The fundamental goal of this project is to gain insight into how complex societies such as state-level groupings emerge and develop from simpler forms of social organization. Archaeological projects such as this one which can trace change over a long time span help to explain social phenomena characteristic of the present day.
Under the guidance of Dr. Robert Rosenswig, Rebecca Mendelsohn will conduct household excavations at the early Mesoamerican city (800 B.C.- A.D. 100) of Izapa, located in the southern Pacific coast region of Chiapas, Mexico. Izapa is among the largest Formative period centers in Mesoamerica, containing mounds up to 21m high and over 250 associated monuments. The site is famous for its art style and has been proposed by archaeologists to be an important link between two of Mesoamerica's dominant early cultural groups, the Olmec and the Maya. Despite the site's importance, relatively few excavations have been conducted and very little is known about the economy and environment at the site. This project represents the first household excavations at Izapa using modern excavation techniques. The project will also include the first excavation of new mounds discovered during the 2011 remapping of the site by Rosenswig's Izapa Regional Settlement Project. Data collected from Izapa is intended to shed light on the fundamental transition from chiefdoms to states and settlements to cities, and will be of interest to researchers investigating the rise of complex societies around the world.
Just as today, the urbanization of a town or settlement has economic impacts at every level of society. This project looks to the past and asks how social systems and human relationships are manipulated to achieve urban expansion and sustain population growth. By documenting household contents at different stages of occupation, the study aims to determine how the urbanization and increasing development of socioeconomic hierarchy at Izapa affected the material wellbeing of commoners. Artifacts collected from excavations will be used to reconstruct the early economy and investigate how emerging kings or king-like leaders gained enough social and economic capital to organize monumental construction at the site. The project investigates how strategies like the regulation of prestige items and long-distance trade products, control over craft specialization, and manipulation of religious symbols could be used to widen the social and economic gap between elites and commoners. Are these strategies the same as those employed in other incipient states in Mesoamerica and around the world?
Beyond the research presented, this project also intends to have a broader impact. With research conducted in Mexico, the project aims to foster international collaboration between Mexico and the United States at various levels, from local farmers to researchers at Mexican universities. At the local level, one of the goals of the project is to deliver lectures at schools and community centers to increase awareness in the contemporary Izapa community about the process of archaeology and the value of preserving archaeological sites and materials. Students and archaeologists from both the United States and Mexico will be engaged in the excavation and subsequent analyses of materials. Results from this project will be compiled in Ms. Mendelsohn's dissertation for the Department of Anthropology at the University at Albany, SUNY, as well as disseminated through conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications in both the United States and Mexico.
