An Uphill View of the Northern Guatemalan Highlands from the Southern Maya Lowlands

This chapter focuses on the long and complex history of interaction between the highland residents of the Coban Plateau and their contemporaries in the Northern Transversal Strip in the extreme southern lowlands. Late Postclassic and Colonial interactions are well documented in Spanish accounts—the highlands were the primary source of quetzal feathers for most of Mesoamerica at that time, and they depended on the residents of the Transversal to provide a variety of lowland goods. Until recently, however, the lack of archaeological evidence has prohibited any examination of similar economic relationships in earlier periods, when the most important political centers were found in the southern lowlands. New investigations in both regions have allowed us to begin to construct a model of Classic period interaction. There were two major Classic economic hubs in the Transversal region that imported a variety of goods from the Coban Plateau and other highland regions in addition to producing high-demand commodities like cacao, achiote, and salt. After the Classic collapse, the power structure flipped, and the Coban Plateau became much more important as an economic hub, eventually taking advantage of their privileged position after Spanish conquest to effectively take over the region and its resources in the waning years of the Spanish empire

Archaeology · Geography · Maya · Archaeology and Natural History · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond · Tree-ring climate responses