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

The survey was conducted along the base of the bank, which was divided into
approximate 50 m long segments. Fields 1 through 8, our area of interest, were identified
as segments 2 through 55 (see Hernández 2003). Within these segments, significant
quantities of ceramic material, representative of all temporal periods and transitional
phases, were recovered. A rough estimate shows Formative period materials accounted
for 32 percent of the entire river cut bank assemblage; Protoclassic and Early Classic
transitional objects amounted to 5 percent and Late Classic ceramics 7 percent. Non-
chronologically diagnostic pieces that are considered domestic wares accounted for 31
percent, and the remaining 25 percent consisted of other types of non-temporally
diagnostic pieces. On a strictly quantitative basis, these percentages suggest that the
occupational presence in these portions of Fields 1 through 8 was most significant during
the Formative period, an assumption that is consistent with inferences drawn from the
surface ceramic analysis.
From November, 2003 to December, 2005, four additional surveys and
collections were conducted along the river cut bank. These inspections were performed in
response to the continued collapse of weakened portions of the embankment that exposed
or displaced in situ artifacts. Also, following normal rainfall events, run-off from the
surface washed away small amounts of soil along the upper portions of the bank. The
cumulative effect of these erosional activities was the exposure or dislodging of
additional in situ artifacts and their deposition further down the slope.
The artifacts collected during these surveys had not been subject to movement by
river action; they had simply fallen from their place of origin. In respect to these fallen
pieces, I conducted a series of drop tests over various slopes and descent distances to
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