Early Formative Interaction on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala: A Ceramic Perspective

Conclusions and Future Directions

The present study has been extremely important and the main original objectives were completed. A good understanding of the Early Formative pottery and the relationship between sites was obtained. The fact that Sipacate shows the first appearance of tecomates with a red painted interior lip, that later are found as tecomates with a red paint exterior band, offers the first place in southern Mesoamerica to study the development of the red rim tecomate sphere that has been identified as a major characteristic for sites included in the Greater Isthmian Tradition. More research needs to be done in the area to fully understand this development, but the present sample offers important information on that regard. This sample has also contributed to examine ceramic change through time. This is probably related to major subsistence changes that impacted the way people processed their food.

The enormous similarity seen in the sharing of many ceramic traits throughout the Pacific Coast during the Early Formative attests for the constant and enormous interaction that took place in the region. At the time, a semi-mobile population was constantly moving from one place to the other depending on the availability of resources. There were probably major regions that concentrated people: the western Pacific Coast with sites located in San Marcos, Retalhuleu, and Suchitepéquez; a buffer or boundary area in the Tiquisate region; the central coast in Escuintla including sites in Tecojate and Sipacate; and the eastern coast including Chiquihuitán.

The occupation at Chiquihuitán seems a little later from the other regions as well as the ceramic characteristics. Estrada Belli (1999) reports the earliest date to be 1255-1014 B.C., which will correspond to the final years of the Early Formative.

The origins of Early Formative ceramic production may have been a result of different reasons. While Clark and Blake (1994) suggested that the first pottery is a result of prestige seeking by aggrandizers, Clark (Clark and Gossen 1995) has also added that reinvention might have occurred indicating that ceramic technology was adopted by various groups in Mesoamerica at different times and for different reasons. This suggests that a model of stimulus diffusion is needed to account for the coeval development of stylistically distinct ceramic assemblages (op. cit. 217).

On the Pacific Coast of southern México and Guatemala we can claim a similar development. However, we need to study each assemblage within regions as they may present local differences due to local situations. More needs to be done on this subject but the samples studied in this project show that while there is unity, there are also specific local differences.

Another important objective of the project was also fulfilled. This relates to the training of students in ceramics analysis. A number of students were involved in the different stages of the project. However, two of them, Jenny Guerra and Karen Pereira worked permanently with the collections. This was their first experience handling ceramics collections and they learned the basics on type-variety classification methodology. At the same time, they were exposed to the collections at the New World Archaeological Foundation in Chiapas, México and had an opportunity to see many other samples from sites in the region.

As part of this project, I am currently working on a monograph on the Early Formative occupation of the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. A more comprehensive version of this report will be prepared to include in that work. A copy will be submitted to FAMSI.

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