  We demonstrate the emergence of self-organized structures in the course of
the relaxation of an initially excited, dissipative and finite chain of
interacting particles in a periodic potential towards its many particle
equilibrium configuration. Specifically we observe a transition from an in
phase correlated motion via phase randomized oscillations towards oscillations
with a phase difference $\pi$ between adjacent particles thereby yielding the
growth of long time transient spatiotemporal oscillation patterns. Parameter
modifications allow for designing these patterns, including steady states and
even states that combine in phase and correlated out of phase oscillations
along the chain. The complex relaxation dynamics is based on finite size
effects together with an evolution running from the nonlinear to the linear
regime thereby providing a highly unbalanced population of the center of mass
and relative motion.
