Investigations at several northern Peruvian coastal archaeological sites by archaeologists and physical anthropologists are beginning to provide details on long-term patterning of mortuary behavior. Some of these patterns include retainer sacrifice, child sacrifice, and the metaphorical principle we refer to as “like with like.” In this paper, we discuss the data relating to these mortuary patterns discovered at the site of Santa Rita B in the middle Chao Valley. Examples of each of the patterns presented are evident at the site. These include at least three child sacrifices and one adult sacrifice. The sacrifices appear to be retainer sacrifices, defined as sacrifices intended to accompany a deceased principal personage in the afterlife. The inclusion of the child sacrifices with a subadult principal burial is part of the “like with like” pattern seen here and at other Andean sites. Dating to the start of the Late Intermediate period (ca. A.D. 1100–1300), these finds are compared to other north coastal sites, both earlier and later, and the extent of temporal continuity in these patterns is discussed.

We reassess San Estevan's role within the Late Formative period political geography of northern Belize. This medium-sized site has been interpreted as a subsidiary center to Nohmul that ruled the area along with Cerros, Lamanai, and Colha (Scarborough 1991). It has also been suggested that scores of autonomous polities existed in the region at this time (McAnany 1995). We examine these contrasting models in light of our recent excavations in the central precinct of San Estevan. These excavations reveal a stratigraphic sequence of Middle through Late Formative period deposits. Excavations document that the central part of the site was plastered over after 50 cal. B.C.—at roughly the same time as monumental construction projects were also started at Cerros, Nohmul, and Lamanai. San Estevan's central Mound XV was built on these plaster surfaces during the Late Formative period as was the adjacent ballcourt. Based on our new excavation data we suggest that San Estevan was an independent polity during the Late Formative period. Further, we propose that San Estevan competed, and engaged in warfare, with other medium and large regional centers and was one of ~12 independent polities forming a political patchwork across northern Belize.

Estudios anteriores basados en indicadores osteológicos comprobaron la existencia de un alto impacto ambiental afectando el crecimiento y desarrollo normal de los habitantes de Las Pirguas (Salta), un grupo del período agroalfarero del noroeste argentino (aproximadamente 600 d.C.), por la acción de factores nutricionales y socioculturales. Puesto que tales condiciones de vida tienen que haber comprometido además la estabilidad del desarrollo de los individuos, es apropiada su evaluación mediante el análisis de la repetibilidad (r) de mediciones bilaterales del cráneo y de su complemento (1 - r) la varianza ambiental especial. Se empleó una muestra de 60 individuos y la observación de 21 variables bilaterales del cráneo, habiéndose controlado el error intraobservador. Los resultados indican la existencia de diferencias bilaterales significativas a favor del lado derecho en las dimensiones: NA-FMO, PT-FMT, BRE-AS y PO-BRE, mientras que las restantes variables presentan promedios semejantes. Los individuos adultos poseen una repetibilidad media (.744 ± .025), menor en un 19.3 por ciento a la de los infantiles (.922 ± .013), y comparativamente más baja con respecto a otras poblaciones del Área Andina Centro Meridional. Estos resultados confirman el perfil de vida marginal y de extremas exigencias ambientales bajo las cuales vivió esta población.

Numerous studies have used the Howells Peruvian sample from the province of Yauyos as the morphological representative for South America. Although Peru has a rich history of investigations of human skeletal remains, biological distance studies based on craniometrics are limited to nonexistent. This study examines the morphological variation found in Peru using the Howells sample and three additional coastal (Makatampu and Ancón) and highland (Cajamarca) samples. The between-group variation and the degree of among-group differentiation were tested using a canonical discriminant analysis and Mahalanobis D², respectively. All groups are significantly different from the Yauyos sample and results indicate a closer morphological affinity between coastal groups and the two highland groups.

We analyzed strontium isotopes in more than 500 samples of shell, bone, and dental enamel from modern and archaeological contexts throughout Mesoamerica. The results correspond closely with expectations based upon the local geology and earlier measurements of geological materials. The results show that isotopic variation is significant across Mesoamerica. Thus strontium isotope ratios in dental enamel, which mark the place of childhood residence, can be used not only to document mobility but also in some cases to determine geographic origin. We present five archaeological case studies to illustrate the anthropological significance and range of applications for this technique: the origins of individuals in the “Oaxaca Barrio” at Teotihuacan, a northern origin for the founder of Copan, a local king at Tikal, the regional origin of two of Palenque's rulers, and individuals of African birth in a colonial cemetery in Campeche.

Starch and phytolith analyses of an assemblage of chert microliths from the Three Dog site, an early Lucayan settlement on San Salvador, Bahamas, yielded Zea mays, Capsicum, and possible manioc indicating that these domesticates were present by at least A.D. 800 or earlier in Cuba or Hispaniola and brought to the central Bahamas during its early peopling. The presence of corn at this site contradicts previously held ideas that it did not appear in the Bahamas until the A.D. 1200s. Starch granules tentatively identified as root/tuber starch were also found on the microliths, although we were unable to discern if these represent wild species and/or culturally transported wild or domesticated species. The presence of more than one species on the microliths, initially believed to have been manioc grater chips similar to those documented ethnographically, demonstrates multifunctional use. A broad-based plant diet that included maize and root/tuber crops was in place at least by the Archaic age in parts of the Greater Antilles and brought to the Bahamas, along with chilis, during its colonization by Ceramic age peoples.

An assemblage of modified bone remains from the site of Dos Pilas, Guatemala, in the southern Maya lowlands, is used to describe the raw materials, tools, techniques, and reduction strategies of Classic period Maya bone working. Most Maya bone artifact assemblages are not closely associated with production locales, are sparsely distributed across sites (rarely more than a few per household), and include primarily finished artifacts. In contrast, this large collection includes high frequencies of debitage from all stages of artifact production in a single spatially and temporally discrete locus—a residential group close to the main plaza of the site and occupied both before and after political disintegration of the Petexbatún hegemony. Comparative Petexbatún materials are used to suggest that although the Dos Pilas assemblage is unusually dense, the methods used by the bone crafters in this complex were similar to those used in all other periods and locations in the region and likely in the southern Maya lowlands as a whole. The Dos Pilas assemblage presents therefore an excellent model for Classic Maya bone-working.