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In this report we introduce the site of Noh K'uh, a Late Preclassic (400 BC–AD 250) community in the western frontier of the Maya Lowlands. This new body of data contributes to the study of how complex societies emerged both within the Usumacinta River region and the Maya area overall.

The theoretical and methodological toolkits developed under political ecology have become increasingly relevant in current discussions of environmental impacts, sustainability, and inequality. We developed this volume to identify the unique perspectives that archaeologists offer to the field of political ecology. The archaeology of political ecology is founded on a long and diverse history focused on issues relating to environments, the human–nature relationship, ontology, property, power, and inequality. We outline this history to demonstrate that political ecology and archaeology inform one another through shared interests and research foci. More importantly, we highlight how the two fields can and do benefit through their partnership. Ultimately this volume serves as an invitation for interdisciplinary research that aims to better elucidate the complexities and nuances of human–environmental interaction.

In this paper I utilize the perspective of political ecology to guide the study of incipient urbanization in the Preclassic site of Noh K'uh in Chiapas, Mexico. In my analysis of landscape formation and local settlement patterns, I demonstrate how the relationship between people and the environment was particularly intimate within the valley that is home to Noh K'uh. In this case, orientation, architecture, and natural landmarks demonstrate the physical manifestation of political, social, and ritual organization in this Late Preclassic community. By emphasizing the political ecology perspective, I am able to outline how ritual and politics used features of a sacred world to create and organize an incipient urban community in the New World.

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