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

de los Cerros is considered a “major” San Lorenzo phase (c. 1150-900 BC) Olmec center
(Adams 1997; Coe and Diehl 1980a:293, 394; Drennan 1991:267; Gillespie 2000a:95;
Santley et al. 1997:203). The site has also been depicted as a San Lorenzo phase regional
administrative center and spatially delineated by patterns of tangential circles and
Thiessen polygons that neatly circumscribe the assumed extent of the polity area (i.e., the
central place and its hinterland sites) (Borstein 2001; Bove 1978). Only 11 km to the
south, however, and well within the projected confines of the political domain is El
Marquesillo. The presence of the site, its position, significantly earlier and more
protracted occupation, and proposed sociopolitical organization appear to challenge the
boundaries of the proposed administrative-economic models. To reduce the risk of
misinterpretation of the data, we need to consider not only the artifact record but the
physical attributes of our study areas as well as those adjacent, both surveyed and
unsurveyed.
The neighboring presence of El Marquesillo and Laguna de los Cerros initiates
interesting new questions regarding settlement systems along the Formative period
Southern Gulf Lowlands. Were they both subsidiary sites in a larger network, were they
aligned or united as co-centers, did they have an antagonistic relationship, or was there
some other unknown relationship occurring? El Marquesillo’s unanticipated presence at
an unexpected locale requires new perspectives from which to design our investigations
and consider our data.
Applications of geographic or spatial models of settlement assisted in generating a
robust description of El Marquesillo and the conditions in which it developed. In
addition, their use provided insight regarding the reasons and processes for settlement. In
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