Keywords
Craft specialization
Interaction spheres
Classic Period
Plumbate
Cerámica
Especialización artesanal
Esferas de interacción
Periodo Clásico
Plomizo
How to Cite
Abstract
The Soconusco region in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, has been the research object of archaeological specialists since the 19th century. Several investigations have been conducted in the region; the one presented here focuses on the Classic period, particularly concerning the role it may have played in what some authors have called the Mesoamerican World System. Based on the study of the ceramic type known as plumbate, which has been identified in places as far away as Nayarit (western Mexico) to Costa Rica and from Monte Albán to Tula, we are in a position to point to the existence of well-established interaction networks that allowed the mobilization of this ware. The area studied by the Soconusco Coast Archaeological Project (PACS) identified the places of production of plumbate ceramics and thus hierarchical and trade relationships have been proposed not only at a local or regional level, but also at a Pan-Mesoamerican scale.
Such interactions can be understood in terms of the World System, which, although originally conceived to understand current economic processes, can undoubtedly be applied to understand ancient societies. This approach highlights the very essence of archaeology that due to the recentness of the discipline tends to use terms created in other areas of research, representing undoubtedly its multidisciplinary character. Therefore, the proposal of this article is that the Soconusco was a zone of affluent production since the Classic period, considering the distribution of Plumbate ceramics throughout Mesoamerica as the main source.
References
Aoyama, K. (2001). Classic Maya state, urbanism, and exchange: chipped stone evidence of the Copan Valley and its hinterland. American Anthropologist, New Series, 103(2), 346-360.
Beaujard, P. (2010). From three possible Iron-Age world-systems to a single Afro-Eurasian world-system. Journal of World History, 21(1), 1-43.
Bey, G. J. III, y Ringle, W. (2007). From the bottom up: the timing and nature of the Tula-Chichen Itza exchange. En C. Kristan-Graham, G. J. Bey III, V. H. Bolaños, R. Cobos, P. Fournier y N. Gubre (eds), Twin tollans: Chichen Itza, Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World (pp. 377-427). Dumbarton Oaks.
Blake, M., y Clark, J. E. (1999). The emergence of hereditary inequality: the case of Pacific coastal Chiapas, Mexico. En M. Blake (ed.), Pacific Latin America in prehistory: the evolution of archaic and formative cultures (pp. 55-73). Washington State University Press.
Blanton, R., y Feinman, G. (1984). The Mesoamerican World System. American Anthropologist, 86(3), 673-682.
Bove, F. J., y Medrano, S. M. (2003). Teotihuacan, militarism, and pacific Guatemala. En G. E. Braswell (ed.), The Maya and Teotihuacan: reinterpreting Early Classic interaction (pp. 45-79). University of Texas Press.
Brongniart, A. (1854). Traité des arts céramiques, ou des poteries, considérées dans leur histoire, leur pratique et leur théorie (Vol. 2). Béchet jeune.
Bruhns, K. O. (1980). Plumbate Origins Revisited. American Antiquity, 45(4), 845-848.
Carmack, R. M. (2015). Anthropology and global history: from tribes to the Modern World-System. Altamira Press.
Carmack, R. M., y Salgado, S. (2006). A world-systems perspective on the archaeology and ethnohistory of the Mesoamerican/lower Central American border. Ancient Mesoamerica, 17(2), 219-229.
Champion, T. (1989). Centre and periphery: comparative studies in archaeology. Routledge.
Cheetham, D. (2006). America’s first colony? A possible Olmec Outpost in Southern Mexico. Archaeology, 59(1), 42-46.
Clark, J. E., Lowe, G. W., Lieske, R., y Moreno, A. (2018). Izapa group B: excavations, offerings, burials, and monuments (Vol. 83, Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation). New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University.
Drucker, P. (1948). Preliminary notes on an archaeological survey of the Chiapas coast. Middle American Research Records, 1(11), 151-169.
Dutton, B. P., y Hobbs, H. R. (1943). Excavations at Tajumulco, Guatemala (Monographs of the School of American Research, Vol. 9). University of New Mexico Press.
Elson, C., y Mowbray, K. (2005). Burial practices at Teotihuacan in the Early Postlcassic Period. The Vaillant and Linné Excavations (1931-1932). Ancient Mesoamerica, 16, 195-211.
Frank, A. G. (1999). Abuses and uses of world systems theory in archaeology. En P. N. Kardulias (ed.), World Systems Theory in practice: leadership, production, and exchange (pp. 275-296). Rowman and Littlefield, Laham.
Garcia-Des Lauriers, C. (2007). Proyecto arqueológico Los Horcones: investigating the Teotihuacan presence on the Pacific coast of Chiapas. [Tesis de doctorado inédita]. University of California, Riverside.
Gasco, J. L. (1996). Cacao and economic inequality in colonial Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Anthropological Research, 52(4), 385-409.
Gasco, J. L. (2006). The political geography of the province of Soconusco in the Late Postclassic and Early colonial periods. En T. Okoshi, L. A. Williams-Beck y A. L. Izquierdo (eds), Nuevas perspectivas sobre la geografía política de los mayas (pp. 183-207). UNAM, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, FAMSI.
Hall, T. D. (1999). World-systems and evolution: an appraisal. En P. N. Kardulias (ed.), World systems theory in practice: leadership, production, and exchange (pp. 1-23). Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Hall, T. D. (2000). World-System analysis: a small sample from a large universe. En T. D. Hall (ed.), A World-Systems reader: new perspectives on gender, urbanism, cultures, indigenous peoples, and ecology (pp. 3-28). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Healy, P. F. (1980). Archaeology of the Rivas Region, Nicaragua. Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Joyce, R. A. (1986). Terminal Classic interaction on the Southeastern Maya periphery. American Antiquity, 51(2), 313-329.
Kardulias, P. N. (ed.). (1999). World systems theory in practice: leadership, production, and exchange. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.
Kepecs, S., y Kohl, P. (2003). Conceptualizing macroregional interaction: World-systems theory and the archaeological record. En M. E. Smith y F. Berdan (eds), The Postclassic Mesoamerican World (pp. 14-20). University of Utah Press.
Kowalski, J. K., Barrera Rubio, A., Ojeda Más, H., y Huchim Herrera, J. (1996). Archaeological excavations of a round temple at Uxmal: summary discussion and implications for Northern Maya culture history. https://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/RT10/RoundTemple.pdf
Lee Jr., T. A. (1973). Secuencia de fases postformativas en Izapa, Chiapas, México. Estudios de Cultural Maya 9, 75-85. https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.1973.9.353
Lee Jr., T. A. (1978). The origin and development of Plumbate pottery. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Antropológicos, XXIV(3), 287-300.
Linné, S. (1934). Archaeological researches at Teotihuacan, Mexico (Vol. 1). Publications, Ethnographical Museum of Sweden.
Lothrop, S. K. (1927). Pottery types and their sequence in El Salvador. Indian Notes and Monographs, 1(4), 165-220.
Love, M. (2007). Recent research in the southern Highlands and Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica. Journal of Archaeological Research, 15(4), 275-328.
Lowe, G. W., Lee Jr, T. A., y Martınez Espinoza, E. (1982). Izapa: an introduction to the ruins and monuments (Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, 31). New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University.
Lowe, G. W., y Mason, J. A. (1965). Archaeological survey of the Chiapas coast, highlands, and upper Grijalva Basin. En G. R. Willey (ed.), Handbook of Middle American Indians (Vol. 2 y 3, Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica, pp. 139-236). University of Texas Press.
Masson, M. A., y Freidel, D. A. (2002). Ancient Maya political economies. Rowman Altamira.
McGuire, R. H. (1996). The limits of world-systems theory for the study of prehistory. En P. N. Peregrine y G. M. Feinman (eds), Pre-Columbian World Systems (pp. 51-64, Monographs in World Prehistory 26). Prehistory Press.
Medellín, A. (1960). Cerámicas del Totonacapan. Universidad Veracruzana, Instituto de Antropología.
Mountjoy, J. B. (1991). West mexican stelae from Jalisco and Nayarit. Ancient Mesoamerica, 2(1), 21-33.
Navarrete, C. (1978). The pre-Hispanic system of communications between Chiapas and Tabasco. En T. A. Jr. Lee y C. A. Navarrete (eds), Mesoamerican routes and cultural communications (pp. 75-106). New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University.
Navarro Castillo, M. (2015). Plumbate y su consumo como marcador social en el Soconusco. Mexicon, 37(4), 91-100.
Navarro Castillo, M., Jiménez, B. G., y Neff, H. (2021). La producción de sal en el sitio Gallo encantado (GE1), Chiapas, México: análisis de la tecnología cerámica desde la arqueología evolutiva. Revista Pueblos y Fronteras Digital, 16, 26-26. https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2021.v16.534
Navarro Castillo, M., y Neff, H. (2018). Estudios en la zona oriental del Soconusco, Chiapas. Arqueología mexicana, 26(153), 81-85.
Navarro Castillo, M. y Neff, H. (2020). Identificando áreas de actividad a través del uso de GPR en la costa del Soconusco. Estudios de Cultura Maya, 55, 41-63. https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.ecm.55.2020.0002
Neff, H. (1984). The developmental history of the Plumbate pottery industry in the eastern Soconusco region, AD 600 through AD 1250. [Tesis de doctorado inédita]. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Neff, H. (1989). The effect of interregional distribution on Plumbate pottery production. En B. Voorhies (ed.), Ancient trade and tribute: economies of the Soconusco Region of Mesoamerica (pp. 249-267). University of Utah Press.
Neff, H. (2002). Sources of raw material used in plumbate. En M. Love, M. Popenoe de Hatch y H. L. Escobedo (eds), Incidents of archaeology in Central America and Yucatán: essays in honor of Edwin M. Shook (pp. 217-231). University Press of America.
Neff, H. (2012). Proyecto Arqueológico Costa del Soconusco (PACS): informe de la primera temporada de campo. [Manuscrito inédito]. Consejo de Arqueología del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
Neff, H. (2014). Proyecto Arqueológico Costa del Soconusco (PACS): informe de la segunda temporada de campo. [Manuscrito inédito]. Consejo de Arqueología del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
Neff, H., Burger, P. H., Culleton, B. J., Kennett, D. J., Jones, G. J., y Navarro Castillo, M. (2016). El área industrial de Izapa: la zona oriental de manglares del Soconusco durante los períodos Arcaico y Formativo. En C. U. del Carpio, A. Sheseña y M. Navarro (eds), Historia y cultura. Ensayos en homenaje a Carlos Navarrete Cáceres (pp. 65-88). Universidad de las Ciencias y el Arte de Chiapas.
Neff, H., y Navarro Castillo, M. (2018). Informe de la tercera temporada de campo. [Manuscrito inédito]. Consejo de Arqueología del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.
Peregrine, P. N. (1996). Introduction: World-systems theory and archaeology. En P. N. Peregrine y G. M. Feinman (eds), Pre-Columbian World Systems (pp. 1-10, Monographs in World Prehistory 26). Prehistory Press.
Peregrine, P. N. (2000). Archaeology and world-systems theory. En T. D. Hall (ed.), A World-Systems reader: new perspectives on gender, urbanism, cultures, indigenous peoples, and ecology (pp. 59-68). Rowman & Littlefield.
Peytrequín, J. (2007). Hallazgo de cerámica plomiza en el sitio Agua Caliente, Valle Central oriental de Costa Rica. Vínculos, 30(1), 155-158.
Pfeiffer, L. (1983). Pottery production and extralocal relations at Rio Arriba, Chiapas, Mexico. [Tesis de doctorado inédita]. University of California, Santa Barbara.
Renson, V., Navarro-Castillo, M., Cucina, A., Culleton, B. J., Kennett, D. J., y Neff, H. (2019). Origin and diet of inhabitants of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mexico during the Classic Period-Sr, C and N isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 27, 101981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101981
Rosenswig, R. (2000). Some political processes of ranked societies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 19, 413-460.
Rosenswig, R. M., y Mendelsohn, R. R. (2016). Izapa and the Soconusco region, Mexico, in the first millennium AD. Latin American Antiquity, 27(3), 357-377.
Sanders, W. T. (1986). Ceramic chronology. En W. T. Sanders (ed.), Teotihuacán Valley Project, V. 4 Pt. 1: Toltec period occupation of the valley, excavations and ceramics (pp. 367-373, Occasional Papers in Anthropology, 13). Pennsylvania State University.
Shelley, F. M., y Flint, C. (2000). Geography, place, and world-systems analysis. En T. D. Hall (ed.), A World-Systems reader: new perspectives on gender, urbanism, cultures, indigenous peoples, and ecology (pp.69-82). Rowmand and Littlefield.
Shepard, A. O. (1948). Plumbate: a mesoamerican tradeware. Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Shook, E. M. (1965). Archaeological survey of the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. En G. R. Willey (ed.), Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 2 and 3: Archaeology of Southern Mesoamerica (pp. 180-194). University of Texas Press.
Smith, M. E. (2003a). Key commodities. En M. E. Smith y F. F. Berdan (eds), The Postclassic Mesoamerican world (pp. 117-125). University of Utah Press.
Smith, M. E. (2003b). Small polities in Postlcassic Mesoamerica. En M. E. Smith y F. F. Berdan (eds), The Postclassic Mesoamerican world (pp. 35-39). University of Utah Press.
Smith, M. E., y Berdan, F. F. (2000). The Postclassic Mesoamerican world system. Current Anthropology, 41(2), 283-286.
Smith, M. E., y Berdan, F. F. (2003a). The Postclassic Mesoamerican world. University of Utah Press.
Smith, M. E., y Berdan, F. F. (2003b). Spatial structure of the Mesoamerican World System. En M. E. Smith y F. F. Berdan (eds), The Postclassic Mesoamerican world (pp. 21-31). University of Utah Press.
Snarskis, M. J., y Salgado, S. (1986). The stratigraphic excavation of plumbate pottery at the Nacascolo site, Costa Rica. Mexicon, 8(6), 128-132.
Stark, B. L. (1999). Finely crafted ceramics and distant lands: Classic Mixtequilla. En J. M. Skibo y G. M. Feinman (eds), Pottery and people: a dynamic interaction (pp. 137-156). University of Utah Press.
Thompson, J. E. S. (1943). A trial survey of the Southern Maya Area. American Antiquity, 9(1), 106-134.
Valdés, J. A., y Kaplan, J. (2000). Ground-Penetrating Radar at the Maya site of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Journal of Field Archaeology, 27(3), 329-342.
Voorhies, B. (ed.). (1989). Ancient trade and tribute: economies of the Soconusco Region of Mesoamerica. University of Utah Press.
Voorhies, B., Gasco, J., y Cackler, P. R. (2011). Prehistoric settlement in the South Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Mexico (Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation, 71). New World Archaeological Foundation, Brigham Young University.
Voorhies, B., y Kennett, D. (1995). Buried sites on the Soconusco coastal plain, Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology, 22(1), 65-79.
Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern World-System. Studies in social discontinuity. Academic Press.
Wallerstein, I. (1993). World System versus World-Systems. En A. G. Frank y B. K. Gills (eds), The World System: five hundred years or five thousand? (pp. 292-296). Routledge.