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

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increase in the quantities and distribution of chronologically diagnostic ceramics is an accurate indicator, El Marquesillo remained a viable center. The occupants participated in socioeconomic interaction spheres as demonstrated by the various sources of obsidian present and the basalt and other igneous rock used for utilitarian and domestic implements. The presence of these materials could suggest an interregional trade and exchange network. Alternatively, some occupants may have had the fortitude and means by which to acquire these materials directly from their source locations, or possibly both types of acquisition systems may have existed. The procurement of metric tons of basalt used for the throne and possibly in the extensive magnetic anomalies demonstrated the economic and social power of the community and its leadership. A unique depositional formation of ceramic and lithic artifacts may indicate a previously unknown type of feature. If the architectural features at El Marquesillo were used in a manner similar to those implied at other contemporaneous sites during the Formative period, they may support the idea that ritual exhibitions, dances, games, feasts were part of the domestic life of the inhabitants (Blake and Clark 1999; Clark and Blake 1994; Joyce 2004b,c). El Marquesillo’s populace does not appear to have been noticeably impacted by either the rise or fall of La Venta as a major Gulf Coast Olmec center. Although a number of similar sociopolitical and ideological characteristics are noted at both sites, El Marquesillo exhibits a significantly earlier emergence and participation of in the pre- Olmec and Gulf Coast Olmec paradigm. As well, El Marquesillo continued to flourish during and after La Venta declined. The establishment of directional alignments to Tuxtla volcanic landmarks, and other ritual and ideological materializations require further 302
investigation before the direction of influence is presumed to be from La Venta to El Marquesillo. Throughout the waxing and waning of major sites that had socially, politically, or economically impacted regions near El Marquesillo (e.g., Teotihuacán or El Tajín), the people of El Marquesillo appear to have continued their customs and traditions. Based on the evidence recovered to date, sociopolitical or military intrusions are not reflected in the material record at the site. The recurrent changes in ceramic technologies throughout the Middle Formative to the Late Classic periods do suggest, however, that external contact was somehow selective and limited. By the Late Classic, the people of El Marquesillo appear to have been participants in what is considered to be a resurgence or reassertion of the Gulf Coast populations. Referred to as the Villa Alta phase (Coe and Diehl 1980a:213-222), this period saw the spread of a formal architectural pattern called a long- plaza complex along the Southern Gulf Lowlands and into upland regions as well (Killion and Urcid 2001:11). The origins of this multiplex pattern has been attributed, by some, to the Middle Formative period (Heizer, Drucker et al. 1968; Symonds and Lunagómez 1997), others believe it is a Classic period design (Daneels 1997; Stark 1999). In either case, the expansion of this architectural complex is thought to represent “nodes in a local network of elite estates integrated by hereditary, ceremonial, and political relations” (Killion and Urcid 2001:13). Again, as in the Olmec paradigm, the region appears to be linked by a shared ideology of rulership that is publicly displayed in a reiterative pattern of monumental constructions. If the scale and number of buildings and architectural groupings in the primary center is indicative of centralized authority, then El Marquesillo was a major center in the San Juan River Valley. Moreover, if the 303
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An Unexplored Realm in the Heartlan
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“Note to Reader” The original o
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Confederacy Model 39 Feudalistic Mo
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
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The Initial Occupation of El Marque
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List of Tables Table 5.1. Ceramic C
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Figure 3.14. Plan view of the Olmec
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Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
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Figure 5.53. El Marquesillo throne
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the resulting data do not fit many
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Furtherance of my academic career w
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Introduction Chapter 1. Archaeology
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esearch being conducted along the S
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its introduction to Mesoamerican ar
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participants. It is especially crit
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interpretations. Finally, I compare
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analogy (Diehl 1989:25; VanDerwarke
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change, fluctuates according to “
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embedded misconceptions about these
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The “Heartland” has been deline
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than a century after their occurren
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inference as opposed to evidence. T
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Sanders and Webster (1988:544) argu
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Park (1992:90) presents the Olmec a
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lowland subsistence economy until a
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Maya are lineal descendents of the
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continued to inhibit scientific inq
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describes this attempted conformanc
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The models used for evaluation of t
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number of archaeological correlates
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Confederacy Model Pool (2000:150;20
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Limitations and Cautions in the Use
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Lorenzo is considered the earliest
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Several lines of evidence suggest a
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turn, gave budding Olmec leaders co
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apid growth of settlements and thei
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techniques (Berger et al. 1967; Hei
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appear to characterize it as a “c
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iconographic detail, and appear to
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Formative period Southern Gulf Lowl
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Medellín-Zeníl (1960) found large
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de Agua, and the famous, iconograph
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egarding subsistence, settlement, p
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Introduction Chapter 3. El Marquesi
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300-900). Historical documentation
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The features of the San Juan are ch
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Figure 3.4. Aerial photograph of El
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At each of these three points of co
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El Marquesillo’s geographic locat
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of the location for more than 3,500
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The extensive Villa Alta architectu
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of constructions. This formal archi
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To achieve and maintain this elevat
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Figure 3.11. Map of the Southern Gu
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Teotihuacán and Aztec trade routes
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land was not in the form of gold an
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Huaspaltepec (Playa Vicente), betwe
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as listed in these records, include
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community members had to work the l
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The 1944 flood was a momentous even
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of ancient structures, including Ce
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to recover as much information as p
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Figure 3.17. Photograph of El Seño
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collection along the cut bank was a
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its termination line (Borstein 2001
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Figure 3.18. Illustration of San Lo
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is seated transitionally between th
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Introduction Chapter 4. El Marquesi
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Grove 1997; Tolstoy 1989). Landscap
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Determination of the Survey Area Th
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Surface Mapping and Terrain Modelin
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Global Positioning System (GPS) Map
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Figure 4.4. Map of El Marquesillo g
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have the potential to record points
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The topographic images and terrain
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Figure 4.8. Digital Terrain Model o
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Figure 4.11. View to the east of lo
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The western third of the platform h
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Figure 4.15. Elevated view of Field
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Figure 4.17. Topographic map of El
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Figure 4.19. Northwest view of spri
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Information Systems (GIS) approach
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Figure 4.21. Illustration of docume
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Magnetic Properties of Basalt The m
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Magnetic Data Collection, Condition
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The magnetometer was set to the bas
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Figure 4.23. Topographical base map
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of basalt, but instead, a body of s
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Figure 4.25. Topographic contour ma
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mercuric sulfide in the soil. There
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Coyote, Honduras (Terry et al. 2000
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intersection on the numbered rows a
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The results were reported in parts
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Figure 4.28b. Box plot summaries of
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
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Summary of the Soil Analyses When t
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Figure 4.31a. Potassium distributio
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estriction prohibiting further exca
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The average depth of any observed a
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Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
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Figure 5.8. River cut profile 1A Le
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Figure 5.9. River cut profile 1B in
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Figure 5.10. River cut profile 2A L
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Figure 5.11. River cut profile 6B o
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Formative to Protoclassic ceramics
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fabrication methods, technologies,
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some of the Formative period wares
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The San Lorenzo Olmec Period (c. 11
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Figure 5.19. Examples of Middle For
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The Late Classic Period (c. AD 550-
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English annular ware (c. AD 1785-18
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Ceramic Collection Areas The identi
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Figure 5.26. Distribution of cerami
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Formative period accounted for 785
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The survey was conducted along the
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Figure 5.29. Diagram of Olmec thron
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Figure 5.30. Map illustrating the l
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Late Formative (263), Protoclassic
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demonstrates an analogous situation
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Offering I Figure 5.32. Locations o
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Figure 5.34. Offering I is at the c
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Figure 5.36. Two reconstructed plat
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crescent with its concave and conve
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The two figurine types are common t
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vessels that were deposited into a
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Figure 5.45. Two of three similar s
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Obsidian and Lithic Analyses The Ob
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Throne Units Test Units Offerings I
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inhabitants from other sites, or in
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Figure 5.50. Examples of stones tho
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Figure 5.51. El Marquesillo throne
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accomplished through violent blows
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Figure 5.56. Close-up of the figure
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Figure 5.58. Illustration of magnet
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Modifications to this pattern occur
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class occurred only in the presence
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Page 295 and 296: 6.3). At La Venta equivalent basalt
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Page 303 and 304: Also contributing to the ceramic pr
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Page 309 and 310: direction, a series of hills approx
Page 311 and 312: Finally, the selection and investig
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Page 323: ceramics probably arrived at the en
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Page 329 and 330: Through the integration of a sequen
Page 331 and 332: experienced an upward trend in popu
Page 333 and 334: prehispanic occupation would have b
Page 335 and 336: Assmann (2006) argues that prehisto
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Page 341 and 342: Analysis of these three components
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Page 347 and 348: political structure. Was it an inde
Page 349 and 350: subordinate to a nearby primary cen
Page 351 and 352: Explanation of Spatial Organization
Page 353 and 354: conjunction with other forms of arc
Page 355 and 356: Mesoamerican worldviews (Vogt 1981:
Page 357 and 358: Expanding the Boundaries and a Look
Page 359 and 360: to illustrate their power and wealt
Page 361 and 362: emains is striking. This disproport
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Page 365 and 366: and Uxpanapa River Basins, I wonder
Page 367 and 368: Arnaiz-Villena, A., G. Vargas-Alarc
Page 369 and 370: Bassie, K. 2006 The Fire and Water
Page 371 and 372: Blake, M. and J. E. Clark 1999 The
Page 373 and 374: Butler, R. F. 1992 Paleomagnetism:
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2001 Gulf Lowlands: South Region. I
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Coe, M. D., D. Snow and E. Benson 1
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2003 Laguna de los Cerros: Una Capi
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2003 Analysis of Formative Period O
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Elachi, C. 1987 Introduction to the
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Foster, G. M. 1940 Notes on the Pop
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2001 La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. In
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Halbwachs, M. 1992 On Collective Me
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Hester, T. R., H. J. Shafer and K.
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Johnston, K. J. and N. Gonlin 1998
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Kruger, R. P. 1996 An Archaeologica
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Madry, S. L. H. 1987 A Multiscalar
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Middleton, W. D. 2004 Identifying C
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Ortíz, P. 1975 La Ceramica de los
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Plog, S. 1990 Agriculture, Sedentis
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Rapoport, A. 1990 History and Prece
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Rueda, H. G. 1989 Nuevas Exploracio
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Santley, R. S., S. A. Nelson, B. K.
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1989 Olmec Studies: A Status Report
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Stark, B. L. and P. J. Arnold 1997
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Tarling, D. H. 1983 Geomagnetism. C
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Tykot, R. H. 2004 Stable Isotopes a
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Wallerstein, I. 1974 The Modern Wor
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2003 The Role of Kinship and Demogr
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Appendix 1a. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 1b. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 2. Ceramic Types and Count
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Appendix 2 Ceramic Types and Counts
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Appendix 3a. Obsidian from Test Uni
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Appendix 3b. Obsidian from Throne E
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Appendix 4a. Lithics from Surface C
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Appendix 4b. Lithics from River Cut
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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About the Author Travis F. Doering
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An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

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