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

versus private for example. As well, there appears to be a difference in the treatment and
deposition of monuments at El Marquesillo relative to San Lorenzo, La Venta, and other
contemporaneous sites. These assumed differences in action could suggest that at El
Marquesillo the monument served as a reminder in the memory of place. Lastly, the
deposition of what may have been heirloom items in Offering I, and the intentional
caching of symbolically significant Classic period objects into apparently a respected
Formative period structure. This action can be interpreted as intentional social reminders
that again point to the persistence of this place in memory and the transmission of this
knowledge through long periods of time. The suggested multiple alignments of
architectural structures toward landscape markers (i.e., the three most prominent peaks of
the Tuxtla Volcanic Ridge) are shown to have occurred repeatedly over time, lending
further support to the idea of the community’s collective memory. Vogt (1981:135-136)
has illustrated how the constructed settlement pattern can mirror the “sacred landscape,”
and directly alluded to the inhabitants’ beliefs concerning the “structure of the universe,
the nature of the gods, and the functioning of the social system.” These apparently overt
expressions of the people’s connection to their landscape, and possibly to their
worldview, are substantially more evident at El Marquesillo than at other Early or Middle
Formative sites (cf. Tate 1999b).
The scale of ceramic production relative to population, during any given time
period at El Marquesillo, cannot be accurately assessed. In other words, we do not know,
at this point, if they were produced in quantities adequate only to meet the needs of the
inhabitants, or if they were produced in amounts designed for export. Regardless, the
disparity in the degree to which pottery is present over other types of material culture
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