Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands

by Barbara L. Stark (Editor), Barbara L. Stark, Philip J. Arnold

Archaeological settlement patterns —the ways in which ancient people distributed themselves across a natural and cultural landscape—provide the central theme for this long-overdue update to our understanding of the Mexican Gulf lowlands Olmec to Aztec offers the only recent treatment of the region that considers its entire prehistory from the second millennium B.C. to A.D. 1519. The editors have assembled a distinguished group of international scholars, several of whom here provide the first widely available English-language account of ongoing research. Several studies present up-to-date syntheses of the archaeological record in their respective areas. Other chapters provide exciting new data and innovative insights into future directions in Gulf lowland archaeology. Olmec to Aztec is a crucial resource for archaeologists working in Mexico and other areas of Latin America. Its contributions help dispel long-standing misunderstandings about the prehistory of this region and also correct the sometimes overzealous manner in which cultural change within the Gulf lowlands has been attributed to external forces. This important book clearly demonstrates that the Gulf lowlands played a critical role in ancient Mesoamerica throughout the entirety of pre-Columbian history.

383 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Barbara L. Stark specializes in the origins and developmental trajectories of complex societies in Mesoamerica. Prehistoric economy and sociopolitical organization in tropical lowland areas have been the focus of her field projects on the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala and the Gulf lowlands of Mexico.

The Gulf lowlands have been the focus of a long-term survey and settlement pattern investigation with departmental, university, National Science Foundation and National Geographic Society support, with permission from the Instituto Nacional de Antropologé Historia of Mexico. This project has included multiple students and archaeological professionals. The artifact and feature data are incorporated into a Geographical Information Systems format and have been used in thematic maps for statistical and interpretive analyses. The project maintains a laboratory in Jalapa, Mexico, for continuing analyses of collections.

Stark's publications have dealt with coastal adaptations, settlement patterns, tropical urbanism, ceramics, crafts and long-term economic and political change. She has served as a member of the executive boards of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for American Archaeology and as editor for archaeology for the American Anthropologist. She currently serves as an advisor for Arqueología and Arqueología Mexicana. Stark has been a guest instructor at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología and at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.