Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Role of Trade on Rural Development and Network Connections

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

In a world increasingly characterized by conflicts between globalized interests and assertions of local autonomy, it is important for researchers to understand the origins of global systems. Archaeologists are especially well suited to study the development of large-scale social systems as they can trace the growing network of trading connections and political alliances that were made between ancient states and empires. Previous studies of ancient interaction have generally taken a top-down approach, focusing on connections between the centers of ancient states and on the abilities of metropolitan elites to control frontier areas. The present study aims for something different. Mikael Fauvelle, from the University of California at San Diego, will lead an international team of Mexican and U.S. archaeologists to excavate ancient households at the site of Fracción Mujular, a modest residential settlement on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas dating to the 6th century C.E.. Despite its small size, Fracción Mujular maintained strong connections with the distant city of Teotihuacan, the capital of one of the most powerful civilizations that ever developed in pre-contact North America. By excavating a combination of both elite and non-elite households across different areas of Fracción Mujular, this project will investigate how local people from different social strata negotiated their relationships with a distant center of power. This project will conduct the first ever excavations at Fracción Mujular, a site long-known for the Central Mexican stylistic elements found on several of its stone monuments. Although much is known about the relationship between Teotihuacan and the Maya region, comparatively little research has been done in areas in-between. Likewise, most previous research on Teotihuacan interactions in Mesoamerica have focused on elite city centers, rather than secondary sites such as Fracción Mujular. This project will build on a previous season of survey work which mapped the site and found a large amount of imported Central Mexican obsidian in surface deposits. The fact that multiple lines of evidence for Central Mexican connections are combined in a relatively modest residential context makes Fracción Mujular an excellent place to test hypotheses regarding how regional interactions during the Early Classic period affected people living in second-tier settlements. By excavating test units on the flanks of housemounds from different functional areas of the site, the project will also examine how regional interactions played out across different social strata and through different time periods. Work at Fracción Mujular will test new models for regional interaction, take important steps towards better understanding an important period of North American history, and contribute an important case study to our understanding of the expansion of early states.