32 
SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 146 
1953). At the same time, we hypothesize, one or more varieties of 
maize (probably including the primitive Nal-Tel race) developed in 
the Mexican highlands were ''pre-adapted," so to speak, for the 
tropical lowlands. It is here proposed that these new varieties were 
diffused down the great river systems like that of the Papaloapan to 
the lowlands of southern Veracruz, a region of rich alluvial soils and 
long growing season (far longer than that of the highlands), in 
which the full potentialities of Zea mays were first realized. All of the 
data we have thus far, based upon intensive excavation and compara- 
tive ceramic analysis, point to the Gulf coast plain, particularly south- 
central Veracruz, as the place of origin of the Mesoamerican Forma- 
tive, where village-farming became a way of life for the first time. 
The best evidence for the Early Formative comes from south- 
eastern Mesoamerica, particularly from the Grijalva drainage of 
Chiapas and from the Pacific coast of Chiapas and Guatemala. Ac- 
cording to radiocarbon dates, these earliest villages cannot be extended 
back much beyond 1500 B.C., and probably endure until about 1000 
B.C. The pottery of such cultures as Chiapa I (Dixon, 1959), Cuadros 
(Coe, MS.), and Ocos (Coe, 1961) is by no means primitive, but it is 
significant that dominant forms are almost entirely confined to those 
found in ground stone during the preceding Archaic, namely, neckless 
jars, or tecomates, and flat-bottomed dishes. Wherever the idea of 
ceramic vessels came from, the model was native to Mesoamerica. 
Decoration tends to be plastic and experimental, with brushing, stick- 
incising, and rocker-stamping favored, but some painting, particularly 
of rims in red, is also found. Pottery of this sort is now being un- 
covered at the Ajalpan site in the Puebla highlands, below Middle 
Formative materials of Chiapa II cast. The one zone that would be 
central to all these Early Formative manifestations is the Gulf coast, as 
is indicated by the find of white-rimmed black ware, a type consid- 
ered typical of the "Olmec" area, both at Ajalpan and in the Cuadros 
Phase of the Guatemalan coast. 
The position of the Ocos Culture in this picture is somewhat puz- 
zling, for not only is the richly embellished pottery of this phase 
highly sophisticated in form and decoration, but certain elements are 
present here on the Pacific coast which point to extra-Mesoamerican 
connections. Such pottery techniques as cord-wrapped paddling and 
fabric-marking recall the W oodland ceramics of eastern North Amer- 
ica, or perhaps even the similarly decorated wares of the Jomon 
Period in Japan. Even more striking are the detailed resemblances 
to the Chorrera ceramics of coastal Ecuador, and we have suggested 
that such odd modes of embellishing pottery as iridescent striping 
