Investigations at an Olmec Community

Setting

The archaeological site of El Bajío is located along the eastern bank of the Río Chiquito, approximately 5 km northeast of the San Lorenzo plateau. This levee site is part of a cluster of what appears to be small residential sites covering a one kilometer linear area along the Chiquito River; an area that I refer to as the Remolino settlement cluster (see Figure 3) after the most well known site in the area. The archaeological richness of the area has been known for years through the work of Matthew Stirling and Philip Drucker (Stirling, 1947; 1955; Coe and Diehl, 1980a:36-37), and Michael Coe and Richard Diehl (1980a:19, 47-51, 159, 373); the latter team found stratified deposits at the site of El Remolino that included two distinct, intact Early Formative strata containing hearths, midden debris, intact pottery vessels, and well preserved animal bones (1980a:48-50, 395).

Seasonal rains cause the Río Chiquito to rise and overflow its banks, and therefore, archaeological excavations (especially along the site’s exposed profile) can only be undertaken during the dry season between January and June. The fluctuating river levels cause a seasonal rising and falling of the water table, which results in a mottled soils and often poor preservation of certain botanical and archaeological materials (see below).

Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Return to top of page