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

number of archaeological correlates have been identified (Flannery 1972; Hammond
1974; Marcus 1973, 1976). Major criteria used for identification of a central place
include:
1) Relative site size; central places are larger than secondary and support sites;
2) Population density greater than in outlying sites;
3) Public architecture (e.g., platform mounds, open plazas, temple mounds) for
administrative functions and localities for ritual activities;
4) Storage facilities required to hold goods for redistribution;
5) Craft specialization includes the production of prestige goods in workshops
that are controlled by elites and are evidenced by presence of exotic raw
materials (e.g., obsidian, jade, basalt), and production tools;
6) Length of occupation usually greater in central places, since they may
Capital Zone Model
represent the hearths of origin.
This model was formally introduced by Stark (1999) to explain the architectural
arrangement and spatial deposition of artifacts recovered at the site of Cerro de las Mesas
in the Mixtequilla region of south-central Veracruz (Stark 1991, 1999; Stark and Heller
1991; Stark et al. 1998). “A capital zone is an extensive area with dispersed formal
groups that, together, constituted an administrative and service core” (Stark 1999:201).
Although the model is oriented toward the Classic period (c. AD 300-900), the author
states that “Mesoamerican political and cultural development…built upon antecedents in
the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods” (c. 600 BC-AD 300) (Stark 1999:197).
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