Framing Complexity in Formative Mesoamerica.

This article reviews the edited volume *Framing Complexity in Formative Mesoamerica*, which examines the development of social complexity during the Mesoamerican Formative Period through detailed regional case studies. The volume emphasizes local processes and regional variability, exploring how factors such as ceramic traditions, monumental architecture, feasting, and community-building combined uniquely across sites to produce diverse complex societies. It contrasts earlier aggrandizer-focused models by highlighting collective action and bottom-up approaches, with chapters spanning regions from the Basin of Mexico to the Maya Lowlands. The editors provide theoretical framing and a macro-regional analysis, noting the rapid and varied pathways to complexity in Mesoamerica, though the volume notably omits coverage of the Olmec Gulf lowlands and Pacific coast of Chiapas. Overall, the work offers valuable insights for scholars studying early social complexity both within and beyond Mesoamerica.