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

The transitions that occurred during the Formative period were neither universal
nor uniform; they occurred sporadically, in diverse places, and for numerous and varied
reasons (Clark and Blake 1994:17). The duration of culturally associated activities
exceeded 1600 years (c. 1800-200 BC). Almost invariably, these diverse events are
consolidated into a static sociopolitical era based on perceived similarities that are
derived from a superficial review of the data. These assumptions have established a
conventional wisdom that suggests that unchanging sociopolitical, ideological, and
economic systems occurred across space and time. As more data are collected, some of
these assumptions of equivalence and uniformity have been shown to be inaccurate and
misleading.
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