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

collection along the cut bank was also conducted, and the excavation of Offering II at the
location of the Olmec throne was completed. Further pedestrian reconnaissance of the
site was also performed.
In November and early December, 2003, Hernández conducted a 5,500 m² surface
survey of the site. A 2,500 m² grid was then laid out across the precolumbian portions of
the site; time and funding constrictions prevented the inclusion of a greater survey area.
The grid was composed of contiguous 50 m x 50 m increments. A surface collection was
then conducted across the grid with all cultural material being retrieved and identified
according to the grid location in which it was recovered.
Following conversations between Hernández and I, from May to December, 2003,
a proposal for a joint project to further investigate El Marquesillo’s Formative past was
instigated. Based on data recovered by the Hernández investigations, the Marquesillo
Archaeological Survey Project was designed.
Regional Summary
Contemporary archaeological investigators have literally ignored the area along
the Middle San Juan River, but this deficiency is not surprising given the history of the
region over the past millennium. Early Spanish accounts of the Southern Gulf Coast
Lowlands and its colonization continually refer to the Papaloapan Basin, the Tuxtla
Mountain region, and the Coatzacoalcos and Tonala Drainages, but the San Juan region is
rarely mentioned. Historic and ethnohistoric evidence has been presented that suggest El
Marquesillo was, for the most part, insulated from external influences other than those
emanating from the east. During the pre-Olmec period (c. 1500-1150 BC) and San
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