The internal control and external sovereignty that define nation-states today has a long (pre)history. Many archaeologists undertheorize sovereignty by only implicitly inferring the sovereign status of the polities they study. Sovereignty also remains insufficiently operationalized in terms of its material remains, especially for those ancient societies without written accounts. During the final centuries before the Common Era, a network of kingdoms existed along the Pacific coast of Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Large earthen mounds that formed plazas lined with stelae, elaborately carved in a shared art style, defined each kingdom's capital city. Izapa was the largest of these kingdoms, and recent lidar (light detection and ranging) and pedestrian surveys document the entire territory encompassing dozens of political centers. These data reveal an integrated three-tiered political hierarchy within the kingdom with the largest centers arranged defensively around the perimeter of Izapa's territory. Further, the “30 km rule” is defined as a cross-cultural pattern for the spacing of sovereign polities and confirmed based on the location of Izapa and neighboring Pacific coast kingdoms. The record of millennia of hierarchically organized human pluralities generates a more complete, comparative understanding of how sovereignty was established and how it functions. [sovereignty, territoriality, political organization, Mesoamerica]

中文翻译：

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重建古代中美洲南太平洋海岸的主权

今天定义民族国家的内部控制和外部主权有着悠久的（前）历史。许多考古学家通过隐含地推断他们研究的政体的主权地位来低估主权。就其物质遗存而言，主权还没有充分发挥作用，特别是对于那些没有书面记录的古代社会。在共同时代之前的最后几个世纪，墨西哥、危地马拉和萨尔瓦多的太平洋沿岸存在着一个王国网络。巨大的土丘形成了两旁排列着石碑的广场，以共同的艺术风格精心雕刻，定义了每个王国的首都。伊萨帕是这些王国中最大的一个，最近的激光雷达（光探测和测距）和行人调查记录了整个领土，包括数十个政治中心。这些数据揭示了王国内部一个综合的三层政治等级制度，最大的中心围绕着伊萨帕的领土周边进行防御。此外，“30 公里规则”被定义为主权政体间隔的跨文化模式，并根据伊萨帕和邻近的太平洋沿岸王国的位置得到确认。几千年来按等级组织起来的人类多元化的记录产生了对主权如何建立及其运作方式的更完整、比较的理解。[ “30公里规则”被定义为主权政体间隔的跨文化模式，并根据伊萨帕和邻近的太平洋沿岸王国的位置得到确认。几千年来按等级组织起来的人类多元化的记录产生了对主权如何建立及其运作方式的更完整、比较的理解。[ “30公里规则”被定义为主权政体间隔的跨文化模式，并根据伊萨帕和邻近的太平洋沿岸王国的位置得到确认。几千年来按等级组织起来的人类多元化的记录产生了对主权如何建立及其运作方式的更完整、比较的理解。[主权、领土、政治组织、中美洲]