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

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occurred in conjunction with El Niño events (Duffy and Bryant 1999). Figures 3.3 to 3.6 illustrate the changing course of the San Juan that directly impacted the site. Figure 3.6 shows the river in 1991, prior to changes in the course. The channel directly impacted El Marquesillo at three separate locations. This directional flow had been virtually unchanged since at least the early 1970s. In the photograph, letter ‘A’ indicates the area of the site where both pre-Olmec and Olmec period ceramic evidence was recovered and is considered to represent the earliest extant occupational zone. Letter ‘B’ denotes where the flow impacted the site where the Olmec throne was eventually exposed. The location illustrated by letter ‘C’ is where the Classic period Villa Alta phase architectural complex was breached by the collapse of the cut bank. Figure 3.6. Aerial photo of El Marquesillo in 1991. “A” indicates the region of the site containing pre-Olmec and Olmec ceramics, “B” denotes location of the Olmec throne, and “C” is where the Classic period architectural complex is being impacted (INEGI 1991). 72
At each of these three points of contact, the river current encounters the elevated bank upon which El Marquesillo is situated. The flow of the river destroys the elevated landform by undercutting the banks at their base. The undercut deepens until the weight of the ground above can no longer be supported and a portion of the wall collapses; an effect analogous to the calving of glaciers (Figure 3.7). This phenomenon occurs during flood stage or when the river channel changes. After the El Niño enhanced floods of 1994, the southern meander at El Marquesillo was cut off and the new channel intensified the destruction along the portion of the west bank that contained the Classic period Villa Alta phase architectural complex (Figure 3.8). The intensive flooding in 1998 caused the neck of the northern meander to be breached, which resulted in the loss of thousands of square meters of land surface at El Marquesillo. The loss included numerous homes of contemporary inhabitants (see Figure 3.7) and extensive archaeological constructions. The San Juan River is more than a cultural and ecological border, however. Contemporary researchers have used the river as a topographically convenient line at or near which to halt their regional archaeological surveys (Borstein 2001,2005; Killion and Urcid 2001). The river has also been employed as an arbitrary dividing line between cultural and linguistic groups (Aguirre-Beltrán 1992; Delgado-Calderón 1997b,2000). This artificial boundary line has prevented a more complete consideration and understanding of the demographic and sociopolitical development in the region. El Marquesillo is on “the other side of the river,” and its existence has not been anticipated. Locational models and associated hypotheses that were assembled prior to its discovery will need to be reconsidered. 73
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An Unexplored Realm in the Heartlan
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“Note to Reader” The original o
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Confederacy Model 39 Feudalistic Mo
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
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The Initial Occupation of El Marque
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List of Tables Table 5.1. Ceramic C
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Figure 3.14. Plan view of the Olmec
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Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
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Figure 5.53. El Marquesillo throne
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the resulting data do not fit many
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Furtherance of my academic career w
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Introduction Chapter 1. Archaeology
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esearch being conducted along the S
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its introduction to Mesoamerican ar
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participants. It is especially crit
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interpretations. Finally, I compare
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analogy (Diehl 1989:25; VanDerwarke
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change, fluctuates according to “
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embedded misconceptions about these
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The “Heartland” has been deline
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than a century after their occurren
Page 43 and 44: inference as opposed to evidence. T
Page 45 and 46: Sanders and Webster (1988:544) argu
Page 47 and 48: Park (1992:90) presents the Olmec a
Page 49 and 50: lowland subsistence economy until a
Page 51 and 52: Maya are lineal descendents of the
Page 53 and 54: continued to inhibit scientific inq
Page 55 and 56: describes this attempted conformanc
Page 57 and 58: The models used for evaluation of t
Page 59 and 60: number of archaeological correlates
Page 61 and 62: Confederacy Model Pool (2000:150;20
Page 63 and 64: Limitations and Cautions in the Use
Page 65 and 66: Lorenzo is considered the earliest
Page 67 and 68: Several lines of evidence suggest a
Page 69 and 70: turn, gave budding Olmec leaders co
Page 71 and 72: apid growth of settlements and thei
Page 73 and 74: techniques (Berger et al. 1967; Hei
Page 75 and 76: appear to characterize it as a “c
Page 77 and 78: iconographic detail, and appear to
Page 79 and 80: Formative period Southern Gulf Lowl
Page 81 and 82: Medellín-Zeníl (1960) found large
Page 83 and 84: de Agua, and the famous, iconograph
Page 85 and 86: egarding subsistence, settlement, p
Page 87 and 88: Introduction Chapter 3. El Marquesi
Page 89 and 90: 300-900). Historical documentation
Page 91 and 92: The features of the San Juan are ch
Page 93: Figure 3.4. Aerial photograph of El
Page 97 and 98: El Marquesillo’s geographic locat
Page 99 and 100: of the location for more than 3,500
Page 101 and 102: The extensive Villa Alta architectu
Page 103 and 104: of constructions. This formal archi
Page 105 and 106: To achieve and maintain this elevat
Page 107 and 108: Figure 3.11. Map of the Southern Gu
Page 109 and 110: Teotihuacán and Aztec trade routes
Page 111 and 112: land was not in the form of gold an
Page 113 and 114: Huaspaltepec (Playa Vicente), betwe
Page 115 and 116: as listed in these records, include
Page 117 and 118: community members had to work the l
Page 119 and 120: The 1944 flood was a momentous even
Page 121 and 122: of ancient structures, including Ce
Page 123 and 124: to recover as much information as p
Page 125 and 126: Figure 3.17. Photograph of El Seño
Page 127 and 128: collection along the cut bank was a
Page 129 and 130: its termination line (Borstein 2001
Page 131 and 132: Figure 3.18. Illustration of San Lo
Page 133 and 134: is seated transitionally between th
Page 135 and 136: Introduction Chapter 4. El Marquesi
Page 137 and 138: Grove 1997; Tolstoy 1989). Landscap
Page 139 and 140: Determination of the Survey Area Th
Page 141 and 142: Surface Mapping and Terrain Modelin
Page 143 and 144: Global Positioning System (GPS) Map
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Figure 4.4. Map of El Marquesillo g
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have the potential to record points
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The topographic images and terrain
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Figure 4.8. Digital Terrain Model o
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Figure 4.11. View to the east of lo
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The western third of the platform h
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Figure 4.15. Elevated view of Field
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Figure 4.17. Topographic map of El
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Figure 4.19. Northwest view of spri
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Information Systems (GIS) approach
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Figure 4.21. Illustration of docume
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Magnetic Properties of Basalt The m
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Magnetic Data Collection, Condition
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The magnetometer was set to the bas
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Figure 4.23. Topographical base map
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of basalt, but instead, a body of s
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Figure 4.25. Topographic contour ma
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mercuric sulfide in the soil. There
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Coyote, Honduras (Terry et al. 2000
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intersection on the numbered rows a
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The results were reported in parts
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Figure 4.28b. Box plot summaries of
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
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Summary of the Soil Analyses When t
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Figure 4.31a. Potassium distributio
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estriction prohibiting further exca
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The average depth of any observed a
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Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
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Figure 5.8. River cut profile 1A Le
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Figure 5.9. River cut profile 1B in
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Figure 5.10. River cut profile 2A L
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Figure 5.11. River cut profile 6B o
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Formative to Protoclassic ceramics
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fabrication methods, technologies,
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some of the Formative period wares
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The San Lorenzo Olmec Period (c. 11
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Figure 5.19. Examples of Middle For
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The Late Classic Period (c. AD 550-
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English annular ware (c. AD 1785-18
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Ceramic Collection Areas The identi
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Figure 5.26. Distribution of cerami
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Formative period accounted for 785
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The survey was conducted along the
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Figure 5.29. Diagram of Olmec thron
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Figure 5.30. Map illustrating the l
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Late Formative (263), Protoclassic
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demonstrates an analogous situation
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Offering I Figure 5.32. Locations o
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Figure 5.34. Offering I is at the c
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Figure 5.36. Two reconstructed plat
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crescent with its concave and conve
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The two figurine types are common t
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vessels that were deposited into a
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Figure 5.45. Two of three similar s
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Obsidian and Lithic Analyses The Ob
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Throne Units Test Units Offerings I
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inhabitants from other sites, or in
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Figure 5.50. Examples of stones tho
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Figure 5.51. El Marquesillo throne
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accomplished through violent blows
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Figure 5.56. Close-up of the figure
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Figure 5.58. Illustration of magnet
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Modifications to this pattern occur
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class occurred only in the presence
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appearance of ceramics occurred dur
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series of interrelated residential,
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The Early Formative period appearan
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Evidence of these constructions is
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and the excavated pit is not known,
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For the Gulf Olmec, monumental exhi
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precisely. This method would also m
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An earlier discussion suggested sty
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approximately 100 cm to 120 cm belo
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Nevertheless, the structural design
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discussion about the antiquity of t
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6.3). At La Venta equivalent basalt
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shamanistic ritual and rulership (F
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elevation provides an excellent ove
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further support to the idea that El
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Also contributing to the ceramic pr
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Another possible basalt deposition
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off is dramatic to say the least. T
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direction, a series of hills approx
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Finally, the selection and investig
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a metaphor for the movements of the
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plaza complex is also oriented to p
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the traditional communal ideology.
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where new diagnostic ceramic types
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Understanding of the early Postclas
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ceramics probably arrived at the en
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investigation before the direction
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Marquesillo, past and present. Fitt
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Through the integration of a sequen
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experienced an upward trend in popu
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prehispanic occupation would have b
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Assmann (2006) argues that prehisto
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1997:288). These changes in residen
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structures that could provide long-
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Analysis of these three components
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Early architectural units, specific
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activities and that these activitie
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political structure. Was it an inde
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subordinate to a nearby primary cen
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Explanation of Spatial Organization
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conjunction with other forms of arc
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Mesoamerican worldviews (Vogt 1981:
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Expanding the Boundaries and a Look
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to illustrate their power and wealt
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emains is striking. This disproport
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the earliest detectable occupation
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and Uxpanapa River Basins, I wonder
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Arnaiz-Villena, A., G. Vargas-Alarc
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Bassie, K. 2006 The Fire and Water
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Blake, M. and J. E. Clark 1999 The
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Butler, R. F. 1992 Paleomagnetism:
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2001 Gulf Lowlands: South Region. I
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Coe, M. D., D. Snow and E. Benson 1
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2003 Laguna de los Cerros: Una Capi
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2003 Analysis of Formative Period O
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Elachi, C. 1987 Introduction to the
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Foster, G. M. 1940 Notes on the Pop
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2001 La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. In
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Halbwachs, M. 1992 On Collective Me
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Hester, T. R., H. J. Shafer and K.
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Johnston, K. J. and N. Gonlin 1998
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Kruger, R. P. 1996 An Archaeologica
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Madry, S. L. H. 1987 A Multiscalar
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Middleton, W. D. 2004 Identifying C
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Ortíz, P. 1975 La Ceramica de los
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Plog, S. 1990 Agriculture, Sedentis
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Rapoport, A. 1990 History and Prece
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Rueda, H. G. 1989 Nuevas Exploracio
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Santley, R. S., S. A. Nelson, B. K.
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1989 Olmec Studies: A Status Report
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Stark, B. L. and P. J. Arnold 1997
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Tarling, D. H. 1983 Geomagnetism. C
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Tykot, R. H. 2004 Stable Isotopes a
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Wallerstein, I. 1974 The Modern Wor
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2003 The Role of Kinship and Demogr
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Appendix 1a. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 1b. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 2. Ceramic Types and Count
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Appendix 2 Ceramic Types and Counts
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Appendix 3a. Obsidian from Test Uni
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Appendix 3b. Obsidian from Throne E
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Appendix 4a. Lithics from Surface C
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Appendix 4b. Lithics from River Cut
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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About the Author Travis F. Doering
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An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

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