Conflicting Colonial accounts of the Aztec conquest of Oztuma are resolved by correlating new archaeological data, a collection of Early Colonial documents from the town of Ixtepec, and other better-known sources. The correlation of archaeological and ethnohistoric data suggests that, contrary to some interpretations of the histories of the Aztec Empire, the Aztec fortress of Oztuma was separate from and contemporaneous with a Chontal fortified site known by the same toponym, and that the Chontal of Oztuma were not exterminated by the Aztecs during the rebellion of 1487. Instead, Chontal Oztuma maintained internal political cohesion while integrated into the Aztec hegemony. The Aztec and Chontal sites together formed the defensive line of the imperial frontier facing the Tarascans. This study represents a shift in focus in Aztec studies from the Aztec imperial core to its constituent hinterlands, emphasizing the complexity of political and strategic interactions.

This study examines the geometry of the architecture of the Teuchitlan tradition of western Mexico. An argument will be made that these concentric circular buildings represent formal architectural planning and that they have cultural significance. The pattern dating from the Classic period (ca. a.d. 200–700) will be stressed.

Las Ruinas de Arenal is a small “major” Lowland Maya center located at the southwest edge of the upper or western Belize Valley. This paper presents a preliminary description of Las Ruinas in formal, spatial, and temporal terms and reports the results of two short seasons of archaeological investigations carried out there in 1991 and 1992. Some aspects of the site's likely cultural, historical, and sociopolitical significance also are discussed.

Excavations in Formative and Early Classic contexts at the Maya site of K'axob have produced a sample of 2,568 worked-shell ornaments crafted from both marine and freshwater species. Predominantly shell beads, the sample also includes unique pendants, figurines, and tinklers. A high frequency of unfinished beads in Middle Formative and early Late Formative midden contexts provides strong evidence of localized shell working and trading connections with the Caribbean. Personal adornment crafted from shell is an important item in many burials, including those of children. The most lavish disposal of shell, however, occurs in one of the earliest Middle Formative interments at K'axob. An adult male—who may have been a “founder” of K'axob—was buried with 2,019 shell beads. Through time, fewer individuals were buried with worked shell as the intricacy of shell working became more elaborate and possibly iconic of roles of authority. Interpretation of archaeological patterns indicates that shell beads can provide significant insight into the construction of social identities.

This article describes an elaborate “theater-type censer” found around a burial in a residential apartment compound of the Late Xolalpan phase excavated at Teotihuacan. It consists of a richly dressed human figure associated with representations of plants and food, clouds and flowers, and butterfly symbols. Its context and the associated elements attached to the censer evoke fire, death, and fertility symbolism.

The earthworks of Tikal have long been understood as the most extensive example of defensive architecture in the Maya Lowlands, with the ditch and embankment seen as part of a system of defense anchoring the north and south territorial limits of Tikal to impassable bajos on its flanks. New survey and excavation data suggest that the extent and course of the earthworks are not consistent with the demarcation of the north and south limits of the polity, and that the morphology of the feature is not consistent with a well-conceived or finished defensive construction. Here we present a hypothetical model of the earthworks as a limestone filtration trench that could have been used to collect subsurface water to mitigate the effects of canicular drought or to support off-season agriculture.

Analysis of a collection of lithic artifacts from recent INAH salvage excavations in Azcapotzalco, Mexico, contributes to our understanding of lithic procurement and manufacturing processes, other economic activities, intersite relations, and the decline of Classic civilization in the Basin of Mexico. The results of NAA conducted at the Missouri University Research Reactor on a small sample of obsidian artifacts from the site support the conclusions of visual analysis and growing evidence from other central Mexican sites that at the end of the Classic Period obsidian exchange networks utilizing the Pachuca, Hidalgo, sources were largely replaced by a widespread dependence on the considerably more distant obsidian source of Ucareo, Michoacan. It appears likely that Ucareo obsidian was imported primarily in the form of large polyhedral cores used to produce prismatic blades. Obsidian from the Otumba, State of Mexico, source was also identified by NAA in biface and blade form.

The site of Cuello in northern Belize provides a long ceramic sequence from the early Middle Preclassic, ca. 1200 b.c., to the Late Preclassic, sometime in the fourth century a.d. Excavations begun at Cuello in 1975 were completed in 1993. The initial controversy concerning the chronological placement of the earliest pottery of the Swasey and Bladen complexes is challenged by examining the 1992 and 1993 excavated material in a “blind analysis,” without benefit of stratigraphic information. The results demonstrate conclusively the stratigraphie priority of Swasey ceramics below Bladen, which in turn lie below pottery of the Middle Preclassic Lopez-Mamom complex. Cuello operated within the homogeneous Mamom ceramic sphere during the Middle Preclassic and within the Chicanel ceramic sphere during the Late Preclassic. The ultimate breakup of the Chicanel sphere resulted in Cuello's adherence to the older ceramic traditions, while other Maya sites had begun the production of polychrome pottery. Cuello represents one of the best-known Middle Preclassic Maya sites yet investigated, and it provides an important perspective on this poorly understood time period in the Maya lowlands.

Structure 5N2 (initially named “Group A”) at Río Bec is the first ruin in the region to have been recorded and is its most important towered building. While it is reasonable to question the specific role such emblematic monumental structures played in the region's sociopolitical organization, precise data concerning their dating, construction history, and functions has been lacking. The recent study of Structure 5N2 has improved our understanding of this building type and of the structure itself, which combines a private residential sector (that astonishingly includes a central pyramid-temple) and a public space. The structure's construction history also reveals a great deal. Originally it consisted of only a tandem two-room residence constructed at roughly a.d. 700–720. Around a.d. 830–850 the original residence was transformed into a large palace, which remained unfinished until abandonment just after a.d. 950. Analysis of the final building, replaced in the process of transformation to the settlement around Structure 5N2, also enables us to explore the social and economic dimensions of its dramatic but incomplete growth.

Surface reconnaissance at the site of Xochicalco, Morelos, identified 12 areas believed to be production locales where obsidian tools were manufactured during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 700-900). Production locales were identified from concentrations of chipped stone debitage located in both residential and nonresidential contexts at Xochicalco. Differences in the size and location of these production locales suggested obsidian craft activity was carried out in three different production contexts similar to those reported at the large urban center of Teotihuacan: small domestic workshops, large nonresidential workshops, and civic-ceremonial precinct workshops. Stratigraphic excavations were initiated to test whether the inferences about the context of production based on surface concentrations of obsidian debitage would be confirmed by subsurface testing. The results show that in most cases surface concentrations of obsidian debitage accurately reflect the presence of in situ craft activity.

Skeletal remains excavated from the lowland Maya site of Ceibal, representing approximately 117 individuals, provide significant data for the study of changes in bodily treatments and mortuary practices from 1000 b.c. to a.d. 900. The early Middle Preclassic residents of Ceibal apparently did not bury their dead inside residential structures, which represents a burial practice different from those found at contemporaneous Belizean sites. During this time, tabular erect cranial deformations were found among possible local residents. Sacrificial burials were present by the end of this period, but skeletal remains of violent rituals deposited in public spaces increased from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Preclassic. During the Late Preclassic, tabular erect cranial deformations coexisted with tabular oblique shapes. The Classic period witnessed a prevalence of tabular oblique forms, which were probably tied to local residents. The common placement of the dead under house floors and the preference of ceramic vessels as burial goods also indicate Ceibal's strong affinities with other parts of the Maya lowlands during the Late Classic period. During the Terminal Classic period, there was a resurgence in the placement of sacrificial burials in public spaces and tabular erect cranial deformations were found in possible non-local individuals.

We describe a remarkable artifact discovered during our 2015 excavations at the Maya site of Nim li Punit, Belize. It is a T-shaped jade pectoral worn on the chest by ancient Maya kings during rites in which they scattered copal incense (Figure 1). These rituals are described or depicted on six carved stone monuments (stelae) at the site. What is more, two stelae at the site depict rulers wearing the pectoral. The reverse side of the jade contains a long historical hieroglyphic text. Had the piece been recovered by illegal means and ended up in a private collection, much of the text would make little sense and it could not possibly be ascribed to Nim li Punit. The priceless worth of the Nim li Punit pectoral, therefore, lies not only in its hieroglyphic inscription but also in its known archaeological context and contemporary images of its use. We briefly describe that context and present a translation of the important text on the jade pectoral, which we interpret as a “wind jewel.”

The vividly painted “Battle Mural” of Cacaxtla (Tlaxcala, Mexico) depicts the gory results of a battle between racially distinct factions, characterized by their opposing jaguar and bird insignia. The two central Bird figures that remain standing are shown as captives, and in both cases they are attired in elaborate costumes that include diagnostic items of female clothing, including the quechquemitl cape and long skirt. Other figures are nude or are shown in simple male costumes, including the maxtlatl loincloth. This paper considers arguments of whether the two central figures were biological females, or rather, that the presence of female apparel on male actors was used within a context of conquest, symbolically transmitted through a gender ideology of male dominance and female subordination. While the evidence is inconclusive, we employ a contextual analysis of pre-Columbian pictorial manuscripts and Mexican cosmology to argue that these individuals were female. Furthermore, we suggest that the elaborate costume elements associated with these female figures, and their recurrence with the Jaguar Lord 3 Deer Antler “Tlaloc mask,” indicates that this was a noblewoman destined for marriage as a means of binding the Jaguar and Bird dynasties. Thus the Battle Mural depicts the capture of the “founding queen,” with the subsequent union demonstrated by the complementary depictions of Jaguar and Bird lords on Building A.

Landscapes figure centrally in conceptions and writings about ancient Mesoamerica. This selective review considers four interrelated kinds of landscapes investigated archaeologically in Mesoamerica: ecology and land use, social history, ritual expression, and cosmologic meaning. The literature on each topic is large, and from its inception, Ancient Mesoamerica has contributed significantly. Discussion here focuses on how we got to where we are in Mesoamerican landscape archaeology, important current developments, and directions for the decades ahead.

The volcanic eruption that buried Cerén, El Salvador, at a.d. 590 preserved an extraordinary array of artifacts and features in or near their original positions. Household inventories are virtually complete, and activities can be reconstructed in almost ethnographic detail. It is therefore tempting to think that Cerén will automatically make less-well-preserved contexts at similar sites more explicable. This proposition is tested by comparing Cerén with a well-excavated set of household remains from seven small rural sites in the Copan Valley, Honduras, which have been much more heavily transformed by cultural and natural processes. Comparison is especially attractive because both the Cerén and Copan sites were small domestic places with similar social, residential, and economic functions. Both sets of sites also share a common basic cultural tradition on the southern periphery of Mesoamerica, and are in reasonably similar upland environmental settings.

Terminal Classic circular architecture has been characterized as a “non-Classic” trait stemming from Chontal-Itza groups from the Gulf lowlands who developed a long-distance, circum-peninsular trade route and established their capital city at Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan. Recent investigations of a series of circular shrines proximate to the Caribbean coast in Belize have yielded ceramics and radiocarbon dates that link these buildings to the ninth century, coeval with the early Sotuta phase at Chichen Itza (a.d. 830–900). We present an architectural comparison of circular shrines and map out a network of sites that cluster along the rivers and coast of Belize. We consider two possibilities that may not be mutually exclusive: (1) local elite emulation of northern styles following pilgrimage to Chichen Itza for political accession ceremonies, and, (2) trading diasporas involving small-scale migration of Chontal-Itza merchants along the eastern Caribbean coast.

A total of 51 obsidian samples from archaeological sites in western Mexico (La Quemada, Totoate, Las Ventanas, Laguna San Marcos) and from the Tequila source area were analyzed chemically by direct-current plasma atomic emission spectrometry (DCP) and instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) in an effort to identify the sources of the archaeological obsidian by step-wise discriminant analysis of the data. Surprisingly, only 3 of the 39 archaeological samples (2 from Laguna San Marcos and 1 from Las Ventanas) could be correlated with a Volcán Tequila source (Teuchitlan). Four other groups of archaeological obsidian were recognized. The largest, Group Y, was found to be derived from the La Lobera source located near the Jalisco–Zacatecas border. This source accounted for 12% of La Quemada obsidian and a higher proportion for Las Ventanas and Totoate. Source locations for the remaining three groups could not be determined from the existing chemical data base. These results could indicate that a minimum of interaction took place between La Quemada and the Teuchitlan cultural tradition. It shows that one focus of La Quemada's trade endeavors was in the Río Bolaños/Tlaltenango valleys. This study also indicates that organized obsidian trade between the Mexican core and its outer periphery was probably not a factor between a.d. 400 and 800.

Excavations at the site of Cerro Portezuelo, located on the lower slopes of a hill in Chimalhuacan, State of México, were begun by George Brainerd in 1954 and continued in 1955, but he died suddenly, before a projected third season could take place. With the exception of a few small structures higher on the hill, no signs of significant structures were visible on the surface. Architectural features revealed through excavation, however, included a platform with associated caches of the Middle Classic period, a platform and a burial area of the Epiclassic period, and a residential complex that appears to have spanned the Early and Late Postclassic periods. This complex included a sunken patio, a freestanding shrine, habitational rooms, and other features. Construction materials included stone, adobe brick, and tepetate.

Three Maya women served as documented rulers during the Classic period. The expressions of their names and titles, unlike those of all of their contemporaries, share a unique syntactic variation throughout Mayan hieroglyphic inscriptions: their systematic lack of feminine prefixes. In addition to this variation, the bestowing of the na bate warrior title upon other exceptionally prominent Maya women suggests that women of extraordinary status in Classic-period Maya society were “masculinized,” or granted male attributes, in order to accommodate their sharing of status or occupancy of roles that were traditionally masculine. Since some male rulers were similarly portrayed with certain feminine traits, it is suggested that the Classic Maya concept of gender was based on a complementary, or balanced, relationship of masculine and feminine. The projection of one gender's traits onto individuals of another sex indicates that gender was not polar but rather inclusive and reciprocal, such that characteristics could be adopted and utilized by members of both sexes in order to make them suitable for specific roles.

This work addresses varying interpretations of the production, circulation, and consumption of jades in the Maya area from the Preclassic through the Postclassic periods (600 b.c.–a.d. 1697). Traditionally, exchange of jades has been seen as a dyadic relationship between elites (gifting and tribute). Some have argued for gradations of value in the circulation of jades, which probably circulated in both elite and commoner spheres. More recent research argues that jade blanks were commoditized because they could be standardized. In this article, we evaluate this last claim, concluding there is no evidence for standardization and commodification of jade blanks, and a dearth of jade blanks in archaeological deposits. We critique the expectation that commodities in some nonindustrial economies should be standardized, and make suggestions about what kinds of jade objects, if any, have greatest potential to become commodities in the Maya area.