In this volume, Barbara Stark examines settlement in the coastal plain of lowland Mesoamerica, which was richly endowed with fertile soil and valued tropical resources such as jaguars, cacao, avian species with bright plumage, and cotton. The book provides basic archaeological data about regional settlement from three decades of survey research in south-central Veracruz in the western lower Papaloapan basin, a region with low density urbanism. The data reveals political and social change, with consolidation of wealth by elite families during the Late Classic period. The political analysis considers archaeological evidence related to several organizational principles: collective versus autocratic, corporate versus exclusionary/network, and segmentary (unspecialized versus specialized). Many variables related to these principles used by other scholars are either suited to historically documented states, not archaeological ones, or ambiguous. Many published studies either focus on a particular city or use documents or other evidence drawn from the top of the settlement hierarchy, characterizing the whole society politically from a biased sample. This political analysis is regional in scope and attentive to variation in the settlement hierarchy, providing a guidepost to analysis of political principles with archaeological data.



by Barbara L. Stark



Chapter 1. Setting the Scene Chapter 2. The Proyecto Arqueologico La Mixtequilla in Context Chapter 3. Survey Methods and Feature Categories in the Proyecto Arqueologico La Mixtequilla Chapter 4. Occupational History of the Western Lower Papaloapan Basin Chapter 5. Concepts and Procedures for Analysis of Monumental Complexes Chapter 6. Trial Settlement Boundaries, Extents, and a Provisional Settlement Hierarchy Chapter 7. Monumental Complexes in the Western Central Block of the Blanco Delta Chapter 8. Monumental Complexes in the Eastern Central Block of the Blanco Delta Chapter 9. Blanco River Delta Blocks from Speaker's (2001b) Survey Chapter 10. Monumental Complexes Upriver along the Blanco River, in the Guerengo Drainage, and in the Interfluve Chapter 11. Monumental Complexes in the Tlalixcoyan Drainage, Paleodunes, and Mangrove Swamp Chapter 12. Settlement Hierarchy over Time Chapter 13. Political Interpretation of Settlement Patterns Appendix 1. Pottery Categories, Chronological Diagnostics, and Monumental Complexes Appendix 2. Tables of Distances Between Monumental Complexes Appendix 3. Data and Analysis of Monumental Platforms and Mound-terraces