Power without Bounds? Middle Preclassic Political Developments in the Naco Valley, Honduras

Bibliographic Data

ID4974396
AuthorsPatricia Urban (0000-0002-2865-778X), Edward Schortman, Edward Mark Schortman (0000-0002-1901-3552), Marne Ausec
Year2002
Volume13
Issue2
Pages131-152
Publication date2002-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1045-6635 • E-ISSN: 2325-5080
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/971911
OpenAlexW2331786496
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited40

Recently completed investigations in the Naco Valley, located within the Rio Chamelecon drainage of northwestern Honduras, suggest that, by 1200 B. C., emergent elites were experiencing variable success in their efforts to construct sociopolitical hierarchies. Though able to harness labor in the construction of large platforms, these scions apparently did not monopolize crucial economic processes nor could they command the exclusive allegiances of their subordinates over protracted periods. Political centralization, social heterogeneity, and boundary formation processes were, therefore, not mutually reinforcing and the polities that resulted were small and ephemeral. Comparison of Naco"s trajectory with contemporary developments in neighboring portions of southeastern Mesoamerica hint at the varied developmental paths that ultimately laid the foundation for the emergence of relatively stable, hierarchically organized polities in the subsequent Classic period (A. D. 200-900

Archaeology · Art · Biology · Boundary (topology · Construct (python library · Economics · Economy · Ephemeral key · Foundation (evidence · Geography · Mesoamerica · Period (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Ecology · History · Law

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