48 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
Figure 1.6 Early Formative figurines from Cuauhtemoc in the Soconusco region of coastal
Chiapas: (a) Initial Formative old, seated, and young standing female figurines; and (b) late
Early Formative “baby-face” figurines. Illustrations by Ayax Moreno (all but standing female)
and Joseph McGreavy (standing female).
Guatemala, but Locona-related pottery also occurs across a wide area of Middle Amer-
ica, from the Gulf Coast of Veracruz to El Salvador and Honduras. This distribution
suggests that for the first time, there was widespread contact and communication
among regional villages, and pottery provides material evidence for the emergence
of Mesoamerica as a distinctive culture in the Early Formative period.
Although most of the earliest Formative villages were small settlements with lit-
tle evidence for social ranking or other elements of social complexity, recent re-
search in the Soconusco region of coastal Chiapas by John Clark and Michael Blake
suggests that simple chiefdoms arose early in this area. Evidence attesting to a soci-
ety that had developed in the Paso de La Amada (Chiapas) vicinity beyond the level
of other Early Formative groups in Mesoamerica includes (1) the presence of an
elaborate central residence larger than others (probably of the chief), (2) the con-
struction of Mesoamerica’s earliest known ballcourt at Paso de la Amada, and (3)
the existence of a two-tiered regional hierarchy of settlements.
West of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the red-on-buff ceramic tradition is docu-
mented in the highlands of central Mexico. In the Basin of Mexico, many Early For-
mative sites have been located in regional archaeological surveys, but few of these sites
have been excavated. Excavations of burials at the site of Tlatilco in Mexico City (by
both archaeologists and looters) reveals a tradition of sophisticated pottery vesselsFormativeFormative Formative