Causes and Consequences of the Spread of the Early Formative Occupation of Pacific Coastal Southern Mesoamerica: Phase 1, the Paleoenvironmental Record

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Hector Neff and his collaborators will conduct paleoenvironmental and limited archaeological research on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. They will sample the paleoenvironmental record by means of cores taken from six to ten sampling locations and analyze the pollen, phytoliths and sediments recovered. Extensive radiocarbon dating will be conducted to optimize chronological resolution and to allow for a reconstruction of vegetational changes from ca. 3,000 to 800 BC. Because anthropogenetic factors play a significant role in shaping such tropical regions, these data will provide an indirect proxy of human activity. It was during this period that human populations in this region shifted from hunting and gathering to settled agricultural way of life and the direct presence of pollen and phytoliths from maize as well as indirect evidence of land clearance for fields in the cores will provide insight into subsistence change over time. The team will also conduct an archaeological survey and limited test excavations within the coastal zone to search for early period sites as yet undiscovered.Archaeologists have traditionally focused on the Atlantic coast of Middle America in their search for the origins of civilization and concentrated on the emergence of Olmec peoples. However as data from other regions has been acquired, it has become increasingly clear that a broader regional perspective is necessary. Many of the distinctive characteristics of Mesoamerican complex societies coalesced between about 3000 BC and 800 BC in the Pacific coastal region. At the beginning of this period, archaic foragers were collecting shellfish and other estuarine products on the lower coast and exploiting maize and other plants growing on higher ground. By the end of the period, large sites with monumental architecture and complex stratified societies were being constructed and people in most locations apparently depended heavily on maize agriculture. The fundamental shifts in subsistence, the increased tethering of people to specific locations, and the beginning of major investment in architectural infrastructure constituted the emergence of Mesoamerican civilization. Unfortunately this Pacific region has been relatively understudied and details of the developmental sequence are poorly known. The work of Dr. Neff and his colleagues will both establish an environmental context for this cultural progression and provide insight into the process itself.