Prehistoric Coastal Adaptations

Prehistoric Coastal Adaptations: The Economy and Ecology of Maritime Middle America is a compendium of research papers and treatises on Middle American people who lived within coastal habitats.
The collection aims to reveal distinctive coastal adaptations and the role of Middle American people in major social transformations. The book discusses topics on the history of occupations of certain coastal sites; correlation of site location to resource procurement patterns; settlement locations and subsistence evidence in the coastal and inland habitats of Costa Rica; and the maritime adaptation and the rise of Maya civilization. The final chapter of the book also discusses the future research directions in the study of Middle American coastal people.
The text will be of value to archeologists, anthropologists, historians, ethnologists, and researchers.

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Contents
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Preface
Part I Introduction
Chapter 1 Previous Research on Nearshore Coastal Adaptations in Middle America
Introduction
Beginnings
Procurement Patterns
Exchange Patterns
Settlement Patterns
References
Part II Procurement Patterns
Chapter 2 Use of Dogs for Food: An Adaptation to the Coastal Environment
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Discussion
References
Chapter 3 Early Subsistence Patterns along the Pacific Coast of Central Panama
Introduction
The Environmental Setting
Monagrillo
Zapotal
Cerro Mangote
Aguadulce Shelter
La Cueva de los Ladrones
Discussion
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4 The Prehistoric and Modern Subsistence Patterns of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua: A Comparison 61
Introduction
Modern Subsistence Patterns of the Atlantic Coast
Archaeological Subsistence Data
A Precontact Subsistence Model
Changes in Subsistence from Prehistoric to Modern Times
References
Chapter 5 The Process of Transformation at Pajon: A Preclassic Society Located in an Estuary in Chiapas, Mexico
Introduction
Site Description
Cultural and Chronological Sequence
Early Dunas Subphase
Late Dunas Subphase
Encanto Phase
Summary
References
Part III Settlement Patterns
Chapter 6 Coastal Settlement in Northwestern Costa Rica
Culture History of the Coastal Area
Comparative Overview
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7 Coastal Adaptations as Contact Phenomena among the Miskito and Cuna Indians of Lower Central America
Late Precontact Adaptations
Consequences of Contact
Contemporary Adaptations
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8 Changing Patterns of Resource Exploitation, Settlement Distribution, and Demography on the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico
Introduction
Archaeological Research Design
Prehistoric Subsistence
Prehistoric Settlement Patterns
Cultural Change in the Late Postclassic Period
Conclusion
References
Part IV Exchange Patterns
Chapter 9 Long-Distance Exchange and the Growth of a Regional Center on the Southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico
Introduction
Lagunita Phase (1500-1100 B.C.)
Golfo Phase (1100-800 B.C.)
Rios Phase (800-400 B.C.)
Goma Phase (400-200 B.C.)
Kuak and Niti Phases (200 B.C.-A.D. 1 and A.D. 1-300)
Summary and Conclusions
References
Chapter 10 An Ethnohistoric Model for Native Economy and Settlement Patterns in Southern Veracruz, Mexico
Introduction
Ethnohistoric Data Base for the Lower Papaloapan Basin and Vicinity
An Ethnohistoric Model
A Comparison with the Archaeological Record
Summary
References
Chapter 11 Maritime Adaptation and the Rise of Maya Civilization: The View from Cerros, Belize
Introduction
Maritime Maya: The Eastern Littoral
Late Preclassic Communication-Transportation Networks
Maritime Adaptation and the Preclassic Maya
References
Part V Overview 267
Chapter 12 Commentary
Chapter 13 Future Research Directions
Introduction
Procurement Patterns
Settlement Patterns
Exchange Patterns
References
Index