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

where new diagnostic ceramic types are not apparent. This seeming lack of change
should not be interpreted as evidence for a landscape void of inhabitants, however.
In the case of the Formative to Classic transition, newly attained evidence is
clarifying, if not negating, many of these assumptions by demonstrating long-term
cultural development and continuity (Diehl 2004; Killion and Urcid 2001; Stark and
Arnold 1997). The continuity has been revealed in ceramic sequences in the Papaloapan
Basin (Daneels 1988; Stark and Curet 1994) and at Tres Zapotes (Pool 2000, 2003). In
these ceramic collections, the inclusion of a wider variety of slips, divergent designs, and
finer pastes were noted during the terminal Formative period. Stark and Arnold (1997:25)
argue that these modifications demonstrate not only technical continuity by their
producers but a social continuum that permitted the “foundation of Classic period
regional cultural developments…in south-central Veracruz.”
At El Marquesillo further support for this continuity is demonstrated in its
ceramic compilation. During analysis of this substantial quantity of material, Hernández
distinguished a long-term persistence in ceramic traditions within the assemblage.
Variations in Early and Middle Formative period differentially fired blackware continued
into the Late Formative period, a technological convention that spanned more than a
millennium. She also noted the appearance of a Late Formative Orange ware (Types
420.1 and 420.2) that does not appear related to later Teotihuacán wares introduced into
the Tuxtla Mountains (Santley et al. 1989), but instead are possibly a precursor to the
Classic period Fine Orange. These inferences correlate with findings at Bezuapan (Pool
1997:49) described in Chapter 5.
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