle
Formative settlement was established.
The area of the Early and Middle Formative period settlement is located to the
north of the Late Classic Villa Alta complex and neither intrudes upon the other. Carmen
Rodríguez (personal communication, 2006), a Centro INAH Veracruz archaeologist,
commented that she encountered the same directional relationship between Formative
and Villa Alta phase constructions at other sites in the Coatzacoalcos drainage including
El Macayal and La Merced. In the Hueyapan region, however, Thomas Killion (2006,
personal communication) has not found this type of spatial relationship.
Further investigation of this spatial relationship at other sites may prove beneficial
because evidence recovered at El Marquesillo suggests that the later inhabitants were
aware of the Formative settlement location. A series of Late Classic or Postclassic
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