The prehistory of the Tuxtlas

Robert Santley's "The Prehistory of the Tuxtlas" explores the rise and demise of complex society in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Santley synthesizes over twenty-five years of survey and excavation at the site of Matacapan and the surrounding region. He recounts the development of state-level society at Matacapan from its formative-period roots through the height of its economic and political entanglements with the great city of Teotihuacan in the Basin of Mexico to its denouement after AD 1000. Using Matacapan as a point of departure, Santley also considers the economic organization of the Gulf Coast region and relationships with greater Mesoamerica. Specifically, he evaluates why Teotihuacan may have established a base of operations at Matacapan and how this involvement reflects Teotihuacan's own hegemonic interests. Consequently, individual chapters delve into the Matacapan's large-scale ceramic production industry, its obsidian tool industry, the nature of Teotihuacan-Tuxtlas relations, and the distribution of key products throughout the Tuxtlas and neighboring Gulf Coast regions. "The Prehistory of the Tuxtlas" offers new insights into the multiscalar and nested relationships among cities, their regions, and macroregional political economic relations between 1400 BC to AD 1500. This volume presents Santley's final synthesis of the evolution of Mesoamerican civilization along the Gulf Coast.