The Beginnings of Mesoamerican Civilization: Inter-Regional Interaction and the Olmec

398 Pages·2009·5.64 MB·English

by  Robert M. Rosenswig

The Beginnings of
Mesoamerican
Civilization
INTER-REGIONAL INTERACTION
AND THE OLMEC
Robert M. Rosenswig
UniversityatAlbany–SUNY
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THEBEGINNINGSOFMESOAMERICANCIVILIZATION
Mesoamerica is one of several cradles of civilization in the world. In this
book,RobertM.RosenswigproposesthatweunderstandEarlyFormative
Mesoamerica as an archipelago of complex societies that interacted with
one another over long distances and that were separated by less seden-
tarypeoples.Theseearly“islands”ofculturesharedanOlmecartisticaes-
thetic, beginning approximately 1250 bce (uncalibrated), that first defined
Mesoamericaasanareaofculture.RosenswigframestheOlmecworldfrom
the perspective of the Soconusco area of Pacific Chiapas and Guatemala.
ThedisagreementsaboutEarlyFormativesocietythathaveragedoverthe
pastthirtyyearsfocusonthenatureofinter-regionalinteractionbetweenSan
LorenzoandotherEarlyFormativeregions.Heevaluatesthesedebatesfrom
afreshtheoreticalperspectiveandintegratesnewdataintoanassessment
ofSoconuscosocietybefore,duringandaftertheapogeeoftheSanLorenzo
polity.
Robert M. Rosenswig is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Uni-
versity at Albany – SUNY. He has directed archaeological field work in
Mexico,BelizeandCostaRicaandhaspublishednumerousarticlesonthe
origins of agriculture and the development of sociopolitical complexity in
Mesoamerica.

CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521111027
© Robert M. Rosenswig 2010
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2010
ISBN-13 978-0-511-67106-7 eBook (Dawsonera)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-11102-7 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Dedicatedtothelovingmemoryof
JeanneNewman
(1918–2002)

vii
Contents
Figures pagexiii
Tables xvii
Acknowledgments xix
sectioni. anearlyformativemesoamericanproblem
1 Introduction 3
OutlineofBook 7
2 KnowledgeinanArchipelagoofComplexity 13
ACore/PeripheryPerspective 14
Core/peripheryperspectivesinMesoamerica 18
GiftExchangeandSocialDebt 20
ConspicuousConsumptionandSocialCapital 22
PersuasiveDisplayandSocialPower 24
LocalCohesionCreatedthroughtheProductionofGifts 27
KnowledgeKulaandSocialInequality 29
AnArchipelagoofComplexity 34
TrobriandIslanders 39
GermanicBarbarians 40
EarlyBronzeAgeCyclades 41
Chav´ınHorizonPeru 43
Summary 45
3 Mesoamerica’sFirstStyleHorizonsandthe“Olmec
Problem” 47
EarlyandMiddleFormativeMesoamericanStyle
HorizonsandCultureHistoryoftheSoconusco
andtheGulfCoast 48
InitialCeramicPeriod 52
viii HorizonI 57
HorizonII 67
contents
HorizonIII 71
The“OlmecProblem” 75
ExpectedPatternsforThreeModelsofInter-regional
Interaction 79
InitialCeramicPeriod:
Hypothesis1(PPM)expectations 81
InitialCeramicPeriod:
Hypothesis2(EEM)expectations 82
InitialCeramicPeriod:
Hypothesis3(AAM)expectations 83
HorizonI:Hypothesis1(PPM)expectations 84
HorizonI:Hypothesis2(EEM)expectations 85
HorizonI:Hypothesis3(AAM)expectations 87
HorizonII:Hypothesis1(PPM)expectations 90
HorizonII:Hypothesis2(EEM)expectations 92
HorizonII:Hypothesis3(AAM)expectations 93
Summary 96
CreatingMutuallyExclusiveHypotheses 96
sectionii. archaeologicaldata
4 SettlementPatternsandArchitecture 105
EarlyandMiddleFormativeSettlementPatternsinthe
Cuauhte´mocZone 106
Surveymethods 108
SurveyResults 111
ComparisonsbetweenSoconuscoandSanLorenzo
settlements 114
TheCuauhte´mocSite 117
ArchitecturalDevelopmentatCuauhte´moc 120
SummaryofSettlementPatternsandArchitecture 128
5 Diet,FoodProcessingandFeasting 132
TheContextofSamples 135
Cuauhte´mocDiet 137
Faunalremains 137
Maizedensity 144
Boneisotopes 145
Summaryofdietaryevidence 146
FoodPreparationatCuauhte´moc 148
Ceramicdata 151