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

magnetometer to search for buried magnetic anomalies. The success of this technique
proved exceptional and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), under
the direction of Ignacio Bernal, extended the investigation to San Lorenzo in 1969 and
1970. Ultimately, 16 new basalt monumental sculptures were detected and recorded using
this technique (Breiner and Coe 1972; Brüggeman and Hers 1970; Coe and Diehl
1980a:126-129). In 1990, Ann Cyphers (1997b; Symonds et al. 2002) resumed
investigations as director of the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan Archaeological Project. A
primary contribution of this ongoing project has been to illustrate the extent of the
supporting network of towns, villages, and farmsteads that were required to maintain the
capital zone of San Lorenzo.
During the late Early Formative period (c. 1250-1000 BC), the tripartite segments
of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán were part of an island encircled by the Coatzacoalcos and
Chiquito Rivers, and dozens of supporting settlements surrounded the central core. The
settlement pattern survey conducted by Symonds et al. (2002) has determined that the
nuclear community around San Lorenzo during this time covered 690 ha and included a
seven-level site hierarchy, based primarily on the sizes of the sites. Architectural
elements present on the elite upper platform of San Lorenzo that have been identified as
Early Formative period constructions are limited to low platforms or building foundations
and causeways (Cyphers 1997b, 2001:647; Symonds et al. 2002:109-117). Low mounded
architectural remains (Symonds 2000: Type 5 and 6 sites) have been found away from the
plateau on elevated terrain at primary and secondary fluvial junctures. The elevation of
the mounds may simply be for protection against annual inundations (Symonds 2000).
44