nological effi ciency, or population pressures—was fi nally
able to penetrate the boundary.
Along the Northwest Coast raiding and warfare were
the primary forms of interaction. Th ree-thousand-year-old
remains of human skeletons excavated in Prince Rupert Har-
bour, British Columbia, show a high rate of injury among
males. Numerous fortifi ed sites have been found, some of
which are thought to be true villages, indicating at least that
some understanding of borders was coming into existence.
Since borders are intrinsically tied to notions of ownership,
possession, and power, it is not unusual to fi nd fortifi ed sites
adjacent to areas of resources. Notably, along the Northwest
Coast the earliest sites that suggest a more sustained seden-
tary or non-nomadic lifestyle, with a greater commitment to
principles of defense, are found beside rivers with rich salmon
runs, a primary food staple for the area.
Between 200 b.c.e. and 400 c.e. some Hopewell Indian
complexes as far east from their Illinois and Ohio “centers” as
eastern Pennsylvania and New York are thought to have been
assumed into a Hopewellian culture, representing daughter
communities or colonies derived from one or the other cen-
ter. Th e exact nature of the relationship is unclear. Gathering
disparate villages under an umbrella classifi cation to defi ne
the spatial aspects of a culture does not necessarily establish
or defi ne a border, though it does indicate broader spheres of
infl uence or interest that are suggestive of transparent bor-
ders and frontiers with a limited political, economic, and ter-
ritorial association.
Between 1500 b.c.e. and 300 b.c.e. the early Mesoameri-
can Gulf Coast settlements attributed to the Olmec civiliza-
tion acquired the marks of town planning, with regular site
orientations and large-scale constructions. An emerging
nobility, established channels of commerce and communi-
cations, the construction of monumental architecture, and a
signifi cant population in the thousands supported by a large
area of peripheral settlements all imply a form of political
economy and integrated local and distant polities. Th ese are
conditions that precipitate the establishment and control of
border areas. Th e monumental carved heads of the Olmec,
sculpted from basalt rock gathered from the Tuxtla Moun-
tains, are further evidence of established relations and re-
gional economies that transcend defi ned borders.
Farther south, in Mexico’s Valley of Oaxaca, three con-
verging valleys and their surrounding alpine environment
defi ned the generic borders of the earliest sustained villages.
Around 1400 b.c.e. a regional network of small villages with
a total population suspected to be around 500 defi ned the
early settlement. By the period referred to as Monte Albán
I (500–300 b.c.e.), a population thought to be about 17,000
clustered at the hilltop civic-ceremonial center of the same
name, with as many as 50,000 at the surrounding sites. Th e
increased proportion of populations living on the far periph-
ery may have been related to defensive concerns and border
control. Th rough the periods of Monte Albán II and Monte
Albán III, by about 450 c.e., more sites were built in defen-
sible positions, and several of these sites still have evidence
of standing fortifi ed walls. Th ey may have been located there
simply as administration centers or as centers for traffi c mon-
itoring, though they strongly suggest a mechanism for fron-
tier maintenance in their aggressive, forward placement and
defensive architecture.
Th e topography of Andean South America provides some
of the most extreme physical markers for natural borders and
frontiers. Th e landscape moves rapidly upward from a coastal
desert cut through by rivers to the high alpine environments.
Th ese natural obstacles to easy migration provided obvious
borders and frontiers and helped defi ne areas of settlement.
By 4000 b.c.e. settlements based on the rich maritime envi-
ronment along the coast had been established. Between 1 and
700 b.c.e. the Recuay culture, a highland culture composed
of a large number of independent polities, shared its borders
with the Moche culture, a lowland coastal entity, and the two
were known to have expansionist tendencies. In response to
intensive competition with Moche neighbors, Recuay settle-
ments were founded along ridgetops, which served as de-
fenses, and were sometimes fortifi ed with moats, restricted
access, perimeter walls, and parapets. On its side, Moche
pottery testifi es to warfare, with its common themes of war-
riors, weapons, and trophy heads. Despite natural geographic
buff ers, the Moche and the Recuay fought over and defended
their borders while continually trying to expand them.See also agriculture; building techniques and materials;
cities; climate and geography; death and burial prac-
tices; economy; empires and dynasties; exploration; fes-
tivals; foreigners and barbarians; gender structures
and roles; government organization; hunting, fishing,
and gathering; migration and population movements;
military; mining, quarrying, and salt making; nomadic
and pastoral societies; religion and cosmology; roads
and bridges; sacred sites; seafaring and navigation;
settlement patterns; slaves and slavery; social or-
ganization; towns and villages; trade and exchange;
transportation; war and conquest.FURTHER READING
John Baines and Jaromír Málek, Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt,
rev. ed. (New York: Facts on File, 2000).
Richard E. Blanton, Stephen A. Kowalewski, Gary M. Feinman,
et al., Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in
Three Regions (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University
Press, 1981).
Alexander Cunningham, Th e Ancient Geography of India (Varanasi,
India: Bhartiya Publishing House, 1975).
Antonio Di Vita, Ginette Di Vita-Evrard, and Lidiano Bacchielli,
Libya: Th e Lost Cities of the Roman Empire (Cologne, Germany:
Könemann, 1999).
Hastings Donnan, and Th omas Wilson, ed., Border Approaches: An-
thropological Perspectives on Frontiers (Lanham, Md.: Anthro-
pological Association of Ireland, 1994).borders and frontiers: further reading 149