Classic Maya “killed” objects. They broke and dispersed ceramic vessels. After adding exotic artifacts, they burned everything, buried the deposit with marl, and tore down associated rooms or buildings. This complex set of interrelated activities has been classified as a termination ritual. Instead of accepting this as a natural category, we study how the Classic Maya strategically differentiated some practices from others. Our case study are the deposits in Structure 5PS-12, an eighth-century AD building at the outskirts of the royal capital of Tamarindito, Guatemala. Destroyed wall foundations and evenly distributed wall fall indicate that Structure 5PS-12 was dismantled. Complete tools and exotic artifacts are found within the wall fall and on the floor. Refitted ceramic sherds show that partial vessels were broken apart and scattered across the building. The combination and sequence of these practices reveal a deliberate strategy to distinguish some practices from others. Its practitioners may have witnessed a fire ceremony conducted by the divine rulers of Tamarindito in AD 762. Structure 5PS-12 attests to shared and possibly copied ritual procedures, whereas unique practices establish a local way of abandonment. The process of differentiation allows people to display but also question shared cultural frameworks. The Maya ritualized practices in a social discourse about appropriate norms and behaviors.

Este trabajo busca profundizar el conocimiento sobre el rol de los sectores intermedios de las quebradas en el entramado social de la microrregión de Antofagasta de la Sierra (Puna meridional argentina) a lo largo del tiempo. A través del estudio de la tecnología cerámica desde una perspectiva diacrónica (ca. 2000-500 aP), haciendo énfasis en los estudios petrográficos de pastas, se investigan los cambios y continuidades en la producción alfarera de la microrregión. Para ello, se presentan los resultados de la investigación realizada sobre el material cerámico proveniente de los sitios de Las Escondidas y Corral Alto, en la quebrada del Río Miriguaca, y Cueva Salamanca 1, en la quebrada del Río Las Pitas. A partir de los análisis realizados, se pudo concluir que existieron cambios en los modos de hacer cerámica a lo largo del tiempo en la microrregión. Se observó que durante el Formativo (ca. 2000 aP) existió un modo de hacer compartido en un área amplia, mientras que durante el periodo Tardío (ca. 800 aP) se dio una fragmentación en las prácticas de producción cerámica en la microrregión. Estos cambios responden a profundas trasformaciones ocurridas en las sociedades puneñas que se comenzaron a gestar tiempo antes del comienzo del período Tardío en un proceso paulatino, complejo y heterogéneo.

Material culture studies demonstrate how objects may act to communicate information regarding social identity. In this study we consider ethnohistorical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence for Postclassic spinning and weaving as symbols relating to female ideology in ancient Mexico. We then relate a contextual interpretation of texts and images to contemporary symbolism, particularly associated with members of the female earth/fertility deity complex depicted and described in precolumbian and early colonial pictorial manuscripts. For our case study we analyze decorative imagery found on baked-clay spindle whorls from Postclassic Cholula, Mexico. This collection is representative of an iconographic system relating to female ideology. Whorls, as well as other spinning and weaving tools, paralleled male-oriented weapons to create a symbolic equivalence or, as we argue, a usurpation of the male symbols within a female worldview as a form of resistance to male domination. We conclude that the symbolic system used on spindle whorls and in other aspects of female practice created a communication network understood by Postclassic women.

The site of Tipon, Peru, located about 30 km east of Cuzco, provides an example of Inka knowledge of hydraulic engineering and the civil engineering practices used in the design and operation of the complex water system. The inhabitants of Tipon used river- and spring-sourced surface and subterranean channels to convey, distribute, and drain water to and from multiple agricultural platforms, reservoirs, and urban ceremonial centers. Intricate intersecting surface and subterranean channel systems that combined and regulated water flows from different sources controlled the water to and drainage from 13 terraced agricultural platforms. This design served to maintain different ground moisture levels to sustain specialty crops. Within the site are fountains and multiple water display features requiring sophisticated hydraulic engineering necessary for aesthetic displays. To understand the technology used by the Inka to design the water systems at Tipon, I used computational fluid dynamics methodology and modern hydraulic engineering theory. I made computer models of key elements of the Principal Fountain and the Main Aqueduct to reproduce water flow patterns in these features as intended by Inka engineers’ designs and calculations. The Inka hydraulic technology used complex engineering principles similar to those in modern civil engineering practice centuries ahead of their formal discovery in Western hydraulic science.

Teotihuacan underwent an urban renewal during the Tlamimilolpa phase (AD 250–350) in which more than 2,000 apartment compounds were constructed to accommodate its estimated 100,000 residents. Although the orderly layout and canonical orientation of the city imply top-down planning, growing evidence suggests a bottom-up process of urban transformation. This study combines architectural energetics with archaeometric analysis of nonlocal construction materials (lime plaster and andesitic cut stone blocks) to examine the labor organization behind the construction of the apartment compounds. The results of the energetic analysis suggest that residents relied on labor forces external to their compounds, whereas materials analysis indicates that the procurement, transportation, and production of building material were centrally organized and thus indicative of a state labor tax. Based on these results, I argue that compounds were assembled through corporate group labor exchange or communal (neighborhood-level) labor cooperation/obligation, with differing degrees of support from the state labor tax. Apartment compound construction was not uniform but rather a diverse process in which state labor mobilization, communal labor obligations, and corporate labor exchange were articulated in various ways.

Presentamos la configuración del espacio arquitectónico de la aldea de Palo Blanco (APB) emplazada en el Valle de Fiambalá (departamento de Tinogasta, Catamarca, Argentina) y habitada entre los siglos uno y diez de la era. Articulamos información de segundo y primer orden, ya que los resultados de las intervenciones realizadas en la década de 1960 fueron sumados a los recientes trabajos arqueogeofísicos, al igual que la evidencia material y procesos de formación de sitio. Caracterizamos el espacio arquitectónico de la APB a lo largo de sus 1.000 años de vida, donde algunas características distintivas fueron: (1) el uso de la técnica constructiva de tierra encofrada o tapial; (2) la construcción de estructuras de formas regulares y ángulos rectos; (3) el encierre de los recintos con un muro perimetral, cuya superficie aumenta en función del tiempo; y (4) la ausencia de estructuras con función ceremonial (montículos, plataformas). Otros rasgos, como los recintos-pasillos en forma de L, se perdieron en el tiempo ya que solo se registraron en viviendas habitadas entre los siglos uno y cinco. También refutamos la existencia de un tipo arquitectónico denominado trazado disperso planeado tipo Saujil y discutimos las implicancias sociopolíticas de la rutinización de las prácticas arquitectónicas en el tiempo.

Using textile production in Postclassic Western Mesoamerica as a case study, this article explores how to differentiate low levels of craft production caused by household provisioning from low levels of craft production due to market reliance and regional specialization. I use a sample of 52 excavated site/phase components to establish baselines for the intensity of production and to evaluate whether participation in the market allowed craftspeople in some regions to underproduce textiles relative to local needs. Highland and lowland sites have comparable low frequencies of spindle whorls during the Early Postclassic, which I interpret as characteristic of household self-sufficiency. Whorl frequencies increase above this baseline earlier and to a higher degree in lowland sites than in highland sites. During the Late Postclassic, some regions may have formed pairs of over- and underproduction zones linked by the market. Because of changes in spinning technology, it is not possible to extrapolate the results of this study to earlier time periods. I then present data from Calixtlahuaca as an example of how macroregional data can be used to interpret craft production at a particular site. Textile production at Calixtlahuaca was generally low, but this was more likely a function of a strong dependence on maguey fiber, rather than underproduction caused by a reliance on the market.

The Late Formative period immediately precedes the emergence of Tiwanaku, one of the earliest South American states, yet it is one of the most poorly understood periods in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin (Bolivia). In this article, we refine the ceramic chronology of this period with large sets of dates from eight sites, focusing on temporal inflection points in decorated ceramic styles. These points, estimated here by Bayesian models, index specific moments of change: (1) cal AD 120 (60–170, 95% probability): the first deposition of Kalasasaya red-rimmed and zonally incised styles; (2) cal AD 240 (190–340, 95% probability): a tentative estimate of the final deposition of Kalasasaya zonally incised vessels; (3) cal AD 420 (380–470, 95% probability): the final deposition of Kalasasaya red-rimmed vessels; and (4) cal AD 590 (500–660, 95% probability): the first deposition of Tiwanaku Redwares. These four modeled boundaries anchor an updated Late Formative chronology, which includes the Initial Late Formative phase, a newly identified decorative hiatus between the Middle and Late Formative periods. The models place Qeya and transitional vessels between inflection points 3 and 4 based on regionally consistent stratigraphic sequences. This more precise chronology will enable researchers to explore the trajectories of other contemporary shifts during this crucial period in Lake Titicaca Basin's prehistory.

We studied the temporal and spatial variation of diet and oral health of human populations that inhabited the central region of Argentina during the Late Holocene (4000–300 BP) by evaluating isotopic data (δ13Ccol, δ15N), physiological stress indicators (tooth wear), and infectious dental diseases (caries). The sample of 49 individuals was recovered from archaeological sites located in the province of Córdoba, dated by AMS on collagen to a range of 4058 ± 89 years BP to 370 ± 15 14C years BP. After calculating the prevalence of caries and the average dental wear, we compared these values based on regional origin (central highlands and eastern lowlands), temporal assignation (early Late Holocene, late Late Holocene), and sex (female and male). We found clear regional and temporal differentiation, which we interpret as resulting from differential use of plant resources among the regions and a slight deterioration in oral health in the Late Holocene. Stable isotope analysis indicates food consumption of C3 and C4 resources, although the observed temporal variations in the isotopic values may indicate an introduction of C4 resources in the later Late Holocene, mainly in the mountainous region.

The development of Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) ceremonial architecture is receiving more attention by archaeologists conducting research in the Maya Lowlands. Although a few examples have been partially excavated, there is still a dearth of information on how and why monumental constructions were originally built. This is largely because early structures often lie below several layers of sequential architecture, making them difficult to locate. Even when Middle Preclassic architecture is identified, exposure is often too limited to fully investigate its form and function. A well-preserved and accessible Middle Preclassic platform would be a rare find and could greatly enhance our knowledge and understanding of the subject. At Pacbitun, Cayo District, Belize, such a discovery has been made beneath the artificially raised surface of the main plaza. To make the most of this opportunity, five seasons of excavation worked to expose this massive building in its entirety. In this article, we provide details concerning the structural design of the platform and its abandonment, as well as present potential architectural comparisons. We conclude by reevaluating complexity at Pacbitun.

Un trabajo de rescate arqueológico en la cuenca alta del Río Loa (norte de Chile) resultó en el hallazgo de una inhumación prehispánica de un infante asociado a variados atavíos y ofrendas, junto a los restos óseos parciales de una adolescente. Ambos individuos fueron sometidos a análisis de isótopos estables para establecer paleodieta (δ13C y δ15N) y movilidad (δ18O y 87Sr/86Sr). Además, se efectuaron dataciones radiocarbónicas pareadas de los restos bioantropológicos y culturales con el fin establecer la cronología de la inhumación y, a la vez, evaluar la existencia de un posible efecto reservorio marino. Los resultados isotópicos sugieren consumo de dieta principalmente terrestre y un origen local para los individuos, aunque con una ingesta moderada de recursos marinos. Los fechados radiocarbónicos presentan una inesperada diferencia entre las edades de las ofrendas y los restos humanos, indicando la existencia de un importante efecto reservorio. Dichos resultados dan nuevas luces sobre el consumo de alimentos marinos durante el Formativo temprano en la región, a la vez que permiten ejemplificar los alcances de efectuar dataciones pareadas de restos humanos y culturales.

The human head was a potent symbol for many South American cultures. Isolated heads were often included in mortuary contexts, representing captured enemies, revered persons, and symbolic “seeds.” At Salango, a ritual complex on the central coast of Ecuador, excavations revealed two burial mounds dated to approximately 100 BC. Among the 11 identified burials, two infants were interred with “helmets” made from the cranial vaults of other juveniles. The additional crania were placed around the heads of the primary burials, likely at the time of burial. All crania exhibited lesions associated with bodily stress. In this report, we present the only known evidence of using juvenile crania as mortuary headgear, either in South America or globally.

Rosenswig's discussion of the sculptural chronology of Izapa contains some inaccuracies that require correction. The dates of the monuments at Izapa also require further evaluation.

I thank my colleagues for their comments, but I disagree with their conclusions.