Ancient Xoconochco: Occupational History

Tentative Interpretations and Directions for Future Research

There are, of course, a number of questions that will only be fully answered with much more extensive excavations, but this phase of fieldwork has yielded important information that advances the overall objectives of the project. We know now that Las Gradas and Soconusco Viejo are two distinct and separate (but much closer spatially than previously thought) areas of occupation. In a sense these are separate sites—there is clearly an unoccupied area, or at least a little utilized area, that separates them. A third area, Soconusco Bajo, is much more difficult to interpret, but some activity–perhaps nonresidential–may have been carried out here during the Late Postclassic period as well. At the same time that we can conclude safely that this was not simply a single large site, I suggest that we should look at the entire area as an integrated zone of Late Postclassic activity, and I am calling the area Greater Xoconochco.

The precise relationship between Las Gradas and Soconusco Viejo cannot yet be determined. There remains the possibility that even though both date to the Late Postclassic period that they were not contemporary—the Late Postclassic period, after all, lasts for 300 years. We are still working on refining the ceramic chronology, but we have not yet been able to isolate any ceramic groups or attributes that are chronologically sensitive enough to identify short-term phases during the Late Postclassic period. Given our current understanding of the ceramics, it is impossible to distinguish the ceramic assemblages for the two sites except for the fact that there is so little ceramic diversity at Las Gradas. The variability in the obsidian sources at the two sites might be interpreted as evidence that they were occupied at different times within the Late Postclassic period (or during the Middle and Late Postclassic periods). If the predominance of Pico de Orizaba obsidian denotes an earlier occupation then we could reason that Las Gradas was occupied earlier than Soconusco Viejo, where Pachuca obsidian predominates.

A second possibility is that Las Gradas and Soconusco Viejo were contemporary, but that they served different functions or that individuals from different social groups occupied each area. The strategic location of Las Gradas may be significant. Perhaps this was the site of a fortress or even the reported Aztec garrison that, according to some sources, was located at the town of Xoconochco (Carrasco 1999). Other than its strategic location, there is little to indicate that this was the site of a garrison. It is worth noting, however, that given the very small number of obsidian artifacts found at the site, there is a much larger than expected number of projectile points (20%) in the assemblage. At all other sites, points make up less than 3% of assemblages. Unfortunately, none of the artifacts from Las Gradas are unambiguously Aztec, and the fact that there is more obsidian from Pico de Orizaba than from Pachuca is puzzling if this were an Aztec garrison (the projectile points are all made of Pico de Orizaba obsidian). But we have to ask ourselves what a remote Aztec garrison might look like. If there were a garrison in Soconusco, it would have been the most distant garrison from Tenochtitlán, and soldiers are unlikely to have brought much with them. A garrison may have been totally supplied by the local residents. The unusual features of the ceramic assemblage–the fact that vessels like comales and ollas tend to be larger and the absence of much diversity in ceramic types–might be interpreted as evidence of food preparation for large groups rather than individual households.

There are other ways to interpret the relationships between these two sites. Las Gradas may have served as a defensible place of refuge for the people of Soconusco Viejo during periods of violence. Or, as local historian Culebro (1975) suggested decades ago, it might have been a shrine site. Finally, if the absence of a wide range of ceramic types, particularly the absence of polychromes, is simply a product of small sample size, Las Gradas might have served as a residential area for elites who lived apart from their subjects (who lived at Soconusco Viejo).

As I begin planning for future work in the Greater Xoconochco area as well as at other Postclassic sites in the Soconusco region, there are several issues that I will be exploring. First, the settlement pattern in the Greater Xoconochco area and Late Postclassic settlement patterns across the entire Soconusco region (and perhaps in other regions within Mesoamerica as well) illustrate some of the limitations with "site centered" archaeology (especially sites that are identified solely by the presence of mounds). The increased use of ground-level structures in the Postclassic period and the ephemeral nature of some Postclassic occupations make it difficult to both identify and place nice neat boundary lines around the "sites." Strategies for excavation must include broad horizontal excavations that expose large areas and must investigate relationships among neighboring "sites."

Chronological concerns remain central to my ongoing analysis and will remain a focus of study in future fieldwork. In the case of Las Gradas and Soconusco Viejo, it is obvious that we need to be able to say with certainty whether or not they were contemporary. Similarly, the chronological position of the wetland sites remains unclear. The archaeological data from the sites of Las Piedritas and Las Brujas as well as from other sites previously investigated by Voorhies (see Voorhies 1989 and Voorhies and Gasco n.d.) indicate that the wetland sites were flourishing well into the Late Postclassic period. The sheer quantities as well as the diversity of imported materials suggest that these sites were vibrant centers of trade. Yet curiously, the Aztec documents that record their conquest of the Soconusco region and later Spanish colonial documents do not mention a single wetland town. The complete absence of any colonial artifacts at the wetland sites also suggests that they were abandoned prior to the Spanish conquest. To address questions related to the regional economy and change during the course of the Postclassic period we will ultimately need to establish more firmly the occupational history of these sites as well as the inland sites.

In conclusion, I am grateful to FAMSI for supporting the 2000 fieldwork at Xoconochco. This support enabled me to conduct a critical phase in my ongoing research on Postclassic Soconusco. A number of important questions were answered while other new questions emerged. Information from the 2000 field season can now be added to existing data that are helping us to better understand how the important changes in Postclassic Mesoamerica affected life in ancient Soconusco.

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