Izapa and the Soconusco Region, Mexico, in the First Millennium A.D.

Abstract

We present new regional settlement pattern data from the eastern Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico, including a detailed reconstruction of the first millennium A.D. occupation of the site of Izapa. Results from an initial campaign of light detection and ranging (lidar) data acquisition and analysis of systematically collected surface remains document the full extent of the Classic-period occupation of Izapa. These lidar and pedestrian survey data also illustrate how people were distributed across the landscape from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1000 (Hato to Remanso phases). Survey results indicate significant population increase during the Terminal Formative (A.D. 100–300) and initial Early Classic (A.D. 300–400) periods, followed by a virtual abandonment of both piedmont and low-hills survey zones from A.D. 400 to A.D. 700. The population increased in both survey zones during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (A.D. 700–1000) coinciding with the presence of a large regional center in the low-hills zone and 46 secondary centers recorded within the 400-km2 area covered by the lidar survey. These secondary centers consist of numerous small mounds around circular or square plazas. Together, the results of the lidar study and systematic pedestrian survey offer the first glimpse of population dynamics and political organization in the area around Izapa during the first millennium A.D.