PRECLASSIC THROUGH POSTCLASSIC Ceramics and chronology of the southeastern Pacific Coast of Guatemala Laura J. Kosakowsky, a Francisco Estrada Belli, b and Paul Pettitt c a Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Emil W. Haury Building, P.O. Box 210030,Tucson, AZ 85721, USA b Department of Anthropology,Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA c Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, Oxford University, 6 Kehle Road, Oxford, 0XI 3QJ, UK Abstract Ceramic and radiometric data from the three seasons of survey and excavations, 1995–1997, conducted in the coastal districts of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa in southeastern Guatemala are used to construct a chronological sequence for this previously little-known 1000-km 2 region. Patterns of local ceramic manufacture and interregional trade are identified through the use of type-variety classification methods coupled with neutron-activation analysis. The resulting 3000-year-long uninterrupted chronological sequence, beginning in the Early Preclassic, shows patterns of continuity in manufacturing techniques, as well as evolving styles and shifting networks of interregional interactions that span much of the Pacific Coast and the highlands and lowlands of southeastern Mesoamerica, from the Gulf of Mexico to Copan, Honduras. These interactions indicate the southeastern Pacific Coast participated in exchange systems that brought together different ethnic groups whose cultural manifestations included Maya ceramics in the Preclassic and Classic periods, and ceramic, architectural, and sculptural evidence suggesting the southeastern Pacific Coast was actively involved in the Cotzumalguapa Nuclear Zone that stretched to the west into Escuintla and to the east into Pacific El Salvador during the Classic period. The ceramics from the Pacific Coast of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa have provided us with an opportunity to study a long sequence of production that begins in the Early Preclassic and continues until the Spanish Conquest. Our sample includes surface collections of pottery from 154 sites and excavated material from a total of 27 test pits at 8 different sites throughout the region (Figure 1) in- cluding Chiquiuitan, Ujuxte, Nueve Cerros, La Maquina, Bonete, Maneadero, La Nueva, and Atiquipaque (Estrada Belli 1998, 1999; Estrada Belli et al. 1996, 1997, 1998; Estrada Belli and Kosa- kowsky 1996, 1998). All surface-collected pottery was sorted and counted by period in an attempt to determine the relative fre- quency of occupation of mounds throughout the region, and all excavated material was similarly sorted, counted, and described, for a total sample size of 458,613 sherds. The pottery is classified according to a modified type-variety system (Willey et al. 1967) placing major emphasis on observable ceramic attributes such as surface finish, decoration, and vessel form. Use of a typological approach facilitates detailed ceramic comparisons among sites and across wider regions, and the pres- ence of shared ceramic traits allows the identification of ceramic spheres. Dates for the newly identified ceramic complexes (Fig- ure 2) were selected based on only a limited number of radio- metric dates and therefore relied heavily upon prior work from adjacent regions on the Pacific Coast (Bove 1996), El Salvador (Sharer 1978), and the central highlands of Guatemala (Shook and Hatch 1978). Thus, the ceramic typology allows us to identify the chronological placement of the southeastern coastal sites and the importance of these sites in interregional networks of trade and communication (Kosakowsky and Estrada Belli 1997). Additional evidence is drawn from a number of instrumental neutron-activation studies of the ceramics (Kosakowsky et al. 1999; Neff et al. 1999), as well as archaeological, architectural, and sculptural data (Es- trada Belli 1998, 1999). THE EARLY PRECLASSIC Evidence for the earliest occupation on the southeastern coast is found along the coastal mangrove ecological zone. Surface col- lections produced a number of eroded tecomates at five sites along the coast, and one site in the piedmont. The best evidence for Early Preclassic occupation, however, which has been named locally the Huiscoyol Complex, comes from test-pit excavations at the site of Chiquiuitan in the coastal mangrove zone (see map, Figure 1), and the total sample size for the Huiscoyol Ceramic Complex is 22,706 sherds. Pottery from the earliest levels is dominated by unslipped large, thick globular tecomates. The rims are often decorated with a spec- ular hematite band, with secondary decoration of loofah (sponge) impressions, rocker stamping, irregular fingernail punctations, or coarse gouge incisions on the body of the tecomate (Figure 3). This pottery can best be described as combining ceramic attributes of both Ocos and Cuadros/Jocotal material from other areas along the coast of Chiapas (Blake et al. 1995; Clark et al. 1987; Lesure 1998; Voorhies 1989), Guatemala (Arroyo 1992, 1993, 1994; Ancient Mesoamerica, 11 (2000), 199–215 Copyright © 2000 Cambridge University Press. Printed in the U.S.A. 199