The Precolumbian Cultures of the Gulf Coast

Abstract

The Gulf Coast lowlands form one of Mesoamerica's richest and most diverse regions. The equally rich and distinctive precolumbian societies that occupied the region played a crucial role in the development of the Mesoamerican cultural tradition. The outstanding cultural developments of the region's cultures and the desires of its neighbors to control its wealth are not surprising, and these two recurrent themes account for the area's tremendous importance in precolumbian times. This chapter looks at the archaeological record of precolumbian cultures and traditions. It focuses on the cultural and linguistic groups observed by Europeans after the Conquest. The chapter employs the generalized Mesoamerican chronological framework used by most investigators, with the caveat that many placements depend more on faith and accepted wisdom than on archaeologically verified information. This generalized cultural sequence is divided into eight time periods: the Paleoindian and Archaic, Early Formative, Middle Formative, Late Formative, Early-Middle Classic, Late Classic, Early Postclassic, and Late Postclassic.