Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T11:27:48.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

INTRODUCING IZAPA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2019

Robert M. Rosenswig*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12222
Julia Guernsey
Affiliation:
Department of Art and Art History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78705
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper introduces the articles that comprise this Special Issue on Izapa. First, we review early reporting and assessments of Izapa's monuments as well as archaeological investigations undertaken at the site during the twentieth century. Next, we describe more recent developments in interpretation and new archeological excavations and survey data collected during the past two decades. The papers in this Special Issue present new information that contribute to our evolving understanding of Izapa during the millennium that stretches from the Middle Formative period through the Middle Classic period (700 b.c.a.d. 600). They serve as a status report on our understanding of the still largely enigmatic ancient kingdom, its regional structure, and connections to contemporaneous Isthmian sites.

Type
Introduction
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

Andrews, Anthony P. 1983 Maya Salt Production and Trade. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Andrews, E. Wyllys V 1976 The Archaeology of Quelepa, El Salvador. Middle American Research Institute Publication 42. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Bernal, Ignacio 1969 The Olmec World. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael 2006 Dating the Initial Spread of Zea maize. In Histories of Maize: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Prehistory, Linguistics, Biogeography, Domestication and Evolution of Maize, edited by Staller, John E., Tykot, Robert H. and Benz, Bruce F., pp. 5572. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, and Clark, John E. 1999 The Emergence of Hereditary Inequality: The Case of Pacific Coastal Chiapas. In Pacific Latin America in Prehistory: The Evolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures, edited by Blake, Michael, pp. 5573. Washington State University Press, Pullman.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, Chisholm, B.S., Clark, John E., Voorhies, Barbara, and Love, Michael W. 1992 Prehistoric Subsistence in the Soconusco Region. Current Anthropology 33:8394.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, Rosenswig, Robert M., and Waber, Nick 2015 Izapa's Hinterland: The Use of Lidar Mapping to Examine the Layout and Spatial Orientation of Secondary Centers in the Soconusco Region, Chiapas, Mexico. Paper presented at the 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Bove, Frederick J., and Busto, Sonia Medrano 2003 Teotihuacan, Militarism, and Pacific Guatemala. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Braswell, Geoffrey E., pp. 4679. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 2009 Early Olmec Figurines from Two Regions: Style as Cultural Imperative. In Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena, edited by Halperin, Christina T., Faust, Katherine A., Taube, Rhonda, and Giguet, Aurore, pp. 149179. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 2010 Cultural Imperatives in Clay: Early Olmec Carved Pottery from San Lorenzo and Cantón Corralito. Ancient Mesoamerica 21:165185.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1997 The Arts of Government in Early Mesoamerica. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:211234.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 2016 Western Kingdoms of the Middle Preclassic. In The Origins of the Maya States, edited by Traxler, Loa P. and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 123224. University of Pennsylvania Museum, 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. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 277319. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 68. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Pye, Mary E. 2000 The Pacific Coast and the Olmec Question. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by Clark, John E. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 217251. National Gallery of Art, Washington.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., Pye, Mary E., and Gosser, Dennis C. 2007 Thermolithics and Corn Dependency in Mesoamerica. In Archaeology, Art, and Ethnogenesis in Mesoamerican Prehistory: Papers in Honor of Gareth W. Lowe, edited by Lowe, Lynneth S. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 2342. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 68. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Blake, Michael 1994 The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica. In Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by Brumfiel, Elizabeth M. and Fox, John W., pp. 1730. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Hansen, Richard D. 2001 The Architecture of Early Kingship: Comparative Perspectives on the Origins of the Maya Royal Court. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2, edited by Houston, Stephen D. and Inomata, Takeshi, pp. 145. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Lee, Thomas A. Jr. 2013 Minor Excavations in Lower Izapa. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 75. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Lee, Thomas A. Jr. 2018 A Touch of Teotihuacan at Izapa: The Contents of Two Burials from Group F. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:265288.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1965 The Olmec Style and Its Distributions. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 3, Part 2, edited by Wauchope, Robert, pp. 739775. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Culebro, Carlos A. 1939 Chiapas prehistórico: Su arqueología. Folleto No. 1. Huixtla, Chiapas.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1986 The Archaeology of Santa Leticia and the Rise of Maya Civilization. Middle American Research Institute Publication 52. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 2004 Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Duvalier, Armando 1956 Informe del descubrimiento de la lápida de “El Guerrero Decapitado” en la Zona A de Izapa, Tuxtla Chico, Chiapas en enero, 1956. Estado de Chiapas 1952–1956. Archives of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Departamento de Monumentos Prehispánicos, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Ekholm, Susanna M. 1969 Mound 30a and the Preclassic Ceramic Sequence of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 25. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Garcia-Des Lauriers, Claudia 2007 Proyecto Arqueológico Los Horcones Investigating the Teotihuacan Presence on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of X, University of California, Riverside.Google Scholar
Gómez Rueda, Hernando 1995 Exploración de sistemas hidráulicos en Izapa. In VIII Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1994, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Hector L., pp. 918. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, and Asociación Tikal, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Gómez Rueda, Hernando 1996 Izapa: Organización espacial de un centro del formativo en la Costa Pacífica de Chiapas. In IX Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1995, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Hector L., pp. 549563. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, and Asociación Tikal, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Gómez Rueda, Hernando, and Sierra, Liwy Grazioso 1997 Nuevos elementos de la iconografía de Izapa: La Estela 90. In X Simposio de investigaciones arqueológicas en Guatemala, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Hector L., pp. 223235. Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, and the Asociación Tikal, Guatemala City.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 Transition, edited by Guernsey, Julia, Clark, John E. and Arroyo, Barbara, pp. 207230. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2011 Signifying Late Preclassic Rulership: Patterns of Continuity from the Southern Maya Zone. In The Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 115138. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2012 Sculpture and Social Dynamics in Preclassic Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2016 Water, Maize, Salt, and Canoes: An Iconography of Economics at Late Preclassic Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 27:340356.Google Scholar
Guernsey, Julia 2018 Captives and Social Discourse at Izapa and in Late Preclassic Imagery in Southeastern Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:333346.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Ortiz, Rául, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia J. 2014 Chronological Revision of Preclassic Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala: Implications for Social Processes in the Southern Maya Area. Latin American Antiquity 25:377408.Google Scholar
Kaneko, Akira 2011 Iglesia Vieja: Un sitio megalítico del Clásico Temprano en la costa del Pacífico de Chiapas. In XXIV Simposio de Arqueologia en Gautemala 2010, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro, Arroyo, Barbara, and Escobedo, Hector L. pp. 663680. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Lieske, Rosemary 2018 Comparative Analysis of Preclassic and Protoclassic Burial Practices at Izapa and Southeastern Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:289307.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 1999a Economic Patterns in the Development of Complex Society in Pacific Guatemala. In Pacific Latin America in Prehistory: The Evolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures, edited by Blake, Michael, pp. 89100. University of Washington Press, Pullman.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 1999b Ideology, Material Culture and Daily Practice in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica: A Pacific Coast Perspective. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, edited by Grove, David G. and Joyce, Rosemary A., pp. 127154. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2002a Early Complex Society in Pacific Guatemala: Settlements and Chronology of the Rio Naranjo, Guatemala. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 66. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2002b Domination, Resistance, and Political Cycling in Formative Period Pacific Guatemala. In The Dynamics of Power, edited by O'Donovan, Maria, pp. 214237. Center for Archaeological Investigations Occasional Paper 30. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2002c Ceramic Chronology of Preclassic Period Western Pacific Guatemala and Its Relationship to Other Regions. In Incidents of Archaeology in Central America and Yucatán: Essays in Honor of Edwin M. Shook, edited by Love, Michael W., de Hatch, Marion Popenoe, and Escobedo, Hector L., pp. 5173. University Press of America, Lanham.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2007 Recent Research in the Southern Highlands and Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica. Journal of Archaeological Research 15:275328.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2011 City States and City-State Culture in the Southern Maya Region. In The Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 4776. Colorado University Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 2018 Kaminaljuyu, Chronology, and Ceramic Analysis: Reasons for Caution. Latin American Antiquity 29:260278.Google Scholar
Love, Michael, and Kaplan, Jonathan (editors) 2011 The Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Love, Michael, and Guernsey, Julia 2011 La Blanca and the Soconusco Middle Formative. In Sociopolitical Transformation in Early Mesoamerica: Archaic to Formative in the Soconusco Region, edited by Lesure, Richard, pp. 170188. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1959 Archaeological Exploration of the Upper Grijalva River, Chiapas, Mexico. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 2. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1965 Desarrollo y función del incensario en Izapa. Estudios de Cultura Maya 5:5356.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1977 The Mixe-Zoque as Competing Neighbors of the Early Lowland Maya. In The Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Adams, Richard E.W., pp. 197248. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W. 1993 La gran importancia de las ofrendas del preclásico terminal en Izapa. In Segundo y tercero foros de arqueologia de Chiapas, pp. 179210. Instituto Chiapaneco de Cultural, Tuxtla Gutiérrez.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., and Alden Mason, J. 1965 Archaeological Survey of the Chiapas Coast, Highlands, and Upper Grijalva Basin. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 2, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 195236. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth W., Ekholm, Susanna M., and Clark, John E. 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., Espinoza, Eduardo Martínez 1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 31. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Macías, J.L., Espíndola, J.M., García-Palomo, A., Scott, K.M., Hughes, S., and Mora, J.C. 2000 Late Holocene Peléan-style Eruption at Tacaná Volcano, Mexico and Guatemala: Past, Present, and Future Hazards. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112:12341249.Google Scholar
Macías, José Luis, Arce, José Luis, Capra, Lucia, Saucedo, Ricardo, and Núñez, Juan Manuel Sánchez 2018 Late Formative Flooding of Izapa after an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:361371.Google Scholar
Marquina, Ignacio 1939 Atlas arqueológico de la República Mexicana. Publication 41. Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2017 Resilience and Interregional Interaction at the Early Mesoamerican City of Izapa: The Formative to Classic Period Transition. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Albany, State University of New York, Albany.Google Scholar
Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2018 The Formative to Classic Period Transition at Izapa: Updates from the Izapa Household Archaeology Project. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:309331.Google Scholar
Miles, Suzanne W. 1965 Sculpture of the Guatemala-Chiapas Highlands and Pacific Slopes and Associated Hieroglyphs. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 2, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 237275. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 1978 The Pre-Hispanic System of Communication Between Chiapas and Tabasco. In Mesoamerican Communication Routes and Cultural Contacts, edited by Lee, Thomas A. Jr. and Navarrete, Carlos, pp. 75108. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 40. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Navarrete, Carlos 2013 Excavaciones tempranas de Izapa. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 75. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Burger, Paul H., Culleton, Brendan J., Kennett, Douglas J., and Jones, John G. 2018 Izapa's Industrial Hinterland: The Eastern Soconusco Mangrove Zone during Archaic and Formative Times. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:395411.Google Scholar
Norman, Garth V. 1973 Izapa Sculpture, Part I: Album. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Norman, Garth V. 1976 Izapa Sculpture, Part II: Text. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, No. 30. Brigham Young University, Provo.Google Scholar
Orellana, Tapia Rafael 1952 Zona arqueológica de Izapa. Tlatoani 1(2):1725.Google Scholar
Parsons, Lee A. 1967 An Early Maya Stela on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Estudios de Cultura Maya 6:171198.Google Scholar
Pool, Christopher A., Loughlin, Michael L., and Ceballos, Miguel Ortiz 2018 Transisthmian Ties: Epi-Olmec and Izapan Interaction. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:413437.Google Scholar
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1950 A Study of Classic Maya Sculpture. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 593. Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pye, Mary E. 1995 Settlement, Specialization, and Adaptation in the Rio Jesus Drainage, Retalhuleu, Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.Google Scholar
Pye, Mary E., and Demarest, Arthur A. 1991 The Evolution of Complex Societies in Southeastern Mesoamerica: New Evidence from El Mesak, Guatemala. In The Formation of Complex Societies in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by Fowler, William R. Jr., pp. 77100. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Pye, Mary E., Hodgson, John, and Clark, John E. 2011 Jocotal Settlement Patterns, Salt Production, and Pacific Coast Interactions. In Early Mesoamerican Social Transformations: Archaic and Formative Lifeways in the Soconusco Region, edited by Lesure, Richard, pp. 217241. University of California Press, 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
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2006 Sedentism and Food Production in Early Complex Societies of the Soconusco, Mexico. World Archaeology 38:329354.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2007 Beyond Identifying Elites: Feasting as a Means to Understand Early Middle Formative Society on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26:127.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2008 Prehispanic Settlement in the Cuauhtémoc Region of the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 33:389411.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2010 The Beginnings of Mesoamerican Civilization: Inter-Regional Interaction and the Olmec. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2011 An Early Mesoamerican Archipelago of Complexity. In Early Mesoamerican Social Transformations: Archaic and Formative Lifeways in the Soconusco Region, edited by Lesure, Richard, pp. 242271. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2012a Materialism, Mode of Production and a Millennium of Change in Southern Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 19:148.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2012b Agriculture and Monumentality in the Soconusco Region of Chiapas, Mexico. In Early New World Monumentality, edited by Burger, Richard L. and Rosenswig, Robert M., pp. 111137. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., VanDerwarker, Amber M., Culleton, Brendan J., and Kennett, Douglas J. 2015a Is it Agriculture Yet? Intensified Maize-Use at 1000 cal BC in the Soconusco and Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 40:89108.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., Culleton, Brendan, Kennett, Douglas, Lieske, Rosemary, Mendelsohn, Rebecca, and Nunez-Cortez, Yahaira 2018 The Early Occupation of Izapa: Recent Excavations, New Middle Formative Dating and Ceramic Analyses. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:373393.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., and Mendelsohn, Rebecca R.. 2016 Izapa and the Soconusco Region, Mexico, in the First Millennium AD. Latin American Antiquity 27:357377.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., and López-Torrijos, Ricardo 2018 Lidar Reveals the Entire Kingdom of Izapa, Mexico during the First Millennium BCE. Antiquity 92:12921309.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., López-Torrijos, Ricardo, Antonelli, Caroline E. 2015b Lidar Data and the Izapa Polity: New Results and Methodological Issues from Tropical Mesoamerica. Anthropological and Archaeological Sciences 7:487504.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., López-Torrijos, Ricardo, Antonelli, Caroline E., and Mendelsohn, Rebecca R. 2013 Lidar Mapping and Surface Survey of the Izapa State on the Tropical Piedmont of Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Archaeological Science 40:14931507.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1978 Pottery and Conclusions, The Prehistory of Chalchuapa. El Salvador, Vol. 3. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Stirling, Matthew W. 1943 Stone Monuments of Southern Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 138. Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Strauss, Stephanie 2018 Izapa's Place in the Discourse on Early Hieroglyphic Writing. Ancient Mesoamerica 29:347359.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1943 Some Sculptures from Southeastern Quetzaltenango. Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology 17:100112. Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1948 An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Cotzumalhuapa Region, Escuintla, Guatemala. Contributions to American Anthropology and History, Vol. 9, No. 44. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 574. Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar