section I. An early formative Mesoamerican problem
1. Introduction
2. Knowledge in an archipelago of complexity
a core / periphery perspective
Gift exchange and social debt
Conspicuous consumption and social capital
Persuasive display and social power
Local cohesion created through the production of gifts
Knowledge Kula and social inequality
An archipelago of complexity
Trobriand Islanders
Germanic Barbarians
Early Bronze Age Cyclades
Chavín Horizon Peru
3. Mesoamerica's first style horizons and the "Olmec problem"
Early and middle formative Mesoamerican style
Horizons and culture history of the Soconusco and the Gulf Coast
Initial Ceramic Period
Horizon I
Horizon II
Horizon III
The "Olmec problem"
Expected patterns for the three models of inter-regional interaction
Creating mutually exclusive hypotheses
section II. Archaeological data
4. Settlement patterns and architecture
Early and middle formative settlement patterns inf the Cuauhtémoc Zone
Comparisons between Soconusco and San Lorenzo settlements
The Cuauhtémoc site
Architectural development at Cuauhtémoc
5. Diet, food processing and feasting
Cuauhtémoc diet
Faunal remains
Maize density
bone isotopes
Food preparation at Cuauhtémoc
Ceramic data
Proportion of undecorated tecomates
Wall thickness of undecorated tecomates
Fire-cracked rock density
Ground stone density
Ground stone form
Conchas-phase grater bowls
Obsidian density
Feasting at Cuauhtémoc
Proportion of serving-to-cooking vessels
Wall thickness of decorated tecomates
Proportion of decorated dishes
6. Representation and aesthetics
The color of ceramics
Black and white ceramics on the Gulf Coast
Anthropomorphic figurines
Effigy pots and ceramic iconography
7. Inter-regional exchange patterns
Soconusco-Gulf Coast exchange routes and travel time
Obsidian exchange
Ceramic exchange
Other exchanged objects
Horizon I estuary sites
section III. Deriving meaning from the archaeological record
8. Data and expectations
Epistemology and data
Evaluating the Soconusco data
Initial Ceramic Period
Horizon I
Horizon II
Elite emulation in diachronic perspective
Causation, temporal resolution and the Horizon I to Horizon II transition
9. Conclusion
Substantive contribution
Settlement and architecture
Domestic economy
Ideology
Exchange
An early formative Mesoamerican archipelago of complexity
Was San Lorenzo Mesoamerica's mother?
Was San Lorenzo a chiefdom or a state?
A more meaningful way to interpret cultural change
Historical materialism and Mesoamerica's first Horizons
Appendix 1: Temporally secure excavation contexts at Cuauhtémoc with detailed ceramic date
Appendix 2: Temporally secure excavation contexts at Cuauhtémoc without detailed ceramic data.