PAPERS

of the

NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION

NUMBER FORTY-NINE

Paso de la Amada

An Early Preclassic Site

in the

Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico ,

.I.. ,

by

JORGE FAUSTO CEJA TENORIO

NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

PROVO, UTAH

1985

Paso de la Amada

An Early Preclassic Site in the

Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico

Ocos P1-1ASE F1GUHINES

GARETH W. LOWE

DIRECTOR

SUSANNA M. EKHOLM

SERIES EDITOR

Printed by

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY PRINTING SERVICE

PROVO, UTAH

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In 1973 the New World Archaeological Foundation undertook a limited research program on the Pacific coastal plain of the state

of Chiapas, Mexico, that was designed to investigate further the na­ture of early Preclassic occupation in the central Soconusco region. I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Foundation during the major part of this project, which continued into the following year.

This monograph, a revision of my Master's thesis (Ceja Tenorio 1978), was prepared with the assistance of many people to whom I extend my thanks, particularly Carlos Navarrete, for the data he provided me on his archaeological reconnaissances along the coast, and Pierre Agrinier and Antonio Garcia de Leon, for valuable ad­vice. Appreciation is also extended to Gilberto Utrilla and Alejandro Sanchez, field assistants; Mario Vega R., Douglas D. Bryant, and U ,... •• .....,...,..,._....,..l C ,....:-...-.... ......,\.... ,..,. 1-,... ,,..,,. ............ l.. ,.... ...... 171: ,.,, ,..,.\.... ,.... 1-l.. U ,,.... ,..,.. ,..._1-: ,. 1-. T ,... ,..,!.. 1\.T/ .. -; ,..,. ..... J.\a. y 11JV.11U U\,.,11-'l'a., puvLv51 a.puc;1 .::,, J...:.,J.1L.,GlUVLl1 .1.,v.-,.:,, a.1 u.::,L, J V.:lV 1 '( U11Ci£,

Chanona, draftsman; Eduardo Martinez E., then Chiapas delegate of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia; and Maria del Rosario Hernandez de Nuiiez and Silvia Chapol Malaga, thesis typists.

I also wish to thank the communal farmers of the Coatan River zone and their authorities for the permission to excavate on their land, as well as the numerous people who did fieldwork with us.

I especially thank Gareth W. Lowe, director of the New World Archaeological Foundation, who was my thesis director, and from whom I received encouragement and advice for resolving problems in the field, and, who organized and revised the text and illustrations for publication. Translation of the thesis was provided by the Foun­dation in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

My deepest appreciation is expressed to the New World Archae­ological Foundation for underwriting this project, which was carried

out under an agreement with the Instituto Nacional de Antropo­logia e Historia, to whom I also extend my most sincere gratitude.

V

JORGE FAUSTO CEJA TENORIO

SAN ANDRES TuxTLA, VERACRUZ

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. V

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 Archaeological Investigation of the Preclassic Period in the Soconusco Region .. .. .... ..... ...... . .... .. . . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. ... . .. . . .. .. .... .. .. 3

ENVIRONMENT OF THE SOCONUSCO REGION .................................................. 7 Climate ........................................................................................................................... 9 Hydrography .................................................................................................................. 9 Flora, Fauna, and Agriculture ...................................................................................... 10

HISTORY OF THE SOCONUSCO ................................................................................ 15 Com1nunication Systems ............................................................................................... 16 Language ........................................................................................................................ 16

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS .................................................................. 19 Stuvey ............................................................................................................................. 19

Paso de la Amada ...................................................................................................... 19 Excavations ..................................................................................................................... 22

Pits 1, 2., and 3 ........................................................................................................... 2.2. Pit 4 and Btuial 1 ...................................................................................................... 24 Pit 5 and Burial 2 ...................................................................................................... 26 Pit 6 and Burial 3 ...................................................................................................... 26 Pit 7 and Btuial 4 ...................................................................................................... 26 Pits 2-A, 3-A, 8, and 9, and Element 1 .................................................................... 26 Pits 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 ......................................................................................... 26 Pits 15, 16, 17, and 19 and Radiocarbon Dates ...................................................... 33 Pits 18, 20, and 21 ..................................................................................................... 34

Historical Reconstruction ............................................................................................. 34 The Early Formative Ceramic Sequence ................................................................... 37

THE BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX ............................................................................ 41 Cotan Grooved .............................................................................................................. 41 Monte Incised ................................................................................................................ 45 Tusta Red ........................................................................................................................ 49 Huaquineja Red ............................................................................................................. 49 Tepa Red-and-white ...................................................................................................... 49 Petacalapa Black ........................................................................................................... 52

THE oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX .............................................................................. 53 Mi chis Thin Tecomate .................................................................................................. 53 Amada Stamped ............................................................................................................. 55 Paso Polished Red .......................................................................................................... 56 Pino Black-and-white .................................................................................................... 65 Oc6s Specular Red ........................................................................................................ 70

vii

OCOS-PHASE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES, MINOR FORMS, AND VESSEL SUPPORTS ........................................................................................................ 73

Stamping and Cord-n1arking ........................................................................................ 73 Miscellaneous Oc6s-phase Decorative Techniques ................................................... 77 Miscellaneous Oc6s-phase Ceramic Forms ................................................................. 78 Vessel Supports .............................................................................................................. 80

FIGURINES ....................................................................................................................... 83 Hun1an Figurines ........................................................................................................... 83

Early Rudin1entary Heads ........................................................................................ 83 Early Rudin1entary Bodies ........................................................................................ 83 Solid Modeled-appliqued Heads .............................................................................. 83 Hollow Figurine Heads ............................................................................................. 89 Solid Figurine Bodies ................................................................................................ 89 Arms and Hands ........................................................................................................ 89 Legs and Feet ............................................................................................................. 89 Com1nent .................................................................................................................... 95

Anilnal Effigies .............................................................................................................. 95 Dogs ............................................................................................................................ 95 Monkeys ...................................................................................................................... 95 Frogs or Toads ........................................................................................................... 95 Blunt-nose Snake ....................................................................................................... 95 Fat Rodent .................................................................................................................. 95 Parrot .......................................................................................................................... 95 Comment .................................................................................................................... 97

ARTIFACTS OF POTTERY AND BONE ..................................................................... 99 Modeled Cera1nic Objects ............................................................................................ 99

Pottery Earspool Fragments .................................................................................... 99 Pottery Rings ........................................................................................................... 101 Whistles .................................................................................................................... 101 Roller Stamps ........................................................................................................... 101 Long Pottery Beads ................................................................................................. 101 Cylinch-ical Clay Beads ........................................................................................... 101 Spherical Bead ......................................................................................................... 101 Solid Earplug ........................................................................................................... 101 Pottery Spatulas ....................................................................................................... 101 Pottery Coil .............................................................................................................. 102 Perforated Pottery Cones ....................................................................................... 103 Solid Sphere ............................................................................................................. 103

Worked Sherds ............................................................................................................. 103 Notched Sherds or Net Weights ............................................................................ 103 Ground Sherd Disks ................................................................................................ 103 Semi-perforated Sherd Disk ................................................................................... 103 Perforated Sherds .................................................................................................... 103 Sherd Abraders ........................................................................................................ 103

Bone Objects ................................................................................................................ 103 Cut Tooth ................................................................................................................. 103

viii

Perforated Canines .................................................................................................. 103 Awl or eedle .......................................................................................................... 103 Perforated Shark's Tooth ........................................................................................ 103 Fish-vertebra Earspools .......................................................................................... 103 Irregular Bone .......................................................................................................... 106 Bone Rings ................................................................................................................ 106

STONE ARTIFACTS ..................................................................................................... 107 Amorphous Chipped Obsidian ................................................................................... 107 Ground Stone ............................................................................................................... 108

Grinding and Polishing Tools ................................................................................. 108 O1nan1ents ................................................................................................................ 108 Ground Stone Vessels .............................................................................................. 109 Grinding Stones or Manos ...................................................................................... 109 Metates ..................................................................................................................... 111

Pestles ....................................................................................................................... 112 Spherical Hammerstones ........................................................................................ 113 Miscellaneous Broken Stones ................................................................................. 113

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................. 115

TABLES ........................................................................................................................... 119

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 127

FIGURES

Oc6s Phase Figurines ........................................................................................ Frontispiece

1. Panoramic View of Paso de la Amada ................................................................... 2 2. Maps of Southern Mesoamerica and the Soconusco .......... .... .............................. 4 3. Views of the Rio Coatan and Agricultural Drain ............. .......................... .... ...... 6 4. Geographic Regions and Geologic Section of Chia pas .......... .............................. 8 5. View of the Mouth of the Rio Coatan ................................................................... 10 6. Temporary Bridge on Rio Coatan Estuary ............................................................ 11 7. Map of the Rio Coatan Archaeological Region .................................................... 20 8. The Fields and Mounds of Paso de la Amada ....................................................... 21 9. Sketch Map of the Site of Paso de la Amada ........................................................ 22

10. Views of Excavations in Mound 1 and Pit 12 ....................................................... 23 11. Key to Soil Symbols on Pit Section Drawings ...................................................... 24 12. Section Drawings of Pits 1, 2, and 3 ...................................................................... 25 13. Section Drawings of Pits 4, 5, 6, and 7 .................................................................. 27 14. Bw·ial 1 in Pit 4 ........................................................................................................ 28 15. Pit 3-A, Element 1, and Burial 2 in Pit 5 .............................................................. 29 16. Burial 4 in Pit 7 ........................................................................................................ 30 17. Section Drawings of Pits 2-A, 3-A, 8, and 9 .......................................................... 31 18. Section Drawings of Pits 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 ................................................... 32 19. Section Drawings of Pits 15, 16, 17, and 19, with

Location of Radiocarbon Samples .......................................................................... 33

ix

20. Animal Burial in Pit 16 ............................................................................................ 34 21. View of Pit 17, North and East Walls .................................................................... 35 22. Section Drawings of Pits 18, 20, and 21 ................................................................ 36 23. Cotan Grooved Pottery, Barra Phase ..................................................................... 42 24. Cotan Grooved Pottery, Barra Phase ..................................................................... 43 25. Cotan Grooved Pottery Forms, Barra Phase ......................................................... 44 26. Monte Incised Pottery, Barra Phase ....................................................................... 46 27. Monte Incised Pottery, Barra Phase ....................................................................... 48 28. Monte Incised Pottery Decoration, Barra Phase .................................................. 48 29. Minor Pottery Types, Barra Phase ......................................................................... 50 30. Barra- and Oc6s-Phase Sherds ................................................................................. 51 31. Michis Thin Tecomate Forms, Oc6s Phase ........................................................... 54 32. Amada Stamped Tecomates, Oc6s Phase .............................................................. 57 33. Paso Polished Red, Bowl Forms, Oc6s Phase ........................................................ 58 34. Paso Polished Red, Bowl Forms, Oc6s Phase ........................................................ 60 35. Paso Polished Red, Tecomate Forms, Oc6s Phase ................................................ 62 36. Miscellaneous Pottery Forms, Oc6s Phase ............................................................ 64 37. Pino Black-and-white, Bowl Forms, Oc6s Phase .................................................. 66 38. Pino Black-and-white, Bowl and Tecomate Forms,

Oc6s Phase ................................................................................................................ 68 39. Pino Black-and-white and Oc6s Specular Red Pottery Forms,

Oc6s Phase ................................................................................................................ 70 40. Various Pottery Forms and Decorations, Oc6s Phase .......................................... 72 41. Stamp-impressed Pottery Decoration, Oc6s Phase .............................................. 74 42. Miscellaneous Pottery Decorative Techniques and Forms,

Oc6s Phase ................................................................................................................ 76 43. Pottery Grooving and Modeling Techniques, Oc6s Phase .................................. 79 44. Pottery Vessel Supports, Oc6s Phase ..................................................................... 81 45. Ceramic Figurine Heads and Bodies, Barra and Oc6s Phase .............................. 84 46. Ceramic Solid Figurine Heads, Oc6s Phase .......................................................... 86 47. Ceramic Solid Figurine Heads, Oc6s Phase .......................................................... 87 48. Ceramic Figurine Heads, Oc6s Phase .................................................................... 88 49. Ceramic Hollow Heads and Solid Figurines, Oc6s Phase ................................... 90 50. Ceramic Solid Figurine Bodies, Oc6s Phase .......................................................... 91 51. Ceramic Solid Figurine Bodies, Oc6s Phase .......................................................... 92 52. Ceramic Figurine Body Fragments, Oc6s Phase .................................................. 93 53. Ceramic Figurine Limb Fragments, Oc6s Phase .................................................. 94 54. Ceramic Animal Effigy Heads, Oc6s Phase .............................................. 96 and 97 55. Ceramic Artifacts, Oc6s Phase ............................................................................. 100 56. Ceramic Ornaments, Oc6s Phase ......................................................................... 102 57. Worked-sherd Artifacts ......................................................................................... 104 58. Small Bone and Stone Ornaments and Tools ...................................................... 105 59. Ground Stone Bowls and Artifacts ....................................................................... 110 60. Ground Stone Bowls and Artifacts ....................................................................... 111 61. Ground Stone Artifacts .......................................................................................... 112

X

INTRODUCTION

After conducting brief excavations in 1973 at Altamira, one of the earliest of the known Early Preclassic zones in the Soconusco region of Chiapas (Lowe 1975b), I retained a keen in­terest in the further investigation of these first agriculturalists of the Pacific Coast. A better un­derstanding of the origin, chronology, and diffu­sion of Formative culture in this region was still very much to be desired.

As early as the 33rd Congress of American­ists held in Costa Rica in 1958, Michael D. Coe (1960) and Clifford Evans and Betty J. Meggers (1966), after having worked, respectively, in r..,,,,tPm<>h <>nrl Kf'1rnrlnr, ll<<P.rtP.rl NmfirlP.ntly that there were pre-Hispanic cultural relation­ships between Middle and South America. These authors also stressed their opinion that it was worthwhile and important to examine the two natural southern corridors of Mexico-the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the Soconusco-as key passes along the most obvious routes for ei­ther overland or seafaring cultural diffusion north or south. In my own attempt to contribute further knowledge of the Soconusco, I made first a brief survey and then detailed stratigraph­ic explorations in several early zones along the Coatan River west of Tapachula, particularly in the communal of ejido land of the Buenos Aires colonia (Ceja Tenorio 1974). In the last zone, the small site in the fields known as Paso de la Amada (Fig. 1) came to be of foremost interest, and test excavations concentrated there provid­ed the data for the present report. The New World Archaeological Foundation funded this field investigation and provided full support and facilities for the ensuing analysis.

All of the material recovered at Paso de la Amada pertains to the Early Formative or Early Preclassic period and represents intensive Barra­and Oc6s-phase occupations. The remarkable

1

Oc6s culture was first defined by Coe (1961) for Guatemala and by Green and Lowe (1967) for the Coatan River region; the latter also identi­fied the slightly earlier Barra phase (more re­cent discussions are found in Lowe 1975b, 1977, 1978; see review below). My own excavations were to have some success in dating rather pre­cisely the Barra-Oc6s occupation in the Soco­nusco as well as in demonstrating more details of these early cultures. These data are useful for identifying relationships with other areas of the Americas, although that problem is given little attention in this study.

Between the 33rd International Congress of Americanists, in 1958, and 1973, several small investigations were made of the Early Preclassic occupation in the Soconusco as noted above and summarized further below. Navarrete (1969a, 1969b, 1974), in particular, carried out extensive reconnaissance, including the excavation of test pits in several Oc6s-horizon sites (Lowe 1966, 1969). It had become obvious that the Soco­nusco contained an important concentration of some of the earliest fishing, agricultural, and pottery-using villages known in Mesoamerica. These small communities, with their excellent ceramic and figurine traditions, must have played some critical role in the formation of the subsequent Olmec society that eventually domi­nated the greater Isthmus region for many cen­turies of the first and second millenia B.c.

The few small but important early-period in­vestigations in the Soconusco raised a series of questions besides the central problem of possible cultural interactions between the continents during the Early Preclassic. What about the original establishment of a local agricultural population? Could this have been non-ceramic­using? What role did fishing and gathering con­tinue to play after the introduction of ceramics?

Figure 1. PANORAMIC Vrnw OF PASO DE LA AMADA

Looking approximately north from vicinity of Mound l; testing was confined to the area behind or south of the viewer (compare map, Figure 9).

I TRODUCTION 3

What about the planting and consuming of roots like the cassava (yucca)? What did the presence of a few Olmec stone monuments associated with Pijijiapan and other Soconusco sites (Na­varrete 1969a, 1974) signify, as these were out­side the central area of that culture? Were the Olmecs of the Gulf Coast influential in an in­tensification of corn planting on the Chiapas coast?

Answers to questions such as the preceding would, in turn, raise others, such as: Are we dealing with migratory movements of people or the expansion of local groups? If the former, are we dealing with invasions such as military or re­ligious conquests? If the latter, are we dealing with the diffusion of techniques, customs, and beliefs from one or more stronger centers on the Isthmus, the Gulf of Mexico, or even farther away? and, Was it economic pressure wrought by the Olmecs that eventually so drastically ended the Oc6s ceramic tradition and apparent­Iv m,u,h nf it< Pf'nnnmv ,inrl <nf'iPtv? -✓ ------- -- --- ---------, ---- ------; ·

Already we can see, in the limited vestiges of the Barra and Oc6s societies, a real founda­tion for understanding material and socio-politi­cal patterns that were to contribute to the for­mation of Olmec culture, the earliest Mesoamerican civilization. We now have a well reinforced idea of the cultural sequence of the coast, and we can describe more fully the earliest ceramic complexes. It remains obvious, nevertheless, that we still have great lacunae in our knowledge that can be filled only by further and more extensive excavations. The principal elite and domestic complexes at Paso de la Amada, for example, remain uninvestigated as of this date, and many similar and possibly larger villages must exist elsewhere.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF

THE PRECLASSIC PERIOD IN THE

SOCONUSCO REGION

A general survey of Chiapas archaeology was published by Culebro in 1939. The first archaeological investigation in the Chiapas Soconusco was the brief 1941 effort of Stirling (1943: 61) at Izapa (see maps, Fig. 2); Izapa la­ter proved to be a most important Preclassic

center with a long occupation beginning in the Oc6s phase (see below and summary and anno­tated bibliography in Lowe, Lee, and Martinez Espinosa 1982, Appendix). An early limited re­connaissance was made by Drucker (1948), who carried out test excavations in a few zones, in­cluding that of Izapa. He made an important pre-Formative discovery at the Chantuto shell­midden site, in the La Palma estuaries; his brief excavations located some obsidian and bone, with sherds in only the higher levels of the la­goon-edge deposits. Chantuto was later in­vestigated briefly by Lorenzo (1955) with in­conclusive results; he obtained some lithic artifacts from the pre-ceramic zone and some apparently late sherds above it. Navarrete (19696) also worked in the general Chantuto or La Palma region and tested an Oc6s estuarine fishing site at Islita (Lowe 1966). Voorhies (1976) tested deep middens elsewhere in this zone, finding occupations positively dating from the a- or ore-ceramic horizon {f'.a. �000 R.r.)

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with overlying material of the Barra phase and Protoclassic and Classic periods.

By the end of the 1950s, as remarked above, ideas about widespread diffusion between Pacif­ic Coast occupations were being tested; in 1958, Michael Coe undertook two small excavations at La Victoria, in the estuaries of the Depart­ment of San Marcos in the Guatemalan sector of the Soconusco. Coe attempted to relate this site to nearby sites in a state system, then in a Mesoamerican system, and then to North, Cen­tral, and South America. He (Coe 1960: 363-390) posited that maritime contact existedduring the Formative period between this spe­cific region and Ecuador and possibly also Peru.In his final report on La Victoria, Coe (1961)discussed instead problems related to the originof the Mesoamerican Formative cultures, with asupposed transition from nomadism and semi­nomadism to a sedentary life style.

A major problem in the Soconusco had been the absence of an adequate archaeological se­quence, but Coe (1961) at La Victoria was able to construct a sequence that was well accepted, much of it agreeing closely with the sequence then recently established for the interior of Chiapas (Warren 1959, Lowe and Agrinier 1960). The La Victoria sequence was corrected

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I TRODUCTION 5

and amplified by further work at nearby Salinas La Blanca (Coe and Flannery 1967).

In 1961 the New World Archaeological Foundation began a five-year program of in­vestigation in the Soconusco that concentrated on Izapa. Izapa was found to have a long series of occupations that run from the Early Pre­classic through the Early Postclassic (Ekholm 1969; Lee 1973; Lowe, Lee, and Martinez Espi­nosa 1982: 115-157).

In 1963 the Foundation and its collaborator from INAH and the National University of Mex­ico, Carlos Navarrete, faced the necessity of placing Izapa in correct cultural perspective by carrying out an extensive general reconnais­sance of the Soconusco region. Navarrete and NW AF Topographer Eduardo Martinez E. worked toward this goal between 1963 and 1972, discovering many new sites, including im­portant Early Preclassic zones. In 1963 Navar­rete and Lowe (see ·Green and Lowe 1967: vi-vii and Lowe 1975b: 3) located an excep­tional coastal plain site with abundant early de­posits on the surface; this was Altamira. Excava­tions here (Green and Lowe 1967) showed closeceramic relationships with La Victoria (Coe1961) and Salinas La Blanca (Coe and Flannery1967) in Guatemala, as well as with Izapa (Ek­holm 1969). One of the most important resultsof the Altamira investigation was the identi­fication of the Barra phase stratigraphically be­low and therefore earlier than the Oc6s phase(Lowe, in Green and Lowe 1967, Appendix;Lowe 1975a, 1975b); above the Oc6s depositswere the ceramic complexes similar to those ofthe early Gulf Coast Olmec and closely relatedcultures in coastal Guatemala and CentralChiapas.

The consistent stratigraphic position of Oc6s material below the Olmec-related Cuadros com­plex was well demonstrated in 1968 by Navar­rete's series of test pits dug across a broad, low eminence northeast of Aquiles Serdan, about 7 km north of Paso de la Amada; a heavy 50-cm­thick deposit of primary Oc6s trash everywhere underlay an equally thick and distinctive pri-

mary Cuadros-phase deposit that extended to the surface (Lowe 1969: 356).

The discovery of the most ancient but ex­tremely well developed Barra phase ceramics at Altamira still left a principal problem unsolved: the origin of this Chiapas pottery tradition. Also, in 1973 this was. still the only site with an identified Barra occupation. The need to return to the Pacific Coast to carry out more surface reconnaissance and test excavations to locate_ ad­ditional Oc6s and, it was hoped, Barra occupa­tions, was obvious. Such a reconnaissance, of the Coatan region (Figs. 3, 6, 8), was made by me-in limited fashion in 1973 and 1974 (Ceja Tenorio 1974). The survey was made in collaboration with Gareth Lowe (1975a, 1975b). While re-vis­Lting Altamira our guide, Rogelio Rivas Blas, took us to a series of dried-up seasonal lagoons south of Buenos Aires, in the Paso de la Amada zone (3 km northeast of Altamira). Here were several fenced fields disked clean after cotton harvesting (Fig. 1) in which there were small eroded mounds; the surface ceramics were all of the Barra and Oc6s phases. We decided, there­fore, to undertake test explorations that same season in as extensive a manner as limited funds allowed. I dug twenty test pits, some with ex­tensions, to sample several of the smaller mounds. The largest mounds (Mounds 6 and 7 on the plan, Fig. 9), which I consider to be im­portant parts of the only known Oc6s-phase for­mal village community, were not tested because of the absence of the farm families then respon­sible for the particular fields or parcelas in which they stand.

This report is a description and brief dis­cussion of most of the artifacts recovered at Paso de la Amada in 1974; none of the human and animal bone, shell, or the thousands of ob­sidian chips are illustrated or described in detail, inasmuch as this is scheduled for separate analy­sis by specialists. No intensive external com­parative study was made of the ceramics recov­ered and little new is added to the remarks already made in this regard by Lowe (1975b and in Green and Lowe 1967).

6 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Figure 3. Vrnws OF THE Rfo CoATAN AND AGRICULTURAL DRAIN Above: The Coatan River looking upstream near its mouth just below the Los Alvarez site (compare Figures 6 and 8).

Below: Large agricultural drain between Altamira and colonia Buenos Aires, whose walls show occasional shallow Oc6s­phase sherd deposits. The clay figure held by the child is of unknown provenience.

ENVIRONMENT OF THE SOCONUSCO REGION

The Soconusco is the southernmost region of Mexico, in the State of Chiapas, and includes some of the richest lands of the Pacific coastal plain.

The Mexican Soconusco (Fig. 2) has been de-scribed as

... an extension approximately 96 km long and about 60 km wide. Its borders are the Uluapa River to the north and the Suchiate River on the south. The Pacific Ocean, as well as the Sierrf"!. Madre de Chiapas on the other ex­treme, flanks its length ... (translated from Medina Hernandez 1973: 98-99)

The region has been known since Aztec times by the name of Soconusco (Xoconochco,

"bitter prickly pear," according to Becerra 1930).

The orography of the southeastern edge of Chiapas from sea level to the Sierra Madre de Chiapas is variable; the latter has such heights as the volcanoes Tacana (4,064 m), Soconusco (2,360 m), Tonintana (2,400 m) Boquer6n (2,670 m), and Pashtal (2,730 m), according to Garcia S. (1964). Below the foothills the coastal plainhas a "graded downslope of 1 m each km" (Bas­sols Batalla 1974: 39). The coastal land is quiteuniform, although poorly drained in parts, withlagoons and estuaries near the ocean.

The geologic formation of the coastal plain of Chiapas resulted from a sedimentation pro­cess involving the many streams and rivers that descend from the mountains (Fig. 2). These cur­rents carry numerous materials which combine with the eolithic and lacustrian deposits. The sediments are formed mainly from about 300 m

7

to sea level, most from Pleistocene and Qua­ternary formations (Fig. 4):

There are two geologic formations in the zone, one in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and the other in the coastal hills. The first is made 'up of metamor­phic and intrusive rocks of the Paleo­zoic, which take up almost all the Sierra to where it joins with the coastal plain, and its borders are located ap­nrnximatP.lv on thP. hmmrlarv of 200 m L ✓ ✓

[above sea level). A Pleistocene forma-tion is found in the coastal plain (trans­lated from Bassols Batalla 1974: 39).

The coastal plain is, furthermore, the result of innumerable geologic phenomena:

During the Cenozoic era the Is­thmus was submerged. The formation of the Sierra Madre del Sur as an in­clined block, and its continual emer­gence since the Pleistocene epoch, has exposed Pleistocene and Holocene (Re­cent) deposits; these permitted the for­mation of large salt lagoons and lakes that were subsequently closed off. We see the remnants of this process in the Laguna Superior and Inferior, and in the Mar Muerto and the swamp that extends from it to the Guatemalan bor­der (translated from Tamayo 1953:69).

De la Pena (1951, Vol 1, p. 9) also believed that the ancient volcanoes Tacana, Soconusco, Boquer6n, and Santa Maria (in the Department

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ES TR ATOS CONTINENTALES DEL MESOZOICO INFERIOR { FINAL DEL TRIASICO ? JURASICO INFERIOR Y J. MEOIO)

ESTRATOS MARINOS (CALIZAS) DEL PERMICO MEOIO

ESTRATOS MARlNOS{PtZARRASJ DEL PERMICO INFERIOR

�sp::�T

oO

z�,��TAMORFlCOS( ESQUISTOS CRISTALINOSJ y ROCA INTRUSIVA DEL PRECAMBRICO

NE.

Figure 4. GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS A o GEOLOGIC SECTIO , OF CttlAPAS

Above: Geographic divisions and drainage basins in the State of Chiapas. Below: Schematic cross section of Chia pas and

Tabasco showing geologic stmctures. Both drawings after Miillerried 1957.

ENVIRONMENT OF THE SOCONUSCO RECIO N 9

of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala; it last erupted in 1902) deposited conglomerates, clays, sand­stones, slates, and limestones on the coastal plain.

CLIMATE

Due to its geographic position, the climate of the Soconusco depends mostly on the Pacific winds, although within that small area there are great differences in altitude. Cloud formations can almost always be noted around Tacana and the Guatemalan peaks; these create rain from the collision of cold air currents of the moun­tains with hot air currents from the ocean. The high mountain region consequently has a tropi­cal rain forest climate and the lower slopes have temperatures of more than 18° C during all months of the year. The climate of the Soco­nusco has been reviewed in the following manner:

Between Latitudes 14 and 17 there is a transitionai zone between the inter­nal and external tropical latitudes on the one hand and the ocean with a mountain front directly behind it on the other; the zone is subject in most parts to a tropical climate of the humid AMWGI type in the Koeppen classifi­cation, with a minimum precipitation of 2500 and maximum of 5000 mm spread betweeen a hundred to two hun­dred rainy days per year. . . . In con­trast, along the Pacific watershed at about Acapetahua, a narrow dry zone of the type A WCI enters the plain from Guatemala and widens greatly to the northwest (translated from Helbig 1964: 43-44).

Another investigator has said that:

Along the length of the Pacific an alluvial plain is found where some faultal antiblocks of the Sierra Madre stand out. This plain is very dry, with spiny vegetation in the western part; the north winds that cross through the Isthmus there cause a Foehn affect; to­ward the east the watershed of the Sierra widens and the plain, thus better

watered, progressively changes to a de­ciduous tropical forest (translated from Bassols Batalla 1974: 18).

On the humid piedmont of the Soconusco rain falls almost every day from May through October, while in the semiarid belt of the coast­al plain it only rains from June through Septem­ber. Because of this the inhabitants of the region use the terms "summer" and "winter" in re­verse, applying verano, summer, to the dry win­ter months and invierno, winter, to the wet sum­mer months.

HYDROGRAPHY

The very fertile Soconusco is crossed by many rivers and streams (Figs. 2, 3, 5, 6). The water usually originates in the highest parts of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, although the short span which these waters cross results in a gener­ally parallel system perpendicular to the Pacific Ocean. Near Arriaga, Tonala, and Pijijiapan the rivers run about 30 km in straight lines. Farther south the longest rivers run about 60 km in straight lines; from southeast to northwest they are the Suchiate, Cahuacan, Coatan, Huehue­tan, Huixtla, Cintalapa, Cacaluta, Madre Vieja, Uluapa, Novillera, and San Nicolas rivers. To the north are the Coapa, Pijijiapan, Nancinapa, Peclregal, Amate, Tonala, Tiltepec, Lagartero, and Punta rivers, the last on the border of Oaxaca.

Because the Soconusco piedmont slopes re­ceive so heavy a rainfall, the sloughing of sedi­ments and flood debris at certain times causes dams or fills to obstruct the lower courses of the rivers. This happened to the Coatan River in 1947; the river previously passed by the edge of Mazatan, but flooding moved that course 1500 m away. Such periodic changes in the meandering of coastal riverbeds have occurred since antiqui­ty. Landfills also can form rapidly in areas of pampa or seasonal floodlands. At El Carmen, on the Mazatan-Tapachula highway, a deposit of volcanic ash from 1902 that is 5 m below the present surface can be seen in the cut made by this river. The river now passes 2 m below the ash. Another such instance is at the archae­ological site of El Aguacate, where Postclassic

10 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Figure 5. Vrnw OF THE MOUTH OF THE Rio CoATAN

Looking west across a hyacinth-choked estuary and the mouth of the Coatan River, with the

Barra de San Sim6n in the background separating the estuary waters from the Pacific surf.

sherds are buried to a depth of 8 m and are now eroding at the foot of the riverbank; here an old beach or arroyo was covered by silt relatively recently.

The erosion force of the rivers and streams is reduced as these reach into the coastal plain and in some cases it becomes nil during the dry sea­son, allowing the ocean to form sand bars at or across the river outlets (Fig. 5). Such a barra fre­quently closes off a river's exit to the sea by the end of the dry season when the rivers are low, and the actual boca or entrance to the ocean typically moves about somewhat from one year to another. The scarce fresh water remains in the estuaries and lagoons; it breaks across the sand bars created by the surf only well into the wet season.

FLORA, FAUNA, AND AGRICULTURE

The vegetation of the Soconusco, subject to both the varied relief of the zone and the inter­vention of man, changes drastically from the beaches to the foothills. Some primary vegeta-

tion occasionally still can be found, especially in the estuaries, but in the savannah and foothills regions it has been subject to continuous changes, especially since the colonial epoch, and everywhere it is secondary. At the time of Fray Alonso Ponce's trip in 1586 the Spanish-in­troduced citrus fruits were already aclimatized (Ciudad Real 1952: 9). Other early travelers of the 16th and 17th centuries confirm agricultural change, including the presence of products such as sesame and sugar cane. In 1846 coffee was planted for the first time (Helbig 1964: 14-17).

The vegetation type most typical of the coastal plain is Subtropical Deciduous Forest, made up of plants 4-30 m in height; during the dry season most of the species lose some of their foliage. This community still follows the rivers upstream, occupying the slopes and deep allu­vial soils in level areas that can be either sandy, acidic, neutral and poor, or rich in organic ma­terial and well drained. The regime is divided into two communities: Tropical Subdeciduous Forest and Subtropical Deciduous Forest; the communities may occasionally alternate (Mi­randa 1952-1953). McBryde (1947) makes a de-

ENVIRONMENT OF THE SOCONUSCO RECIO 11

Figure 6. TEMPORARY BRIDGE ON Rfo CoATAN ESTUARY

San Sim6n in 1973; the author is testing the bridge (which was washed away in the 1974

annual flood crest).

tailed survey of the closely related biotic region of Southwestern Guatemala. Some of the very many useful wild and cultivated trees and plants

common to the Chiapas Soconusco are listed in Lowe, Lee, and Martinez Espinosa (1982: 62-65, Tables 4.2, 4.3). For the estuary region Coe and Flannery (1967) should also be consulted.

Another type of vegetation that occurs in parts of the coastal plain is savannah, associated with expanses of palms. Especially prominant is the palma real (Sabal mexicana) and, in some places, Sabal manaca (Sheelea preussi). Both these palms had a variety of useful properties for pre-Hispanic populations.

In the forest and lagoon edges immediately behind the beach zone (Fig. 6) one can dis­tinguish a much modified Subtropical Forest containing red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), found on the muddy edges of the estuaries and lagoons of briny water; the white mangrove (La­guncularia recemosa), found in almost emerged soil and more briny water; the botoncillo or mangle prieto (Conocarpus erecta); and the madresal (Avicennia nitida), which grows up to 20 m in height, with spidery adventitious roots.

On the open parts of lagoons and estuaries wa­ter lilies can be found (Fig. 5).

The fauna of the Soconusco, as everywhere, has been subject to the will and needs of man, a situation evidenced already in pre-Hispanic times but highly intensified in recent years. There is now near-extinction of all animals; the few survivors are restricted to small ecological niches. Until quite recently there had been an enormous variety of animals, birds, and fish in the forested regions of the Pacific coast and piedmont (see illustration and list in Lowe, Lee, and Martinez Espinosa 1982, Figs. 4.9, 4.10).

The pampas, or lagoon and estuary systems, only a few kilometers from Paso de la Amada, are still the seasonal feeding grounds of im­mense flocks of birds that pass on their annual migrations. Such a bounty, together with lagoon and estuarine shellfish, must have figured im­portantly in the pre-Hispanic economy of the entire coastal plain (Failles H. 1978, 1980; Voorhies 1976).

We recognize in the Soconusco a particu­larly radical ecological change in cultivable lands due to the intensified intervention for cash

12 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

cropping with the rather recently created and still growing colonias (communal centers of ru­ral population). Much of the coastal plain of the Soconusco is extremely fertile, even though some land is poorly drained; on such land the federal government as well as larger ranch own­ers have constructed drainage canals that permit even more extensive cultivation.

In recent years the most important crop around Maza tan has been cotton. We know also from the Mendocino Codex that the cultivation of cotton has existed in this region, although on a relatively small scale, since before the arrival of the Spaniards. This source informs us that the Soconusco had to pay " ... first four hundred loads of long cloth. . . . Plus 1,600 bundles of cotton, all of which they gave in tribute once a year ... " (translated from Corona Nunez, in Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito Publico, 1964, Vol. 1, p. 102, Pl. 47; we do not know if this last phrase was added later by the Spaniards, but it is not represented in Plate 47).

The intensive cultivation of cotton has brought with it a series of plant diseases that have affected other crops such as the avocado (Persea americana), which often does not reach full maturity; similar problems affect coconut production. The few cornfields that are planted today often do not prosper because of heavy winds and the voracious plagues provoked by cotton cultivation. There is also a problem of defoliation due to excessive insecticides from the fumigation by airplane of the cotton plants. When the cotton fields are being plowed, fur­thermore, the tilled earth abounds with in­

secticide-filled larvae, which, when they are consumed by birds, may cause their death.

We are aware of the ancient cultivation of cacao also from the tribute lists of Moctezuma, wherein the towns and times for payment of tribute to the Aztec empire are registered. Of these towns we find the following: Xoconochco, ''bitter prickly pear" (ruins found near Aca­coyagua according to Navarrete 1973:31); Ayot­lan or Ayutla, "place of turtles" (today Ciudad Tecum Uman, the first Guatemalan town after crossing the Suchiate River); Coyoacan, "place of skinny coyotes" (an unidentified town); Ma­pastepec, "on the mapache (racoon) mountain";

Mazatlan or Mazatan, "place of deer or maza­tecos"; Huiztlan or Huixtla, "place of spines"; Acapetlatlan or Acapetagua, "place of bamboo mats"; and Huehuetlan or Huehuetan, "place of old people."

Among the many tribute products which the ancient Soconusco inhabitants provided central Mexico (see History following) were "one hun­dred loads of cacao, four hundred gourds of this type with good cacao" (translated from Corona Nunez, in Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito Publico, 1964, Vol. 1, p. 102, Pl. 47). Cacao (Theobroma cacao) today is still the second most important crop, and " ... aside from this species of cacao, other types are cultivated, such as the alligator cacao (Theobroma pentagonum), squash cacao (Theobroma leiocarpum) and patashte or white cacao (Theobroma bicolor) of inferior quality, as well as the "flying" cacao (Viral.a guatemalensis) .. . " (translated from Miranda 1952: 222-226, Fig. 85; 1953: 187).

Before cotton became popular, the greatest local harvests in recent years were coffee (in the foothills), cacao, corn, coconut, and beans. Mi­nor Soconusco crops are bananas (a major crop in the Suchiate zone), avocados, tamarinds, limes, chilis, manioc or yucca, sesame, sorghum, and, occasionally, vegetables, especially near Tapachula. More recently soy beans have been introduced on a large scale around Mazatan and sugar cane at Huixtla has taken on great impor­tance with the construction of a new refinery.

The inhabitants of Efrain A. Gutierrez, Buenos Aires and other Mazatan colonies are not open sea fishermen, but many are occasional lagoon or river fishers. Although estuarine life is abundant and somewhat varied, its present-day exploitation appears to be minimal.

Another of the local natural resources is the mangrove forest, with straight trunks that are used for long enduring beams and posts. The red mangrove is the most used and typically is cut when the moon is full, and at high tide. Before using the trunks, the bark is trimmed, and the trunks are submerged in the Coatan River; a popular belief has it that if this is done the ter­mites will not bother it. In the enormous man­grove habitat there is also fauna on the verge of

ENVIRO ME 1T OF THE SOCO USCO REGION 13

extinction because of intense hunting (for food or commerce) by colonists, many of whom do not have land and do not emigrate.

Inside the mangrove forest can be seen large mounds, up to 60-100 m long and 60 m wide, some of which are now cleared and used for planting sesame, chili, corn, and beans; all of these mounds are circled by mangroves and palms, and by water in the wet season. The re­gion dries out during the dry season and some­what even when the tide is low, and the in­habitants then can travel by trails or canals that they make in order to cut the palm fronds or

mangrove trees or to cultivate the mounds. Many of the mounds may be largely shell mid­dens or seasonal pre-Hispanic salt-makers' refuse.

Iguana and garrobo meat is very much sought after; usually these animals are hunted by children, who encircle the creature while making noise, obliging them to run to their nests on the ground or to climb a tree. The nest is ex­cavated or sticks and branches are thrown into the tree while dogs and children with clubs wait for the animal to fall. The gopher ( Orthogeomys

grandis) is also consumed by needy people.

HISTORY OF THE SOCONUSCO

The region under study, the Soconusco (Xoconochco), was anciently under the juris­diction of the Aztecs for a brief period. It repre­sented the greatest expansion of the Aztec Em­pire to the southeast. Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1969: 564) speaks of it, but without giving de­terminable boundaries: " ... we came back to the province of Soconusco, which is between Guatemala and Oaxaca .... " In 1586, Fray Alonso Ponce (translated from 1948: 9) gave an­other description: " ... late at night I came to a little town called Tliltepec of the bishopric of Guatemala and the first town of the Xoco­nochco province [Mexican Territory]." After crossing what is today Chiapas, Ponce (trans­lated from 1948: 14), "arrived at a town called Tlilapa, of the same bishopric of Guatemala and the last of the Xoconochco province [Guatema­lan territory]."

Slightly earlier, in 1574, Ponce de Leon gave a more detailed description:

The province of Soconusco has a mountain range which extends many leagues from east to west; this range is bounded on the north by the province of Chiapa, on the south by the sea, and on the east by the border of Suchite­peques and by the province of Guate­mala, and on the west by Teguante­peque, a territory of New Spain. The said province is sixty leagues in length, with a width of seven or eight leagues from the mountains to the sea on the south, although in some places less (translated from Ponce de Leon 1882 by Coe [1961: 139]).

With the above data we have an idea where the southern boundary of the Aztec Empire was

established. After the Spanish conquest, accord­ing to "Moctezuma's list," the Soconusco prov­ince continued paying tribute twice a year, in the Aztec calendar months of Ochpaniztli (Sep­tember) and Tlacaxipehualiztli (March), which coincide with the harvest of cacao. From a total of eight tributary towns, seven have been identi­fied as stated above. The tribute list shows that the Soconusco had the obligation to pay "two strings of chalchihuitl (rich stones [jade]); four hundred bunches of beautiful blue feathers, six­teen hundred bunches of beautiful green feath­ers; eight hundred bunches of beautiful red feathers; four hundred bunches of beautiful tur­quoise feathers; eight hundred bunches of beau­tiful yellow feathers; one hundred sixty bird skins [identified by Cooper-Clark as Cotinga amabilis Gould (Coe 1961:18)]; two besotes or lip plugs of light amber set in gold; forty jaguar pelts; two hundred loads of cacao; eight hun­dred tecomates for drinking cacao; and two pieces of clear amber, each the size of a brick" (translated from Corona Nunez, in Secretaria de Hacienda y Credito Publico, Vol. 1, p. 102, Pl. 49). These are articles common to the coastal re­gion, with the exception of precious stones, am­ber, and gold.

Since the Spaniards were looking for gold and silver and the Soconusco region had little or none, their interest changed to cacao, and there developed unmeasured desire among them for this product. The renown of " ... the famous mines of the Soconusco lowlands to Salva­dor ... " probably originated here, giving the term "mine" to a plantation, possibly of cacao, and then reaffirming this by saying, "the gold was the cacao, " as in a letter by officials of the Guatemalan audience to the Spanish king on the 8th of April, 1584 (McBryde 1947: 5, 11). The

15

16 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE 10RIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

above coincides with the later 1586 citation: " ... this cacao is used as money in all of New Spain" (translated from Ponce 1948: 24).

At first the production of cacao had a transi­tory boom; it later deteriorated because of In­dian deaths from new illnesses contracted from the Spaniards. A scarcity of workers in the Soco­nusco resulted in the abandonment of numerous plantations there, with a consequent " ... de­cline of the Soconusco production and an in­crease in that of the province of Suchitepequez ... " (McBryde 1947: 33).

COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Aside from the old commercial land routes established across the Soconusco and followed by the Spaniards, there was an aquatic route maintained through the estuaries and lagoons which already were more or less naturally inter­connected. The route still partly functions today. The antiquity of a water route seems to be confirmed by modern archaeological recon­naissance that has had to use canoes to locate certain sites (Drucker 1948: 151-169; Lorenzo 1955: 41-50; Failles H. 1980; and Navarrete 1973, 1978). In Efrain A. Gutierrez inhabitants told me that not too long ago they were able to transport bananas short distances down the Coa­tan River by canoe to the Barra de San Simon at its mouth. Even fifty years ago boat traffic was reported as providing service northwestward from San Benito (now Puerto Madero) to Ca­beza de Toro, near Tonala (de la Pena 1951, Vol. l: 35). Fray Tomas Torres talks about the dangers, saying that " ... the natives of these towns travel to and fro by canoe on canals which are opened through the swamps, making such a maze that whoever does not know how to venture in such a terrain, would be lost (translated from Navarrete 1973: 37; see also Navarrete 1978). Navarrete (1973: 38-39 trans­lation) also tells us of an unpublished anony­mous document probably written in the 18th century that refers to the canal system: " ... the fruits of this province can be taken on estuaries on one side all the way to the alcaldia mayor of Escuintla (Guatemala), which is near Guate-

mala, and on the other side all the way to Teguantepeque .... "

With the introduction of intensified cattle ranching and new crops such as coffee, the need for improved communication routes across the Soconusco was evident, and in 1908 a railroad line was inaugurated betweeen Tonala and Ciu­dad Hidalgo (Suchiate); with this 355-km-long link almost all the primary and secondary popu­lation centers were granted survival.

LANGUAGE

The Soconusco is on principal routes be­tween Central Mexico and Central America, so that the region has experienced a series of suc­cessive "invasions." These invasions could have had as their objective the control of the cacao harvest, or else free access to adjacent or more distant regions. In any case, we believe that each dominant group to some extent forced its native language on the region (Reyes 1961).

There are a few reliable data regarding the prevailing language of the ancient inhabitants of the Soconusco. The first we have is from the 16th-century journey of Fray Alonso Ponce (1948: 5, translation) recorded in 1586 by his scribe, Ciudad Real (1952): "lzuatlan. This town and many others in this territory are of the Zoque Indians, who by another name are called Mixe, a language very different from the Zapo­tec." The report continues, " ... he arrived at Tliltepec, the first in the province of Soconusco; those from that town and from almost all of that province speak a language which resembles very much the Zoque although it has some words from those of Yucatan." It seems evident that Ciudad Real is talking here about the Mixe­Zoque language, with a suggestion that some words were borrowed from a Maya language. (The modem linguistic record, according to Campbell and Kaufman [1976] indicates that the various Maya groups borrowed more from Mixe-Zoque than vice versa.)

Alonso Ponce (1948: 16, translation) con­cluded the account of this part of their trip stat­ing: "He arrived at Tlilapa [just within Guate­mala], the last town of the province of

HISTORY OF THE SOCONUSCO 17

Soconusco and one of some Indians who speak their own language, although they understand the Mexicana [Nahua]"; native speakers of the latter were strangers, that is, relatively recent arrivals in that area.

Reyes (1961: 178-179, translation) talks of an early document on the "plantations that there are in the Soconusco Province of the bish­opric of Chiapas which are administered and have been adminstered in the Mexican [Nahua] tongue, each having their mother tongue which still shows up in 1656." These mother tongues must have been one of the Maya family and Mixe-Zoque; today only Maya language survives in or near the Soconusco.

The linguistic situation of the Soconusco has been reviewed in considerable detail most re­cently by Lowe, Lee, and Martinez Espinosa (1982) and Campbell (n.d.); my concluding re­marks here support their observations regarding the definite Mixe-Zoque presence in the Soco-___ ,., ........ n: ............. r, ,... _.,..,!,... ,1 .... n,... 1 ......... : .... 11oe:n, : .... ,... .... uu:,\...'.u. .1...nce,u '-..7a.1...,.1a. uc; .1. a.1c::u .... 1u \ J...VV�J, 111 a.u.

early letter to the king of Spain, tells that in and around Huehuetan they spoke a corrupt Mexi­can (Nahuatl), but around Tapachula in the east­ern Soconusco Karl Sapper, at the beginning of this century, collected two vocabularies, one with obvious roots of Mixe-Zoque, which he called Tapachultec 1 and 2. Foster (1969: 45) maintains that Tapachultec 1 and 2 are in fact one language, as do linguists writing more re­cently. Kaufman (1964) concludes that Tapa­chultec is Mixe. This distribution is augmented in Guatemala by Mixe or Pupuluca (Garcia de Le6n 1971: 210), a language now absent on the Pacific Coast. (Kaufman in 1974 contends that the "Pupuluca of Conguaco" never existed ex­cept in the data of the Guatemalan ethnogra­pher Otto Stoll, and that the vocabulary that

Stoll reports as being from Conguaco, Guate­mala, is really the Popoluca "Mixeano" of Sayula, Veracruz.)

Gonzalez Casanova (1927: 7) also was of the opinion that "given its affinity with the Mixe­Popoluca dialects, [the Pacific Coast "Tapachul­tec" language] enters equally into the Mixe lin­guistic family. This involves an infiltration of the Popoluca-Mixe in the Maya-Quiche zone which must have taken place before the Con­quest." It is entirely possible that the Popoluca­Mixe dialect was introduced extremely early, logically by the Olmecs or even the Barra-Oc6s people, since many investigators suggest that the spoken language of the archaeological 01-mecs of La Venta and other southern Gulf Coast sites was, in fact, ancestral Popoluca or proto­Mixe-Zoque (Morales 1971; Baez-Jorge 1973: 60; Campbell and Kaufman 1976).

In sectors of the Soconusco coast and in the nearby mountain valleys of the Sierra Madre de 01-..:,... _,...,., ,... .............. lr .... _,_ .... S: ..J.: ______ 1.,1 ____ 1 ___ ____ -·- -'--'i.u.a.pa.:,, ;:,pva.J\.c:a;:-, u.1 uivc:a;:,c; n1c:1ya. 1c:111g,uag,e�

still may be found, particularly around Moto­zintla (Motozintlec or Mocho) and Tuzuntan (Tuzanteco); these languages seem to have been in the region for at least 800 years. Most speak­ers of Maya in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas today represent nuclei of Guatemalan Mams who began to come to work on the coffee plan­tations about one hundred years ago and whose numbers have increased since the Mexican agrarian reforms of the present century. The Mazapan dialect, called Teco by Kaufman, is considered to be "a new Mayan language" dis­covered by him; the speakers of Mazapa come from Tectitan, Guatemala.

Linguists are in agreement that Mixe-Zoque appeared long before Maya on the Pacific Coast (Campbell n.d.).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

SURVEY

During reconnaissance carried out to select the best zone for excavations we explored a belt that crosses the coast parallel to the Coatan Riv­er from the Interamerican Highway to the ocean (Fig. 7). We were helped in this by Carlos Navarrete's unpublished data and aerial photos of the Chiapas coastal plain (Aereophoto Mexi­cana, 1:20,000). Although the study region was quite large, it was possible to reconnoiter most of it quickly 11Sing mnntry ilnd ranch roads, Sites are located at varying distances from the Coatan River (Ceja Tenorio 1974).

The following six sites are the most impor­tant of those known that date to the Early Pre­classic (the first three were discovered pre­viously by Navarrete): (1) Los Alvarez, a single large midden mound on the east margin of the Coatan River, approximately 1500 m from the Barra de San Simon and the Pacific Ocean; (2) Altamira and (3) Aquiles Serdan, both west of Mazatan and investigated by Lowe and Navar­rete, respectively; (4) Paso de la Amada, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires and a few kilometers northwest of Mazatan; (5) Rancho Horizonte and (6) Alvaro Obregon, both without mounds and the former located in the canton Ojo de Agua. Rancho Horizonte is on the east bank and old terrace of the Coatan River, about 3 km from Alvaro Obregon (see discussion of test pit and photographs in Lowe 1975b: 16, Figs. 3, 9). The Alvaro Obregon Ocos-period site was near the gravel pit east of that colony.

Other early sites include Vega del Carmen or La Concepcion, approximately 5 km from Colonia Alvaro Obregon 1 km east of the Coa­tan River, and Efrain A. Gutierrez near Los

19

Alvarez. The artifacts are mostly of Middle Pre­classic date.

Paso de la Amada

Paso de la Amada was the site chosen for in­vestigation as it appeared to provide the purest very early occupation and some vestiges of vil­lage layout. The site lies almost entirely within a few cultivated fields south of Buenos Aires, in the municipality of Mazatan, Chiapas (Fig. 8); this zone is several kilometers to the north of Altamira. In addition, occasional Ocos sherd scatters can be found in the banks of a large modern field drain. in the intervening area (Fig. 3, below). The general situation of the site is in­dicated on the map in Figure 9. Paso de la Amada includes 40-45 small mounds .5-2.5 m high that are usually round in plan but some­times elongated; these monnds are being steadi­ly destroyed by tractor-drawn disk plows and harrows.

Throughout the zone of Paso de la Amada there is a series of low spots, apparently ancient lagoons, some of which are joined together as if they are remnants of an ancient branch or chan­nel of the Coatan River. During the rainy season these lagoons fill with runoff and some of them are incorporated in modern drainage canal sys­tems. With the exception of two parallel depres­sions to the north (which may be man made since they do not commnnicate with the others), all of these lagoon beds are in pasture land and for much of the year they are covered by high bushes and grasses; only occasionally is there a tall ceiba or other tree. The site is crossed by a NE-SW road that cuts through two low mounds and two shallow modern field drains.

•

COL. AQUIL ES SEROAN

..

COL.MARTER.GOMEZ

PARCELA ________ _

""ENRIQUEZ MARTINEZ ---------' ' ' ' ' '

\\ ELL��=

---

\ ___ ',,�-�i::���:>',,-------:'�

__ -PASO DE LA'',, -- � \ AMADA ( _______ ,

RANCHO MORALES

•-- r·---��_E-�S AIRES _ ,,,-

ALT AMIR/�>/ PINO�;�;,;----------

,, .. _,,,,

·t______ ... ,\

/ \�L AGUACATE

£ Barro and ocos

• Ocos

• cuodros-Jocotol

• Olmec Monumerlts

.. Loter PreclOSSIC

0 2 Km.

/ ,,-----------'-,,, ___ '-,,,_

Col Morelos

@,--,'-,,,,

Figure 7. MAP OF THE Rfo CoATAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REGION

\,,,, __

' .

✓

Map drawn by Jose Nt'1nez based on aerial photograph showing the principal known archaeological zones in the Coatan

River region. Symbols indicate the major occupation phases; the Olmec monuments indicated are described by

avarrete (1974).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL I VESTIGA TIO S: SURVEY

Figure 8. THE FIELDS AND MOUNDS OF PASO DE LA AMADA Above: Looking northwest from Pit 7 at the beginning of excavations. Below: Looking across the Mound 1 excavations

toward the forested seasonal lagoon system (Fig. 10).

21

22 1.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TE 1ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

We found Oc6s-phase sherds over the entire surface of the site, and it seems that there was little or no later occupation. Only one low mound had a modern house, which was said to be used occasionally by people from Oaxaca or Guatemala during cotton harvests; modern ce­ramics of these groups are infrequent in the im­mediate area.

EXCAVATIONS

Pits 1, 2, and 3

Small, low, Mound 1 is approximately in the center of the Paso de la Amada zone and ap­pears to occupy an important place at the east­ern side of an ancient plaza (Fig. 9). The 2- x 2-

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m Pit 1 was excavated at the south of Mound 1 (Fig. 8, below; Fig. 10, above) to seek details of the early ceramic sequence and any possible habitation or ritual evidence; as later amplifica­tions we dug Pit 2 in the center of the slope of the mound and Pit 3 on the summit, each sepa­rated by a 2-m unexcavated section.

The pits were laid out along a N-S axis. Da­tum points were established on the north or highest side of each pit, 10 cm above surface; from this point horizontal 20-cm levels were ex­cavated. Earth from all levels was screened.

All three pits revealed a uniform sequence of four nahual strata (see Figs. 14, 15). Levels 1 and 2 comprised a black stratum of compact humus-bearing plowsoil from which came a great number of sherds. There was a change in

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Figure 9. SKETCH MAP OF THE SITE OF PASO DE LA AMADA Map made by author with tape and compass; details are approximate only. Numbered squares indicate test-pit locations. Depressions are wet season lagoons; the large one on the south is uncultivated and retains substantial

vegetation (Figs. 4, IO).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS: EXCAVATIONS 23

Figure 10. Vrnws OF EXCAVATIONS IN MOUND I AND PIT 12

Above: View over Pit 4 looking north at Pits, I, 2, and 3 in Mound 1. Below: Beginning Pit 12 at the edge of the dried­

up seasonal lagoon, looking south.

24 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

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Levels 3, 4, 5, and part of 6, which comprised a second natural stratum light brown in color, with sandy and softer soil that also contained a great number of sherds and many animal re­mains. Between 100 and 180 cm (Levels 6-9) was a change to a third stratum of yellow sandy earth that also had a great abundance of sherds and obsidian chips. Finally, at or below 180 cm there appeared a fine yellowish green sand (from old beaches or dunes) which was sterile and reached a depth of 200 cm in Pits 1 and 2 and 240 cm in Pit 3 (further small tests in each pit to an additional 50 to 75 cm were equally sterile.)

Five well preserved figurine heads were found in Pit 2.

Pit 4 and Burial 1

Pit 4 was located south of Mound 1 at the edge of an ancient lagoon that still had a muddy bed (tractors had not disturbed the surface here because of this humid condition). The 2- x 2-m pit was dug in eleven arbitrary levels that re­vealed six natural strata (Fig. 13). At 132 cm an adult skeleton (Burial 1) was found lying on its left side, with the superior and inferior extrem­ities flexed (left lateral decubitus), the hands at the height of the lower mandible, and the face approximately towards the North (Fig. 14). The skeleton was in very poor condition, with only the extremities and the cranium partially con­served. There was no offering. Below the burial

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGA TIO S: EXCA VA TIO NS

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25

26 N.W.A.F. PAPER I o. 49. CEJA TE ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

gray sand continued to sterile at 220 cm. The pit was enlarged 1 x .5 m on the north to uncov­er the burial.

Pit 5 and Burial 2

This 2- x 2-m pit, located 150 m to the southwest of Mound 1, revealed four natural strata (Fig. 16). At 72 cm a secondary burial (Burial 2) was found without offering (Fig. 15, lower left).

Pit 6 and Burial 3

Pit 6 was excavated at the foot of Mound 3, next to an abandoned water well whose walls were deteriorated and showed a good deposit of large Oc6s-phase sherds. The pit disclosed three natural strata which were excavated in thirteen levels (Fig. 13). The second of these was light brown, and at 140 cm were found the decom­posed bones whose nature was undefinable but which were labeled Burial 3.

Pit 7 and Burial 4

Pit 7, also 2- x 2-m, was located approx­imately 75 m to the west of Mound 1. Below 50 cm the earth became light brown (see section, Fig. 13) until llO cm, where there was a black soil perturbation on the eastern, southern, and western walls; at 140 cm was an adult skeleton (Burial 4), apparently in fetal position (Fig. 16). Because some of the burial was in the eastern wall, the excavation was extended there.

Burial 4 had the arms flexed, with the hands on the mouth (similar to the position of Burial 1), and the face toward the North. In front of the face were two round rocks (an offering?). The legs were flexed in a vertical position.

Pits 2-A, 3-A, 8, and 9, and Element 1

This group of pits was excavated at the southern edge of the very small, low, Mound 2 (Fig. 9). Pit 2-A, measuring 2 x 2 m, was dug in

artificial 20-cm levels and revealed five natural strata (Fig. 17). The first stratum was black and soft, intermixed with a 2-cm layer of volcanic ash. As excavation proceeded the earth became hard, black, and compact, and continued for an­other 60 cm. Under this the earth became red­dish brown and was very hard, with few sherds. From 90 cm on the earth became light brown and granular. At 92 cm Element 1, a stone ves­sel with rounded walls (Figs. 12, lower right, 59m, 60a) was found upside down. Below 120 cm and to 160 cm there was a layer of fine yel­low sand that soon turned gray and sterile.

Pit 3-A measured 2 x 2 m also; Pits 8 and 9 were only 1.5 x 1.5 m. In them five and six natu­ral strata were identified, respectively (Fig. 17). Below 120 cm there was a sixth stratum only in Pit 3-A (Fig. 12, above) which was of light brown sand; this layer was interrupted in the north wall and part of the south wall of Pit 9 by a horizontal perturbation of dark brown soil 160 cm in length that took up almost all of the southern wall of Pit 8 and also occurred in the eastern wall of Pit 3-A. Below 160 cm there was fine yellowish sand that terminated at 220 cm; it seemed to be interrupted by an intrusion that left a silhouette in the form of a well.

Pits 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14

Pit 10, measuring 1.5 x 1.5 m, was excavated about 200 m to the southeast of Mound 3 on a small arm of elevated earth that extends into the lagoon. Thinking that this was a house founda­tion, I decided to excavate a pit in it but found only four natural strata (Fig. 18). Under the humus layer the second stratum was very hard, a sticky black clay which could not be screened. Below 74 cm a light brown clayey earth contin­ued with few sherds and ended at 120 cm. From there dark brown earth with very few sherds continued until it disapppeared at 140 cm in sterile earth. On the southeast side of Mound 2, Pit ll also measured 1.5 x 1.5 m and revealed five natural strata (Fig. 18). Pit 12 was dug about 8 m to the south of Pit 8 and measured 1.5 x 1.5 m; it was placed at the foot of the slope in the lagoon bed (Fig. 10, below); four natural strata appeared (Fig. 18). The first stra-

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS: EXCA VATIO1 S 27

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28 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Figure 14. BURIAL 1 IN P1T 4

Burial No.1

PIT 4

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS: EXCAVATIONS 29

Figure 15. PtT 3-A, ELEMENT 1, AND BuRIAL 2 IN P1T 5

30 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Figure 16. BURIAL 4 IN PIT 7

No4

PIT 7

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS: EXCAVATIONS 31

tum was 30 cm of black earth, ciayey and mud-. dy, without a layer of volcanic ash. The second stratum was a sticky, grayish, hard earth which could not be screened and ended at 70 cm. The third stratum was a mixture of light gray earth and medium-fine yellowish sand containing fragments of texcal or sterile clay and few sherds, ending at 160 cm. The last stratum was of yellowish gray, fine sand to 200 cm, where a

single sherd was found; a small test dug to 240 cm was entirely sterile.

Pit 13, 1.5 x 1.5 m, was southeast of Pit 11 and on a slight elevation at the edge of the la­goon. This pit also had four natural strata (Fig. 18).

Pit 14, 1.5 x 1.5 m, was the easternmost ex­cavation at Paso de la Amada and again discov­ered fom natural strata (Fig. 18).

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PIT 12

PIT 13

Figure 18. SECTION DRAWINGS OF PITS 10, 11, 12, 13, AND 14

10

10

ARCHAEOLOGICAL I 1VESTIGA TIO S: EXCA VA TIO NS 33

Pits 15, 16, 17, and 19 and Radiocarbon Dates

These test pits formed a single unit dug across one side of Mound 5 (Fig. 19). The origi­nal probe, Pit 15, measured _only 1.5 x 1.5 m, but the artifacts found proved to be so excep­tional that it was decided to add three larger pits at its sides: Pit 16 on the west, Pit 17 on the east, and Pit 19 on the south, each measuring 2 x 2 m. Almost in the center of the north wall of Pit 16, at 75 cm, a cluster of bones was found and labeled Burial 5 (Fig. 20), but later they were identified as being of an unidentified animal.

s

PIT 17

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PIT 16

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At 100 cm in all pits there was a dark brown layer 10 cm thick which I believe was a floor, as it was very hard and of a different texture from that of the overlying layer. It was interrupted in the east and north walls of Pit 16 for about 1 m. Under this floor there was a series of different earths, also with several slight perturbations, as seen in Figure 19. At the northwest comer of Pit 16 there was a particularly disturbed zone under the perforation in the floor.

In the north wall of Pit 16 at 140 cm there was another small dark brown lens 40 cm thick which appeared to be the remnant of a floor al­though its edges were indistinct.

+

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Figure 19. SECTION DRAWINGS OF PITS 15, 16, 17, AND 19, WITH LOCATION OF �DIOCARBON SAMPLES. The small triangle at 2.5 m in the north wall of Pit 17 (see Figure 22) indicates the locat10n of a charcoal specimen_ thatprovided radiocarbon Sample I-8161, 1410 ± 225 B.c. (uncorrected). The small circle at 1.9 m in the east wall of Pit 17· dicates the location of a hearth from which was extracted the charcoal for radiocarbon Sample I-8162, 1350 ± 160 B.c. m

f d . (uncorrected). See text and Lowe (1975: 29, 1978: 352-353) or iscuss1on.

34 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

In general there was a marked increase of Barra-phase sherds in all four pits beginning with Level 7, some continuing down to a depth of over 350 cm (Tables 1-5). Remarkably, Pit 17, farthest to the east, nearest the adjacent de­pression and with the deepest deposits, pro­duced very few Oc6s sherds and none below the 5th level (Tables 6-9).

On the right-hand side of the north wall of Pit 17 (Fig. 21) an isolated carbon sample (1-8161) was recovered from a dark brownish gray layer at 2.50 m (small triangle in Fig. 19). In the eastern wall of Pit 17 there were alternating lenses of a hearth from which another carbon sample (1-8162) was taken, at 190 cm (small circle in Fig. 19). These deposits were in layers undoubtedly of the Barra phase. Both samples were analyzed by Teledyne Isotope Labora­tories and gave the following results:

Samples

1-8162 1-8161

Years Before Present

3300 ± 160 3360 ± 225

Uncorrected Dates

1350 ± 160 B.C.

1410 ± 225 B.C.

Corrected for atmospheric deviations, this data gives an approximate date of 1600 or 1700 B.c. (see Lowe 1975b: 29). I consider this to berelatively late in the Barra phase culturaldevelopment.

Below about 250 cm in all pits there was a rather uniform deposit of a fine yellowish gray sand with many oxidation stains which still con­tained a few sherds when the water· level was reached at about 350 cm.

The particular importance of Pits 15-17 and 19 lies in their exceptionally deep deposits, their high content of excellent sherds of the Oc6s and Barra phases, and the association of the lower of these with the satisfactory radiocarbon dates.

Pits 18, 20, and 21

A 1.5- x 1.5-m excavation, Pit 18 was dug 1.5 m to the south of Pit 19; it revealed four natural strata more uniformly distributed (Fig. 22). The cultural deposit here was off the edge of Mound 5 and was more shallow, with sterile earth reached at about 220 cm.

Pits 20 and 21 were placed close to the small modern drainage ditch, Canal 2 (Fig. 9). Pit 20,

1.5 x 1.5 m, revealed four strata (Fig. 21). Pit 21 was south of Pit 20 and on the slope of a shal­low dry lagoon. This 1.5- x 1.5-m pit also re­vealed four natural strata (Fig. 21). Water level was reached at 210 cm. The northeast corner of the lowermost stratum of Pit 21 yielded many sherds, most of them of the Oc6s phase, al­though there were 23 good Barra sherds identi­fied in Levels 11 and 12.

HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTION

From our brief excavations it seems that the very low mounds and ordinary terrain of Paso de la Amada have a relatively simple deposi­tional history. Probably all of the excavations were within a small population center of village nature. Stratification is of several potential types. The most problematical of these is in the more obvious elevations such as Mound 2 (with its mixed Oc6s and Barra deposit), that were possibly built up somewhat with old trash found in nearby dumps or living areas. The people also may have continued living near or upon these slight elevations over a long period of time, ac­cumulating primary trash unevenly around one or more houses or kitchens in the vicinity. The

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Burial No. 5

PIT 16

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··. ·.· .. ·.

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/ Figure 20. ANIMAL BURIAL IN PIT 16

Originally labeled Burial 5, this cluster of eroded bones was

later identified as non-human.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS: EXCA VA TIO NS 35

Figure 21. VIEw OF PIT 17, NoRTH AND EAST WALLS Looking east of north; in foreground is Pit 19, the excavation of which removed a portion of the south wall of Pit 17.

v\lorker is standing at base of excavation (cf. Fig. 19) approximately 3.5 m below surface. Just opposite worker's right

hand is extension of the zone of charcoal which produced radiocarbon Sample 1-8161 (see small triangle in Figure 19).

36 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIO S: EARLY FORMATIVE CERAMIC SEQUENCE 37

more normal stratigraphy would be that of gradual accumulation without deliberate build­up, such as we seem to have found in the area of Mound 5 (Pits 15-19; Fig. 22).

Other factors capable of altering the stratig­raphy are burials and the several ancient intru­sive pits or wells apparently dating to early in the Oc6s phase that were subsequently filled in. We see these complications in Pits 3-A, 7, 8, 9, and 16, where old pits are filled with earth that includes both Barra- and Oc6s-phase sherds.

In the type of probable domestic occupa­tions sampled by Pits 15, 16, 17, and 19 it was possible to differentiate the Barra- from the Oc6s-phase deposits, although there was a strong overlap or transition period. In other nearby pits only Oc6s-phase material was found.

According to our partial sampling procedure the general Paso de la Amada zone revealed three successive cultural occupations, although these are not constant or evenly distributed. There appears to have been a rather light pres­ence of Barra peoples, a strong Oc6s occupa­tion, and then a very few Cuadros people. (Cuadros ceramics were not included in my studied sample, but were found in small num­bers in a few upper pit levels.)

The populating of the Paso de la Amada zone originally took place upon very low, sandy, dunelike elevations and at the edges of lagoons either stagnant or with slight (at least seasonal) currents that connected them. With the passing of time these natural low elevations were gradually built up with both cultural de­bris and possibly material added deliberately to provide more suitable, higher, living areas. This latter process probably started in the Barra phase, but if so it involved a very small population.

The second or Oc6s occupational phase is defined by a much higher number of apparently domestic deposits, much higher sherd and obsid­ian counts, and at least one visible central vil­lage compound, all of which indicate an in­creased population at that time. The Oc6s phase, to all appearances, was a normal devel­opment or progression out of the Barra culture. Expectably, there were a number of tech­nological advancements which characterize this later phase, as will be manifest in the descrip-

tion of ceramics and artifacts below. Lowe (1978: 353) suggests that continuing diffusion accounts for some of these Oc6s innovations.

Finally, the very few Cuadros-phase sherds found in the upper levels of the site show a con­tinuous or, more probably, recurring, occupa­tion of the general lagoon-edge region. These sherds are quite different from those of the ear­lier occupations insofar as technology and de­tails of style are concerned, but they perpetuate the emphasis on tecomate and flat-bottom bowl forms (Lowe, in Green and Lowe 1967: 118; Pailles H. 1980). The transition, or break, be­tween the Oc6s and Cuadros occupations in the Mazatan region may be clarified by publication of test excavations at nearby Aquiles Serdan, where the Cuadros culture is heavily represent­ed above the Oc6s levels (Navarrete, in preparation).

THE EARLY FORMATIVE

CERAMIC SEQUENCE

In 1974, 64,557 ceramic fragments from 23 pits were recovered at Paso de la Amada. All were washed and marked in Mazatan and taken to Tuxtla Gutierrez and Comitan where they were studied in the laboratories of the New World Archaeological Foundation.

Preliminary examination of sherds in the field by me and Gareth Lowe had already in­dicated that most of these pertained to the rather well-established Oc6s phase, while sever­al of the pits had a different component in the lower levels that undoubtedly correspondeq to the less well known Barra phase (Lowe 1975�: 15-27). A particular aim of my analysis, there­fore, was to obtain a better definition of .thesetwo very early ceramic complexes and their �s­sociated artifacts.

The descriptive and comparative analysis of the ceramics followed standard procedures, Once washed and marked, all sherds from each lot from each pit in successive order wer� l�id out to provide some familiarity with the mate­rial and its evolution or development. The aim here was to catch any notable change or anoma­ly. For the ensuing classification and description I took into consideration the existing typologies for La Victoria (Coe 1961) and Altamira (Green

38 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE 1ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

and Lowe 1967, Lowe 1975b), making a few modifications for my own situation. In this de­tailed analysis only the rims, bases, and deco­rated sherds of some types were utilized; this is particularly true of the grooved, incised, and punctate types, as well as the Michis Red-rim type, whose undecorated body or base frag­ments cannot be accurately assigned to a respec­tive type. Identifiable non-decorated body sherds were kept and counted for Tusta Red, Faso Polished Red, Pino Black-and-white, and Oc6s Specular Red. The study universe eventu­ally consisted of 19,881 sherds, including 611 complete or fragmentary vessel supports and 1,882 miscellaneous sherd and clay objects not isolated as artifacts.

Most of the approximately 44,500 mainly unslipped body sherds that I discarded presum­ably were from large Michis neckless ollas or jars (tecomates) which have rather small mouths and therefore a very high ratio of body to rim sherds (for a precedent for the well-justified dis­carding of non-distinctive body sherds from large tecomates, see Coe and Flannery 1967: 22).

In using the Ceramic Type Distribution Ta­bles 1-14 it should be noted that the Barra type Huaquineja Red is not tabulated, and that some types include body sherds, as noted above, while others do not.

In the following descriptions, the ceramic type is based on visual stylistic appearances rather than on internal physical characteristics. For the simplified paste descriptions I have used the Mohs hardness scale, and included tentative analyses of temper made with a hand lens. To designate surface color the Munsell (1954) soil color chart was used; with the decision to em­phasize surface finish and style (less subject to the changeability of particular clays under varying firing conditions), paste color is of little concern in this study.

The sherds were first separated on the basis of their most outstanding characteristics, princi­pally shape-ware categories, surface colors, and types of decoration. After defining the most ob­vious classes or type, an examination of pastes was made using first a 10-power lens and later 40-60-power lenses. Results of these observa­tions coincided closely with those of Coe and

Flannery (1967: 21-22) at Salinas La Blanca, where the components .were plagioclase, ande­site, quartz, yellow biotite, magnetite, hematite, bentonitic clay, and fragments of volcanic rock. All these indicated an origin in tuffaceous rock or secondary sediments and clays common to all this section of the Pacific Coast.

All data, including the general form repre­sented and finish or decorative techniques of each sherd, whether monochrome, bichrome, polished, smoothed, striated, cord or shell im­pressed, etc., were recorded on charts. All pit levels were analyzed. Form categories were bro­ken down carefully to see what changes might have taken place over time; each was given a nwnber and it was possible to distinguish as many as forty-eight form categories within two Oc6s types (Paso Polished Red and Pino Black­and-white; Ceja Tenorio 1978: 97-126, 127-145), although for publication it has provedconvenient to reduce these to somewhat fewerclosely related shapes. Representative examplesof most forms for each type were drawn andmow1ted in sequence and typical or distinctivesherds were photographed.

Because most decorative techniques tended to be form related, in the following ceramic de­scriptions I have discussed decoration under and together with form. Following the same line of reasoning, detailed comparison remarks are also sometimes placed with particular form/ deco­ration descriptions.

As indicated above, the cultural phases of Paso de la Amada, based primarily on the sequent ceramic complexes termed Barra and Oc6s, were correlated closely with the studies realized by Coe (1961) for Oc6s at La Victoria, Guatemala, by Green and Lowe (1967) and Lowe (19756) for Barra and Oc6s at Altamira, and by Ekholm (1969) for Oc6s at Izapa. Sup­port for the position of the Barra complex as a separate entity was also provided by Voorhies (1976: 109, Fig. 57), who found a half dozen ab­solutely typical Barra sherds in the lower pot­tery-using levels on top of a huge aceramic shell midden in the Chantuto estuarine lagoon south­west of Escuintla, Chiapas. A pure Oc6s deposit on a nearby island had been discovered earlier by Navarrete (Lowe 1966). My own observa-

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIO S: EARLY FORMATIVE CERAMIC SEQUENCE 39

tions on the distribution patterns of identical or closely similar pottery types and decorative mo­tifs at Paso de la Amada gave me no reasori to

change the sequence already established for this earliest pottery-using epoch in the Soconusco region.

THE BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX

The Barra ceramic complex at Paso de la Amada is defined by 1,787 rim, base, and spe­cially slipped or decorated body sherds, 9% of the study collection. The six ceramic types iden­tified for this complex are characterized by compact, dense pastes, excellent finishes, bold imaginative decoration, and relatively thin ves­sel walls; in the Chiapas Preclassic tradition this distinctive group of traits is otherwise generally approximated only in the following Oc6s ceram­ic complex.

The predominant Barra pottery form is the tecomate or neckless jar, which varies consid­erably in proportions, resembling varieties of squashes and calabashes (vine and tree gourds). They may have rounded or, rarely, slightly flat­tened or concave bases. Next most frequent are various bowls or dishes usually with flat bases and outflaring walls, and some vertical-wall bowls, vases, or cups. The most common decora­tion is incising or grooving, sometimes multiple. The grooves are often light but sometimes wide and deep. Punctation is rare and mostly in de­fined zones of the black Petacalapa ceramic type. A polished red slip containing specular hematite is more common than plain red or other slips.

Barra ceramics impress one as being excep­tionally well made, probably by the coil and modeling method common to Mesoamerica. The variety of decorative modes is poor. I call the reader's attention to the fact that shell-stamped impressions are not included in the Barra com­plex, but are considered typical of the sub­sequent Oc6s complex. The Barra complex also notably lacks polychrome decoration, necked jars, spouts, handles, annular bases, and bottle­like forms; these modes are almost equally ab­sent from the Oc6s complex (where annular

41

bases appear only on a few small incensarios). The Barra ceramic complex at Paso de la Amada is composed of six ceramic types: Cotan Grooved, Monte Incised, Tusta Red, Huaquineja Red, Tepa Red-and-white, and Petacalapa Black, in that order of frequency (the last type includes only two rim sherds).

Cotan Grooved (755 sherds, 42% of total; Table l; Figs. 23-25)

This distinctive type was established at nearby Altamira as Cotan Grooved Red (Green and Lowe 1967: 97-100; Lowe 19756, Fig. 13), but at Paso de la Amada four subtypes were provisionally identifed in this type according to surface colors, leading me to eliminate the color designation from the name. Many of the sherds, however, are varicolored, permitting them to be placed in more than one of the four postulated sub-categories; we suppose that the color differ­ences were acquired primarily or entirely from firing variations. The tentatively differentiated subtypes or varieties are:

1. Dark Red (353, 47%; Figs. 23a-e, 24a-n). Ex­terior surface color is burned red (l0R 4/3) toreddish (lOR 4/6); interior is brownish gray toblack.2. Light Red (259, 34%; Figs. 240-cc, 25a-h).Surface is reddish (2.5YR 4/6) to grayish orange(2.5YR 6/6).3. Black (60, 8%; Figs. 24dd-ij, 25i-l). Surfacesare smudged black or gray.4. Brown (83, 11%; Figs. 24kk-qq, 25m-t). Sur­face is brownish (5YR 5/4) through yellowishrose (5YR 7 / 4).

The Cotan Grooved color sub-varieties are not distinguished in Table 1 and seem to have

42 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

no stratigraphic or cultural significance. The following description is generalized for the overall type.

•

a

·.·:

C

�-··

e

Paste: Blackish yellowish nucleus with reddish zones near the surfaces. Firing is incomplete to complete; hardness between 1 and 2, but usually

b

0 5cm.

�-.

d

Figure 23. CoTAN GROOVED POTTERY, BARRA PHASE Reconstructed forms.

BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX 43

2, on the Mohs scale. Small fragments of quartz and other crystals, mica, and iron oxide, all na­tive to tuffaceous sediments of the Pacific Coast (Coe and Flannery 1967: 21-22); small biotite flakes less than 1 mm across are noted on the ex­terior surface. Some sand particles are larger than 1 mm in diameter. Texture is very compact with occasional air pockets.

b

k

p

Q

X

ee

II mm nn

Surface: Polished slip on the exterior and verti­cal portion of the interior lip. Polishing was ap­parently done with a stone, leaving a compact, lustrous surface without finger or hand impres­sions on the exterior; the unpolished interior was smoothed only, with the hand or with a rag or bundle of soft fibers.

g

u

0 5cm

bb

hh ii

00 QQ

Figure 24. CoTAN GROOVED PoTIERY, BARRA PHASE

a-n: Catan Grooved, dark red variant. o-cc: Light red variant. dd-ii: Blackish variant. kk-qq: Brown variant.

44 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Form and Decoration: Principally tecomates and a few vases, with rims either direct with rounded or beveled to sharply angled lips or di­rect with thin comma-like lips slightly elevated, giving the impression of an annexed collar. The tecomates are globular or subglobular with rather thin walls. Most bases are slightly flat­tened although one had a central concavity.

Wall thickness: 3-11 mm, average 5-7 mm; body diameter: 14-25 cm. Height: 14-21 cm. Mouth diameter: 9-20 cm, average: 11 cm.

a

0

\\ A

q �'--_,___

'

' e

'

5cm

\ GJ..... :•' . :� - �: '\ ·.-,.;

n

�

·

-...

· .. ,·. .

r

A series of grooves on the wall exterior which do not affect or deform the interior were made with a rounded instrument (sometimes possibly with a finger) and vary in width from 1 mm to 2 cm, with a depth of 2-3 mm. The workmanship is excellent. Usually one to three lines circle the rim exterior, and below these there are vertical, diagonal, or horizontal grooves. A few examples have concentric or semicircular grooves. There are slight pro­tuberances on the wall exteriors of some teco-

g

' 0

· .,· , "

s

··•,

·

·· .,/ h

.· .

--·

'

Figure 25. CoTAN GROOVED POTTERY FORMS, BARRA PHASE

a-h: Light red variant. i-1: Blackish variant. m-t: Brown variant. All drawings and the photograph are of exterior

decoration.

BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX 45

mates which do not affect the interior (Fig. 24b, c, j). Some wide-mouth tecomates have deeper squashlike grooves or lobes (Figs. 24t, u, w ), sometimes with short diagonal incised lines added to the sides of the vertical grooves (Fig. 25d).

Comparison: Cotan Grooved is described (as Cotan Grooved Red) for the Barra phase at Al­tamira by Green and Lowe (1967: 97-100, Figs. 72, 73) and Lowe (1975b, Fig. 13). Similar grooves appear on a very few Oc6s Specular Red sherds at La Victoria, Guatemala, where Coe (1961: 51) noted that "One almost mini­ature vessel has indications of very shallow diag­onal flutings on the exterior." A similar occur­rence is in Oc6s Brown Burnished, where there are "vertical grooves outlining shallow vertical fluting" on one sherd (Coe 1961: 54, Fig. 23 j). Another example is in the Oc6s Iridescent type, . described as having "shallow, spaced, vertical grooves on body exterior resembling a sort of in­cipient fluting" (Coe 1961: 56; Fig. 23q).

A few grooved red sherds are found also in the Oc6s complex of Aquiles Serdan (Museo Na­cional de Mexico exhibit; Navarrete in prepara­tion), but they lack the diagonal and otherwise more elaborate configurations of grooves com­mon to the Barra sites. Several very typical Co­tan Grooved tecomate sherds were found at an estuarine island shell midden in the Chantuto or Las Palmas region southwest of Escuintla, Chiapas (Voorhies 1976: 109, Fig. 57). There is no Oc6s manifestation at Chantuto.

The Cotan Grooved ceramic type, like the entire Barra complex, is peculiar to the Soco­nusco and Chiapas Upper Grijalva Valley re­gions. The type has, however, some similarity to a very few miscellaneous Early Ajalpan sherds at Tehuacan that are "decorated with incipient deep parallel grooves" (MacNeish, Peterson, and Flannery 1970: 35; Fig. 26, sixth row, left­hand sherd) which, in turn, are said to be some­what similar to some Ojochi-phase pottery of San Lorenzo in southeast Veracruz. Also, ac­cording to MacNeish, Peterson, and Flannery (1970: 39), a strong similarity may exist between Early Ajalpan and the Tierras Largas phase of the Oaxaca valley, supporting the evidence for

extra-regional connections provided by the Early Ajalpan sherds that resemble Cotan Grooved. There may be some confusion here with pottery of the Oc6s horizon, although ac­cording to Coe and Diehl (1980) the Ojochi ce­ramic complex of San Lorenzo does not include any groove-decorated tecomates, whereas some other grooved or fluted forms are typical of the following Bajio phase.

Coe (1960) long ago suggested some possible movement by land or sea between Mesoamerica and South America; his opinion was based pri­marily upon the similarities of the Oc6s ceram­ics of La Victoria to some early pottery on the Ecuadorian coast. Lowe (in Green and Lowe 1967 and Lowe 1975b) considers the possibility of the existence of a common denominator somewhere between the small Machalilla In-

, cised type beginning in a late Valdivia phase of Ecuador and Cotan Grooved Red of the Soco­nusco. The apparent similarity in ceramic form and decoration is demonstrated by sherds pic­tured by Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, Pl. 144g, i-p, r, s), and reproduced by Lowe (1975b, Fig. 20). The decoration on the Early Formative Ecuadorian type was also done with a round­ended object to produce a series of parallel or concentric grooves which cover all of the body. Furthermore, Form 1 of Machalilla Incised, also round-body neckless jars, seems to have almost the same rim diameter and similar wall thick­ness as Cotan Grooved, though some have even thinner walls. Although Form 1 appears in the late part of Valdivia and does not continue in the later Chorrera phase, it is considered to be "rare but present for the duration of the Mach­alilla phase" (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada 1965: 127). Machalilla Incised is placed in Peri­od C of Valdivia by Meggers, Evans, and Es­trada (1965: 143, Fig. 91).

Monte Incised (590 sherds, 33% of total; Table 2; Figs. 26-29, 30a-f)

Paste: Greater quantities of quartz and mica (bentonitic clay) and 2-mm-thick grains of sand than Cotan Grooved; color black to reddish, but

46 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

a b

0 5cm

\

d

C

\ Figure 26. MONTE INCISED POTTERY, BARRA PHASE

a-d: Reconstructed jar forms. e-g: Restricted-orifice bowl forms. h: Open bowl form. Drawings e-h are of exterior decoration.

I

BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX 47

predominantly black, with incomplete to com­plete oxidation. Well mixed, dense, with few air pockets; difficult to break, with hardness of 2.

Surface: Color varies from lOYR 2/ 1 (black) to 5/2 (medium gray), 6/3 (light brown), 6/6 (light yellowish brown), 7 /2 (yellowish gray), and 7 /8 (medium yellowish orange). Firing clouds occur. Surface is well smoothed, with little or no pol­ish, and some sherds appear to have an exterior self slip.

Form and Decoration: Tecomate with rim ei­ther direct or interiorly thickened and with round lip sometimes beveled or direct and slightly upturned. Rarely, bowl with flat base and either simple direct and rounded or flat­tened lip which may be thickened (Fig. 26h, 27h-k). The tecomates are usually globular or subglobular occasionally with flat bases (Figs. 26a-c, 27a-g). Wall thickness of teco�at;s: 3-12 mm, of bowls: 9-10 mm. Rim diameter oftecomates: 12-24 cm, of bowls: 20-26 cm. Di­ameter of tecomate bodies: 10-30 cm, of bowlbodies: 20-22 cm. Height of tecomates: 18-25cm; bowl height averages 8.5 cm, with sometaller vases (Fig. 26d).

A wide red band extends 1-4 cm below the mouth of tecomates; this is delimited by a weak grooved or incised line (Figs. 26f; 27a, b; 30d),and occasionally other lines are incised in the red area. The entire band is polished, but below it the surface is unpolished; multiple post­smoothing incised or grooved diagonal lines cross or cover the entire body area. Groups of two to six lines sometimes cross at the middle of the body (Figs. 27b; 28; 30a-d, f). A continuous pattern or network of triangles may also be formed (Fig. 28a,d) or long diagonal lines may form a large zig-zag between neck and base (Figs. 26f, 27a). A series of three vertical paral­lel incised lines also occurs (Fig. 26c). On a few sherds the vertical lines form alternate zones and at their sides are diagonal incised lines (Figs. 26a; 30b, c-e). All this incised or grooved decoration was produced when the clay was still damp; some appears to have been done hastily and some with considerable care.

Comparison: Monte Incised was defined by Lowe, at Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 102, Fig. 75; Lowe 1975b, Figs. 10-12). Green and Lowe (1967: 102) suggest that Monte Incised ei­ther was antecedent to Oc6s-phase Victoria Coarse tecomates at La Victoria, Guatemala, or shared jointly in their evolution. Victoria Coarse, in fact, not only has "usually a band of iridescent [red] paint extending from the rim 1.5-4 centimeters" (Coe 1961: 50, Fig. 16), but also has crossed diagonal incised lines forming "latticework" on the surface of three sherds, one of which had the stub of a large tripod support (see also Oc6s-phase Michis Thin T�comate and Supports below).

Two typical Monte Incised body sherds were recovered in mixed sherd-bearing fill on top of the aceramic Chantuto shell midden (Voorhies 1976: 109, Fig. 57d, e). A red band on tecomate necks has a wide distribution in the Mesoamerican Early Preclassic. In the Ajalpan Piain type of the eariy Ajalpan phase at Tehua­can, for instance, "fragments of tecomates have about a one-inch-wide band of red specular paint circling the exterior rim, just under the lip" (MacNeish 1970: 31); this is comparable to Monte Incised. Green and Lowe (1967: 102) see a "more striking if superficial correspondence in decorative motif" with illustrations by Ford (1966, Fig. 5a-f) of Machalilla components in Ecuador; the Ayangue Incised and Machalilla Double-line Incised types do have multiple three-to-four crossed lines, though incised there on a dry surface (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada 1965: ll0). A greater similarity is seen (Green and Lowe 1967: 102, Fig. 75d) with a Mach­alilla-phase Zoned Red simple tecomate with a rim band separated from the body by a grooved line (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada 1965, Pl. 157b). I recognize this resemblance, but the sherd from Altamira typologically is closer to types of the Oc6s phase since it has no crossed grooves on the body (although these may have existed outside the area preserved).

I also see the parallels already noted by Lowe between incising techniques and motifs of the early Orange phase in Florida (Ford 1966: 18, Figs. 4, 5) and those of Monte Incised (Green and Lowe 1967: 102, Fig. 75g, q).

48

a

N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

. . , · · · a

-�-f '-to

Figure 27. MONTE INCISED POTTERY, BARRA PHASE

a, b: Reconstructed forms. c-k: Variation in rims.

b C

Figure 28. MONTE INCISED POTTERY DECORATION, BARRA PHASE

See also Figure 30a-f.

0 5cm

e

BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX 49

Tusta Red (191 sherds, 11% of total: 96 rim, 27 base, 68 body sherds; Table 3; Figs. 29a-d, 30g-k)

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved; very compact.

Surface: Light to dark red, without firing clouds. Slipped on exterior and sometimes inte­rior, hardness between 1 and 2. Slip is well pol­ished where present and unslipped surfaces were apparently smoothed with the wet hand or a damp rag.

Form and Decoration: Bowl with simple rim, rounded or occasionally beveled lip, and slightly outflaring wall. Thickness of wall: 6-10 mm, of flat base: 8-11 mm. Rim diameter: 16-30 cm; height: 5-8 cm. The only decoration is the well polished red slip, sometimes on both exterior and interior.

Comparisons: Established as a type at Altamira by Lowe (Green and Lowe 1967: 104, Fig. 76; Lowe 1975b, Fig. 14). Tusta Red, and the fol­lowing type, Huaquineja Red, are treated as a single type by Lowe (1975b, Figs. 8, 14). This seems to be a forerunner of a distinctive Oc6s type at Izapa, termed Tustlan Red by Ekholm (1969! 25-27, Fig. 18).

Huaquineja Red (101 sherds, 5% of total; Fig. 29e-m; not shown in tables)

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved.

Surface: Commonly l0R 4/3 (burned red), 4/4 (toasted red), or 4/6 (toasted reddish), some­times different on the exterior and interior; hardness same as that of Tusta Red. There is a well-polished red slip with firing clouds on both sides of 51 sherds. On 46 sherds there is the same red slip on the exterior but the interior is unslipped and somewhat rough. On 4 examples the interior is slipped and polished but the exte­rior surface is smoothed only.

Form: Most common (97 examples) is a flat or occasionally concave-base deep bowl or vase with slightly incurving or outcurving wall (Fig. 29e-g). Rim diameter: 26 cm; base diameter: 24 cm; maximum width of body: 26 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-10 mm. The small straight-wall vase with direct rim and flattened lip (Fig. 29h-m) is less common (4 examples); rim diameter: 8 cm; wall thickness: 6-8 mm. This type was included in the type Tusta Red by Lowe (1975b, Figs. 8, 14).

Tepa Red-and-white (69 sherds, 4% of total; Table 4; Figs. 29n-r, 30 l-q)

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved; very compact texture, with tones from greenish light gray to reddish and occasionally to black. In­complete to complete oxidation.

Surface: White slip with zones overpainted in red on exteriors; interior usually without paint or slip. Well polished, smooth, and at times lus­trous. The interior is smoothed.

Form and Decoration: Tecomate with simple, thin rim with rounded or beveled and occasion­ally flattened lip. Rim diameter: 4-20 cm, aver­age: 11-16 cm; wall thickness: 5-7 mm. There is one fragment of a flat base with vertical wall. Red bands usually circle the rim; a few run ver­tically. The red paint occasionally contains specular hematite. Some sherds also have in­cised vertical or horizontal lines.

Comparison: Illustrated and briefly described for Altamira only by Lowe (1975b, Fig. 15). Green and Lowe (1967: 104, Fig. 76d-g) de­scribe this as a "Red-and-cream" subtype of Tusta Red. Exclusively a Barra-phase type. Sim­ilar sherds have been noted in mound fill lots from Monte Alto, Guatemala (G. W. Lowe per­sonal communication about E. M. Shook collec­tions in Antigua, Guatemala).

50 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

�a

I I $f1

I

-1, -, -, -, -1 -, -,

m

' � \D

q

\ · · · · · · · · · · · · · · • · • · · · · ·

s

I I ., u

Figure 29. M1 'OR PorrERY TYPES, BARRA PHASE

a.-d: Tusta Red, approximate forms (Fig. 30g-k). e-m: Huaquineja Red. n-r: Tepa Red-and-white (Fig. 301-q). s-v:

Petacalapa Black (Fig. 30r-x).

b

h

bb

hh

BARRA CERAMIC COMPLEX

C

dd

d

u

BARRA

ii

ocos

0

Figure 30. BARRA- AND Oc6s-PHASE SHERDS

51

e

q

5cm

ff

a-x: Barra phase. y-;;: Oc6s phase. a -f: Monte Incised decoration; see also Fig. 28. g-k: Tusta Red base interiors (Fig.

29a-d). l-q: Tepa Red-and-white. r-x: Petacalapa Black (Fig. 29s-v). y, ff, ii: Lobed or wide-grooved Oc6s forms. z-bb:

Typical gadrooned Oc6s rims. cc-ee: Grooved Oc6s rims. gg: Typical Oc6s wedge rim. hh-ii: Oc6s rim tabs, ii perhapsfish effigy.

52 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Petacalapa Black (79 sherds, 4.5% of total: 2 rims, 77 body sherds; Table 5; Figs. 29s-v,

30r-x)

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved, with some sand grains over 1 mm in diameter. In­complete oxidation from a differential firing atmosphere.

Surface: Light black slip, with tiny yellow bio­tite flakes showing on the surface. Well polished exterior, probably done with a stone. Hardness between 1 and 2.

Form and Decoration: The only large rim (of a globular tecomate, Figs. 29s, 30r) is direct with

sharp lip slightly thickened on the interior; other lip rounded. Rim diameter: 8 cm; body di­ameter to about 26 cm; wall thickness: 4-8 mm. Decoration is incised parallel or semicircular lines which outline a zone of shallow punc­tations filled with red cinnabar. These punc­tations were done with triangular- or round­tipped instruments.

Comparison: Identified elsewhere only in the Barra complex of Altamira, described by Green and Lowe (1967: 100, Fig. 74c-f) and Lowe (1975b, Fig. 16). This is the earliest zoned-punc­tate decoration known to me in Mesoamerica; it is not present in the Ocos complex.

THE OCOS CERAMIC COMPLEX

There were 18,094 rim, base, and slipped or decorated body sherds in the Oc6s complex at Paso de la Amada (91% of the study collection). Noteworthy features of Oc6s pottery are the rel­ative thinness of vessel walls and the unusually compact hard paste and dense surfaces. In gen­eral, the paste is the same as that already de­scribed for the Barra complex.

Very distinctive beveled and gadrooned rims on bowls and large tripod supports on tecomate jars particularly set Oc6s apart from any other Mesoamerican ceramic complex. The most pop­ular Oc6s form is the rather thin-wall reel­slipped tecomate, often with its swollen solid or hollow supports. Another common Oc6s form is the flat-base bowl, sometimes with tripod sup­ports; all have an outslanting wall with a grooved, striated, beveled, or undulating rim.

Perhaps the one most notable characteristic which distinguishes Oc6s from the Barra ceram­ic complex is the mollusk shell decorative stamping technique. Mollusk shell impressions were found mainly to be simple stamping, but they also often were "rocked" with the edge or back of a particular type of shell. Less popular types of impression were punctation, brushing, pinching, and fiber or textile marking. We be­lieve that the last was done with a cord-covered stick in some cases, and in other cases with a paddle. There is also frequent zonal decoration, wherein curvilinear smoothly polished bands al­ternate with areas of shell, fiber, or textile impressions.

There are no bichromes, polychromes, spouts, annular bases, jugs or bottles, handles or spouts, and few composite silhouettes in the Oc6s complex. Altogether, both Barra and Oc6s represent very standardized ceramic complexes distributed across parts of southern Chiapas and

53

the Pacific Coast and Verapaz regions of Guate­mala that are quite different from all other early phases of the Maya area and central Mexico (Lowe 1977).

The most popular type of the Paso de la Amada Oc6s ceramic complex is Paso Polished Red; this is followed in popularity by Michis Thin Tecomate, Pino Black-and-white, Amada Stamped, and Oc6s Specular Red. Paso Polished Red, Pino Black-and-white, and Amada Stamped are my own generalized types de­signed to accommodate better the peculiarities nf P"�" rlP. b A m"rl" in�tP."rl nf 11tilhing �P.VP.r" l

established Oc6s-phase type names; explanations are given in the descriptions.

Michis Thin Tecomate (3,879 sherds, 21 % of to­tal; Table 6; Fig. 31)

To avoid unnecessary proliferation of names, the original Oc6s typology of Coe (1961) was followed by Green and Lowe (1967) insofar as practical but with modifications to meet their local circumstances. Michis Thin Tecomate is such a modification (Ekholm 1969: 28-29), mainly out of Coe's (1961) Victoria Coarse, an originally poorly defined type (see explanation of this fact by Coe and Flannery 1967: 21).

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved, but with color varying from 2.5YR 5/8 (red), to 7.5YR 5-5/6 (strong toast) and 10.0YR 4/1; a fewcores are darker.

Generally the vessel exterior is unsmoothed and has remains of a light orange slip or wash varying around 2.5YR 4/4 (burned red) that is almost always unpolished. The mouth of the

54 .W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

b

0 5cm

0

Figure 31. MrCHIS THIN TECOMATE FoHMS, Oc6s PHASE

a: Large typical sherd and reconstructed form with swollen tripod supports. b-d, i, I, m: Typical sharp or thinned-lip

rims. e-h: Swollen tripod tecomate supports; see also Fig. 44a-; for related support forms. ;, k, n, o: Less typical rims.

Drawings b-d, i, k-m, and o are of exterior decoration.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 55

vessel usually has a well smoothed and polished band that varies in width and color; most are slipped red or painted, some are blackish, and a few are narrow with a very light covering of hematite paint.

Form and Decoration: Tecomates with rather thin wall; many are subglobular and presumably have three hollow, swollen elongated supports (Fig. 3la-h). The simple rims usually have bev­eled or sharpened lips. Vessel rim diameter: 8-18 cm, average: 14 cm; body diameter: about25-35 cm; wall thickness: 4-8 mm; height:about 25 cm. Others of the tecomates are some­what narrower (Fig. 3li-m, o) and presumablyhad no supports. One example has a more up­right rim, giving a collared effect (Fig. 31n).

The reddish polished rim band varies from 1.5 to 5 cm, and is usually bordered or invaded by one or two shallow pre-slip horizontal grooves. A few body sherds have red and black paint.

Many of the subglobular tecomates were surely tripodal, with supports of differing sizes but almost all ending in a point (see Fig. 44a-; and separate description below of 227 whole or fragmentary supports which may have belonged to tecomates). Diameter of the supports: 3.5-7.5 cm; height or length 8.5-14.5 cm. All have a single vent hole, usually quite large, facing away from the vessel (Fig. 3lf). Numerous tecomate sherds have scars from the supports on their bases where the relatively rough unpolished sur­face characteristic of the tecomate bodies remains.

Tecomate body sherds bearing shell-stamped and zonal designs conceivably associated with Michis rims have been included below in a sepa­rate Amada Stamped type (compare similar problematical situation at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 50).

Comparison: The Michis Thin Tecomate type was first described at Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 104-106, Fig. 78), where 36 rims were found in the light Oc6s-phase occupation remains at that site. For Izapa, 44 identical Michis Thin Tecomate rims were described (Ek­holm 1969: 27-29, Fig. 19). No supports were identified at either of these sites. The Paso de la

Amada Michis type resembles very closely a common form in the Victoria Coarse type of the Oc6s phase at La Victoria which included nu­merous very similar, if less sophisticated, "long shouldered tripod feet which are solid except at the top where they . . . have a hollow within" (Coe 1961: 50, Figs. 14, 16).

The Michis tecomate (without supports) is the abundant and practically exclusive form found by Navarrete in an estuarine island depos­it east of Chantuto, to the northwest of Alta­mira. Unusually well preserved and very large fragments of this type are common in the ex­traordinary Aquiles Serdan Oc6s-phase refuse (Lowe 1966: 454, 1969: 356; Navarrete, in prep­aration). The Michis type is also a principal component of the 4-m-deep Oc6s-phase midden underlying a shallow Cuadros-phase occupation in the Los Alvarez mound at the mouth of the Coatan River southeast of Mazatan (Ceja Te­norio 1974).

In the Central Depression of Chiapas very early tecomate rims with red rim bands have been identified at numerous sites along the Up­per Grijalva River (Lowe, personal commu­nication). A few large Oc6s tecomate supports are known there also.

Tlatilco, in Central Mexico, had a few early tecomates or bowls with long tripod legs in blackish brown ware (Porter 1953: 41, Pl. 12f). In the Ajalpan phase of the Tehuacan Valley there are thin-wall tecomates with a specular hematite band on the rim according to Mac­Neish (1962: 38), and solid small supports ap­pear in Early Ajalpan (MacNeish, Peterson and Flannery 1970: 28, 38, 39, Fig. 19).

In the Salama Valley of the Verapaz district in the Guatemalan Central Highlands, teco­mates with tall hollow conical supports and some dentate and rocker stamping occur in the earliest deposits known at one or more small sites, which date to before 1000 B.c.; these ves­sels are said to be quite similar to the Oc6s tri­pods on the Pacific Coast (Robert Sharer, per­sonal communication to Lowe).

Amada Stamped (1,340 sherds, 7% of total; Ta­bles 7-9; Figs. 32, 41,42)

56 1 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Stamp impressing and cord marking were usually found on plain unslipped rounded body sherds, many of which, given the similar paste common to all Oc6s pottery, may in fact belong to bodies of several other types that were sepa­rated on the basis of rim sherds. Michis Thin Tecomate and Oc6s Specular Red bodies, how­ever, tend to perpetuate the finish of their rim sectors (orange wash on the former and high polish on the latter); the stamp-impressed body sherds in this collection therefore, probably be­ionged to either the Paso Polished Red or Pino Black-and-white types described below or else to a completely different type as herewith pro­visionally defined.

Most of the sherds in the Amada Stamped type are from tecomate bodies. Several bowl sherds with rocker stamping are, however, in­cluded in other type descriptions (Figs. 34ff, 38t-v), and stamping techniques are described and discussed in detail separately in the next chapter (Figs. 41, 42).

Form: Usually a globular or subglobular tecoma­te with a thin wall terminating in a simple rim with rounded and occasionally beveled or point­ed lip; base was round or flat and small. Rim di­ameters seem to have varied from 8 to 20 cm, with an average of 10 cm. Body diameter: 30 cm in one example; wall thickness: 4-10 mm; calculated average height: 25 cm. A few sherds are from flat-base bowls with outslanting walls.

Surface: Exterior often self slipped or polished; tecomate interior smoothed, as with a bunch of fibers or a rag.

Decoration: Shell impressing and cord marking in a wide variety of techniques and designs, summarized as follows: 1. Shell-edge rocker stamping (Table 7; 772sherds). Commonly, mollusk valve-edge impres­sions were made in specific patterns over theentire exterior surface of tecomates, sometimesbelow a wide reddish polished rim band delimit­ed by a shallow incised line. Designs includevertical rocking, corrugated vertical rocking,and horizontal rocking. A particularly note­worthy design (Fig. 32b) consisted of large

triangles of curvilinear -bands. 2. Shell-back stamping (Table 8; 173 sherds). Aless frequent type of shell impression; includesabout the same range of designs as thepreceding.3. Cord marking (Table 9; 395 sherds). The sec­ond most common decorative technique used onthe impressed tecomate sherds, frequently inzones (Fig. 42v-x).

The Amada Stamped tecomates are most closely paralleled by the same form in the Oc6s­phase Pijijiapan Zoned type at lzapa (Ekholm 1969: 33-35, Fig. 23c-m). For further descrip­tion and discussion of stamping and cord mark­ing see below, next chapter.

Paso Polished Red (5,595 sherds, 28% of total: 1,062 rim and 4,533 body sherds; Table 10; Figs. 30z-ii, 33-36, 40a-i, l, m)

Paste: The same as that of C0tan Grooved, with fine, very compact texture, occasionally with grains up to 1 mm in diameter. Cores are black or yellowish to reddish and break in sharp angles.

Surface: Generally slipped reddish (10.0R 4/7) and polished on one or both sides. Finish can barely be scratched with the fingernail.

Form and Decoration: To emphasize the very extensive variety of shapes and decoration in the Paso Polished Red type, I have distinguished and illustrated thirty-seven form modes, as follows.

1. Low-wall Flat-bottom Bowl or Dish (263;Figs. 33a-d, 34p-q). Slightly outcurving, rarelyvertical wall with rounded lip. Rim diameter:26-34 cm; base diameter: 20-30 cm; wall thick­ness: .7-1.2 cm; height: 4.7-6 cm. The exteriorsof most are smooth and unslipped, but 60 sherdshave a well polished and lustrous red slip onboth sides. Six sherds have two horizontal shal­low grooved lines, one under the rim and theother near the base. Two base sherds (Fig.34p-q) preserve small portions of exterior deco­ration, one of shell-edge stamping.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 57

,' ,' ,- ,

a

' d

\ b

' C

' e

0 5cm

Figure 32. AMADA STAMPED TECOMATES, Oc6s PHASE

Compare also Figures 41, 42, passim. Drawings b, d, and e are of exterior decoration.

This form is described for Oc6s Specular Red at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 52, Fig. 18f) and for Tustlan Red at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 25, Fig. l&z-c). The near-vertical-wall Barra-phase Tus­ta Red bowls described above (Fig. 29a-d) and for Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 104, Fig. 16a-b, Lowe 1975b, Fig. 14) indicate that this Barra model tradition continued intact into the Oc6s phase. The form is popular also in the Pino Black-and-white and Oc6s Specular Red types described below.

2. Bowl with Gadrooned Rim (98; Figs. 30z-bb,

33e-j). Flat base with outcurving wall; lip is

thickened, with an encircling narrow groovenear the inside edge and a great variety of trans­verse grooves or "gadrooning" which may be in­clined, vertical, or straight, and vary in widthand depth or height. Sometimes the gadrooningis very slight and can only be noted by passing

the fingers over the rim or by holding them incross lighting. Base diameter: 22-30 cm; rim di-

58 1.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

ameter: 25-32 cm; height: 4.5-6 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-12 mm; rim thickness: 10-25 mm, aver­age: 15 mm.

toria, Guatemala (Coe 1961: 52, 53, Figs. l9a-f, 2lf, g). It appears in the Oc6s-phase Tustlan Red and Specular Red at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 25, 35, Figs. l8e-h, 25 b, c). Infrequent exam­ples are diagnostic of other Oc6s-phase sites on

This peculiar form mode was first described for Oc6s Specular Red and Oc6s Buff at La Vic-

1/ \-.-.- -_ -_ : " : : : _-_: :_'::'. .': :...,,,..,

00:::_

:_:�;-·

7 bb

-,,

l!Z cc

Figure 33. PASO PousHED RED, BowL FonMs, Oc6s PHASE

Drawings h, i, m, n, r, and I are of upper rim surface; s is of exterior decoration.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 59

the Chiapas Pacific Coast and interior. 3. Flat-base Bowl with Undulating Everted Rim(44; Figs. 33cc, dd, 33k-o). Wall is outcurving,lip rounded or beveled. A grooved line encirclesthe lip's interior edge. Rim diameter: 16-36 cm;base diameter: 28-30 cm; height: 4.7-7.5 cm.

4. Simple-silhouette Bowl (11; Fig. 33p).Rounded to flattened lip. Rim diameter: 16-38cm; wall thickness: 6-11 mm; height and baseform mtlmown. The same form is found in Oc6sSpecular Red (Coe 1961: 52, Fig. 18h, i).5. Round Bowl with Labial Ridge (36; Figs.30ee, 33q-t). Outslanting, flattened lip,smoothed and unslipped; three sherds have in­dentations on the ridge. Rim diameter: 16-30cm, average: 20 cm; wall thickness: 5-10 mm;height unknown. Same form occurs in Oc6sSpecular Red at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 52, Fig.18;, k).

6. Dish with Grooved Wall (4; Figs. 30ff, 33u,v). The low, vertical or slightly outcurved wallhas direct rim and rounded lip. H.im dio.meter:

20-26 cm; wall thickness: 7 mm; height: 4.8 cm.Fmm is abundant among sherds from the nearbyOc6s site of Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, in prep­aration) and occurs at other Oc6s sites on thecoast and in the interior of Chiapas.7. Bowl with Large Rim Tabs (3; Figs. 30hh,33w, x). Rim diameter: 12 cm; height unknown.8. Dish with Beveled Rim (23; Figs. 30gg, 33y, z,

34c, k). Flat base and outcurving wall with inte­rior and lip slipped red, well polished and com­pacted. The exterior has a slightly darker red orpink slip with firing stains. Base diameter:24-26 cm; rim diameter: 32 cm; wall thickness:6.8-13 mm, average: 7 mm; height: 6.8 cm. Oneor two grooved lines encircle the rim exteriornear the lip and another line encircles the riminterior. Four sherds have very light groovedlines criss-crossing on the exterior (Fig. 34k).

This typical Oc6s form and decoration was common in Oc6s Specular Red and Oc6s Buff at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 52, 53, Figs. 19g-;, 20) and in Oc6s Specular Red of lzapa (Ekholm 1969: 35,36,Fig. 25e-.f). 9. Small Flat Dish or Censer Cover (20; Fig.33aa, bb). Flat base with barely upturned lipforming an acute angle. Three sherds have wellpolished, lustrous red slip on the exterior and in­terior, and two show red slip only on the interi-

or. Thickness: 6-9 mm; rim diameter: 12-20 cm. We believe that these may have been teco­mate lids, small censer covers, or mixing plates.10. Dish with Thickened Beveled Rim (4; Fig.33cc, dd). Outcurving wall has an expanded rimwith slightly everted and beveled thick lip. Theinterior has a well-polished red slip which ex­tends onto the lip; the exterior shows no slip buthas firing clouds. Rim diameter: 24-30 cm; wallthickness: 6-8 mm; height unknown.11. Flanged Dish (7; Figs. 30ii, 34a, b). Out­curving or vertical wall; elongated tabs or con­tinuous flange with modeled protuberances,generally a fish with one swollen eye; one ortwo grooved lines circle the rim. Interiorslipped red and polished, exterior smoothedonly. Rim diameter: 22-24 cm; wall thickness:9-10 mm; height unknown.

Fish effigy rims are more typical of theMiddle Preclassic, but a similar form is found in the Chiapa I White Monochrome of Chiapa de Corzo (Dbmn 1959: 10, 16, Figs, 6b, l5d, f), and also in a type with interior red slip and white exterior (Dixon 1959: 32, Fig. 40a). Lobe deco­ration is also present in the Dili-phase ceramics of the Frailesca region of central Chiapas (Na­varrete 1960, Figs. 25;, 26b). Everted-rim tabs occm rarely in Siltepec White of the lzapa-Jo­cotal phase (Ekholm 1969: 51, Fig. 43;). They also are associated with the Olmec culture of the Gulf Coast (Drucker 1943, Figs. 20f, h; 33). 12. Low-wall Plate (l; Fig. 34e). Flat base withoutflaring wall, direct rim, and round lip. Thereis red slip with firing stains on a badly finishedsurface, causing us to believe that this was pro­duced hastily, perhaps by a child or novice. Rimdiameter: 22 cm; base diameter: 20 cm; wallthickness: 5 mm; height: 2.5 cm.13. Thick-wall Bowl (3; Fig. 34f-h). Flat basewith wall thinning toward the outslanting oroutcurving rim. Well polished red slip overpoorly smoothed surface; numerous polishingmarks. Exterior of one sherd has a depressedzone below the rim, creating a general resem­blance to a stone vessel. Rim diameter: 16-18cm; wall thickness: 12-18 mm; height unknown.14. Direct-beveled-rim Dish (12; Fig. 34i-i).Low, slightly outcurving or slightly concavewall with direct rim and beveled lip on 7 exam­ples. Rim diameter: 14-20 cm; wall thickness:

60 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

7J. 4-, ✓ if

g . h .. I , j

0 5cm

J,

-- J.

,. J,

::::.-:..:::> s

Figure 34. PASO POLISHED RED, BowL FoRMS, Oc6s PHASE

7

►.

aa-dcl: Pedestal burner stands. ee-ff: Interior stamping. Drawings a and bare of upper rim surface; k is of exterior.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 61

8-14 mm; height unknown.15. Grooved-lip Bowl (11; Fig. 34l-n). Slightlyconvex wall has direct rim and square or flat­tened lip with a rather deep groove at its cen­ter. Rim diameter: 20 cm; wall thickness: 5-9mm; height unknown.16. Thick-rim Dish (5; Fig. 340). Outcurvingwall has an expanded rim and flattened lip verysimilar to those of Form 2 but withoutdecoration.17. Composite-silhouette Grooved Bowl (l; Fig.34r). Restricted-orifice bowl with three horizon­tal pre-slip grooves dividing the upper wall andlight vertical grooves or gadrooning coveringthe entire lower body.18. Round-side Bowl with Indented Lip (6; Fig.34s-u). Convex wall has direct or slightly evert­ed rim and rounded lip with evenly spaced in­cisions or indentations. Rim diameter: 16 cm;wall thickness: 5-6 mm; height unknown.19. Simple Round-side Bowl (14; Fig. 34v-y).Low subhemispherical bowl usually with directrim and round lip, but five sherds have a flat­tened lip (Fig. 34y). Rim diameter: 16-23 cm;wall thickness: 6-9 mm; height and base un­known. Four sherds have a horizontal incisedline under the rim, and another has grooves; theflattened-rim examples have multiple diagonalgrooved lines crossed by others on the exteriorto form rhomboids. There are two diagonalgrooved lines on the interior of a few sherds.20. Bowl with Central Ridge (l; Fig. 34z). Thenear-vertical upper wall has a direct rim andround lip with a low ridge or flange 3 cm belowthe lip. Diameter: 18 cm; wall thickness: 8 mm;height unknown.21. Censer Stand (4; Fig. 34aa-dd). Eroded frag­ments of pedestal-base incensarios. Diameter: 20cm; wall thickness: 8 mm; height unknown. SeeLowe (1978, Fig. 11.7, lower left) for drawingsof similar small censer stands found in the exten­sive Aquiles Serdan Oc6s-phase deposits (Navar­rete in preparation).22. Shell-stamped Vessel and Effigy (27; Fig.34ee-ii). A variety of sherds and effigy frag­ments with Paso Polished Red appearance hadstamped surfaces as follows:

a. Open bowl (8) with flat base and out­slanting or almost vertical wall, direct rim, and round or beveled lip; mainly the interiors are

rocker stamped with shell, but other techniques appear. Rim diameter: 12-20 cm; wall thick­ness: 7-10 mm; height unknown.

b. Bowl (10) with rounded or flat base andslightly convex outslanting wall; two are thick, thinning to a rim with round lip; stamping mainly on interior. Diameter: 18 cm; wall thick­ness: 9-21 mm; height unknown.

c. Bowl (2) with outslanting wall and flat­tened lip; rocker stamped. Diameter: 14-16 cm; wall thickness: 8 mm; height unknown.

d. Thin-wall tecomate (3), with globular orsubglobular silhouette, direct rim, and round lip; stamping on exterior body. Rim diameter: 10-12 cm; wall thickness: 8 mm; height unknown.

e. Bowl (2) with slightly convex wall and di­rect rim; shell-back stamping. Rim diameter: 10 cm; wall thickness: 6-8 mm; height unknown.

f. Effigy (3 body fragments, 1 animal paw).Stamping techniques for 1,430 examples

from Paso de la Amada are discussed in detail in the next section. The Paso Polished Red forms and decoration all fall within the Oc6s-phase type called Tzij6n Stamped at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 29-32, Fig. 20-22). Oc6s-phase rocker stamping is fully discussed by Coe (1961: 50, 56-59, Figs. 47, 48). Shell-stamped pottery andeffigies are frequent in the abundant Oc6s phasematerial of Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, in prepa­ration). Almost identical decoration on the samedish forms appears in the Early Preclassic ofChalahuite and Trapiche, Veracruz (GarciaPay6n 1966: 106-116).23. Large Tecomate (80; Fig. 35a). Globular andsubglobular neckless jar with thin walls, directrim, and round or occasionally, beveled lip. Redslip on exterior, including the lip; all very wellpolished with an opaque luster; can bescratched with the fingernail only with diffi­culty. There are one or two horizontal lines be­low the rim. Rim diameter: 8-24 cm, average:10 cm; wall thickness: 4-10 mm, average 5 mm;height of one: 18 cm. Bases probably were flatand quite small. These sherds are very similar tothose of Victoria Coarse and Oc6s Specular Redtecomates of the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe1961: 51, Figs. 16, l 7b-d).24. Grooved Tecomate (118; Fig. 35b, r). Globu­lar or subglobular with thin wall and sharply-an­gled, slightly uplifted lip. Rim diameter: 10-18

62 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

cm; wall thickness: 4-10 mm; height unknown. The red exterior slip is very well polished, opaque, and well compacted. There are one to three horizontal grooves below the rim, and be­low these on some body sherds are polished bands delimited by incised lines; the 8-25 mm-

wide bands may be of more intense color. There are also some concentric lines or semicircles of one to three very shallow grooves that are some­times parallel but may form a V, a Y, or diago­nals. These vessels resemble some common to Victoria Coarse, Oc6s Specular Red, and Oc6s

---

1 -c�J.f�

?f

/•;;-';f I

,1 /,1 / / / / / /1 / / / I /

1' ,/ /// ,1 ,,/// ,./

I I I / / I I

l,'/,1 ,'///( I I I I I I

\: : I ,' / / I 'i I I I I I

\ I I I

I 1 \ 1 1 I I I

� \ I l I I '-

...._ \ I \ \ \

'\.. \ \ \

-l..-l.._ �

----

b

0 5cm

Figure 35. PASO PousHED REo, TECOMATE FORMS, Oc6s PHASE

1) -_::.·::::::.·:> h i

All surface drawings are of exteriors. For photographs of k and p see Figure 40b, and e.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 63

Buff of the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 49, 51, 53, Figs. 15-17, 2la-e). 25. Barrel-shape Vessel (5; Fig. 35c). Direct rimthat is beveled or, occasionally, flattened at thelip; horizontal groove 1.7 cm below the exteriorlip. Rim diameter: 12 cm; wall thickness: 6 mm;height and base form unknown. This form is de­scribed for the lzapa Oc6s phase Tustlan Red byEkholm (1969: 25, 27, Fig. 18i) and also forOc6s Specular Red by Coe (1961: 19k, left).26. Small Restricted-orifice Bowl (33; Fig.35d-i). Low-contour vessel with flattened sil­houette. Rim diameter varies from 4 to 18 cm,but averages 6-10 cm. Base form is unknown,but if flat it was extremely small. Wall thick­ness: about 6-7 mm. One example has a raisedband below the exterior lip, but most have onlya single shallow encircling groove. Two sherdshave a wide polished band below the lip and abody surface that is rough or has shell-edge im­pressions. One sherd has a narrow horizontal

red-painted band below the rim exterior and be­low that a series of clay dots. Very similar mini­ature vessels are shown for the Oc6s-phase Vic­toria Coarse type (Coe 1961: 50, Fig. 23e).27. Heavy-wall Tecomate (18; Figs. 35k, l,40a-c). Direct' rim and round or, occasionally,flattened lip, with a narrow grooved line underthe exterior lip of six examples. Two groovedlines, one wider than the other, appear on fourexamples. One sherd has a 2.5 cm-wide red bandaround the lip, below which there is a zone ofdeep fingernail impressions (Fig. 40a). Wallthickness: .9-1.7 cm; rim diameter: 30-44 cm;body diameter (three samples): 48-52 cm;height unknown.28. Beveled-rim Tecomate (18; Fig. 35j). Sub­globular, flattened vessel with direct rim andbeveled lip; base probably slightly convex. Rimdiameter: 10-20 cm; wall thickness: 4-10 mm;height unknown. There is a grooved line underthe rim; one body sherd has grooved lines in cir­cles suggesting a face.

29. Plain Tecomate (32; Fig. 35m-o). Globularand subglobular vessel with thin wall, directrim, and round or beveled lip. Rim diameter:10-20 cm; wall thickness: 5-10 mm; height andbase form unknown.30. Grooved-rim Tecomate (2; Figs. 35p, q, 40d,e). Incurving, slightly upturned rim has sharp lip

and a band of several wide, well demarcated grooves el)circling it. Rim diameter: 12 cm; wall thickness: 7-10 mm; height and base form un­known. Some Oc6s Buff tecomates at La Vic­toria are similar (Coe 1961: 53, Fig. 21a). 31. Zoomorphic Vessel (10; Figs. 36a-b, e, 40f,g, l, m). Various modeled lugs and appliquelimbs, including one face fragment, suggest ani­mal and, rarely, human features on bowls withflat or round bases, convex wall, direct rim, andround lip; a few may have had supports (d. Fig.40k). Rim diameter: 10-16 cm; wall thickness:5-10 mm; height 5-9 cm. Several well-modeledeffigy lugs appear on Victoria Coarse dishes ofthe Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 50,Fig. 40d-e, g-h), and more simple "frog" lugsappear on Oc6s-phase "Siltepec White" formsat Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 51, Fig. 45f, g). Effigyforms are particularly common in the Oc6s­phase deposits at Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, inpreparation).32. Bowl with Support (11; Figs. 36c, d, 40h, i).Convex base and wall, direct rim, round lip, andthree tabular solid supports (3 examples) or flatbase with outcurving wall and probably threeroundish solid (some possibly hollow) supports,as indicated by scars on the base sherds (8 exam­ples). One convex-bowl sherd with support at­tached (Fig. 40h) has a wide red rim band andanother has pre-polish crossed grooved lineswhich cover the body (Figs. 36c, 40i). There is a

grooved line near the point of attachment foranother support. Rim diameter: 16-20 cm; basediameter: 18-20 cm; wall thickness: 8-15 mm;height: 5.7-7 cm.

Vessel supports are treated separately in the following chapter, but it may be noted here that the solid tabular form occurs in the Oc6s phase at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 51n, Fig. 44) and is fre­quent on Oc6s vessels at Aquiles Serdan (Navar­rete, in preparation). 33. Restricted-orifice Bowl (32; Fig. 36f, g). Sub­globular vessel with medium to thin wall; directrim, round lip, and probably convex or some­what flattened base. Well polished interior (18)and polished slipped exterior lip band; remain­der of body usually is unslipped, rough orsmoothed, with firing clouds. There may be anincised line below the lip, and three sherds havea series of punctations which possibly covered

64 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

the entire body. One sherd has a shell-edge im­pression. Rim diameter: 12-20 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-9 mm; height unknown. 34. Necked or Collared Jar (12; Fig. 36h-;, n).

Necked jar identified only by rim which is verti­cal to outslanting at lip; collared necks are verylow upward projections. Rim diameter: 8-20cm, average: 12 cm; wall thickness: 4-8 mm;height unknown. Well polished on interior andexterior, with a shallow groove below the lip forfour sherds. One shoulder sherd has a crescentic

a

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f 1

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0 5cm

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zone of diagonal grooves (Fig. 36n). Half a doz­en short jar necks were identified as Tustlan Red of the lzapa Oc6s phase (Ekholm 1969: 27, Fig. 18k-m). 35. Rough Daub Bowl (l; Fig. 36k). Convex wallhas flat lip and polished red interior slip butrough exterior surface carelessly daubed with awhitish clay. Rim diameter: 16 cm; wall thick­ness: 1 cm.36. Mini-tecomate (2; Fig. 36l, m). Direct rimand round lip; one sherd has a small irregular

- -------'\ - - --

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\ '

'

- - _,,

C

' ' I

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--------- e

IP /

/

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Figure 36. MISCELLANEOUS POTTERY FORMS, Oc6s PHASE c-d: Tripod bowls; compare Figures 40h, i, and k and 44n-cc. e: Effigy bowl restoration; compare Figures 3800, 43q-cc,

and 54e-h, and;. Drawings n and p are of exterior decoration.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 65

protuberance on the exterior and the other has a polished red band on the exterior below which there is a series of curvilinear lines. 37. Punctate Tecomate (3; Fig. 360, p). Simplerim and sharply-angled lip; finger pinches orgouged punctations cover the body. Rim diame­ter: 8-12 cm; maximum body diameter: 24 cm;wall thickness: 5-7 mm. There are similar formsand decorations at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 59,Fig. 48d) and at La Venta (Drucker 1952, Pl.21d, f).

Pino Black-and-white (3,443 sherds, or 17% of total: 1,692 rim and 1,751 body sherds; Table 11; Figs. 37, 38, 39a-p, 40j, k, n, o, s, t)

Pino Black-and-white is a type not pre­viously recognized for the Oc6s culture; it un­doubtedly includes numerous sherds of a class included elsewhere as off-fired variants of estab­lished types such as Oc6s Gray, Oc6s Brown Burnished, Oc6s Buff, Oc6s Black, Oc6s Spec­ular Red, and even the Bayo Plain-polished of Lowe (1975b, Fig. 17). It seems that there was a deliberate preference at Paso de la Amada for a local plain, blackish or whitish pottery. It is also possible that some locally favored firii;ig tech­nique (or substances-see below) explains the re­stricted distribution of this semi-smudged type, so abundant at Paso de la Amada.

The number of rims and variety of shapes in this type very closely parallel those of the pre­ceding Paso Polished Red type and, indeed, to considerable extent they may be considered par­allel types, sherds of the latter simply having re­ceived or preserved more of the red-slip finish.

Paste and Surface: Paste consistency is similar to the standard described for Cotan Grooved; 7.5YR 4/2 (dark toast) to 10.0YR 6/3 (light toast) or 10.0YR 4/2 (toasted dark gray) with black cores. Surfaces may be slipped and pol­ished on either or both interior and exterior, ac­cording to vessel form. Occasionally, there are portions or entire surfaces with what appears to be a white, milky, opaque slip grading through gray to black. Black is the dominant color; it would seem in this class of pottery that both the

paste and surface colors result primarily from a reducing firing atmosphere which restricts the oxygen flow, so that the smothering fire creates incomplete combustion or oxidation. According to the amount and kind of air available (deter­mined also by particular substances being burned which themselves contribute carbons) the ceramic may tum out whitish, gray, or black in any combination or degree. The surface tex­ture of our type is usually compact and dense and can be scratched with the fingernail only with difficulty; it takes a good luster when polished.

Form and Decoration: Like the preceding type, the local popularity of Pino Black-and-white pottery is evident in the thirty-three shape modes distinguishable. These duplicate closely those already described, so that external com­m1risons will not he reneated below and onlv ex-L- -- -- - .L .,

ceptional forms will receive comment: 1. Flat-bottom Dish with Recurved Wall (524;Fig. 37a-g, f, k). Lip usually rounded; two basalsherds have scars from supports, probably thesolid tabular types described above. Interiors arewell polished and exteriors smoothed only. Be­low the exterior rim there occasionally are oneor two shallow horizontal grooves and, rarely,another line above the base. One example (Fig.40t) has a narrow raised band below the lip inte­rior. Rim diameter: 22-32 cm; base diameter:16-28 cm; height: 3.7-6.8 cm; wall thickness:4-13 cm.2.- Dish with Gadrooned Rim (5; Fig. 37h, i).Slightly outcurving wall with exteriorly thick­ened rim that has typical gadrooned decoration(compare Figs. 30z-aa, 33e-h, 39q-t). Rim di­ameter: 20-24 cm; wall thickness: 8-11 mm.3. Deep Bowl (44; Fig. 37l-n). Flat or convexbase outflaring (4) or slightly convex (4) wall, di­rect rim, and round or beveled and flattened lip.Rim diameter: 20-24 cm; wall thickness: 5-9mm; height: over 10 cm.4. Labial Ridge Bowl (33; Fig. 370, p, t). Round­side bowl with expanded, flattened, and down­angled lip or ridge on the exterior. There some­times are three grooves above and/ or in­dentations on the ridge. Rim diameter: 14-28

66 1.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

cm, average: 25 cm; wall thickness: 5-12 mm. .5 mm deep separated by smooth bands cover the body exterior. Rim diameter: 20-24 cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm; height: 2.8-5 cm.

5. Low-wall Dish (2; Fig. 37q, r). Flat base withoutflaring and vertical wall, direct rim, andround lip. Horizontal grooves 2-3 mm wide and 6. Heavy Rim-lug Bowl (6; Fig. 37s, y). Convex

11 .' q

f...

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7-Z�

0 5cm

I : ; ff

-,

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II

Figure 37. PINO BLACK-AND-WHITE, BowL FoRMS, Oc6s PHASE

Drawings o, p, and t are of upper surface of rims.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 67

wall has flat rim with protuberances that are modeled, retaining suggestions of fish or a duck­like bird. Interior and exterior are grayish, the exterior rough and poorly smoothed. Rim diam­eter: 18-20 cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm. 7. Beveled-rim Dish (23; Fig. 37u, x, bb). Out­flaring wall with slightly sharp-angled or bev­eled flattened lip. One or two grooves circle therim separated by a wide smooth band; two ex­amples (Fig. 46x) have one to three low widegrooves or planes.8. Miniature Plate or Lid (22; Fig. 37v, w). Thinwall with direct lip cut on the exterior to forman acute angle; some seem to have been madefrom large sherds and may have served as jarcovers. Diameter: 10-30 cm, average: 24 cm;wall thickness: 5-11 mm; rim diameter: 22-30cm, average: 26 cm; wall thickness: 7-10 mm;height of one example: 4.5 cm.9. Low Outflaring-wall Dish (3; Fig. 37z, aa).Flat base and direct rim with round lip; blackslip. Rim diameter: 22 cm; base diameter: 20cm; wall thickness: 5 mm; height: 2.5 cm.10. Thick-wall Bowl (3; Fig. 37m, n). Flat basewith thick, convex wall; on two it thins towardthe lip; the other has an expanded flattened lip.Surfaces are rough. Grooved lines circle the lipon the interior and on the exterior above thebase. These sherds closely resemble stone ves­sels. Rim diameter: 28 cm; base diameter: 20cm; wall thickness: 2 cm; height: over 5.5 cm.11. Grooved-lip Dish (16; Fig. 37ff-hh). Out­flaring to convex wall with direct rim and lipwith an incised or grooved line around itsmiddle; one sherd has another line around theexterior below the rim. Rim diameter: 14-30cm, average: 26 cm; wall thickness: 5-9 mm.12. Heavy Thickened-rim Bowl (4; Fig. 37ii-kk).Outflaring wall with slightly expanded rim andbarely everted lip; one sherd has a horizontalgrooved line below the exterior rim. Rim diame­ter: 14-28 cm; wall thickness: 1-1.4 cm; rimthickness: 1.4-2 cm.13. Vertical-wall Bowl or Vase (6; Fig. 37ll-pp).Flat base with direct rim and flat or roundedlip. One sherd has a horizontal grooved linenear the base. Rim diameter: 6-8 cm; wallthickness: 6-7 mm.14. Wide-mouth Tecomate (l; Fig. 38a). Thinwall, direct rim, round lip. There are three pre-

slip horizontal grooves separated by wide smooth bands below the exterior rim and below these a series of slight vertical grooves on the shoulder. Rim diameter: 20 cm; wall thickness: 7 mm. 15. Open Bowl (11; Fig. 38b-e). Presumbaly arounded base and convex to slightly outflaringwall; direct rim and rounded lip; one with in­dentations. Rim diameter: 20-22 cm; wall thick­ness: 7-14 mm.16. Convex-wall Dish (301; Fig. 38f-h, i). Flatbase with slightly convex, outslanting wall, di­rect rim, and rounded lip. Some sherds havewhitish fire clouds near the rim; the rest isblack. A grooved or incised horizontal line en­circles the rim exterior just below the lip; somevessels have incised vertical lines that begin atthe base. Rim diameter: 18-28 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-10 mm; height of one example: 5.2 cm.

One base sherd with outslanting wall has a polished black interior and a red-on-semi-pol­ished-black exterior on which there are crossed diagonal grooved lines above a wide polished basal band (Fig. 38j); this decoration resembles closely Oc6s-phase Oc6s Buff at La Victoria (Coe 1961: Fig. 20) and Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 36, Fig. 26). See also Form 8 of Oc6s Polished Red, described above (Fig. 34k). 17. Incised or Grooved Restricted-orifice Bowl(58; Figs. 38i, 400). Convex wall with direct rimand round lip. Surface is a white slip reduced toblack with irregular fire clouds; some sherds arereddish on the exterior or interior, but all arevery well polished. There is an indented hori­zontal line below the exterior rim, and per­pendicular to it are incised or grooved verticalparallel lines, some with red pigment.18. Incised Collared Jar (3; Fig. 38k, l). Globularor subglobular vessel with upslanting rim; baseand lip uncertain. Exterior surface has a whiteslip reduced to black by firing; there are verti­cal lines on the shoulder.19. Rocker-stamped Dish (19; Fig. 38m-v). Flatbase with slightly convex or outcurving wall andvaried lip forms; only a band circling the rim ispolished. Rocker-stamped impressions in rowscover the interior (bases only of m-p) and one ortwo grooved lines encircle the interior lip or justabove exterior base. Some sherd interiors, suchas t and v, are very worn from use (as chile

68 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

grinders?). Several sherd interiors and a few ex­teriors are covered with mollusk-shell stamping; both the back and edge portion of the shell were used (see Tzij6n Stamped from lzapa [Ek-

I

7 m

gg

�jj

-�············· · · · · • · · · · · · · · • • .

.... ' 00

holm 1969] and discussion of Stamped Sherds below). Rim diameter: 18-32 cm; wall thick­ness: .5-1.3 mm; height: 5.5-6.5 cm. 20. Simple Tecomate (130; Figs. 38w-y, 40n).

u

/ZZ cc

0 5cm

\ hh

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,-, QQ rr

Figure 38. PINO BLACK-AND-WHITE, BowL AND TECOMATE FORMS, Oc6s PHASE t-o: Interior wall rocker-stamping. Drawings i-1, hh, and ii and photographs ff and gg are of exterior decoration.

oc6s CERAMIC COMPLEX 69

Thin-wall, globular or sub-globular tecomate with simple rim and round or beveled lip; exte­rior is very well polished, interiors smoothed only. A very light grooved or incised line usual­ly encircles the rim. Rim diameter: 18-22 cm; wall thickness: 4-8 mm. 21. Decorated Tecomate (163, including 72rims; Fig. 38z-bb). Thin-wall, globular or sub­globular, with simple rim and round, beveled, orpointed lip. Rim diameter: 14-20 cm; wallthickness: 5-10 mm. A great variety of decora­tion includes a wide band below the lip dividedby one to three grooved horizontal lines and be­low that an undetermined portion of the bodycovered with light diagonal, vertical, or crossinggrooved lines. There is also punctation with atriangular-ended object, shell-edge and shell­back rocker stamping, and some cord marking(see Amada Stamped pottery above). The teco­mates of the Barra phase are similar except thatthey lack stamped designs; some overlap intypes is possible.22. White-rimmed Dish (46; Figs. 38cc-ee, 40s).Flat base with outflaring wall, direct rim, andusually a round lip. Surface appears to havebeen a white slip which turned almost totallyblack over most of the vessel in a reducing fir­ing atmosphere but which left indeterminatezones of white near the rim. Five sherds have ahorizontal incised line below the lip. Rim diam­eter: 18-24 cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm.23. Small Appliqued Tecomate (4; Fig. 38ff, gg).Two sherds have some paint or light red slip re­maining; another has a pink or whitish slip. Onesherd has a polished band below the rim on theexterior while the rest is rough; two sherds haveapplique added. Wall thickness: 7-10 mm;height unknown.24. Restricte'd-orifice Bowl (36; Fig. 38hh-kk,qq-rr). Globular or subglobular wall, direct rim,and round or sharply-angled lip. Seven sherdshave fine, light, grooved or incised crescentic,diagonal, or criss-crossed lines below the exte­rior rim. Rim diameter: 10-26 cm; wall thick­ness: 3-10 mm.25. Small Outcurving-wall Plate (6; Fig.38ll-nn). Flat base with low outflaring to out­curving wall and unknown lip; one sherd has ahorizontal groove near the exterior base.26. Zoomorphic Vessel Support (5; Figs. 3800,

40k). Fragments of vessels in the form of ani­mals, with convex wall, unknown rim, and flat or round base. There are low supports formed by the effigy's extremities; others simply emerge from the abdominal region. One wall pro­tuberance indicates where an animal or human head was attached. Wall thickness: 4-8 mm.

· 27. Thickened-rim Bowl (l; Fig. 38pp). Flat basewith thick and slightly outflaring wall, directrim and flattened lip; surface is rough and stone­like, with a groove on the lip and another on theexterior near the base. Rim diameter: 30 cm;base diameter: 26 cm; wall thickness: 1 cm;height: 6.4 cm.28. Small Round-side Bowl (14; Fig. 39a, b). Di­rect rim and round-to-pointed lip, probably con­vex base. Rim diameter: 20-24 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-10 mm. 29. Gray Restricted-orifice Bowl (7; Fig. 39c, d). Subglobular form with direct rim and sharply­angled lip; surface gray with firing clouds onboth sides; very eroded. Rim diameter: 18-20cm; wall thickness: 6-8 mm.30. Collared Jar (20; Fig. 39e-h). Low collar orneck on subglobular shoulder; three have an in­cised line on the exterior below the rim and fourhave an incised line on the interior. Rim diame­ter: 18-24 cm; wall thickness: 6-7 mm.31. Large Flanged Bowl (6; Figs. 39i, ;, 40i),Thick to medium and slightly convex wall withflattened or rounded lip has labial flange 1-1.5cm wide. The interiors are black, but some seemto have had a reddish preslip; both surfaces arerough with firing clouds. Below the rim on theinterior is a horizontal groove; another is on thelip. Diameter: 20-26 cm; wall thickness: 6-10mm.32. Flattened-rim Bowl (68; Fig. 39k-n). Out­flaring or convex wall with direct rim and flat­tened lip; there is sometimes a groove aroundthe center of the lip and on some, below the rimon the interior or exterior. Rim diameter: 20cm; wall thickness: 5-9 mm.33. Barrel (4; Fig. 390-p). Direct rim and roundor beveled lip. Surface was slipped white butthis has acquired a grayish or blackish tone fromdifferential firing and is now very eroded. Oneor two horizontal grooves below the rim on theexterior delimit a polished band 4. 5 cm wide.Rim diameter: 12 cm; wall thickness: 6-10 mm.

70 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Oc6s Specular Red (1,154 sherds or 6% of total: 210 rim, 944 body sherds; Table 12; Figs. 39q-aaa,40p-½ 4la)

Paste: Same as that of Cotan Grooved, with dark core.

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t3 �

Jl jj

l ,, �ss tt uu

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bb

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yy

Figure 39. PINO BLACK-AND-WHITE AND Oc6s SPECULAR RED POTTERY FORMS, Oc6s PHASE a-p: Pino Black-and-white. q-aaa: Oc6s Specular Red. q-t: Typical gadrooned lips.

OCOS CERAMIC COMPLEX 71

Suiface: One or both surfaces may have a thickpolished slip containing abundant speckles of crystalline hematite pigment; these produce a brilliant reflection when held to the light. The color is 7.5R 3/6 (dark red) to 7.5R 3.5/6 (red) to IO.OR 5.6/ 4 (weak red).

This type was first established at La Vicoria (Coe 1961), where it included both specular and non-specular reds of the same general hue; at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 35, 36) and herein the type is restricted to the specular sherds.

Form and Decoration: Vessel shapes are typical Oc6s forms and are altogether similar to those already described; principal shape/ decoration modes are as follows: 1. Gadrooned-rim Bowl (60; Fig. 39q-t). Flatbase with slightly outcurving wall and thickenedlip with "gadrooned''. grooves or striations (seeprevious descriptions in Grooved Red andBlack-and-white). Usually there is a well-pol­ished red slip on the interior; a smooth un­slipped exterior has a relatively rough finishwith firing clouds; two sherds have specular redfinish on both surfaces. Rim diameter: 20-28cm; wall thickness: 7-10 mm; lip width: 1.5-2.4cm; height: 4.5 cm.2. Flat-bottom Bowl (48; Fig. 39u-bb). Medium­high slightly outcurving wall with round or flat­tened (7 examples) lip. Twelve sherds have wellpolished specular red slip on both interior andexterior surfaces; one has a light groove abovebase (Fig. 40r). One sherd has a polished exteriorrim band and rough exterior (Fig. 40q). Rim di­ameter: 20-30 cm; wall thickness: 5-12 mm;height: 5 cm (1).3. Undulating-rim Dish (7; Fig. 39cc). Flat basewith outcurving wall and round or beveled lipwith undulating curves or waves circling therim (see Form 3 in Oc6s Polished Red). Rim di­ameter: 20-28 cm; wall thickness; 7-10 mm.4. Low-wall Dish (3; Fig. 39dd-ee). Flat basewith slightly convex outflaring wall, direct rim,and round or flattened lip. Rim diameter: 14-20cm; wall thickness: 7-9 mm; height: 4.5 cm.5. Expanded-lip Bowl (23; Fig. 39ff-hh). Round­base, simple silhouette bowl with expanded,flattened, and down-slanting lip. There are oneto three grooves on the lip and the ridged edgesof these sometimes have small nicks or in-

dentations (see Form 5 of Oc6s Grooved Red). Rim diameter: 20-28 cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm. 6. Vertical-wall Dish (8; Fig. 39ii-jj). Flat basewith vertical wall, direct rim, and round lip;low, wide horizontal grooves divide the wallsinto several smooth wide bands (see Form 6 ofOc6s Polished Red). Rim diameter: 18-20 cm;wall thickness: 5-9 mm, average: 7 mm; height:2.5-5.3 cm.7. Beveled-lip Dish (6; Figs. 39kk, oo, qq, rr,40p). Flat base with slightly concave, outflaringwall, thickened rim, and beveled lip with one ortwo horizontal grooved lines separated by awide, smooth band (see Form 8, Oc6s PolishedRed). Rim diameter: 16-24 cm; wall thickness:7-10 mm.8. Small Plate or Lid (l; Fig. 39pp). A small hor­izontal slab with very low direct rim and bev­eled lip (see Form 9 of Oc6s Polished Red). Rimdiameter: 16 cm; thickness: 7 mm.9. Open Bowl (5; Fig. 39vv-xx). Slightly convexwall with direct rim and round or beveled lip;an incised or grooved horizontal line below therim on the exterior.10. Thin Tecomate (4; Fig. 39yy-aaa). Sub­globular wall, direct r-im, and rounded lip; redspeckled exterior slip covers part of the interiorrim. Rim diameter: 12-14 cm; wall thickness:4-8 mm.11. Large Tecomate (8; Fig. 39ll-nn). Globular,thin to medium-thick wall, direct rim, andround or beveled lip; there is a horizontalgroove around rim exterior. Rim diameter:14-20 cm, average: 16 cm; wall thickness: 4-10mm.12. Grooved Tecomate (21; Fig. 39ss-uu). Sub­globular wall with direct rim, rounded or sharp­ly angled and slightly elevated lips. There areone to three shallow grooves or a wide sunkenband around the rim; below is a variety of shal­low grooving which may be vertical, diagonalor horizontal and includes arrangements of oneto three parallel lines or branched lines. Rim di­ameter: 10-18 cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm.

13. Restricted-orifice Bowl (3; Fig. 4la-b). Con­vex wall with direct rim and rounded or angledand slightly flattened lip; probably has small flatbase and is very similar to the form of the flat­tish ficalpextle or vine gourd. A groove runs

72 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

around the rim exterior and one sherd has a wide, painted band from rim to shoulder. Rim diameter: 28-30 cm; �all thickness: 9-12 mm. 14. Large Flanged Bowl (5; Fig. 41c). Convexwall with direct rim and round lip and triangu­

lar labial flanges or lugs; may have had supportsand effigy modeling. Rim diameter: 10-18 cm;wall thickness: 7-8 mm.

lip. Rim diameter: 10 cm; wall thickness: 5 mm; height: 7.5 cm. 16. Miniature Vessel (7; not illustrated). Includesfive globular or subglobular tecomates with thinwall, direct rim, and round lip (rim diameter: 8cm; wall thickness: 4-7 mm) and two simple-sil­houette bowls with convex wall, direct rim, andround lip (rim diameter: 10 cm; wall thickness:6-7 mm). There are shallow diagonal and verti­cal striations on the exteriors of the tecomates.

15. Vertical-wall Bowl (l; not illustrated). Flatbase with vertical wall, direct rim, and round

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Figure 40. VARIOUS Po'ITERY FORMS AND DECORATIONS, Oc6s PHASE

e

n

Paso Polished Red: a-i; a-c: Form 27; d and e: Form 30; f. g, l, and m: Form 31; h, i: Form. 32 Pino Black-and-white: ;-o, s, t;;: Form 31; k: Form 26; n: Form 20; o: Form 17; s: Form 22; t: Form 1. Oc6s Specular Red: p-r; p: Form 7; q

and r: Form 2.

OCOS-PHASE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES, MINOR FORMS, AND VESSEL SUPPORTS

STAMPING AND CORD-MARKING

During the analysis of the Paso de la Amada Oc6s-phase pottery, a special count was made of sherds decorated by impressing or stamping (the type Amate Stamped, described above, alone in­cluded 1,340 sherds; Tables 7-9; Figs. 32, 41, 42). The most striking Oc6s decorative tech­nique undoubtedly was shell-edge and shell­back stamping or impressing (945 + sherds).

The Oc6s-phase shell-stamping technique has been described rather thoroughly by Coe for La Victoria (1961: 56-57, Figs. 47, 48a-c). The designs were done with at least three different pelecypod mollusks with crenulated or scal­loped edges, principally ark shells, Anadara per­labiata, sub-species Cuneara, and Anadara gran­dis, sub-species Larkina (Keen 1958: 34, Figs. 55, 56); the latter in Chiapas is called pata de mula, "mule's foot." Several examples of this heavy shell were found in Oc6s-phase deposits at nearby Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, in prepa­ration). Anadara shells were also recovered at the slightly later Early Preclassic to Middle Pre­classic estuarine site of El Paj6n farther up the coast (Failles H. 1980: 73, Fig. 42). Also appar­ently used for stamping was the cardium shell Anomawcardia subrugosa (Keen 1958: 148, Fig. 338).

Different parts of the single mollusk valves were pressed into the damp clay surface in vari­ous ways. Following a suggestion by Junius Bird to Coe (1961: 56), I tried out in plasteline all the decorative impressions possible with the shells and determined that the following distinctions for shell impressing and cord marking were valid for Paso de la Amada: 1. Shell-edge Rocker Stamping (772; Table 7).Rocker-stamping is the most popular type of

impression and was done with the edge of a sec­tion cut from a crenulate shell using light, con­tinuous, back-and-forth zig-zag strokes, often covering the entire body surface of the vessel and giving it a roughened appearance (although sometimes the impressions are more widely sep­arated). This technique was generally confined to tecomates and only infrequently is found on bowls.

There is variation in the length of the strokes, and the rows or columns of stamping can be vertical, horizontal, or inclined. The fol­lowing subcategories of shell-edge rocker­stamped designs are noted.

a. Vertical (342; Fig. 4ld-j). This is the mostcommon decoration, generally on tecomates in a rather close zig-zag arrangement (see partially complete tecomate, Figure 32a). There is usual­ly a well-polished band below the lip which is sometimes slipped red or black but otherwise is undecorated; below this the entire body is cov­ered with rocker stamping on an unpolished or unslipped surface.

73

b. Vertical corrugated (200; Fig. 41k, l). Thisdecoration seems to have been achieved with an unworn and uncut valve that pulled the edges of the impressions up slightly; these were not sub­sequently flattened or polished. The rocking was done so closely that it gives a rough or corru­gated effect. Some examples are on bodies of the tecomates with red or black smoothed bands circling the rim.

c. Horizontal dentate (45; Fig. 41m, n). Thiswas done with two classes of valves of the same species: one very worn by use giving a rounded impression, and the other new and giving wedge-shaped, well separated or dentate im­pressions. There are stamped bands running ver­tically or perpendicular to the smooth neck

74 N.W.A.F. PAPER 1o. 49. CEJA TE 1ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

band of tecomates. Six bowl sherds have this decoration on the interior and one has it on the exterior; these bowls or dishes have flaring walls

g

hh

nn

and flat bases and are self-slipped (red on one) and lightly polished.

d. Widely separated (18; Fig. 410-p). The

0

0 5cm

jj kk

pp qq

Figure 41. STAMP-IMPRESSED POTTERY DECORATION, Oc6s PHASE

Designs are mainly created by shell-edge and shell-back manipulation (see also Figs. 32, 34ee-ff, 38t-o, and 42a-e).

OCOS-PHASE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES 75

zig-zag rocking on the tecomate body is more separated than in the preceding kind and due to only very light polishing one can observe the shell stamping technique; a few sherds are slipped red.

e. Horizontal (6; Fig. 4lq-r). Similar to thepreceding type but done with a worn valve edge.

f. Horizontal on red slip (57; Fig. 41s, u-v).Tecomate fragments either with exterior red slip (7; one on both sides) or plain, all horizon­tally stamped with worn valve edges.

g. Combed (l; Fig. 41t). A cut shell edgeused as a comb or rake, with the design showing on only part of the sherds.

Comment: Shell-edge rocker stamping is rare in Mesoamerica but has been described in considerable detail for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria by Coe (1961: 56-57, Fig. 41a-y, 48a-c), who points out two other known exam­ples, both in the Comayagua Valley, Honduras: zoned stamping in the Yarnmela Archaic phase and at Caingala. 2. Non-rocker Shell-edge Stamping (104; Fig.4lw-ff).

a. Polished bands (10; Fig. 4lw-x). Thebands form curved-sided triangles on tecomate walls; the decorated zones are filled with zig­zag or dentate impressions made with shell edges. There is a very well polished wide black or red band on the rim delimited by two grooves. The decoration corresponds in general to Oc6s-phase Pijijiapan Zoned (some of which is cord marked) at Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 34, Fig. 23h, i, l, m). Early Preclassic dentate stamping reported for the Salama Valley of the Verapaz district of highland Guatemala (Sharer, personal communication to Lowe) may also be cut shell or shell edge.

b. Polished indented lines (l; Fig. 4ly). Lightlines impressed on a damp surface in haphazard fashion.

c. Simple stamped disks (93; Fig. 4lz-ff).Circular red-slipped sherds that are generally small and in some (8) cases have circular holes (these may represent, in some cases, the abdom­inal sections of animal effigies). Decoration is simple cut-shell-edge stamping parallel with or perpendicular to triangular polished bands. 3. Shell-back Stamping (173; Table 8; Fig.

4lgg-qq). Shell-back rocker stamping was done with ribbed shell; the tool was held backside down and repeatedly pressed upon damp clay, producing arcing indentations according to the size and position of the shell. Sometimes the stamping appears to have been made with suc­cessive strokes or a blow and subsequent zig­zagging. This technique, most common on teco­mates and rarely found on outflaring-wall dish­es, includes the following variations.

a. Shell-edge and shell-back (2; Fig.4lgg-hh). First, the lines of shell-edge are made in an elongated slightly separated zig-zag man­ner between the neck and the base; second, there are parallel rows of doubled shell-back im­pressions. Normal surface is slightly polished and unslipped.

b. Simple stamping (11; Fig. 4lii-ii). Super­imposed simple shell-back impressions in succes­sive straight parallel continuous lines on teco­ma te bodies and, undoubtedly, some zoomorphic vessels.

c. Branching (4; Fig. 4lkk-ll). Small super­imposed shell-back impressions that produce a branch-like effect.

d. Rocker stamping (2; Fig. 41mm). Impres­sion with worn shell back in a horizontal rock­ing movement on tecomates that may have been slipped red but were not polished.

e. Corrngated (25; Fig. 4lnn-qq). Done onupright vessel with very worn shell, but with more pressure to produce a corrngated effect. Some occurs on red-slipped tecomates and rarely on plates. Similar impressions are found at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 57, Fig. 47b', i', j').

f. Rim-impressed (39; Fig. 42a-c). Impres­sions of very worn shell-back ridges; sometimes it looks like a bunch of branches without leaves, with very worn, rounded twigs. They are found on polished, red-slipped, black, or plain teco­mates and dish exteriors or, more often, interi­ors; on the latter the surface was semi-polished, with exteriors smoothed only.

g. Zoned (21; Fig. 42d, e). Impressions madewith worn shell backs on tecomates; sometimes accompanied by wide grooves.

Comment: Coe (1961: 57, Fig. 41z-k') in­dicates that shell-back stamping was unknown elsewhere in Mesoamerica outside of La Vic­toria. It has now been identified at other Soco-

76 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TE ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

nusco sites in Chiapas, especially Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, in preparation); from Izapa there is a single example (Ekholm 1969: Fig. 22g). 4. Plain Rocker Stamping (63; Fig. 42kk-mm).

Similar to shell-edge stamping described pre-

a ♦ d

• m

0 5cm

aa z

hh

gg

�\ rr

u

viously, but done with a smooth tool on a pol­ished damp interior or exterior surface. The de­sign may be open or closed. This technique generally appears on simple-silhouette out­flaring-wall or round-side dishes; it is on a few

e

p Q

X

dd

cc

--, 00

pp

1� 55

�, QQ

Figure 42. MISCELLANEOUS POTTERY DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES AND FORMS, Oc6s PHASE For description see text. s-x: Cord marking. Photograph rr is of exterior decoration.

OCOS-PHASE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES 77

tecomate bodies, sometimes accompanied by a narrow polished red rim band. For other exam­ples see, in types described above, Figures 34ff and 38t-u.

Plain rocker stamping occurs in the Izapa Oc6s-phase types Tzij6n Stamped and Pijijiapan Zoned (Ekholm 1969: 32, 34, Figs. 21c-e, h, i; 22m; 23m; 24b). It is also present in the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 57, Fig. 48a) and on the earliest tecomates of Chiapa de Cor­zo (Dixon 1959: 36, Fig. 55). Plain rocker stamping is also present on early pottery of the Verapaz district of Guatemala (Robert Sharer, personal communication to Lowe). 5. Cord Marking (395; Table 9; Fig. 42v-x). It isoften difficult to separate cord marking fromfabric marking. Although Coe (1961: 58, 59,Fig. 49) clearly differentiates the two tech­niques, there remain some problems in dis­tinguishing between them. The much moreabundant cord marking apparently was pro­duced by two methods in our sample. In thefirst, a stick was wound with cord, possibly criss­crossed, and then rolled on the damp clay (attimes multiple rollings give a textile appear­ance). Sometimes the stick was wound withdouble strands, giving an even stronger appear­ance of crossed cords similar to those of fabric.In a second principal method, the cord waswound about a paddle which then was appliedto the damp clay in strokes, at times repeatedand crossed, also giving a textile-like impression.

Cord-marking was generally used on teco­mate exteriors, and usually it was applied with a paddle. The impressions cover the entire red- or black-slipped vessel body and extend up to a polished 1-cm-wide band about the rim which is bordered by grooves; the designs generally are crossed by post-impression grooves or polished bands that form curved-sided triangles. The im­pressions give a roughened appearance to the vessel surface, the degree depending on the thickness of the cord.

Cord marking, relatively frequent at La Vic­toria, appears rarely at other early sites in cen­tral Mexico (Coe 1961: 58). It also is relatively popular in the Oc6s phase of Izapa (Ekholm 1969: 32, Figs. 20, 21a, b, g, k-o; 22a-c, e, f;

23c-Z). 6. Fabric Marking (6; Fig. 42s-u). It is rare at

Paso de la Amada and elsewhere. Apparently the fabric was wound around a paddle and im­pressed into the damp clay surface, perhaps with repeated striking. One sherd shows a light­ly impressed, very thin, crossed-thread pattern. The impressing was done prior to slipping and generally on thin-wall tecomates. Fabric im­pressing is described for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria by Coe (1961: 58-59, Fig. 49a-f), who discusses its infrequent appearances across For­mative Mesoamerica.

MISCELLANEOUS OCOS-PHASE DECORATIVE TECHNIQUES

(187; Fig. 42j-kk)

1. Coarse Daubing (10; Fig. 42f-h). Damp claywas daubed on a plain surface and then drag­punched with a round-ended instrument.2. Thumb-gouging or Pinching (42; Fig. 42i-Z).Damp clay was thumb-gouged, with the excessclay sometimes removed. A few examples showtrue thumb-and-finger pinching. Pinching is re­ported for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe1961: 59, Fig. 48d).3. Sand Impressing (8; Fig. 42m-n). Before thevessel surface dried sand or gravel appears tohave been incrusted by pressure and sub­sequently moved by brushing or from normalmovement; the result resembles stone. Similardecoration at La Victoria is called net or knotroughening (Coe 1961: 59, Fig. 48!).4. Fingernail Punctation (8; Fig. 420-q, hh, ii).Apparently this was done with sharp fingernailsto damp clay of tecomate bodies, leaving re­peated half-moon marks. Irregular fingernailpunctation (Fig. 42p) is noted for the Oc6sphase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 51, Fig. 48g).5. Drag-and-jab (17; Fig. 42r). Made with asharp or round-ended instrument on a damp sur­face, perhaps by rotating the vessel while givinglight blows, thus leaving a dragging track; suchjabbing never deformed the interior surface.6. Spattered Roughening (3; Fig. 42y). Appar­ently very dilute clay was spattered onto teco­mate bodies to give a purposefully rough finish.7. Broad-line Bmnishing (5; Fig. 42z-aa). Donewith a polishing stone or bone on a smooth orsemi-polished coarse black tecomate surface.The diagonal polished lines generally crossed

78 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE1 ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

(compare Conchas 1 examples at La Victoria in Coe 1961: 83, Fig. 52n, o; 59!). 8. Random Stick Punctation (14; Fig. 42bb-ee,;;). Most commonly done on tecomate bodieswith a wide or round-ended instrument withoutdeforming the interior surface; some flat bowlor dish bases also have this decoration, with sub­sequent or prior polishing. At La Victoria theknown practice was limited to an Oc6s Graytecomate (Coe 1961: 60).9. Rounded Punctation (6; Fig. 42ff-gg). Shal­low rounded punched holes on tecomate bodies,some with black or red slip.10. Iridescent Paint (1). A thin, metallic-pinknacreous or opalescent paint or wash whichshines iridescently in certain light. NumerousPaso de la Amada vessel sher�s faintly suggestthis class of painting, but in general more severeerosion and the inability to identify surely manygood iridescent examples or the typical stripedOc6s designs differentiates our site from La Vic­toria, where these traits are rather common andwell preserved (Coe 1961: 49-54, 60, Figs. 20,2lk-n, 50k, n.

MISCELLANEOUS OCOS-PHASE

CERAMIC FORMS

Almost 2,000 usually small and eroded rim or decorated body sherds and other fragments (Table 13) were impossible to place confidently within the previously described ceramic types; among these were about 100 sherds or objects that could be roughly classified and which merit brief mention and illustration (Figs. 42nn-tt; 43). 1. Censer Dish with Applique (2; Figs. 42nn;43k). Convex dish or plate with smoothed sur­face; diameter of one example: 14.5 cm; wallthickness: 9 mm; height: 4.5 cm. On the upperlip of 42nn there is a small section of an appli­que limb or handle with three incisions suggest­ing the paw of some animal.2. Labial-ridge Bowl (10; Fig. 4200). Red or or­. ange well-polished interior slip, rough exterior.Diameter: 10 cm; wall thickness: 6 mm.3. Miniatme Dish (l; Fig. 42pp). Convex baseand outslanting, nearly vertical wall with directrim; poorly fired. Rim diameter: 3 cm; wallthickness: 5 mm; height: 2 cm.

4. Possible Spout (5; Fig. 42qq). Eroded narrowconduits which could have been spouts. Diame­ter: 2.2-3.8 cm; wall thickness: 5-10 mm.5. Small Effigy Tecomate (10; Fig. 42rr). Globu­lar or subglobular form with direct rim androunded lip. Rim diameter: 6-10 cm; wall thick­ness: 5-10 mm. Four sherds have well-polishedinterior smfaces, and two have black and red ex­terior slip. Wide rim band has incised line be­low it; the rest is generally rough or barelysmoothed. Applique and modeled features in­clude eyebrows and eyes partly formed by push­ing out the wall, probably to form an animalface; this feature is more typical of Cuadros-Jo­cotal tecomates.6. Eroded Dish (2; Fig. 42ss, tt). Flat base withoutcurving wall, direct rim, and round lip. Rimdiameter: 10-14 cm; wall thickness: 7 mm;height: 4.5 cm.7. Large Coarse Vessel (l; Fig. 43a). Flat baseand outslanting wall; base diameter: 28 cm; wallthickness: 1 cm; incomplete height: 16 cm. Ex­terior and interior are smoothed; a light self-sliphas firing clouds and compact texture. Decora­tion is executed with a 2.5 cm-wide paddle in asort of broad drag-and-jab movement in a bandabout the exterior.8. Shell-impressed Dish (2; Fig. 43b, c). Prob­ably flat-base, outflaring-wall dishes, one blackand the other slipped red; both are well pol­ished on exterior and interior. Rim diameter:16-18 cm; wall thickness: 1 cm. There are shell­edge impressions on exterior and interior sur­faces, and a small groove below the interior lip(compare stamped forms described previously(Fig. 33f, 38t-v) and Tzij6n Stamped dishes ofIzapa (Ekholm 1969, Figs. 21, 22).9. Solid Cylinder (l; Fig. 43d). Eroded fragment1.5 cm thick and 4.5 cm long, with three paral­lel indentations on one side.10. Deep Dish (2; Fig. 43e). Flattish base, near­vertical outcmving wall with direct rim, andround lip. Rim diameter: 18-20 cm; wall thick­ness: 8 mm; height: 5.5-6.5 cm. Eroded, well­polished red slip with firing clouds, a groove be­low the lip, and one or two grooves circling thebase.11. Incised-rim Bowl (8; Fig. 43f, g). Erodedrims of probably flat-base bowls with two paral­lel incised lines and occasionally the "double-

OCOS-PHASE CERAMIC FORMS 79

line break" on the interior lip. Diameter: 18-20 cm; wall thickness: 1-1.5 cm. This form and decoration are simple ones that were to become basic for much of Mesoamerica during the later Early and early Middle Preclassic periods; pre­sumably it is very late Oc6s or immediately

post-Oc6s in date at Paso de la Amada. Com­pare Amatillo White in Green and Lowe (1967: ll0, Fig. 81) and Ekholm (1969: 48, Figs. 38, 39). 12. Incised-wall Vessel (8; Fig. 43h-f). Sectionsof nearly vertical walls with well-polished white

O 5cm

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Figure 43. POTTERY GROOVING AND MODELING TECHNIQUES, Oc6s PHASE

Decoration is exterior except f, g.

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. . I V , I YI y

80 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

exterior slip. Vertical incised lines are flanked by multiple incisions, all of which contain red pigment.

13. Buff Tecomate (8; Fig. 43l, m). Globularwith direct rim and pointed lip, white or tanslip with firing clouds. One to three groovesseparated by smooth bands decorate the rim,sometimes with a vertical incised line below.Rim diameter: 10-14 cm; wall thickness: 6-12mm.

14. Coarse Bowl (22; Fig. 43n, o). Outflaringwall, direct rim, and flattened or beveled lip.Diameter: 12-18 cm; wall thickness: 6-11 mm.The surface is rough and unpolished.

15. Possible Earspool (2; Fig. 43p). A fragmentof what seems to be a cylindrical earspool ortiny vessel with two circumferential grooves.Diameter: 4 cm; wall thickness: 5 mm. Black­slipped surface below the exterior rim has faintdiagonal grooves.

16. Effigy Fragment (6; Fig. 43q-s). Irregularforms which seem to be parts of zoomorphicvessels; q and r have reddish surfaces; the latteris well polished. Fragment s appears to be aneye.

17. Pottery "Branch" (2; Fig. 43t). Solid frag­ment forming a Y. Thickness: 8 mm; length: 3.5cm.

18. Coarse Disk Fragment (2; Fig. 43u). Workedsherd with unpolished red slip. Diameter: 10.5cm; thickness: 1-1.6 cm. See other sherd disksunder Artifacts (Figure 65a-e).

19. Possible Effigy Lid (9; Fig. 43v). Semi­circular fragment of blackish pottery. One is theinferior extremity of an animal. Diameter: 11cm; thickness: 2 cm.

20. Pottery "Fang" Fragment (3; Fig. 43w-y).Two have well-polished red paint; one (w) maybe a small fin, part of a fish-effigy vessel.

21. "Wing" Effigy Fragment (2; Fig. 43z, aa).Possibly from bird effigy vessel; red slip withgood polish.

22. Hollow Sphere Fragment (5; Fig. 43bb, cc).Globular, subglobular, and oval silhouettes withvery eroded red slip; most are perforated withone or two closely spaced holes, and probablyare portions of effigy vessels. Diameter: about 5cm; wall thickness: 5-8 mm.

VESSEL SUPPORTS

(611; Table 14; Figs. 31a, e-h; 36c, d;

40h, i, k; 44)

Vessel supports or feet enjoyed a unique popularity during the Oc6s phase. Not only are these the earliest known supports in North or Central America, but they are also the most var­ied in form and abundance for any single Mesoamerican culture. They occur mainly on tripod vessels; on effigy vessels (infrequent at Paso de la Amada but common at Aquiles Serdan) there were usually four supports (some­times two). The great swollen supports on Oc6s tecomates are unique for storage or cooking ves­sels in Mesoamerica (see Michis Thin Tecomate above, Fig. 31). The principal support forms are: 1. Large Swollen Elongated (118; Figs. 31a, e-h;44a-c). Hollow supports for tecomates (Fig. 31);the exaggerated diameter and length often sug­gest a swollen teat. Usually there is a singlelarge rounded perforation near the point of at­tachment. The fragments generally have a selfslip, sometimes with reddish paint; they are un­polished and smoothed only.2. Elongated Hollow Conical (109; Fig. 44d, e).

Another kind of large support for round-bodiedtecomates. Maximum diameter: 5.5-7 cm; wallthickness: 5-12 mm; height: 9.5-14.5 cm. Thesesupports usually have a self slip with fire cloud­ing and slightly rough, smoothed surface. Fourexamples are deeply and diagonally grooved,giving a twisted or screw-like effect; three ofthese are partly solid.3. Hollow Truncated Conical (5; Fig. 44!).These supports have a light, unpolished self slipand firing clouds; some are open at the base.Upper diameter: 3-4 cm; lower diameter: 2-3cm; wall thickness: 1-1.2 cm; height: 8.5 cm.4. Hollow Cylindrical (8; Fig. 44g, h). One has aclosed base, but most are open; one is solid witha I-cm-deep hole in the bottom. Diameter:2.3-2.8 cm; wall thickness: 5 mm; height: 8.5cm. Most are unslipped or self slipped and un­polished with firing clouds, but one has an Oc6sPolished Red slip.5. Solid Tabular (103; Fig. 44i-m). Roughly rec­tangular with rounded edges and "tongue"form. Thickness: 2.5-4.5 x 2-4 cm (thinning to-

OCOS-PHASE VESSEL SUPPORTS 81

ward the base); height: 2-8.5 cm, average: 4.5 cm. Some supports are polished red, while mostare plain with firing stains. These feet are dupli­cated in the Oc6s phase at Izapa (Ekholm 1969:51n, Fig. 44b-cl) and at Aquiles Serdan, but didnot appear at La Victoria .

. ,.J I

I' .

.

.

.

-· g

6. Small Solid Conical (92; Fig. 44n, o). Thisform lengthens and narrows toward the tip;some are self slipped but all are unpolished andhave firing clouds. Diameter: 1.5-3.5 cm;height: 2-4.5 cm.7. Small Solid Subconical (5; Fig. 44p). Relative-

0 5cm

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cc

Figure 44. POTTERY VESSEL SUPPORTS, Oc6s PHASE a -f: From tecomates (compare Fig. 31). g-cc: From flat- or convex base bowls (compare Figs. 36c and d; 3800; and 40h,

i, and k).

82 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

ly small supports. Maximum diameter: 2 cm; height: 1 cm: Coarse surfaces with firing clouds; one is polished. 8. Hemispherical (2; Fig. 44q, r). Unslippedglobular; one is hollow and carelessly finished;the other is solid. Diameter: 3 cm; wall thick­ness: 5 mm; height: 2.5-3 cm.9. Effigy Vessel Feet (34; Fig. 44s, aa-bb).

Roughly cylindrical and short or long andcurved, sometimes fastened to vessel body (Fig.40k). Smaller examples are unpolished and un­slipped, with reddish-yellow surface; longer ex­amples retain polished red slip or self-slip. Afew have slight claw-like incisions.10. Corrugated (2; Fig. 44t, u). Conical, heavy,and solid, these supports have a slight shoulderopposite the point where they attach high onthe vessel body. Maximum thickness: 4 cm,minimum: 2 cm. Rough black surface with redpaint stains which may be accidental.11. Solid Cylindrical (3; Fig. 44v). Unslipped,without firing clouds. Diameter: 2-3 cm; height:5 cm (1).

12. Solid Elongated (116; Fig. 52w-y). Thesenarrow supports are thick-shouldered wherethey attach to the bodies of tecomates; below,they thin to a rounded base. Diameter: 2.5-4cm; height: 6-10.5 cm. A light self slip has fre­quent reddish-black firing clouds. This foot re­sembles the most common tecomate supportform in Victoria Coarse of the Oc6s phase at LaVictoria (Coe 1961: 50, Figs. 14, 16).13. "Duck-bill" (4; Fig. 44z; see also 36c and40h, i). Solid tabular support which looks some­what like a duck bill. Width: 4-6.5 cm; thick­ness: 1.5-2 cm; height: 6-9 cm. The surface isquite eroded and rough but may be self slippedwith firing clouds; one support has four verticalgrooves on the exterior.14. Small Solid Cylindrical (10; Fig. 44cc).These supports appear mostly to be from flat­base vessels; one fragment seems to be the cor­ner of a square vessel. Some have a polishedreddish slip and others have a self slip; a fewhave firing clouds. Thickness: 1.2-2 cm; height:2.5-4 cm.

FIGURINES

From the Paso de la Amada excavations we recovered 400 pottery figurine fragments (361 human, 39 animal), of which 54 were human heads. (Tables 15-19). Figurines are scarce or ab­sent for the Barra phase, but are relatively abun­dant for the Oc6s phase. The heads show consid­erable originality in their production; most of them are new to Mesoamerica and do not ap­pear in existing figurine typologies.

Hand-made ceramic figurines are one of the most passionately discussed traits of the Pre­cln.ssic period, and many Ll-iecries have arisen as to their possible use (Sejourne 1952; Pina Chan 1955; Coe 1961: 91; Reyna Robles 1971). It is, for instance, suggested that "archaic figurines fulfill magical requirements and must be used on the occasion of certain rituals" (Sejourne 1952), particularly on the level of village society where cult was commonly rendered to the forces of nahtre (Pina Chan 1955). Some young or pregnant female representations may have served in fertility cults as well as in curing rites. The figurines of Paso de la Amada, unfortu­nately, offer no new ideas about their possible function, inasmuch as they were all found in mixed fill or trash.

HUMAN FIGURINES (361; Tables 15-18; Figs. 45-54)

Only ten figurine fragments are from levels with sufficiently predominant Barra-complex sherds (Levels 9-11 of Pits 15-17) to suggest that they might pertain to that phase; all are rudely made and in a rather poor state of con­servation. These will be described first, with the assumption that all of the remainder belong to the Oc6s phase.

Early Rudimentary Heads (3; Fig. 45a-c)

These are slightly flattened, with facial char­acteristics made by both applique and punc­ta tion with a splinter or round-ended in­strument. The eyes are horizontal and on two heads were appliques of the semi-"coffee-bean" type with wedge-punched corner and a very small central punch for the pupil; the eyelids thus appear swollen and the nose deformed. There is no mouth or hair on Figure 45a, whose paste is very fine and badly fired, with very fine fissures. Figure 45b is well fired, but the face was deformed, as if when the clay was still damp; there is no surviving nose and only traces of a mouth and hair. Figure 45c is part of the nose and eye of a rather large hollow figurine head similar to others described below (Fig. 49a-e).

Early Rudimentary Bodies (7; Fig. 45d, e)

Usually of fine paste and rudely made, these figurine bodies represent women; three have the small breasts of young girls and one is certainly of a pregnant woman. A principal characteristic of these figurines is that all have deliberately truncated or stub arms (described below), a trait that survives markedly throughout the Oc6s phase (Fig. 45f).

83

Solid Modeled-appliqued Heads (32; Figs. 45g, 46, 47, 48a-d)

Paste is fine, as if ground, hard, and black, gray, brown or occasionally reddish. Some of the figurines were poorly fired and break easily; some show fissures. The figurine heads can be classified in a number of rather general types, as follows.

84 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

a

0

g

Figure 45. CERAMIC FIGURINE HEADS AND BODIES, BARRA AND Oc6s PHASES

a-e: Possibly Barra phase. f-g: Oc6s phase.

5cm

CERAMIC HUMAN FIGURINES 85

1. "Mohawk-haircut" Type (l; Fig. 45g). Thisextraordinarily well-made and well-preservedfigurine has a long narrow appliqued hairpieceextending across the head and onto the fore­head. Traces of whitish and red paint remain onvarious portions of the face and forehead. Theeyes are "double-triangle" impressions with arelatively large round central punched pupil.This non-appliqued eye form is directly antece­dent to a type that became predominant in suc­ceeding Early and Middle Preclassic periods inChiapas and on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala.

2. Realistic Type (19; Figs. 46, 49h). This is themost common Oc6s figurine and is character­ized by its relative realism. Height: 1-5.5 cm;width: 1.2-5 cm. Most distinctive are the eyes,horizontal to oblique elongated impressions usu­ally made across oval appliqued blobs of claywith broad wedge-like instruments. Finally, thepupil was made with a round punch, with theresult that the eyes appear swollen. The noseoccasionally seems large and wider than natural;the nostrils were also made with round punches.The lips are thick and protruding and oftenwere made with obvious, thick appliqued stripsof clay. Figure 46c appears to wear a nose plug.The lower jaw is typically well modeled andrather prominent.

All of the Realistic type heads have a wide forehead, generally with tonsured zones in otherwise curly hair. The hair style varies little, with shaved portions that leave one, two, or three shocks of usually matted hair, with one ex­ample of long locks piled higher and hanging on both sides. Some of the hair has red paint remi­niscent of some South American ethnic groups who still dye the hair with liquid annatto or achiote to which a little clay may be added for increased rigidity. Usually these figurines also have red paint on the lips and cylindrical earspools.

The Realistic type heads seem to me to rep­resent men, although the associated body frag­ments do not sustain this. Figure 49h, a com­plete figurine, is clearly a woman, distinctly pregnant. Another more feminine-appearing representation (Fig. 46b) has finer features, with the hair indicated by cord-marking and red

paint on top of which a braided tiara or diadem is placed; this head does not have earspools, but surviving depressions at the ear positions may originally have held some ornament.

Oc6s-phase figurines identical to this type have been found at nearby Aquiles Serdan (Na­varrete, in preparation; Lowe 1978: 349, Fig. 11.7, lower 1ight) and in the Los Alvarez mound (Ceja Tenorio 1974) as well as at La Victoria in Guatemala (Coe 1961: 92, Fig. 39f, i, j).

3. Prominent-nose Type (3; Fig. 47a-c). Charac­terized by a prominent beak-like nose, butotherwise with the same features as the preced­ing type.

4. Exaggerated-eye Type (5; Fig. 47d-g). Headswith rather small faces on which the eyes oc­cupy the major portion; the eyes are markedlyoblique or horizontal, made in the same manneras the Realistic type. Unfortunately, these fig­urines are very eroded and we cannot discernthe form of the nose and mouth. Some are cov­ered with red paint. They do not have shavedheads, but have long heavy locks on which thereare small adornments. Figure 47d is clearly apregnant woman, probably seated.

5. Plump-cheeked Type (2; Fig. 48a, b). Theeyes of these heads are similar to those of thepreceding types but have less prominent gashes.A wide nose, small mouth, and puffed cheeksare the most apparent features; curly or kinkyhair covers the entire forehead and eyebrows.

6. Puckered-lip Type (l; Fig. 48c). The front orfacial portion of an almost hollow head withshallowly delineated eyes of the usual Oc6s sortand a small nose. The most apparent feature isthe large wrinkled and protruding upper lip(somewhat fish-like), while the lower lip is smalland normal. This figurine may or may not havehad a partly shaven head with three circular or­naments on a diadem crossing the forehead andtemples. Small earspools are indicated.

7. Small Pendant Head (l; Fig. 48d). Pearshaped with broad pug nose; the nostrils and pu­pils of appliqued eyes are made by deep punch­es. The lips are thick and appliqued. There arecylindrical earspools, a necklace, and red painton the face. A large perforation pierces the backof the head, surely for suspension.

86 N.W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

0 5cm

Figure 46. CERAMIC Soun F1cuRINE HEADS, Oc6s PHASE

CERAMIC HUMA 1 FIGURINES 87

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5cm

CERAMIC HUMA FIGURINES 89

Hollow Figurine Heads

Several hollow heads seem to have formed parts of either effigy v_essels or rather large hol­low figures:

1. Mask-like Head (l; Fig. 48). Hollow facialportion of a larger effigy seemingly representinga mask with the skull-like head shaved; a tiarawith low indentations, extending from ear toear, may represent a hairdo. Extremely promi­nent eyebrows shelter eyes carelessly made ofsmall appliqued disks with small punched pu­pils. The nose is missing but appears to havebeen aquiline.

.2. Red-slipped Figurine (Fig. 48f). This headdiffers from all others at Paso de la Amada in that it has a well-polished dark red slip coveringthe entire face. Another strange feature is thestraight hair indicated by vertical incisions. Theforehead is broad, with oblique well-demarcatedeyes made in the usual Oc6s fashion. The now­broken nose appears to have been quite normal,but there is a very large mouth-like elementreaching from ear to ear that perhaps representsa ceremonial mask. There is also the slight sem­blance of a beard.

3. Large Hollow Face (8; Fig. 49a-f). Includesfragments of hollow heads with very naturalfeatures, most without the swollen or appliquedeyes common in previous types. Most have areddish slip, although one has a black slip. Thesize of these heads or faces is quite variable(from 3 to about 10 cm in height) and it is diffi­cult to imagine the original forms of which theywere a part; perhaps most were effigy vases.

4. Puffed-cheek Pendant (2; Fig. 49g). The pear­shaped face also forms the body; the hugecheeks stand out and make the figurine look asif it were whistling or blowing. The eyes arenormal for Oc6s and there are locks of curlyhair. There is no nose left. There is a small sup­port on the posterior section; a hole that piercesthe head at the temple allowed its use as apendant.

Solid Figurine Bodies (8; Table 16; Figs. 45f, 50, 51)

A marked difference is observable between two types of figurine bodies of the Oc6s phase,

these being either with or without arms and hands. 1. Truncated-arm Type (Figs. 45f, 50, 5la-e).This somewhat more common and earlier typeincludes figurine bodies, some badly fired, withdeliberately truncated or stub arms. Most frag­ments seem to represent young girls with smallbreasts and the broad hips and flat abdomens ofadolescents; generally they are naked; one ispainted completely red. They all have the navelindicated by a small perforation. The bodies arerarely polished and usually are unslipped; thesurface is natural and firing clouds are apparent.The usually standing figurines include pregnantwomen.2. Indicated-arm Type (Figs. 5lf, g, 52). Thesepossibly later Oc6s figurines also include preg­nant women, but surviving hands and feet haveshallow grooved lines to denote fingers and toes;the figurines may be standing or seated. Figure52b holds a small dog.

Arms and Hands (31; Table 17; Fig. 53a-e)

Among the excavated figurine fragments there are six hands and lower arms with a roll­like arm, the ends flattened and lines incised to give the impression of fingers on the exterior surface (Fig. 53a-c). A bracelet is indicated on one arm by incised lines, and two hands have red paint or cinnabar between the fingers. None were polished, and the surface varies from black to light reddish. Five arms and hand fragments originally adhered to the figurine body (Fig. 53d); two arms attached at the shoulders and to the abdomen are unpolished and unpainted, while a third seems to have been polished and painted red. Some of these arms appear to be from hollow figurines.

There are five arms with decorations (Fig. 53e), including bracelets, punctation, or a groove. The fragments with bracelets appear to have been polished and slipped red. Fifteen simple arm fragments are without decoration and are coarse and unpolished.

Legs and Feet (197; Table 18; Fig. 53f-o)

There are eighteen fragments of undeco­rated plain lower legs and feet without toes

90 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

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CERAMIC HUMA FIGURI 1ES 91

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Figure 50. CERAMIC SoLm FIGURINE BooIEs, Oc6s PHASE

92 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

a

b

0 5cm

Figure 51. CERAMIC Souo F1cuRINE Boorns, Oc6s PHASE

CERAMIC HUMAN FIGURINES 93

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Figure 52. CERAMIC F1GURINE Bony FRAGMENTS, Oc6s PHASE

94 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

b C d a

5cm

m

Figure 53. CERAMIC FIGURI ·E LIMB FRAGMENTS, Oc6s PHASE

CERAMIC ANIMAL FIGURINES 95

(Fig. 53f, g) for which the wet clay was pushed forward, forming a point (13) or a boot-like form (5). Other fragments (7) have toes in­dicated by incised lines (Fig. 53h).

Twenty leg fragments have what I term truncated legs or feet, generally ending in a point, although the thighs are thickened or flat (Fig. 53i, i); two are seated, with the pubic area indicated by incised lines separating the legs from the trunk. These legs seem to be related to the truncated-arm figurine type which I believe to be early in the Oc6s development. An addi­tional leg of this type appears to bear a tatoo­like series of slanted grooves on one side (Fig. 531); one hundred fifty-one fragments are of the fat thighs only (Fig. 53k, m, n), one of them dec­orated with a circle and punctation (Fig. 530). A few of these legs are polished or bear reddish slip or paint.

Comment

Undoubtediy the Barra- and Oc6s-phase fig­urines had a cultic or religious use and played an essential role in the life of the community; some recreational functions also cannot be ruled out. The number of figurines found in our rela­tively slight sampling of the fill and trash depos­its of the Oc6s occupation shows the rather high popularity that they reached. Some examples, furthermore, have cracks or fissi{res in the heads, indicating that the firing of figurines still had not been well mastered or else was hurried and careless, all suggesting that they were pro­duced locally for immediate purposes.

ANIMAL EFFIGIES (16; Table 19; Fig. 54)

This category includes both animal figurines or amulets and parts of small effigy vessels. In addition to these sixteen heads, twenty-three other fragments of small unidentifiable effigies were recovered.

Dogs (7; Fig. 54a-c, i)

These effigies apparently include a fat, loose-skinned, and relatively hairless dog bred throughout Mesoamerica as a basic food source.

Some of the heads seem to be tonsured or partly shaven, with a series of modeled applique locks across the forehead or temples, where they be­come confused with ears. The eyes are appli­qued disks with horizontal gashes and/ or a cen­tral punch, continuing the techniques used to make the hwnan figurines. Several appear to have been appendages of vessels, and some ex­hibit traces of red and white slip or paint on the head ornament.

Monkeys (4; Fig. 54d)

The best preserved monkey effigy has exag­gerated eyes made from balls of clay with deep, round pw1ches in their centers. The mouth is appliqued and extended, giving the impression of yowling or cajoling. The paws are raised or crossed in front of the chest. The other three ex­amples are fragmentary or very eroded.

Frogs or Toads (2; Fig. 54e)

These are effigy-vessel fragments of small flat-base dishes with the face and extremities modeled rudimentarily on the exterior walls. There are quite similar examples described for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 92, Fig. 40e, g).

Blunt-nose Snake (l; Fig. 54!)

This effigy-vessel appendage is a natural representation of a serpent head with a blunt snout and prominent eye sockets containing flat­tened appliqued balls of clay. The nose has tiny punched nostrils, and fangs appear to protrude from the mouth.

Fat Rodent (l; Fig. 54g)

This fragment of a hollow effigy represents the muzzle of an animal with the incisors out­side the mouth. It has a black slip, a kind of red­dish tongue, and whiskers visible on the snout.

Parrot (l; Fig. 54i)

This appears to be a recently hatched bird without feathers with a series of incised lines on the head. The eyes are appliqued clay balls with

0 5cm

Figure 54. CERAMIC ANIMAL EFFIGY HEADS, Oc6s PHASE

e -g, and i: from effigy bowls. For identifications see text.

b

CERAMIC FIGURI 1ES 97

central punches. The beak has a sort of red crest.

Comment

Rather similar ceramic animals were de­scribed for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe

0 I

5cm I

1961: 92, Fig. 40) and they are particularly abundant at nearby Aquiles Serdan (Navarrete, in preparation). These few effigies of ancient fauna represent only part of the rich habitat of the Oc6s region.

Figure 54 continued

ARTIFACTS OF POTTERY AND BONE

Here I include artifacts of pottery or bone that were used as personal ornaments or as tools to prepare food or other substances. Some items, such as the ceramic beads, whistles, and worked­sherd disks and scrapers, must have had frequent and widespread use, not only in the very early period known at Paso de la Amada, but also in later phases all over Mesoamerica. On the other hand, certain relatively numerous and possibly elite objects, such as the finger rings and, in par­ticular, the very thin clay "napkin-ring" ears­pools, seem to have had a more limited distribu­tion in both space and time; at Paso de la Amada their recovery was almost entirely re­stricted to the Oc6s phase and to pits in the small Mound 1. It must be remembered in this regard, however, that the larger Mounds 6 and 7 (Fig. 9) were not investigated and that many more elite Oc6s craft articles are to be expected in their vicinity (see Conclusions).

It must also be borne in mind that the few adornments and utensils described here are sim­ply those which either are inorganic, in the in­stance of the pottery items, or were in relatively well-drained situations permitting preservation, as in the case of the bone. Much other bone as well as artifacts of wood, cane, leather, feathers, and a wide variety of fronds and fibers dis­appeared rather soon after being discarded. For instance, the textile or sometimes quite fine cord-marking impressions on ceramics described above clearly imply that cotton or other plant fibers were in frequent use during the Oc6s phase, made into thread or cord, cloth, and nets (see Coe 1961: ll5). A few small ornaments of stone are described in the following chapter.

99

MODELED CERAMIC OBJECTS

There were no pottery artifacts in the few purely Barra-phase levels at Paso de la Amada, so that all of the objects described below are considered to belong to the Oc6s culture even though many of them occurred in mixed levels of Barra-Oc6s refuse, particularly in Mound 1 (Pits 1-3).

Pottery Earspool Fragments (479; Table 20; Fig. 55a-e)

These "napkin-ring" earspools are usually short cylindrical tubes with very thin, slightly concave or convex sides; the middle wall section is thicker than the rims, giving a lenticular form. Diameter: <1-5 cm, average: <3 cm. Width or height: 8 mm-3.3 cm, average 2 cm; central wall thickness: 1-3 mm. The clay is extremely fine and hard, without temper; both · core and surface are dark gray to black; the surface is generally well compacted and polished on the exterior with a good luster and some firing clouds. A few have a red slip on the exterior and some of this pigment remains on the rather rough interiors also.

Twelve fragments have a series of one to four incised lines (1 mm wide, .5 mm deep) sep­arated by smooth bands 1.5-2 mm wide; these incisions seem to have been made with a very delicate instmment or gouge (Fig. 55d-e). The decoration usually circles the ring exterior; a red pigment remains in the grooves. One ex­ample has successive fingernail impressions, also painted red.

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CERAMIC ARTIFACTS 101

This rather unusual type of earspool has been amply described for the Conchas phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 103-104, Fig. 42d, 60a-b). A long fragment of a similar earspool appeared in the San Lorenzo A phase at San Lorenzo with a beginning date of ca. 1150 B.c. (Coe and Diehl 1980: 288, Fig. 410). A single fragment was found also at Altamira, where it was assigned to the Barra phase (Green and Lowe 1967: 126). The latter and the probably Oc6s-phase ones (but note abundance of Barra­phase sherds in the earspool-bearing levels of Pits 1-3-cf. Tables 1-5 and 20) at Paso de la Amada are the earliest known examples in Me­soamerica. Both Lowe (in Green and Lowe 1967: 126; 1975b: 33) and Coe (1960: 370, Figs. 4, 5), as well as Evans and Meggers (1957: 240; 1966: 247-253, Figs. 2, 3), argue that the rela­tive abundance of a very similar type of napkin­ring earspool in the Chorrera phase of Ecuador is due to diffusion from Mesoamerica. The Ecuadorian Chorrera or Engoroy period sur­vived from 1000 to 300 B.c. according to Lath­rap (1975: 16).

Pottery Rings (11; Table 21; Fig. 55!)

Presumably finger rings, these rather narrow rings or bands have walls with a slight central thickening, giving a lenticular cross section sim­ilar to that of many of the earspools previously described. Diameter: 1.5-1.8 cm; width: 5-10 mm; wall thickness: 1-2.5 mm. Paste is very fine, compact, untempered and black. The rings are slipped and polished on the exterior and only smoothed on the interior. Most of the rings had gouge-incised decoration of short diagonal or vertical lines; red paint remains in the indentations.

Whistles (7; Table 22; Fig. 55g-j)

Fragments of animal effigies, two of them surely of birds, although one is missing the head. The globular air chambers have short supports o� legs and a rear protuberance or tail that has awide, thin perforation to form the mouthpiece.There are one or more perforations in the breastor head position. Apparently these instrumentswere played like ocarinas and held by the tail.Quite similar whistles were found from the Oc6s

phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 100, Fig. 40a-c).

Roller Stamps (2; Fig. 55k-l)

Two fragments of hollow roller stamps were found, one in Level 6 of Pit 2 and the other n Level 4 of Pit 3, both Oc6s proveniences. The blackish clay is deeply engraved, with traces of red paint; the interior surface is rough. One stamp has engraved diagonal lines and a series of dots; the ot:l).er stamp seems to be of a lizard­like animal.

Roller stamps appear throughout the Meso­american Preclassic or Formative period (see their special abundance at Chiapa de Corzo in Lee 1969, Figs. 36-38); these Paso de la Amada examples are the earliest reported.

Long Pottery Beads (60; Table 23; Fig. 56a, b)

Somewhat ovoid bead with a convex sil­houette. Most have a fine paste, while others have quartz sand inclusions up to l mm in diam-eter. They are poorly finished and some are bad­ly fired and unpolished. Diameter: 2-2.5 cm; length: 3.5-5.5 cm; wall thickness: 5-7 mm; perforation diameter: 5-8 mm. Similar clay beads are found at many Preclassic Mesoameri­can sites.

Cylindrical Clay Beads (2; Figs. 56c)

Cylindrical beads of fine black paste, with diameters of about 6 mm, length of 1 cm, and perforation diameters of about 2 mm, were found in Levels 2 and 7 of Pit 16.

Spherical Bead (l; Fig. 56d)

A flattened spherical ceramic bead with well-polished slight pink slip came from Level 5 of Pit. 1

Solid Earplug (l; Fig. 56e)

A solid, cylindrical plug of fine dark brown paste and polished surface came from Level 4 of Pit 3.

Pottery Spatulas (7; Fig. 56f, g)

These oval or flat-ended forms with solid cy­lindrical handles came from Levels 6 and 8 of

102 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

Pottery Coil (l; Fig. 56h) Pit 1 and Levels 3, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Pit 2. Rather similar paddles or spatulas were found from the San Lorenzo phase (Coe and Diehl 1980, Fig. 399).

A coil-like ring with overlapping arms and a facing indentation.

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BO E ARTIFACTS 103

Perforated Pottery Cones (2; Fig. 56i, k)

These are low cones with concave bases; one has four perforations near its edge and the other a single central perforation and circular impressions.

Solid Sphere (l; Fig. 56i)

Fragment with polished surface and remains of red paint.

WORKED SHERDS

The reuse of sherds was common at Paso de la Amada, as it was elsewhere. Some worked ex­amples were used as scrapers or formers and others as net weights.

Notched Sherds or Net Weights (22; Table 24: Fig. 57a-c)

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with indentations on opposite sides; they were probably tied with a cord as fishing net weights. Diameters: 2-6 cm. Similar early net weights are described for the Oc6s and Conchas phases of La Victoria (Coe 1961: 101, 105, Figs. 51g, 59b), and a modeled example is described for the Oc6s phase of Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 126, Fig. 4). They are also present at La Venta (Drucker 1952: 144, Pl. 45).

Ground Sherd Disks (52; Table 25; Fig. 57d, e)

Irregularly-shaped disks ground from sherds, some curved but generally flat and from vessel bases, may have been used as small plates, vessel lids, or gaming pieces. Diameter: 2-20 cm; thickness: 4 mm-1 cm. These objects were dis­tributed widely in the Soconusco and all Me­soamerica and also have been reported for the Machalilla phase of Ecuador (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada 1965: Pl. 159).

Semi-perforated Sherd Disk (l; Fig. 57f)

Ground sherd dish with a conical depression in the center made by a spinning object. These incompletely drilled disks are rather common in Mesoamerica and are thought to be spindle rests.

Perforated Sherds (4; Fig. 57g, h)

Sherds either irregular or ground as pen­dants with a conical depression in the center of one and on the end of another. These objects also are widely distributed in Mesoamerica and elsewhere.

Sherd Abraders (36; Table 26; Fig. 57i-o)

Sherds ground to various shapes, presumably to scrape or form wet clay but also capable of other grinding or polishing functions; such ground sherd tools are common throughout Me­soamerica and are also described for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 101, Fig. 5la-c)

and for the Barra phase at Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 126, Fig. 96).

BONE OBJECTS

Animal bones served as both ornaments and tools.

Cut Tooth (l; Fig. 58a)

A canine from an unknown animal, with a transverse cut near the root. Length: 1.4 cm.

Perforated Canines (2; Fig. 58b)

Two canine teeth from an unknown animal, filed at various angles and with a 2-mm-wide hole at the bases. Length: 1, 3 cm.

Awl or Needle (l; Fig. 58c)

A cylindrical polished dark brown bone frag­ment ending in a point. Length: 1 cm.

Perforated Shark's Tooth (l; Fig. 58d)

A small shark's tooth perforated at the root. Width: 1.5 cm. For a lance shank studded with fifty-six identical shark teeth, but of the Late Preclassic period at Chiapa de Corzo, see Lowe and Agrinier (1960: 42, Pl. 17d).

Fish-vertebra Earspools (7; Fig. 58e)

Polished fish vertebra with ground-off spines. Diameter: 6-8 mm; thickness: 2-5 mm.

104 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

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106 .W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

An identical example was recovered at Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 31, Fig. 41b), and others are described for the Conchas phase at La Vic­toria by Coe (1961: 108, Fig. 59i), who did not find another example in Mesoamerica but notes their presence in the Valdivia phase of Ecuador.

Irregular Bone (l; Fig. 58!)

Irregularly-formed or natural bone fragment which is thin and flat, with a protuberance end­ing in a rounded, well polished point; it is burned and has remains of red paint.

Bone Rings (7; Table 27; Fig. 58g, h)

Flat rings or bands of bone. The brownish bone is well polished and the edges are well rounded off. One fragment has vertical and hori­zontal lines. A large piece of bone, probably a femur, appears to be a matrix from which such rings were made; it has five transverse saw cuts made with a cord or the abrader saws described below. Diameter: 1.9 cm; width: 6 mm; wall thickness: 1.5-2 mm.

STONE ARTIFACTS

The stone artifacts of Paso de la Amada in­clude few small ornaments and many stone utensils, mostly small obsidian chips and grind­ing stones. There is no native rock at Paso de la Amada, with its deltaic situation, but most needed stone could be secured among cobbles in not-far-distance stream beds nearer the pied­mont at the base of the volcanic Sierra Madre de Chiapas. A few items, such as the rare iron ore ornaments and pervasive obsidian came from more distant sources.

AMORPHOUS CHIPPED OBSIDIAN

(16,451 examples; Table 28; no illustration)

The most numerous non-ceramic artifactual detritus at Paso de la Amada and most other Barra and Oc6s sites is small chunks, flake frag­ments, and tiny chips of obsidian which had an undetermined usage, though much of it must be debitage (there is an interesting total absence of formal blades or projectile points on this hori­zon in our zone). We found no other chipped stone, such as chert. The obsidian flake form is amorphous, but many of the objects must have served for scraping, grinding, cutting, incising, and perforating; see a representative sample of similar amorphous flakes from Altamira illus­trated by Lowe (in Green and Lowe 1967: 128, Fig. 97a). Some chunkier pieces may represent exhausted nuclei left by an unsophisticated ex­traction process. None of the pieces exceeds 3 cm in width and most are tiny and recoverable only by careful screening.

The most common obsidian at Paso de la Amada is dark black with quartz or other pyro­clastic inclusions. The latter in some instances permeated the fragments, making them ex­tremely difficult to work or to work with. This

obsidian is definitely of a poor quality and has been imported from the Tajumulco region in the neighboring department of San Marcos in Guatemala (Fred Nelson, personal commu­nication). A second type of obsidian is trans­parent-to-opaque gray and of a good quality, without veins or inclusions, and was imported from El Chayal and San Martin Jilotepeque in central Guatemala (Clark 1981); fine blades and other instruments could have been produced with this excellent material had the people known how, or wished, to do so.

..A ... t Paso de !a ... A ... mada t..1-ie amorphous obsidian flakes and chips are few in the purely Barra lev­els of Pits 15-17; most of the more than 16,000 examples are from mixed Barra and Oc6s or purely Oc6s levels. For nearby Altamira, where Oc6s is poorly represented, similar abundant flakes are shown by Lowe to indicate an early Barra-phase industry (Green and Lowe 1967: 128, Fig. 97a). "Poor quality" banded obsidian "scraper" flakes were fairly frequent in the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 103, Ta­bles 7-13, Fig. 51k). At San Lorenzo there were 140 "miscellaneously modified pieces" of obsid­ian reported from all phases, in addition to 103 rather similar flakes identified as "bifacially modified," "miscellaneous," or as burins (Coe and Diehl 1980: 251-254, Figs. 267-277).

The spectacular abundance and amorphous character of the Oc6s obsidian fragments have caused some controversy regarding their pos­sible use and larger significance in the life of the early Soconusco inhabitants. Various in­vestigators have given their opinion on this problem, beginning with Coe (1961: 100):

The curious lack [at La Victoria] of prismatic blades or any other artifact

107

108 .W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

deliberately fashioned from obsidian is particularly strange, since obsidian chips abound in Oc6s levels. Moreover, these chips or small flakes show pro­nounced bulbs of percussion, suggesting that the Oc6s people were making something out of this raw material. If so, it has never been found. They did, however, utilize small flakes as rough­and-ready scrapers and spokeshaves.

Lowe (Green and Lowe 1967: 128 and 58-60) raised the possibility that theseamorphous chips were utilized in maniocscrapers, suggesting the reliance on manioc as astaple during the pre-Olmec period (see Lowe1975b: 10-14, Fig. 4, for further development ofthis idea). The natural brittleness of obsidianmakes its use for such scraping tasks very ques­tionable; several critics have suggested that bitsof the obsidian would unavoidably enter themanufactured foodstuff and be a source of pos­sible internal injury. It is possible, nevertheless,that effective straining would avoid most of thisproblem, particularly if the product were usedas soup or in fermented drink form, commonSouth American customs. It would perhaps be aquestion of optimum availability of serviceablematerial rather than of the use of an ideal mate­rial. Davis (1975) made an experiment usingreplicated obsidian flakes and concluded thatwear patterns on his and a few Altamira sampleswere consistent with scraping a soft vegetablesubstance.

A preliminary analysis of the Paso de la Amada obsidian has been made recently by Clark (1981), whose conclusions were not avail­able at the time of my study. It was my own ob­servation, however, that the obsidian was brought to the site in fairly large chunks and was worked locally by percussion; most houses appear to have participated in the manufac­turing activity.

The production of obsidian flakes reached its apex during the Oc6s phase and after this the activity disappeared almost completely from our part of the Soconusco during the Cuadros phase. This circumstance gives the impression that soft vegetal scraping, or some other pecu­liar subsistence technique utilizing very in-

tensive cutting or scraping, was displaced by an­other economic activity, which I suppose was related to the intensified cultivation of corn (see Conclusions below).

GROUND STONE

Grinding and Polishing Tools

1. Abrader Saws (5; Fig. 58i-k). Thin stone slabsof amorphous form with one edge narrowed forrubbing or grinding in a saw-like motion (possi­bly used for tasks such as the cutting of the boneshown in Fig. 58g). Identical abrader saws are il­lustrated for the Ojochi and San Lorenzo phasesat San Lorenzo (Coe and Diehl 1980: 236, Fig.226a-d).2. Pumice Effigy Polisher (l; Fig. 58Z). An orna­ment, with the features apparently of a humanhead rudely incised into what was certainly apumice polishing or abrading stone. Coe (1961:102, Fig. 51h, i) illustrates almost identicalpieces of flat pumice "which apparently servedas abraders or smoothers for finishing wood."The effigy head here is probably a secondaryutilization. Pumice stone, found deposited bywater on Chiapas river or ocean beaches (it isvery light), is nature's scouring pad.3. Polisher (l; Fig. 58m). This fine stone in astate of disintegration is of irregular triangularfonn with one flat side probably used as a pol­isher. Some rather similar pulidor forms of hard­er stone, found elsewhere, are thought to beamulets, since they have been found in burials(see, for instance, Coe and Diehl 1980: 238, Fig.231).

Ornaments

1. Discoidal Bead (Fig. 58n). Fragment of around, thin stone with a small centralperforation.2. Hematite Mfrror Fragments (4; Fig. 580-q).The largest piece is a long flat fragment withfive faces; there are traces of red pigment on itsbright, highly reflective surface; completelength: 2.8 cm; thickness: only 1 mm. Anotherpiece is a fragmented circle without red paint;width: 2.5 cm; thickness: 1 mm. A third piece isa flat disk-shaped platelet with a 1-cm diameterand thickness of less than 1 mm. These last two

GROU1 D ST01 E ARTIFACTS 109

fragments could have been parts of a composite earspool.

Mirror fragments of hematite or other iron ores such as magnetite and ilmenite have been found at numerous Preclassic and later sites, but the Paso de la Amada examples may be the earliest known in Mesoamerica. The early Mesoamerican distribution and trade in hema­tite has been amply discussed by Pires-Ferreira (1975). A grooved bar of "magnetic hematite," 3.4 cm long, found at San Lorenzo (San Lorenzo phase) is postulated to have been a compass needle (Coe and Diehl 1980: 245, Figs.· 251, 255; Carlson 1975). 3. Pyrite Mirror (l; Fig. 58r). This small iron py­rite fragment is rectangular in form, with oneside a reflective mirror and the other siderough; it measures 6 x 5.5 mm and is 1 mmthick. This tiny example is one of the earliestpyrite mirro!·s known in Mesoamerica.4. Celts (6; Figs. 60e, f, 61g, h). These basalticaxes are all from very late levels at Paso de laAmada, three of them from the surface. Theyhave oval cross sections and convex sides, and asharp convex point. Width: 3-5 cm; thickness:1.7-2 cm. Celts are found infrequently at almostall Mesoamerican sites, but these are certainlyamong the earliest known.

Ground Stone Vessels

1. Dishes (5; Figs. 59a, b, 600, p). All of the frag­ments of basaltic or granitic dishes are fromMound 1, Levels 3, 5, 8, and 10, the last cer­tainly a mixed Barra and Oc6s context. Theyhave flat bases, outslanting to slightly convex orvertical walls, direct rims, and round thinnedlips. Rim diameter: 14-21 cm; base diameter: 12cm; height: 6-7.5 cm; wall thickness: 7 mm-2cm; base thickness: 1.5-2 cm. Both exteriors andinteriors are grmmd quite smooth and the interi­or is sometimes well polished as if from use.

Very similar dishes in terms of type of stone and excellent finish were found in the Barra and Jocotal occupations at Altamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 130, Fig. 98c-e). Very similar out­slanting-rim bowls appear in the pre-ceramic Abejas phase of the Tehuacan Valley, before 2000 B.c. (Byers 1967: 117, 118, Fig. 198). Also rather similar are early stone vessels from Tra-

piche and Chalahuite, Veracruz (Gare 'ia Pay6n 1966: 175, Pl. 85, 5, 6).

2. Hemispherical Bowls or Mortars (34; Figs.59m-p 60a, Table 29). Andesitic hemisphericalbowls with flat or convex bases, thick walls, anddirect rims with rounded lips. One whole bowl(Fig. 60a) was found inverted (Element 1) inLevel 5 of Pit 2A (Fig. 12) and seems to have alight groove below the exterior lip. Rim diame­ter: 10-18 cm; wall thickness: 1-5 cm. This gen­eral sort of stone bowl appears very early inMexico, well before pottery in the TehuacanValley (Byers 1967 Fig. 96 upper right), and,though never common, it is rather widespreadin the Soconusco during the Oc6s and succeed­ing Early and Middle Preclassic periods. Theya"i:e described as round bowls for the Oc6s phaseat La Victoria (Coe 1961: 101, Figs. 41b, 5lq, r)

and as thick-wall bowls or mortars for the Con­chas 1 and 2 phases (Coe 1961: 106, Figs. 42e, g,61t). Four fragments were recovered at Alta­mira, one a half vessel (Green and Lowe 1967:28, 130, Figs. 35, 98a, b). Ojochi-phase Oc6s-ho­rizon equivalents at San Lorenzo were generallyshallower (Coe and Diehl 1980, Fig. 218).3. Stone Vessel Suppo1ts (3; Figs. 59h, 60h-;).Basaltic globular or rectangular feet, ratherroughly worked, which must have belonged tosome of the preceding dish or bowl forms.

Grinding Stones or Manos

1. Early Cylindrical Manos (4; Figs. 60c, 61n).From mainly Barra or earliest Oc6s levels, theserather small basaltic or granitic cylindricalmano fragments are quite well finished and haverotmd ends. Some show great use, with one sidevery much worn. Dimensions of the fragments:6-7.5 cm long and 5-6.5 cm thick. Total lengthis tmknown. There were no mano fragments inthe pure Barra Levels 14-19 of Pits 16 and 17and only one in Level 13 (which has a few Oc6ssherds).2. Later Cylindrical Manos (8; Figs. 59d, f, 60b,u). Cylindrical, basaltic; one pitted and coarseand the others finer and well finished orsmoothed from use. All are fragments, 2.5-4 cmthick. Some may have been used as pestles instone mortars rather than on metates, perhapsafter breakage.

110 .W.A.F. PAPER o. 49. CEJA TE ORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

3. Miniature Manos (2; Figs. 59g, 60k). Small,thin, long granitic or basaltic stones, 2.4-3 cmthick and 6.5-9.5 cm long. Two faces show pol-

ish from use and one end shows wear as if it has been hit against another object. 4. Lenticular Manos (5; Fig. 59e). Sub-rectangu-

--..... ,, '

'

I I I I I I

I I

,,,// I --

I

I I

�-

',

_____ t _______________--------

------------- --------

------

-

----------

0

I-f I I I

----

----------

h

.. 5cm

Figure 59. GRou. •o STONE BowLs A •o ARTIFACTS

•

See text. k: Profile shows horizontal section at widest point. m: Element 1, Pit 2-A (see Figures 12 lower right and 60a).

GROUND STONE ARTIFACTS 111

d 0

h k

n 0

u

Q

5cm

V

--- -- -, ' \ '

w

Figure 60. GROUND STONE BOWLS AND ARTIFACTS See text; for a see Figure 59m.

lar oval granitic or basaltic manos which are thicker in the center. Some appear to have been used as crushers after breakage. Maximum thickness: 4.5-8 cm; minimum end thickness: 2-2.5 cm. Similar early manos are described forthe Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 102,Fig. 41d) and at Altamira (Green and Lowe1967: 29, Fig. 38).5. Oval Manos or Hand.stones (4; Figs. 59k, 60n,6le). Basaltic oval and slightly rounded stoneswhich were used in a horizontal backwards-for­wards movement. One is a river cobble with

two worn sides and areas which have beenstruck and chipped. Length: 7.5 cm; width: 3.5and 4.5 cm. Similar stones were common at Al­tamira (Green and Lowe 1967: 29, Fig. 37) andoccur also in the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe1961: 102, Figs. 41d; 51m, n) as well aselsewhere.

6. Miscellaneous Manos (15). Basaltic and gra­nitic cobbles, oval in section, with a surface pol­ished flat from use. Some show signs of havingbeen used as mortars or crushers.

Metates

1. Early Metate Fragments (5; Figs. 59j, 6li-k).From Levels 11 an 12 in Pits 16 and 17, thesefew basaltic or granitic fragments are fromearliest Oc6s- and might even be from Barra­phase grinding stones, but it is noteworthy thatno fragments came from the pure Barra Levels13-19. They are irregular in form, with ratherrough surfaces, with the exception of one whichshows polishing from use as a mano. The origi­nal form of these objects is undetermined.Thickness: 2.5-5 cm; length and widthunknown.

112 N.W.A.F. PAPER No. 49. CEJA TE 10RIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

2. Small Slab Metate Fragments (56; Figs. 59i,60 t). From basaltic grinding platforms thathave circular, oval, or rectangular shapes andstraight or convex bases; some of these frag­ments have slight lips, but most are flat. All areincomplete, but were about 11 cm wide, 19 cmlong, and 1.5-4.8 cm thick. The grinding surfaceis generally better polished due to the friction ofthe metate arm or mano; although the bottomside shows good work, it is often somewhatrough; on some both surfaces are well polished.

Rather similar small metates are described for the Oc6s phase at La Victoria (Coe 1961: 102, Fig. 4le, g). and for the Cuadros phase at Salinas La Blanca (Coe and Flannery 1967: 63, Pl. 2ll). Numerous metates described for Altamira are generally of the boulder-trough type and from somewhat later (Green and Lowe 1967: 28-29, 128, Figs. 36, 97e) .

Pestles

1. Conical (4; Figs. 60Z, 6la-d). Large basalticor granitic cones with slightly convex bases andtruncated or rounded handles. Three are ex­tremely well worked and bell shaped, with a de­liberately widened crushing surface 7-5 cm indiameter. An Oc6s bell-shaped pestle from LaVictoria is quite similar (Coe 1961: 102, Fig.5lp). These objects may have been used eitherwith stone or clay bowls for mashing or on shal­low mortars described below for crushing ofharder seeds and nuts.2. Plain Cylindrical (2; Fig. 60q, r). Simple ba­saltic or granitic pestles of narrow diameter,well-smoothed slightly rounded bases, but bro­ken or unfinished handles.3. Ovoid Pulve1izers (5; Fig. 60d). These basalticor granitic stones, which apparently were usedin a circular motion to grind on metates or mor-

• a

• • --,/

\ I \ I \

I

I I

I

-....

• •

I

( '-

d

---------

c· ..w, ,_ --� .,

h ------�

g

-n

Figure 61. GROUND STONE ARTIFACTS

See text.

5cm

GROU D STONE ARTIFACTS 113

tars, are made of broken manos or river cobbles that are relatively wide and flattish. 4. Disk-shape M01tars (2; Figs. 60s, 611, m).Made from flattish granitic or basaltic riverstones, one of which is roughly circular, theother more irregular. Both have low depressionsin the center as the grinding or crushing surface.

Spherical Hammerstones (7; Figs. 59Z; 60g, m;

6lj)

Spherical river cobbles 7-3 cm in diameter, one of which apparently was broken in two dur­ing use as a hammerstone. A small portion of the surface has usually been polished, as from circular motion, but with central damage from successive blows; some show evidence of a for-

ward-backward crushing action. Hammerstones appear at most sites.

Miscellaneous Broken Stones (1,840; Table 30)

These are generally rather small and of ir­regular form, of basalt or granite (Green, in Green and Lowe [1967: 27, 50], describes sim­ilar broken stone at nearby Altamira and at Padre Piedra in the interior of Chiapas as being primarily "dacite" and "quartz latite"). All of this abundant fragmented stone is imported from nearby sources and apparently was broken locally from use as rudimentar)> hammerstones or anvils or as a result of fire cracking around hearths or in boiling water or for creating steam.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Paso de la Amada project was designed with the intent of increasing our understanding of the developmental history of the first agricul­tural cultures on the Soconusco coast of Chiapas. I first made an attempt to identify ad­ditional early occupational zones in the general Coatan River region. A further hope was that one of these would demonstrate more clearly the nature of external relations, a clear need in view of the fact that existing data on the Barra and Oc6s societies were tantalizing but minimal. The most promising area proved to be that around the colonia Buenos Aires in the munici­pality of Mazatan, less than an hour's walk northeast of Altamira, where the Barra ceramic complex had been first isolated. Excavations here were concentrated in a group of fields south of the colonia known as Paso de la Amada, and were carried out during the months of March, April, and May of 1974.

The Paso de la Amada situation was particu­larly attractive because it appeared to be a zone of nearly exclusive Oc6s occupation including rather numerous very low mounds suggestive of a village; this circumstance had not previously been encountered. Surface distribution of Oc6s sherds was found to cover approximately 30 or 35 hectares, divided among several modern cot­ton fields and adjacent fallow (seasonal lagoon) land. Based on the surface reconnaissance and the varying dispositions of the farmers to permit work in their particular fields, we dug 23 pits in this area which ranged in size from 1.5 x 1.5 m to 2 x 2 m. We found that the depth of occupa­tion varied considerably, from 40 cm up to 300 cm. Due to the little observable change in natu­ral soil characteristics, a system of digging in 20-cm artificial levels was used.

The deposits that were sampled represent two consecutive Early Preclassic cultural com-

115

ponents previously identified as the Barra and Oc6s phases. The original Barra occupation was light, its ceramics in an undisturbed deposit lim­ited to lower levels of the deepest pits in Mound 5. An equal or greater number of Barra ceram­ics, however, was recovered from mixed Oc6slevels in other mounds and pits (particularlyMound 1, Pits 1-3, and in the zone south ofMound 2, Pits 8, 9, and 12). The scarce materialrecovered argues for quite a bit less than 500years for the Barra-phase duration, sometimebetween about 2000 and 1500 B.c.; we have acorrected radiocarbon date of 1700 B.c. for thisphase, which we consider to mark an inter­mediate point (Lowe 1975b: 29, 33; 1978: 352).With respect to the Oc6s phase, I would attri­bute to it a similar span of considerably lessthan 500 years, from about 1500 to well before1000 B.c., since the following Olmec-related erawas well established in most regions by 1200 or1150 B.c., as almost all investigators agree (Coeand Diehl 1980: 159; see Lowe 1978: 337, Fig.11.3 for the Chiapas Pac and Cuadros phaseequivalents).

The most common pottery forms of the Bar­ra phase were tecomates or neckless jars and flat-base dishes with a predominant decoration of either shallow incised or grooved lines; the former was often multiple, with netlike crossing diagonal designs; the latter, generally broad grooving, was continuous and covered much of the exterior surfaces without deforming the inte­rior with designs that are usually diagonal, but also vertical, horizontal, or, rarely, circular or semi-circular. Generally the dishes are well smoothed with little or no decoration.

Stone vessels which have flat bases and out­slanting walls appear in the early mixed Barra­Oc6s deposits. There are also a few simple cylindrical manos and rectangular or oval me-

116 N.W.A.F. PAPER. 1o. 49. CEJA TENORIO: PASO DE LA AMADA

tates without supports associated with these mixed deposits. In the lowermost unmixed Bar­ra-phase levels of Pits 16 and 17 there were a few of the small amorphous obsidian flakes and great numbers of them in the mixed levels.

A subtle cultural change occurred at Paso de la Amada by around 1500 B.C. There was no brusque difference in material culture, but there seems instead to have been a gradual cultural evolution within which new form modes and decorative techniques were acquired; these we recognize as a modified culture base elsewhere known as the Oc6s phase and first identified at La Victoria, Guatemala (Coe 1961).

The Oc6s ceramic complex is characterized at Paso de la Amada by a preponderance of rather thin-wall tecomates (3,879 rim and body sherds of the Michis type alone), which some­times had large solid or hollow tripod supports, a unique Oc6s development. Another form that became increasingly popular, and for which we have many thousands of sherds, was the flat-base dish, now often with distinctive "gadrooned" and beveled rims with grooved decoration. There also was a remarkable proliferation of dif­ferent types of solid tripod supports. Particu­larly distinctive of Oc6s pottery is the remark­able profusion of stamped designs applied to all vessel forms and some effigies; there are simple, dentate, shell-edge and shell-back rocker stamp­ing, punctation, dragging, and cord marking, of­ten in zones and alternating with contrastive polished bands.

Many distinctive human and animal fig­mines also typify the Oc6s society; these include human figmine fragments with very wide hips, truncated arms, and small breasts, some repre­senting pregnant women.

A more extensive inventory of manos and metates, hammerstones, pestles, and abraders also typifies the Oc6s phase; there also are more stone vessels, usually hemispherical bowls or mortars. A few hematite earspool(?) fragments and a tiny pyrite mirror indicate both increased sophistication and exchange in our sample. There also are more ceramic artifacts in the Oc6s phase, including rings, napkin-ring ear­spools, beads, whistles, roller stamps, and many worked-sherd tools. Most ubiquitous of all were

the more than 16,000 obsidian flakes and chips, found in all proveniences.

It is safe to conclude that Paso de la Amada was a village of sedentary and at least semi-agri­cultmal people possibly with a first settlement soon after 2000 B.c. The orginal population, in the Barta phase, must have been part-time hunt­ers, fishers, and gatherers who settled inland, somewhat removed from the sea, to indulge in simple agriculture. These pioneers conveniently situated themselves on the interior coastal flood­plain near the still or running water in the now seasonal series of lagoons around Buenos Aires (this freshwater system may then have been con­stant or intermittent all the way across the coastal zone, offering ideal conditions for many small settlements). Various food plants that needed minimal care, including manioc and other root crops, could have been readily plan­ted in the slightly undulating, easily worked, sandy but fertile soil. The forested hills and mountains nearby on the north and the rivers, estuaries, and salt water lagoons still not far dis­tant to the south and east permitted seasonal or full-time exploitation of various environments. Riverine and estuarine fish and shellfish collec­tion would have combined with the ready avail­ability of forest products, including game ani­mals and wild fruits as well as building materials, to contribute importantly toward the support of stable communities.

I am sme, however, that the Barra and Oc6s people depended increasingly upon their agri­culture, since the presence of more and more ceramics indicates an intensified degree of se­dentary life, which in turn usually implies culti­_vation of the earth. I conclude that the coastal population in Oc6s times, still participating in a mixed economy, also included hunters and gath­erers of maritime and forest products but was principally agriculturalist. It may be observed also that there was continued reliance upon pro­curement journeys or commerce to provide such exotic items as the abundant obsidian, rare mir­rors of iron ores, common pigments, and so forth.

A relatively substantial population of 200 or 300 people for agricultural villages during the Oc6s phase is indicated by the approximately fifty low mounds at Paso de la Amada partially

SUMMARY A D CONCLUSIONS 117

indicated in my brief sketch map (Fig. 9); pre­sumably most of these mounds represent house remains.

Viewing the Soconusco as a whole, there­fore, at least two types of settlements are identi­fiable during this epoch: 1) Los Alvarez, Islita, and other tiny but persistent fishing stations in the lagoons and along the estuaries, and 2) larger, principally agricultural, villages farther inland, among which Paso de la Amada may prove to be either typical or exceptional (I favor the latter probability). The inland communities may increasingly have obtained utensils and sea­food by regional exchange networks if there was any significant increase in specialization or ter­ritorialization as time passed. Additionally, the heavy and extensive Aquiles Serdan hilltop Oc6s deposit, only two hours' walk farther inland to the northwest of our site, suggests another and possibly third rank of community.

With the Oc6s phase, improved regional and extraregional interchange was no doubt main­tained, linking related Soconusco sites particu­larly with contemporaries such as Laguna Zope on the Tehuantepec Isthmus, San Lorenzo near the Gulf of Mexico, and numerous sites along the uppermost Grijalva River in Central Chiapas. This network also obviously extended eastward to the central highlands of Guatemala as far as the San Martin Jilotepeque and El Chayal obsidian sources. It must be admitted, however, that the Paso de la Amada in­vestigations have so far shed little new light upon the problem of early inter-hemispherical relationships, except for revealing an earlier napkin-ring earspool horizon in Chiapas; an ad­equate comparative study remains to be made.

The primary Paso de la Amada craft in­dustry, the production of great numbers of ob­sidian chips or flakes, and its related but uniden­tified subsistence activity, reached maximum development in the Oc6s phase only to dis­appear rather abruptly here as elsewhere with the establishment of Olmec-related "Cuadros" societies across the Soconusco. Heavier metates and manos usually associated with the con­sumption of maize increase for that time and the two phenomena are thought to presuppose an intensification of com cultivation as opposed to the probably secondary role postulated for

this cultigen during the Oc6s and Barra phases, when root crops may have been more impor­tant. This modification of the subsistence base, if true, set the agricultural pattern for all future epochs in Mesoamerica.

The unity of the Oc6s cultural pattern ap­pears to have dissolved before, or possibly be­cause of, the arrival or development of the mod­ified customs and perhaps new people whom we label Cuadros. At this writing, the appearance of the much simpler "Olmecoid" Cuadros cul­ture, with complexes almost completely free of distinctive Oc6s decorative traits, appears to be sudden and unexplained; many new site contexts and a new and lengthy cultural evolution are in­volved, though certainly we as yet p,!]ssess but a very small part of this picture.

Intensive excavation of sites such as Paso de la Amada and its neighbors in both Mexico and Guatemala is a necessary prelude to under­standing correctly the most intriguing Early Preclassic cultural horizon. I am convinced that Paso de la Amada is a unique and extraordinary Oc6s community; it may even have been a re­gional center of ceremonial or craft importance for its time. Whether a mere accident of preser­vation or not, it is a stroke of rare good fortune that these fifty or so very low mounds are, or were, still discernable in a zone of arable land increasingly devoted to tractor agriculture. It is additionally fortunate that several if not all of these mounds cover ancient burials, whose skel­etal remains are potentially critical for answer­ing questions of early human diffusion and phys­ical development as well as of diet and disease.

We can guess that other, rather similar, Oc6s village communities and their burial grounds once existed across the Soconusco, to have been covered over or razed by the sub­sequent 3,000 + years of natural destruction and human activity, but we cannot yet be sure of this. More surely, the mounds of Paso de la Amada themselves are destined to disappear soon beneath the plow or under the blade of the bulldozer; this may happen slowly or in a single day. We can only hope that before that day comes that they will first have yielded to the ar­chaeologist and anthropologist many more of their rare and important cultural secrets.

TABLES

Table 1. D1sTRIBUTION OF CoTAN GROOVED SHERDS, BARRA PHASE

20-cm

Pit Levels: 1 2 ) I+ 5 6 7 6 9 10 11 12 n 11+ 15 16 17 18 19 Total

10

11

,,

n

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

ZA

JA

Pit

•

10

11

12

"

"

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

2A

,.

Total

l 2 ) 11 18 I+ 4 l

12 6 15 19 21 9 6

lo 11 15 15 20 19 21 8 5

l J 2 l 1

• 11

5 l I+ J 4

2 6 2 4 2 8 S 2

l J l J 6 2 J 5

l 2 l l

6 l l J J

J J

l l l 2 l

2 l l ' '

l ' 2

l J

l ' 2 l

19 50 59 90 97

l 14 15 2

l

l l

' l J

J 17 5 "

J 16 11 "

l 7 "

l J 10 6

6 J

' ' l

68 105 85 67

8

" 10

49 28 22

Table 2. D1sTRIBUTION OF MONTE INCISED SHERDS, BARRA PHASE

20-cm

Level$; l 2 J ' 5 6 7 8 • 10 11 " " 14 15 16 17 18 19

l ' l 6 • 5 '

l ' 10 10 6 l

l 11 5 " • 7 10 '

' 2 l

6 J 2 2

l l l

' " 8 ' l 2

2 2 ' ' 19 •

2 l 2 5 l " " "

l

l

l 2

l l 2

l

2 l l l ' 2

l l J 6 20 " 12 5 12 16

l 6 5 7 8 6 14

6 2 2 7 '

l 2 l l l ll l

2 2

2 '

2 l l J 2 7

Tatel 7 " Jl 70 55 ,o 80 .. 63 ,. Jl 22 16

119

"

88

119

11

"

18

"

Jl

'7

5

10

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5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

D

lli

15

1

6

17

18

To

ta

l

1

1

J

2

l

1

l

lo

2

J

l

l

)

J

J

l

l

1

2

2

2

l

l

l

5

5

9

8

12

5

7

l

'

ll

,.

Tab

le 1

7.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC F

1GU

HIN

E A

RM

AN

D H

AN

D F

RA

GM

EN

TS

20

-o

n Pit

Levels

: l

2

)

'

5

6

7

•'

10

ll

12

l)

1'

15

16

1

7

To

tal

'

1

1

l

2

l

10

l

2

2

)

l

2

ll

1

l

l

'

'

1

l

10

11

12

l)

"

15

16

1

l

17

l

1

2

18

19

20

21

2A

)A

1

1

To

ta

l

6

'

)

'

5

)

2

'

"

Tab

le 1

6.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ERA

MIC

AN

TH

RO

PO

MO

RP

HIC

FIG

UR

INE

Bo

DIE

S

Pit

10

11

12

l)

14

15

16

17

lB

19

20

21

2A

)A

20-<m

Lev

els

: 1

2

)

lo

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

16

To

tlll

1

l

1

l

l

l

2

4

l

2

2

1

2

J

4

5

l

l

)

1

1

1

2

l

1

2

l

1.

)

l

1

l

1

J

2

9

ll

10

12

18

5

2

To

ta

l

20

l

11

2

78

Tab

le 1

8.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC F

IGU

RIN

E L

EG

AN

D F

OO

T F

RA

GM

EN

TS

20-crn

Pit

Levels

: 1

2

)

'

5

6

7

•'

10

11

12

"

1'

15

16

1

7

To

ta

l

l

1

2

2

'

2

11

2

1

'

'

8

10

'

5

1

'2

'

l

5

8

711

15

15

10

72

'

1

l

1

1

5

1

5

1

l

2

1

l

2

l

1

l

1

)

l

10

2

1

•1

'

1

'

l

10

ll

12

l)

1'

15

1

l

16

1

2

1

'

1

10

17

)

1

,

2

l

lB

. ,.

20

21

2A

JA

1

1

2

To

ta

l

10

17

21

JO

27

JO

31

25

2

1

2

l

1

198

--l

>

t,:,

r

t'l

10

11

12

lJ

1'

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

2A

,. T

able

19

. D

IST

RIB

UT

ION

OF

CE

RA

MIC

ZO

OM

OR

PI-II

C F

IGU

RIN

E F

RA

GM

EN

TS

20-

Levels

:

To

hl

l

2

' l

l

l

1

2

1

'5

6

7

8

' 1

2

l

'1

'

l

l

2

J

l

l

2

l

l

lo

5

7

5

5

6

6

'1

11

ll

12

lJ

1

'

15

�

Table

21.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC R

ING

FR

AG

ME

NT

S

20-cm

17

�

To

ta

l

6 '

ll

"

Pit

L

ev

eh

: l

2

J

lo

5

6

7

9

9

1

0

11

1

2

lJ

l

lo

15

1

6

17

T

ot

al

10

ll

12

lJ

1'

15

16

17

10

1'

20

21

..

,.

Te

t•

l

1

2

1

l

Z

l

2

'

•2

•

111

P1t

10

11

12

lJ

1'

15

16

17

18

1'

20

21

..

,.

Table

20.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC "

NA

PK

IN-R

ING

" E

AR

SP

OO

L

FR

AG

ME

NT

S

20

-o

n Lev

els

: l

2

'

'

5

6

7

8

'

10

, 2

2

lJ

2

1

1,

JZ

&I

J

J

16

26

1

0

21

1

9

loo

7

0

60

Jl

'

To

tal.

M

12

'

8

53

W

1

0)

7

6

)1

4,

ll

12

lJ

"

15

1

6

17

T

ot

al

7

190

28

1

.,.

Table

22.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC W

HIS

TL

E F

RA

GM

EN

TS

20

-cm

Pit

L

ev

el

s:

l

2

J

lo

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

1

12

l

J

lli

1

5

16

1

7

Ta

te

l

10

ll

12

lJ

"

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

2A

,.

To

hl

z

1

1

z

1

>--­ Nl

z

�

►

>'%j

""'

>- ""'

t11

z

9

....

,0

>­ ...,i

t11

z

0

:,:,

""'

>­ VJ

0

tl

t11

r

>­ >- 3:

>­ Cl

>-

Tab

le 2

3.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F C

ER

AM

IC B

EA

DS

AN

D F

RA

GM

EN

TS

20-

cm

P1t

Levels

: l

2

'

'

5

•7

•

'1

0

ll

1

2

lJ

"

15

1

6

17

T

oh

l

1

1

1

l

'

2

'

J

2

l

lJ

1

2

1

'

2

J

1

"

1

2

J

l

2

'

7

l

2

1

1

l

1

2

10

1

1

ll

12

lJ

"

15

16

1

1

2

17

l

1

2

Ta

te

l

2

6

•

20

7

'

7

2

1

60

Tab

le 2

5.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F W

oR

KE

D-S

HE

RD

DIS

KS

20

-cm

Pit

Levels

; 1

2

J

'

'

6

7

••

10

1

1

12

lJ

"

15

1

6

17

T

ot

el

l

1

l

l

J

l

J

l

J

1

12

l

1

2

2

l

l

8

l

1

l

l

l

'

1.

l

'1

7

10

ll

12

1

l

2

lJ

"

l

1

15

16

2

2

17

l

l

18

l

l

2

19

l

l

l

1.

l

5

20

21

1

l

l

'

2A

JA

To

t■

l

6

5

J

•7

7

•

1

'

1

l

52

Tab

le 2

4.

DIS

TR

lBU

TIO

N O

F N

oT

CH

ED

-SH

ER

D "

NE

T W

EIG

HT

S"

20-o,

P1t

Levels

:

l

2

J

'

'

10

11

12

lJ

"

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

2A

JA

To

ta

l

1

1

2

2

J

'

'

'

1

l

1

l

l

'

1

'

6

7

••

10

1

1

12

lJ

1'

15

1

6

2

1

1

l

'

1

2

1

Tab

le 2

6.

DIS

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F W

oR

KE

D-S

HE

RD

An

RA

DE

RS

20-cm

Pit

Levels

: l

2

J

'

5

6

7

•'

10

11

1

2

lJ

,.

15

1

6

J

2

2

2

l

l

'

5

6

l

l

7

l

1

•

l

•

1

1

10

11

12

lJ

,.

15

l

l

16

l

17

�

18

19

20

21

2A

JA

To

ta

l

2

2

2

2

J

10

•

2

2

2

I

17

17

To

te

l

22

CJ)

Ta

te

l

J6

CJl

......

Tab

le 2

7.

D1s

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F B

oN

E R

1NG

FR

AG

ME

NT

S T

ab

le 2

8.

D1s

TR

LBU

TIO

N O

F O

ssI

DIA

N F

LA

KE

S, S

PA

LL

S, A

ND

DE

BIT

AG

E

20-c

m

20-c

m

P1t

Levels

: 1

2

J

' 5

6

7

8

•1

0 11

1

2

lJ

14

1

5

16

17

To

tal

Pit

le

ve

ls

: 1

2

J

•5

6

7

8

•10

11

1

2

lJ

"

15

16

17

To

tal

87

65

5

5

6'

5

16

56

1

8

.. 2

:,n

1

19

6

91o

1

12

)

14

55

lo

51

)1

0

10

6

'60

1

150

n

i.

n,

987

6

21

112

0 1

085

..,

873

2

25

71o

?S

"

6 2

6

21

12

89

45

1

26

..

56

J

,,.

"

1 I

D

"

"

JS

28

s,

7 2

17

51

•9

8

72

11

0

82

"

11

.,.

10

12

1

5

25

"

27

11

4

1'5

2

8 5

•

8 7

2

11

lJ

1

66

z

10

1

0

l

'6

l

10

�

11

11

l

'7

l

2

2

17

12

1

2

•'

'

J

16

>

lJ

l

l

lJ

'

'

l

5

25

11

••

.,,

14

14

'

'

'""

15

15

10

1

6

J 1

5

10

1

5

l

'1

0 '

..

>

16

i6

"

63

55

21o

1

11, ..

,8

28

5

8

12

1

2

8 '

517

17

17

170

..

"

,. 16

"

"

26

2

8

"

17

12

5

5

'

'60

""

18

1

8

J

,.

11

6 4

5

,.

13

'

25

2

, ..

19

19

6

Jl

16

JJ

1

4

2

2

18

'

6

2

l

lJ5

zo

20

'

11

18

Jl

10

J

75

.,.

21

21

l

<D

12

•15

40

4

5

12

2

2A

2A

1

9

24

1

1

J

57

J

A

,.

'

57

l

'"

24

25

10

'

169

To

ta

l

l

l

'

l

1 l

7 To

tal

: 5

5'-

llo8

3

1)

6,.

2

72

9 2

17

3

30

02

l

81o

9

17

35

1

07

1o

Jl7

85

70

'

5

2

l6

&i5

1

>

t'1

Tab

le 2

9.

D1s

nu

Bu

Tt0

N O

F H

EM

ISP

HE

RIC

AL

ST

ON

E B

ow

L F

RA

GM

EN

TS

Tab

le 3

0.

D1s

TR

IBU

TIO

N O

F M

1sC

EL

LA

NE

ou

s B

RO

KE

N S

TO

NE

S

'""

20-c

m

20-c

m

>

Pit

Levels

: l

2

J '

5

6 7

8

'

10

1

1

12

lJ

1

4

15

16

1

7 T

ota

l

Pit

Levels

: l

2

J

'

5

6 7

8

'

10

11

12

lJ

14

15

16

17

Tota

l V)

2

17

5

18

J lJ

lJ

l

72

0

7 8

15

lJ

JO

20

'

2

..

t:I

4

l

l

l

l

l

16

lJ

18

"

2J

Jl

J2

20

1

0 5

2

05

t'1

'

5

12

10

8

2

41

r"

10

17

20

16

2

2

"

>

2

'

22

6 16

"

7 J

l

l

"

>

24

18

2

0 15

21

5

12

2

�

6 11

'

14

JJ

2

5

5

5

J llJ

>

7 15

12

2

4

Jl

16

15

5

!J

O t:I

>

10

l

J

J l

8

10

11

11

l

J

'

J l

12

12

1

2

2

lJ

'

6 10

2

41

lJ

l

l

lJ

l

l

l

J 2

6

7 2

1

l4

l

l

"

15

l

l

2

15

2

8

l

J '

l

l

7 17

J J

J 5

2

16

7 l

16

16

8

'

"

15

36

24

16

21

'

22

7

16

2

l

J

17

l

l

l

l

l

5

17

11

'

7 6

5

J 1

2

14

22

15

45

5

5

11

4

'"

18

2

2

18

' 2

l

7 7

5

2

lJ

8

"

19

l

l

2

19

5

8

8

'

2

' 18

7

10

'

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85

20

20

7

6 11

1

2

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2

46

21

2

1

l

5

J l

6

5

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11

'

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2A

2A

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2

0

,.

,.

J 18

11

14

11

10

l

l

"

Tate

l

'

'

6

5

2

l

J

l

2

l

JJ

To

ti!!

l

ea

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15

6

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11

9

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19

6

1si.

87

8,

87

"

18li

0

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