Settlement Archaeology and Political Economy at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico (Monographs) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1931745072 ISBN 13: 9781931745079

Publisher: The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 2003

Synopsis

This volume presents new information from a program of intensive archaeological survey and surface collection at an important Olmec and Epi-Olmec center. A dual strategy of systematic interval transect sampling and full-coverage survey of architectural features and artifact concentrations permits an evaluation of the relative effectiveness of these commonly employed methods. Auger testing in floodplain areas yielded evidence of extensive buried deposits. Distributional analysis of the surface and subsurface data documents the site's growth and decline from 900 BC to AD 900 in radiocarbon years and confirm that Tres Zapotes achieved its apogee during the Late and Terminal Formative periods (400 BC--AD 300). An attribute analysis of burned earthen artifacts discriminates between daub and probable kiln remains, helping to define ceramic production loci. Interpretive chapters discuss the organization of ceramic and obsidian craft production, concluding that craft activities were mainly household based with little elite control over production. The concluding synthesis argues for weak centralization of authority of Tres Zapotes and highlights variability in the political and economic processes affecting forms of urbanism in the lowlands of Mesoamerica.

About this title

About the Author

Christopher A. Pool is associate professor of anthropology and past director of the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Kentucky.

From the Back Cover

This volume presents new information from a program of intensive archaeological survey and surface collection at an important Olmec and Epi-Olmec center.

From the Inside Flap

This volume presents new information from a program of intensive archaeological survey and surface collection at an important Olmec and Epi-Olmec center.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1931745072
• ISBN 13: 9781931745079
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112
• Editor: Pool Christopher A.