Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-25T01:56:50.766Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

CULTURAL IMPERATIVES IN CLAY: EARLY OLMEC CARVED POTTERY FROM SAN LORENZO AND CANTÓN CORRALITO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2010

David Cheetham
David Cheetham*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 and New World Archaeological Foundation, Department of Anthropology, Brigham Young University, 800 SWKT, Provo, UT 84602
*
E-mail correspondence to: cheetham01@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Portable “Olmec-style” objects appeared in several regions of Mesoamerica near the end of the second millennium b.c., most frequently in the form of ceramic figurines and carved-incised pottery vessels. The origins of this early Olmec style and significance of its distribution are vigorously debated, with the role of the Gulf Coast Olmec archaeological culture and its largest center, San Lorenzo, especially controversial with respect to both issues. While recent chemical compositional analyses show that Olmec-style pots were exported from the Gulf Coast to several other regions of Mesoamerica, in each place beyond the Gulf Coast they are vastly outnumbered by locally-made versions that may or may not be faithful to Gulf Olmec stylistic canons based on vessel forms, technical style of manufacture, and design criteria. The extent of stylistic conformity between pots made in the Gulf Coast and distant regions has direct implications in terms of the geographic origin, apprenticeship, and cultural membership (innate ethnicity) of the potters who made the vessels. I consider these issues by comparing the designs and forms of excised (Calzadas Carved) pottery made at San Lorenzo and Cantón Corralito, a possible settlement enclave of Gulf Olmec peoples located in the Mazatan zone of Pacific Coastal Chiapas some 450 km from San Lorenzo.

Type
Special Section: Rethinking the Olmecs and Early Formative Mesoamerica
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 2010 , pp. 165 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Blake, Michael, Clark, John E., Voorhies, Barbara, Michaels, George, Love, Michael W., Pye, Mary E., Demarest, Arthur A., and Arroyo, Barbara 1995 Radiocarbon Chronology for the Late Archaic and Formative Periods on the Pacific Coast of Southeastern Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:161–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey 2004 Etlatongo: Social Complexity, Interaction, and Village Life in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico. Wadsworth-Thomson, Belmont, CA.Google Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey, Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2005 Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mesoamerica as Determined through Elemental Analysis. Science 307:1068–1072.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheetham, David 2005 Cunil: A Pre-Mamom Horizon in the Southern Maya Lowlands. In New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Powis, Terry G., pp. 27–38. BAR International Series 1377, Oxford.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 2006 The Americas’ First Colony? Archaeology 59:42–46.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 2009 Early Olmec Figurines from Two Regions: Style as Cultural Imperative. In Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large-Scale Social Phenomena, edited by Halperin, Christina T., Faust, Katherine A., Taube, Rhonda, and Giguet, Auore, pp. 149–179. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheetham, David, and Clark, John E. 2006 Investigaciones recientes en Cantón Corralito: Un possible enclave olmeca en la costa Pacífica de Chiapas, México. XIX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2005, pp. 3–8. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Asociación Tikal, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David, Clark, John E., Luna, Gregory, Powis, Terry G., Suárez, Tomás Pérez, Alvarado, Artemio Villatoro, and Espinosa, Juan Carlos López 2007 Proyecto Arqueológica Cantón Corralito, Chiapas, Mexico: Temporada 2004. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David, and Coe, Michael D. 2009 Early Formative Ceramic Similarities Between San Lorenzo, Veracruz, and Cantón Corralito, Chiapas. Paper presented at Dumbarton Oaks Roundtable, “The San Lorenzo Olmec and their Neighbors: Material Manifestations.” Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David, Gonzáles, Susana E., Behl, Richard J., Coe, Michael D., Diehl, Richard A., and Neff, Hector 2009 Petrographic Analyses of Early Formative Olmec Carved Pottery. Mexicon 31:69–72.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1990 Olmecas, olmequismo y olmequización en Mesoamérica. Arqueología 3:49–55.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1994 The Development of Early Formative Rank Societies in the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1997 The Arts of Government in Early Mesoamerica. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:211–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, John E., and Blake, Michael 1989 El origen de la civilización en Mesoamérica: Los Olmecas y mokaza del Soconusco de Chiapas, México. In El preclásico o formativo: Avances y perspectivas, edited by Macias, M. Carmona, pp. 385–403. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., Blake, Michael, Guzzy, Pedro, Cuevas, Marta, and Salcedo, Tamara 1987 Proyecto: El Preclasico Temprano en la Costa del Pacifico. Report submitted to the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Cheetham, David 2005 Cerámica del formativo de Chiapas. In La producción alfarera en el México antiguo, Volumen I, edited by Carrión, Beatriz Leonor Merino and Cook, Ángel Garcia, pp. 285–433. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Pye, Mary E. 2000 The Pacific Coast and the Olmec Question. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by Clark, John E. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 217–251. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1965 The Olmec Style and its Distribution. In Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 3, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 739–775. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1968 America's First Civilization. American Heritage, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Diehl, Richard A. 1980 In the Land of the Olmec (Vol. 1): The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Flannery, Kent V. 1967 Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Vol. 3. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, Beatriz 1973 Escultura monumental olmeca: Catálogo. Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Mexico City.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, Beatriz 1981 Toward a Conception of Monumental Olmec Art. In The Olmec & Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P., pp. 83–94. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, Beatriz 1994 Arte monumental olmeca. In Los olmecas en mesoamérica, edited by Clark, John E., pp. 203–221. El Equilibrista, México City.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, Beatriz 1996 Homocentrism in Olmec Monumental Art. In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by Benson, Elizabeth P. and Fuente, Beatriz de la, pp. 41–49. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
de la Fuente, Beatriz 2000 Olmec Sculpture: The First Mesoamerican Art. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by Clark, John E. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 253–263. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Di Castro, Anna, and Cyphers, Ann 2006 Iconografía de la cerámica de San Lorenzo. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, 89. UNAM, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Feddema, Vicki Lynn 1993 Early Formative Subsistence and Agriculture in Southeastern Mesoamerica. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 2000 Formative Mexican Chiefdoms and the Myth of the “Mother Culture.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 19:1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedrich, Margaret Hardin 1970 Design Structure and Social Interaction: Archaeological Implications of an Ethnographic Analysis. American Antiquity 35:332–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedrich, Margaret Hardin 1984 Models of Decoration. In The Many Dimensions of Pottery: Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology, edited by van der Leeuw, Sander E. and Pritchard, Alison C., pp. 573–614. University of Amsterdam Press, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Helms, Mary W. 1979 Ancient Panama: Chiefs in Search of Power. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Helms, Mary W. 1988 Ulysses’ Sail: An Ethnographic Odyssey of Power, Knowledge and Geographical Distance. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helms, Mary W. 1993 Craft and the Kingly Ideal: Art, Trade, and Power. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary, Edging, Richard, Lorenz, Karl, and Gillespie, Susan D. 1991 Olmec Bloodletting: An Iconographic Study. In Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986, edited by Fields, Virginia M., pp. 143–150. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Lemonnier, Pierre 1986 The Study of Material Culture Today: Toward an Anthropology of Technical Systems. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 5:147–186.Google Scholar
MacNeish, Richard S., Peterson, Frederick A., and Flannery, Kent V. 1970 The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, Volume Three: Ceramics. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1989 Zapotec Chiefdoms and the Nature of Formative Religions. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Sharer, Robert J. and Grove, David C., pp. 148–197. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Susan 1979 A Study of Olmec Sculptural Chronology. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art & Archaeology, No. 23. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Blomster, Jeffrey, Glascock, Michael D., Bishop, Ronald L., Blackman, M. James, Coe, Michael D., Cowgill, George L., Cyphers, Ann, Diehl, Richard A, Houston, Stephen, Joyce, Arthur A., Lipo, Carl P., and Winter, Marcus 2006a Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17:104–118.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Blomster, Jeffrey, Glascock, Michael D., Bishop, Ronald L., Blackman, M. James, Coe, Michael D., Cowgill, George L., Diehl, Richard A, Houston, Stephen, Joyce, Arthur A., Lipo, Carl P., Stark, Barbara L., and Winter, Marcus 2006b Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics. Latin American Antiquity 17:54–76.Google Scholar
Niederberger, Christine 1976 Zohapilco: Cinco Milenios de Ocupación Humana en un Sitio Lacustre de la Cuenca de México. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pérez Suárez, T. 2002 Cantón Corralito: Un Sitio Olmeca en el Litoral Chiapaneco. In Arqueología Mexicana, Historia y Esencia, edited by Rivero, J. Nava, pp. 71–92. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pérez Suárez, T., and Lesure, R. G. 1998 Informe del Proyecto Arqueologico: De las Aldeas a los Centros de Poder en la Coast de Chiapas, 1997. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Plog, Stephen 1980 Stylistic Variation in Prehistoric Ceramics: Design Analysis in the American Southwest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pool, Christopher A. 2007 Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Pyne, Nanette M. 1976 The Fire-Serpent and Were-Jaguar in Formative Oaxaca: A Contingency Table Analysis. In The Early Mesoamerican Village, edited by Flannery, Kent V., pp. 272–282. Academic Press, New York, NY.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., Balkansky, Andrew K., Burton, James H., Feinman, Gary M., Flannery, Kent V., Grove, David C., Marcus, Joyce, Moyle, Robert G., Price, T. Douglas, Redmond, Elsa M., Reynolds, Robert G., Rice, Prudence M., Spencer, Charles S., Stoltman, James B., and Yaeger, Jason 2006 On the Logic of Archaeological Inference: Early Formative Pottery and the Evolution of Mesoamerican Societies. Latin American Antiquity 17:90–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 2007 Out of Olmec. In The Political Economy of Ancient Mesoamerica: Transformations during the Formative and Classic Periods, edited by Scarborough, Vernon L. and Clark, John E., pp. 47–63. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Stark, Barbara L. 2008 Archaeology and Ethnicity in Mesoamerica. In Ethnic Identity in Nahua Mesoamerica: The View from Archaeology, Art History, Ethnohistory, and Contemporary Ethnography, by Berdan, Frances F., Chance, John K. Sandstrom, Alan, Stark, Barbara L., Taggart, James, and Umberger, Emily, pp. 38–63. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Stark, Miriam T. 1995 Cultural Identity in the Archaeological Record: The Utility of Utilitarian Ceramics. In The Roosevelt Community Development Study, Volume 2: Ceramic Chronology, Technology, and Economics, edited by Heidke, James M. and Stark, Miriam T., pp. 331–362. Anthropological Papers No. 14, Center for Desert Archaeology, Tucson.Google Scholar
Stein, Gil J. 2000 Material Culture and Social Identity: The Evidence for a 4th Millennium b.c. Mesopotamian Uruk Colony at Hacinebi, Turkey. Paléorient 25:11–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stein, Gil J. 2002 From Passive Periphery to Active Agents: Emerging Perspectives in the Archaeology of Interregional Interaction. American Anthropologist 104:903–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoltman, James B., Marcus, Joyce, Flannery, Kent V., Burton, James H., and Moyle, Robert G. 2005 Petrographic Evidence Shows that Pottery Exchange between the Olmec and Their Neighbors was Two Way. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:11213–11218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taube, Karl A. 1995 The Rainmakers: The Olmec and Their Contribution to Mesoamerican Belief and Ritual. In The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, pp. 83–103. The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A. 2000 Lightning Celts and Corn Fetishes: The Formative Olmec and the Development of Maize Symbolism in Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by Clark, John E. and Pye, Mary E., pp. 297–337. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tolstoy, Paul 1989 Coapexco and Tlatilco: Sites with Olmec Materials in the Basin of Mexico. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Sharer, Robert J. and Grove, David C., pp. 85–121. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Wing, Elizabeth S. 1980 Faunal Remains from San Lorenzo. In In the Land of the Olmec (Volume 1): The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, by Coe, Michael D. and Diehl, Richard A., pp. 375–386. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar