Agricultural intensification and the emergence of political complexity in the formative Sierra de los Tuxtlas, southern Veracruz, Mexico

This dissertation addresses agricultural intensification and risk in the tropical lowlands of Mexico's Gulf Coast during a period of political formation. Chiefdoms developed in this region during the Early, Middle, Late, and Terminal Formative periods (1400–1000 B.C., 1000–400 B.C., 400 B.C.–A.D. 100, and A.D. 100–300). Scholars interested in regional political economy for this area have relied heavily on assumptions about regional subsistence economy, specifically that agricultural tribute was used to fund labor projects and feed the elite. I examine these assumptions through analyses of direct subsistence evidence from two sites spanning the Formative period—La Joya and Bezuapan, located in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, approximately 60–100 km from the lowland Olmec centers of San Lorenzo and La Venta.; My study combines analyses of archaeobotanical, zooarchaeological, and stable Carbon and Nitrogen isotopic data. Archaeobotanical evidence indicates that people were farming maize by the Early Formative period. Patterning in the plant data suggests an intensification of maize production by the Late Formative period, coupled with an increase in the tree fruit harvesting. Evidence of garden hunting in the animal data suggests that people became increasingly committed to farming throughout this time. Changes in faunal patterning during the Terminal Formative period suggest that this was a time of increased subsistence risk, probably associated with volcanic eruptions. Moreover, isotopic data from human skeletal remains indicate that maize formed the dietary basis during the Terminal Formative.; Overall, these data suggest that maize was an important staple crop in the Tuxtlas by the time people settled into permanent villages at the end of the Early Formative period. The emergence of political complexity in the region followed the shift to sedentism by approximately 600 years and appears to correspond with the beginnings of maize intensification. This initial intensification of maize production coincided with the rise of regional leaders and was likely a product of tribute mobilization encouraged by these aspiring elites. After repeated volcanic activity in the region following the emergence of chiefdoms, the continued intensification of maize production appears to have been a product of increasing environmental circumscription.