Prehispanic settlement in the Cuauhtémoc region of the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico

This paper presents the results of a 28 sq km, 100% coverage settlement survey undertaken on the Pacific coast of southern Chiapas, Mexico in a region known since Aztec times as the Soconusco. The Soconusco has always been one of the richest agricultural regions in Mesoamerica, and the survey zone is now covered by industrial-scale fruit cultivation. This agricultural practice results in a grid of trenches and allows a high level of confidence in the surface/subsurface correspondence of cultural materials. Detailed descriptions of the survey methods and the substantive results of 80 new sites recorded from 860 systematically collected surface units are presented. Three and a half millennia of Prehispanic occupation were documented, from some of the earliest ceramic-using Barra phase villages at approximately 1900 CAL. B.C. to the Late Postclassic settlements of the early 16th century A.D. The results from this small survey zone are related to what is known from other surveys of settlement changes along the Pacific coast of southern Chiapas and northern Guatemala.