The Champotón Regional Settlement Survey - Research Goals
The Champotón Regional Settlement Survey (CRSS) was designed to examine the Classic Maya collapse and transition to the Postclassic period within a region with occupational continuity. The project documented changing social, political, economic, and ecological dynamics during the transition between the Classic (250-850 CE) and Postclassic (1000-1520 CE) periods. This period witnessed the collapse and abandonment of urban societies across much of the interior of the Classic Maya Lowlands. The goal of the CRSS project was to examine long-term adaptive change in a region with occupational continuity throughout this vibrant and tumultous period. The unique history of human occupation in the Río Champotón drainage presented an opportunity to examine changing socio-ecological dynamics associated with the Classic Maya collapse within a single regional context.
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The specific fieldwork objectives included:
The fieldwork for the project was regional in scale, incorporating macro-regional reconnaissance, intensive settlement survey, and household excavations. The objective of this project was to document the mechanisms through which the ancient communities of Champotón managed to survive and flourish while contemporary polities across the interior Maya Lowlands were abandoned. The results of this project provide a holistic regional case study of the Classic to Postclassic transition within multiple dimensions of variability: the political, economic, social and ecological domains.
- Documentation and registration of archaeological sites within the Río Champotón drainage, particularly the poorly understood Formative and Classic Period settlements.
- Evaluation of changes in settlement patterns within the region through time, particularly in relation to natural resource distributions, marine and riverine trade routes, and ecological zones.
- Full-coverage mapping of seven centers and communities selected for intensive research.
- Test excavations and surface collections to develop a regional settlement chronology and reconstruct changes in political and economic systems
The fieldwork for the project was regional in scale, incorporating macro-regional reconnaissance, intensive settlement survey, and household excavations. The objective of this project was to document the mechanisms through which the ancient communities of Champotón managed to survive and flourish while contemporary polities across the interior Maya Lowlands were abandoned. The results of this project provide a holistic regional case study of the Classic to Postclassic transition within multiple dimensions of variability: the political, economic, social and ecological domains.