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Abstract In the area along the southern Gulf Coast in Mexico, a large number of previously unrecorded archaeological sites have recently been detected with the aid of lidar data, which also allowed us to determine the orientations of hundreds of structures and architectural assemblages, including many standardized complexes dated to the Early-to-Middle Formative transition. As revealed by our analyses, most orientations were based on astronomical and calendrical principles, occasionally combined with certain concepts of sacred geography. While the results of these analyses were presented in a recently published article, here we explore the potential of alignment data for addressing other questions of archaeological relevance. The distribution of particular building types and regional variations in alignment patterns in the study area suggest the existence of two somehow different cultural spheres, loosely corresponding to the areas conventionally called the Gulf Olmec region and the western Maya Lowlands. Examining pertinent evidence, we argue that it was in this area where some of the most prominent orientation groups materialized in later Mesoamerican architecture originated. We also attempt to reconstruct the paths of their diffusion, which are expected to contribute to understanding the dynamics of long-distance cultural interaction in Mesoamerica. 

Their discovery of a preceramic temple at the Peruvian site of Kotosh in 1960 led Japanese Andeanists to suggest that repeated temple constructions played a driving role in the development of Andean civilization. More recent finds of ceremonial constructions dating to the preceramic and early ceramic periods in other parts of the world allow us to re-evaluate their proposal from a cross-cultural perspective and to re-examine the concept of the state critically. Whereas early ceremonial constructions in some areas do not appear to have led directly to state formation, monumental constructions built between 1100 and 750 BC in the Maya lowlands triggered a social trajectory toward the emergence of dynasties. Early organizers of ceremonies may have provided a prototype of later Maya rulership, which was closely tied to public performance. Early buildings probably facilitated collaboration among many people without pronounced inequality, but this process likely produced a basis for later hierarchical organization by creating political subjects who willingly accept communal obligations. Those observations encourage us to move beyond the restrictive approach to the state and to examine different dimensions of broad social processes. 

Architectural orientations represent the earliest evidence for astronomical observations and the 260-day calendar in Mesoamerica.