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Using Refuse Disposal Patterns to Infer Olmec Site Structure in the San Lorenzo Region, Veracruz, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Carl J. Wendt
Carl J. Wendt*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, Fullerton, P.O. Box 6846, Fullerton, CA 92834-6846
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Abstract

In this paper, I use data gathered from recent excavations conducted in the San Lorenzo region to explore the nature of Olmec site structure. Most studies dealing with this topic have focused on ceremonial precincts at large regional centers. Recent archaeological investigations conducted at the low lying Early Formative period (1500–900 B.C., radiocarbon years) site of El Remolino provide a unique opportunity to study how the Olmec organized domestic space outside primary centers. Although no easily identifiable structural remains were found at El Remolino, refuse disposal patterns are used to infer architectural arrangement and also provide clues on site layout. In order to investigate variations in household spatial structure in the San Lorenzo region, the Remolino data are compared with results from household archaeological studies conducted in an elite precinct (the Group D area) at the regional center of San Lorenzo. Findings indicate that household spatial layout at El Remolino ascribed to a residentially dispersed house-lot type of spatial patterning, whereas spatial structure in the Group D area of San Lorenzo adheres closer to the more nucleated house compound type of spatial patterning.

En este trabajo utilizo información recabada en recientes excavaciones realizadas en la región de San Lorenzo para explorar la naturaleza de la estructura de los sitios olmecas. La mayoría de los estudios previos se enfocaban en los recintos ceremoniales de los grandes centros regionales. Recientes investigaciones realizadas en el sitio El Remolino, en las tierras bajas inundables y perteneciente al Formativo Temprano (1500–900 a.C.), ha proporcionado una singular oportunidad para estudiar cómo los olmecas organizaban el espacio doméstico fuera de los centros primarios. Aunque no se identificaron claramente vestigios estructurales en El Remolino, los patrones de desecho son utilizados para inferir la organización arquitectónica y también proporcionan indicios sobre el plano arquitectónico. Con el propósito de investigar la variación en la estructura del espacio habitacional en la región de San Lorenzo, los datos de El Remolino son comparados con los resultados de estudios arqueológicos de contextos domésticos en un sector de elite (Grupo D) en el centro regional de San Lorenzo. Esta comparación indica que el plano de las unidades domésticas en El Remolino pertenece a una organización espacial de lotes habitacionales dispersos, mientras que la estructura del espacio del Grupo D de San Lorenzo se mantiene más allá del patrón espacial de núcleos de unidades domésticas agrupadas.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 449 - 466
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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