The Southeastern Fringe of Mesoamerica

Abstract This article reviews archaeological evidence from the southeastern fringe of Mesoamerica. Communities in all regions of the southeast fringe interacted—in different ways and with different degrees of intensity through time—with contemporaries to the west in Mesoamerica. The classificatory status of southeast fringe societies as part of the Maya world and Mesoamerica is much less the issue than the fact that they form an essential part of the context for understanding those areas. What is of greatest interest is the story that material remains have to tell about the societies of their makers and their relationships with communities to the north and west in Mesoamerica and with Central American societies to the south and east.