Feasting at coastal shellmounds in Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

Three shellmounds, positioned on the inland margin of the Coyuca Lagoon in Guerrero, Mexico, consist of molluskan shells from taxa that live in lagoonal environments. Co-occurring ceramics are typical of local pottery dating to the Classic Period but are significantly restricted in diversity compared to pottery found at nearby coeval residential sites. Throughout the shellmounds potsherds from large, coarse-tempered cooking vessels occur with sherds from fine-tempered serving vessels, indicating that food was prepared and consumed at these locations. We propose these sites developed where local people repeatedly held feasts, resulting in the formation of these sites. This case study indicates that in Mesoamerica shellmounds can accumulate after the development of complex societies, and at locations away from sociopolitical centers.

Keywords:

• Ceramics
• Classic period
• mollusks
• Mesoamerica

Acknowledgements

We thank the Instituto Nacional de Antropología and Historia for permitting this research. We are indebted especially to Engineer Joaquín García-Bárcena González, President of the Consejo de Arqueología; Dr Alejandro Martínez Muriel, National Coordinator of Archaeology; Maestro José Esteban Martínez Espinoza, Director of the Centro INAH Guerrero; and Archaeologist Cuautemoc Reyes Alvarez, of INAH-Guerrero. We are grateful to two colleagues who generously shared written works and personal knowledge about Guerrero’s prehistory. Dr Rubén Manzanilla López’s prior work was indispensable for our work. We also benefitted greatly from Martha Cabrera Guerrero’s publications and local knowledge that she enthusiastically shared. We thank them whole-heartedly. Henry Cheney and Paul Valentich-Scott, both in the Department of Invertebrates, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, identified the archaeomollusks from these sites. Their expertise was critical to this research. We thank our able, enthusiastic field companions: Natalia Martínez Tagueña, Juan Jorge Morales Monroy, Amparo Robles Salmerón, Cameron Walker, and Nathan D. Wilson. In addition, heartfelt thanks to Pamela and Daniel Fox, for hospitality during our fieldwork.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant BCS-0211215.