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THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE FORMATIVE TO CLASSIC PERIOD TRANSITION AT IZAPA: A REEVALUATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2017

Rebecca R. Mendelsohn
Rebecca R. Mendelsohn*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, AS 237, University at Albany, SUNY, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222, USA
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Abstract

The site of Izapa, though famous for its unique “Izapan” style monuments, has lagged behind many other Mesoamerican centers in archaeological research. As revisions of important Mesoamerican chronologies are underway, Inomata and colleagues (2014) have questioned whether monument production at Izapa has been misplaced chronologically. This article applies new data from the Izapa Household Archaeology Project to assess Inomata and colleagues’ (2014) proposal for a shift in the chronology at Izapa. It specifically assesses the chronology for the Formative to Classic period transition at Izapa, from 100 BC to AD 400, with new excavation data, ceramic cross-dating, and Bayesian modeling of AMS dates from the southern periphery of the site. These data generally support the chronology developed by Gareth Lowe following the 1960s excavations at the site, though a temporal overlap appears possible for the Terminal Formative Hato and Itstapa ceramic complexes. Although results do not support Inomata and colleagues’ proposal for a shift in the Izapa chronology, ceramic cross-ties proposed between the Hato phase at Izapa and the Verbena phase at Kaminaljuyu support Inomata and colleagues’ (2014) revision for the chronology of Kaminaljuyu.

El sitio de Izapa, Chiapas, es famoso por sus monumentos únicos esculpidos en el estilo epónimo. Sin embargo, el sitio ha sido objeto de relativamente pocas investigaciones arqueológicas en comparación con muchos otros centros mesoamericanos. Como parte de la revisión de importantes cronologías mesoamericanas que está actualmente en proceso, Inomata y colegas (2014) han cuestionado la atribución cronológica de la producción de monumentos en Izapa. En este trabajo se utilizan nuevos datos del Proyecto de Arqueología Doméstica de Izapa para evaluar los cambios cronológicos propuestos por estos investigadores. Específicamente, se evalúa la cronología de la transición del periodo Formativo al periodo Clásico en Izapa (100 aC–400 dC) con nuevos datos de excavación, correlaciones relativas de tipos cerámicos y la aplicación de la estadística bayesiana a fechas datadas por AMS recuperadas de la periferia sur del sitio. Estos datos apoyan en general la cronología desarrollada por Gareth Lowe después de las excavaciones en el sitio durante la década de 1960; sin embargo, parece posible una superposición temporal entre los complejos Hato e Itstapa del Formativo terminal. Aunque los resultados no apoyan los cambios en la cronología de Izapa propuestos por Inomata y colegas, se sugieren correlaciones relativas entre tipos cerámicos de la fase Hato en Izapa y la fase Verbena en Kaminaljuyú que apoyan las revisiones cronológicas de Kaminaljuyú avanzadas por los mismos investigadores.

Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 239 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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