Early Mesoamerican Garbage: Ceramic and Daub Discard Patterns from Cuauhtémoc, Soconusco, Mexico

Abstract

Formation processes are all too infrequently addressed by archaeologists excavating in Mesoamerica. This paper examines refuse disposal patterns from the site of Cuauhtemoc on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico, to provide insight into how the site formed and how artifacts accumulated. This analysis uses materials dating between 1600-800 BCE which encompass the centuries before, during and after the late Early Formative or Early Olmec period (i.e., 1250-900 BCE). First, I employ sherds and daub from shared open-air middens and trash-filled pits to explore trash deposit formation through the 800 years that the site was occupied. Next, I use these same classes of data to make synchronic comparisons between five different depositional contexts dating to the Conchas phase (900-800 BCE). For all phases, these analyses demonstrate that pit features received more debris than open- air middens and that material in the latter contexts were more broken up. Further, the low density of daub from late Early Formative period contexts suggests that distinctive architectural customs may have been practised during this time. Conchas phase refuse indicates that waste disposal locations physically separated an elite residential zone from the rest of society and that elite contexts were more intensively used. Accounting for the formation of archaeological deposits allows for more nuanced interpretations of this early Mesoamerican village.