Hostname: page-component-cc8bf7c57-7lvjp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-11T16:00:43.002Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

TRANSISTHMIAN TIES: EPI-OLMEC AND IZAPAN INTERACTION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2019

Christopher A. Pool ,
Michael L. Loughlin  and
Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos
Christopher A. Pool*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506
Michael L. Loughlin
Affiliation:
Cardno, Louisville, Kentucky 40223
Ponciano Ortiz Ceballos
Affiliation:
Instituto de Antropología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa 310, Jalapa Enríquez Centro, Jalapa Enríquez, Veracruz, C.P. 91030, Mexico
*
Email correspondence to: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1943, Matthew Stirling (1943:72) once opined, “Izapa appears to be much more closely related to the earth-mound sites of southern Veracruz … than it does with sites in the Maya area.” Since then, scholars have postulated ties of varying strength between Late Formative polities on either side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Ceramic similarities have been noted between southern Chiapas and the Gulf Coast, but discussion of Late Formative transisthmian interaction has focused primarily on sculptural similarities between Izapa and sites of the lower Papaloapan basin, including Tres Zapotes, El Mesón, and Alvarado. Indeed, Michael Coe (1965b:773) suggested that the Izapan art style may have originated on the Gulf Coast rather than on the Pacific slope. In this article, we reexamine Late Formative interaction between Izapa and Epi-Olmec polities with an expanded data set based on recent iconographic studies and archaeological investigations in and around Tres Zapotes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 29 , Special Issue 2: Recent Research on Izapa Archaeology and Iconography , Fall 2018 , pp. 413 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bernal, Ignacio 1969 The Olmec World. Translated by Heyden, Doris and Horcasitas, Fernando. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre 1984 Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Clark, John 2017 Western Kingdoms of the Middle Preclassic. In The Origins of Maya States, edited by Traxler, Loa P. and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 123–224. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Moreno, Ayax 2007 Redrawing the Izapa Monuments. In Archaeology, Art, and Ethnogenesis in Mesoamerican Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Gareth W. Lowe, edited by Lowe, Lynneth S., Pye, Mary E., and Lowe, Gareth W., pp. 277–320. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 68. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Cheetham, David 2005 Cerámica del formativo de Chiapas. In La producción alfarera en el México antiguo, volumen I, edited by Carrión, Beatriz Leonor Merino and Cook, Angel García, pp. 285–434. Institutio Nacional de Antropolía e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Lowe, Gareth W. 2013 Izapa History. In Middle and Late Preclassic Izapa: Ceramic Complexes and History, edited by Lowe, Gareth W., Ekholm, Susanna M., Clark, John E., and Lee, Thomas A., pp. 69–88. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael Douglas 1965a Archaeological Synthesis of Southern Veracruz and Tabasco. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, Part 2, edited by Wauchope, Robert, pp. 679–715. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 3. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael Douglas 1965b The Olmec Style and Its Distributions. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, Part 2, edited by Wauchope, Robert, pp. 739–775. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 3. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip 1943a Ceramic Sequences at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 140. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip 1943b Ceramic Stratigraphy at Cerro de las Mesas Veracruz, Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 140. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1993 “Olmec” Horizons in Formative Period Mesoamerica: Diffusion or Social Evolution? In Latin American Horizons, edited by Rice, Don S., pp. 83–111. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2006 Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan-Style Art. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2010 Rulers, Gods, and Potbellies: A Consideration of Sculptural Forms and Themes from the Preclassic Pacific Coast and Piedmont of Mesoamerica. In The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Past, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John E., and Arroyo, Barbara, pp. 207–230. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Ortiz, Raúl, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia 2014 Chronological Revision of Preclassic Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala: Implications for Social Processes in the Southern Maya Area. Latin American Antiquity 25:377–408.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 2012 Thinking about Pottery Production as Community Practice. In Potters and Communities of Practice: Glaze Paint and Polychrome Pottery in the American Southwest a.d. 1200–1700, edited by Cordell, Linda and Habicht-Mauche, Judith, pp. 149–154. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona, No. 75. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Justeson, John S., and Kaufman, Terrence 1993 A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing. Science 259:1703–1711.Google Scholar
Lave, Jean, and Wenger, Etienne 1991 Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Loughlin, Michael L. 2012 El Mesón Regional Survey: Settlement Patterns and Political Economy in the Eastern Papaloapan Basin, Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1977 The Mixe-Zoque as Competing Neighbors of the Early Lowland Maya. In Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Adams, Richard E. W., pp. 197–248. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1989 Heartland Olmec: Evolution of Material Culture. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Sharer, Robert J. and Grove, David C., pp. 33–67. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Ekholm, Susanna M., Clark, John E., and Lee, Thomas A. 2013 Middle and Late Preclassic Izapa: Ceramic Complexes and History. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 73. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Lee, Thomas A. Jr., and Espinosa, Eduardo Martinez 1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 31. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Rebecca 2016 Recent Updates for Izapa's Formative to Classic Period Transition. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Miles, Suzanne 1965 Sculpture of the Guatemala-Chiapas Highlands and Pacific Slopes and Associated Hieroglyphs. In Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, Part I, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 237–275. Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 2. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Mills, Barbara J., Peeples, Matthew A., Haas, William Randall Jr., Borck, Lewis, Clark, Jeffery J., and Roberts, John M. Jr. 2015 Multiscalar Perspectives on Social Networks in the Prehispanic Southwest. American Antiquity 80:3–24.Google Scholar
Morley, Sylvanus Griswold 1946 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Norman, V. Garth 1976 Izapa Sculpture, Part 2: Text. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30, Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Ortiz Ceballos, Ponciano 1975 La cerámica de los Tuxtlas. Unpublished M.S. thesis, School of Anthropology, Universidad Veracruzana, Jalapa, Veracruz.Google Scholar
Perez de Lara, Jorge, and Justeson, John S. 2006 Photographic Documentation of Monuments with Epi-Olmec Script/Imagery. Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/05084/index.html, accessed July 23, 2016.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2006 Current Research on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Research 14:189–241.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2007 Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2008 Architectural Plans, Factionalism, and the Protoclassic-Classic Transition at Tres Zapotes. In Classic Period Cultural Currents in Southern and Central Veracruz, edited by Arnold, Philip J. and Pool, Christopher A., pp. 121–157. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2010 Stone Monuments and Earthen Mounds: Polity and Placemaking at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico. In The Place of Stone Monuments: Context, Use, and Meaning in Mesoamerica's Preclassic Transition, edited by Clark, John E., Guernsey, Julia, and Arroyo, Barbara, pp. 97–126. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2017 Communities of Practice and Ceramic Production at Matacapan, Veracruz, Mexico. In City, Craft, and Residence in Mesoamerica: Research Papers in Honor of Dan M. Healan, edited by Faulseit, Ronald. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Mudd Britt, Georgia 2000 A Ceramic Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 10:139–161.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Ohnersorgen, Michael A. 2003 Archaeological Survey and Settlement at Tres Zapotes. In Settlement Archaeology and Political Economy at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico, edited by Pool, Christopher A., pp. 7–31. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monograph 50. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Ceballos, Ponciano Ortiz 2008 Tres Zapotes como un centro olmeca: Nuevos datos. In Mesa redonda Olmeca: Balance y perspectivas, edited by Uriarte, María Teresa and Lauck, Rebecca González, pp. 425–443. Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes and Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Ceballos, Ponciano Ortiz 2016 Tres Zapotes Ceramic Typology. Unpublished manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., and Santley, Robert S. 1992 Middle Classic Pottery Economics in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. In Ceramic Production and Distribution: An Integrated Approach, edited by Bey, George J. III and Pool, Christopher A., pp. 205–234. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Porter, James B. 1989 The Monuments and Hieroglyphs of Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Quirarte, Jacinto 1973 Izapan-Style Art: A Study of its Form and Meaning. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 10. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Quirarte, Jacinto 1976 The Relationship of Izapan-style Art to Olmec and Maya Art: A Review. In Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, edited by Nicholson, Henry B., pp. 73–86. UCLA Latin American Studies Series 31. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Quirarte, Jacinto 1977 Early Art Styles of Mesoamerica and Early Classic Maya Art. In The Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Adams, Richard E. W., pp. 249–283. University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Quirarte, Jacinto 2007 Revisiting the Relationship between Izapa, Olmec, and Maya Art. In Archaeology, Art, and Ethnogenesis in Mesoamerican Prehistory: Papers of Gareth W. Lowe, edited by Lowe, Lynneth S. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 247–275. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 68. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 2007 Maya Calendar Origins: Monuments, Mythistory, and the Materialization of Time. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S. 2007 The Prehistory of the Tuxtlas. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Santley, Robert S., and Arnold, Philip J. III 1996 Prehispanic Settlement Patterns in the Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 23:225–249.Google Scholar
Scott, John F. 1977 El Mesón, Veracruz, and Its Monolithic Reliefs. Baessler-Archiv 25:83–138.Google Scholar
Sisson, Edward B. 1976 Survey and Excavation on the Northwestern Chontalpa, Tabasco, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Smith, Virginia G. 1984 Izapa Relief Carving: Form, Content, Rules for Design, and Role in Mesoamerican Art History and Archaeology. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, No. 27. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Smith, Virginia Grady 1978 An Analysis of Izapan-Style Art: Its Form, Content, Rules of Design and Role in Mesoamerican Art History and Archaeology. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky, Lexington.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 1997 Gulf Lowland Ceramic Styles and Political Geography in Ancient Veracruz. In Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands, edited by Stark, Barbara L. and Arnold, Philip J. III, pp. 278–309. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Stark, Barabara L. (editor) 2001 Classic Period Mixtequilla, Veracruz, Mexico: Diachronic Inferences from Residential Investigations. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies Monograph 12. The University at Albany, Albany.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew William 1939 Discovering the New World's Oldest Dated Work of Man. National Geographic Magazine 76:183–218.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew William 1940 An Inital Series from Tres Zapotes, Vera Cruz, Mexico. National Geographic Society, Contributed Technical Papers, Mexican Archaeology Series 1:1–15.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew William 1943 Stone Monuments of Southern Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 138. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stoner, Wesley D., Pool, Christopher A., Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2008 Exchange of Coarse Orange Pottery in the Middle Classic Tuxtla Mountains, Southern Veracruz, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 35:1412–1426.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1941 Dating of Certain Inscriptions of Non-Maya origin. Carnegie Institute of Washington Theoretical Approaches to Problems, No. 1. Division of Historical Research, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Cambridge.Google Scholar
von Nagy, Christopher L. 2003 Of Meandering Rivers and Shifting Towns: Landscape Evolution and Community within the Grijalva Delta. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Wenger, Etienne 1998 Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wenger-Trayner, Etienne, and Wenger-Trayner, Beverly 2015 Introduction to Communities of Practice: A Brief Overview of the Concept and its Uses. Electronic document, http://wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/, accessed August 29, 2016.Google Scholar
Winfield Capitaine, Fernando 1988 La estela 1 de La Mojarra, Veracruz, México. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, No. 16. Center for Maya Research, Washington, DC.Google Scholar