Although Andean archaeology has long used the term “ethnic” to refer to human groups, new understandings of ethnicity have injected less static understandings of contextualized identity construction into our models of the past. A review of recent work on ethnicity in the field reveals, however, that methodological approaches to these social entities do not always follow suit and rather favor normative synchronie comparisons. This paper explores the origins and trends in the study of ethnic groups and ethnicity in Andean archaeology, arguing that we may be seeing the persistence of the culture concept in the guise of ethnicity. It also examines best practices in the literature in order to make recommendations concerning the adoption of local, contextual, and diachronic methods in conjunction with multiple lines of evidence. These practices are more likely to expose the processes of identity construction by rendering explicit the relationships among culture, ethnicity, and the use of emblemic material culture. It argues, thereby, for the provision of proof of this process rather than its assertion.

Las excavaciones arqueológicas y los registros bioantropológicos realizados en el archipiélago de los Chonos (entre 43° 50’ y 46° 50’ S), a lo largo de los canales occidentales de Patagonia, permiten definir la ocupación de este sistema insular por parte de cazadores recolectores marinos desde el Holoceno medio hasta el contacto europeo. Sus conjuntos tecnológicos y arqueofaunísticos señalan una dependencia de recursos del medio litoral y marítimo. La información de isótopos estables del carbono y nitrógeno en restos humanos asociados a estos contextos provee una herramienta de análisis independiente para evaluar las interpretaciones realizadas sobre la base de otros conjuntos de datos arqueológicos. Este trabajo presenta los resultados de análisis de δ13C y δ15N de 38 individuos con edades en el rango entre 2300 y 200 cal aP (fechamientos directos 14C por AMS), así como de muestras complementarias de arqueofauna. El análisis de los valores isotópicos respalda la interpretación de una adaptación cazadora recolectora fundamentada en un patrón de subsistencia enfocado principalmente en recursos litorales y marinos. Los valores de δ13C y δ15N son comparados con los obtenidos de otros grupos canoeros de los canales centrales y meridionales de Patagonia, poniendo de relieve las diferencias en trayectorias de subsistencia entre las regiones involucradas.

El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar, a través del estudio de isótopos estables (δ13Cap, δ13Ccol y δ15N), paleodietas y patrones de subsistencia en grupos cazadores-recolectores de la transición pampeano-patagónica oriental (Argentina) durante el Holoceno medio-tardío (ca. 6000–250 aP). Se analizaron 44 individuos adultos de ambos sexos. Los resultados indican que durante el Holoceno medio los herbívoros terrestres, peces marinos y, posiblemente, pinnípedos tuvieron un rol importante en la dieta. Sin embargo, hacia el Holoceno tardío se observó un predominio en el consumo de herbívoros terrestres y peces fluviales, con la consecuente disminución en la ingesta de recursos marinos. También se detectó una ingesta mayor de vegetales a partir de aproximadamente 1000 aP. Durante el Holoceno medio y, probablemente, el Holoceno tardío inicial se registró una tendencia en la distribución espacial de los valores de isótopos estables, ya que los individuos enterrados hasta una distancia de aproximadamente 20 km de la costa presentan dietas marinas y mixtas, mientras que aquellos localizados a una distancia mayor (hasta ca. 130 km) se caracterizan por dietas terrestres. Estas diferencias podrían estar relacionadas con rangos de acción acotados o una demarcación del espacio que pudo involucrar comportamientos territoriales. Los cambios en la dieta a través del tiempo se asemejan a los reportados para el sudeste de Pampa Húmeda, ya que se observa una tendencia hacia una dieta más continental durante el Holoceno tardío.

A two-year project of survey, surface collection, and excavation on the hill of Cerro Danush within the site of Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl in Oaxaca, Mexico, was focused on identifying and characterizing the Late Classic (A.D. 600–850/900) and Early Postclassic (A.D. 850/900–1300) components of the site, which coincide with the political fragmentation and reorganization of complex society within the Valley of Oaxaca. The transition in sociopolitical organization from the Classic to Postclassic has been the subject of several research projects, but few, if any, have clearly identified an Early Postclassic settlement. A radiocarbon analysis of charcoal samples collected during the excavation of a residential complex on Cerro Danush reveals its most recent period of occupation to be between A.D. 1000 and 1300, placing it firmly within the Early Postclassic. The excavation data are contextualized with data from the surface collection, illuminating patterns of Late Classic political fragmentation and Early Postclassic household resilience. Since Dainzú-Macuilxóchitl emerged in the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1300–1521) as a powerful city-state, exploring its Early Postclassic component contributes to the study of how societies reorganize on a local level after the collapse of centralized authority, such as the Classic period Monte Albán state.

Fifty years ago, Heyerdahl and Skjølsvold (1956, 1990) collected material from five archaeological sites in the Galápagos Islands. They retained earthenwares of possible precolumbian origin and discarded ceramic, metal, and glass artifacts postdating the arrival of the Spanish in A.D. 1535. Consequently, they argued that each site was formed as the results of a series of discard events from unrelated short-term occupations extending from the precolumbian to the historical era, and that the earthenwares represented occasional visits by fishermen from precolumbian Peru and Ecuador. In 2005, we re-excavated the sites and collected all the excavated materials. Our results show that each class of material, irrespective of age or origin, was distributed spatially and stratigraphically in the same pattern, contradicting the former assumption of multiple, unrelated occupations. We reject the palimpsest model in favor of the null hypothesis of single-phase site occupation. Analysis of putatively precolumbian pottery using optically-stimulated luminescence dating indicates that it is mostly of historical age. Radiocarbon dating confirms that the archaeological sites are younger than the sixteenth century. Research on sedimentary cores shows probable anthropogenic impacts as restricted to the last 500 years. We conclude that there was no human occupation in the Galápagos Islands until the historical era.

Settlement research at Copán, Honduras, since 1984 has produced the largest set of obsidian-hydration dates from excavated contexts available for Mesoamerica (Webster and Freter 1990). Geoffrey Braswell (1992) has criticized the methodology underlying our research, specific associations of our published data, and particularly our reconstruction of a demographic and political decline at Copán that extended well beyond A.D. 900. Braswell has incorrectly characterized the Copan Obsidian Hydration Dating Project’s methodology, and makes many factual errors in assessing the Copán data. In this paper the authors correct these errors, discuss basic issues of obsidian-hydration-dating methodology, and offer new data from Copán to evaluate the efficacy of hydration dating as a method and its potential future application for Mesoamerica as a whole.

Off-mound excavations at a residential group near the site of Dos Hombres, Belize have revealed a series of unusual modifications to the limestone bedrock. The primary purpose of these modifications appears to have been to facilitate drainage of excess surface and subsurface moisture during periods of heavy rain. By utilizing a variation of lithic mulching in the soil, however, the Maya also may have been able to slow the loss of moisture through evaporation during lengthy dry periods. We suggest that these finds reflect soil and water management in house-lot gardening, and that these measures were necessary to overcome localized geologic, pedologic, and regional climatologic conditions. The use of such a drainage system together with gravel fill at the household level is previously unreported in the Maya Lowlands, and represents an important line of inquiry into gardens as ancient agricultural production systems.

The ethnographic, archaeological, and ethnohistorical data discussed in this report help shed light on the cultural processes and the resulting archaeological correlates (i.e., artifacts and features) linked with aquatic subsistence in Lake Cuitzeo, Michoacán, México. This information is vital for interpreting the archaeological record not just in the study area, but also in all those parts of West Mexico and elsewhere in Mesoamerica where lakes, rivers, marshes, and streams offered a natural bounty for human exploitation. The Lake Cuitzeo Basin was a key economic area for the prehispanic Tarascan state, thanks to its wealth of mineral resources (primarily obsidian and salt). Although non-agricultural resources such as fish, wild plants, aquatic fowl and other wildlife were probably no less important for human subsistence than the area’s mineral riches, they have seldom been taken systematically into consideration by archaeologists in this part of Mesoamerica. This ethnoarchaeological research sheds light on ancient subsistence through the study of contemporary activities such as fishing, hunting, and gathering wild plants, and the associated material culture and work areas. This ethnographic information, as well as the extant ethnohistorical and archaeological records, offer an insight into prehispanic subsistence activities, which is critical for a better understanding of cultural and ecological adaptation in the study area through time.

The internal structure of Maya governing elites has been much debated over the last decade. In the perspective of that debate, I propose a model of political organization at Copán at the end of the Late Classic (A. D. 750-800) based on a reinterpretation of two monuments that depict members of the governing elite, each one wearing a pectoral. The analysis of the pectorals leads to the identification of two functional groups, priests and warriors. Sovereignty incorporates both functions and is embodied in a diarchy where a coruler is adjoined to the ruler. Rulers and corulers come from the two opposing groups who, with each succession to power, exchange these roles. The executive branch, which comprises the ruler and his coruler, four ministers and four war captains, is counterbalanced by a council of nine lords. Furthermore, there are some indications that each functional group was a corporate descent group that had its own territory in the valley and its own traditions. The relations between the two groups conditioned the history of the royal dynasty, from its foundation in A. D. 426 until its collapse in A. D. 822.

Stingray spine use in Maya human bloodletting rituals has long been an accepted phenomenon. Recent work has suggested that intact spines may have been used and that the symptoms resulting from envenomation were an important part of the bloodletting ritual. Zoological and medical research, however, indicate that stingray toxins pose a more serious threat to human health than mere pain and inflammation. Medical studies conducted to track injuries resulting from stingray attacks report that some two-thirds of all cases result in tissue necrosis. Reconciling the use of stingray spines by the Maya with the physiological effects they present is crucial if we are to understand how the Maya viewed toxic marine materials and why they incorporated them in their ritual behaviors. Correlations between political events and stingray spine use may hold the key for understanding how these objects were articulated into the larger social and political sphere. We provide a discussion of the effects of stingray envenomation and the health risks inherent to the ritual use of stingray spines as bloodletters among the ancient Maya. Finally, we offer some possible explanations for the role of cleaned and defleshed spines in ritual contexts.

We use neutron-activation analysis data on Formative- and Classic-period pottery along with analyses of modern ceramics and raw materials to examine changes in ceramic production and consumption on the central Guatemalan Pacific slope at the beginning of the Classic period. In particular, we wonder if the processes that generated regional distributions of two Formative-period wares (White Paste and Fine Red) were the same as or different from the processes that generated regional distribution of Classic-period Flesh ware. We identify probable production zones for the three regionally distributed wares based on raw-material analyses, consideration of the geological context of different zones, and distributional evidence. We find major differences between production/consumption of the Formative and Classic regionally distributed wares. This reinforces the notion that some kind of dramatic historical discontinuity affected the lives of Pacific-slope people around A. D. 200.

Excavaciones en las tierras altas del occidente de la Puna de Atacama han identificado una estructura templaria datada entre los 2630 ± 60 a 2490 ± 80 a.P. (no calibradas) en el centro de un montículo ocupacional estratificado, inserta en un asentamiento aldeano pastoralista. La arquitectura monumental registrada en el sitio Tulán-54, perteneciente a la fase Tilocalar (3030 ± 70 a 2380 ± 70 a.P.) es contemporánea con el período Formativo Temprano del altiplano central y meridional. Sin embargo, de acuerdo a su patrón arquitectónico e indicadores culturales no presenta analogía con el área centro sur andina. Un análisis cronoestratigráfico, contextual y tecnológico, permitió establecer una secuencia Arcaico-Formativa, incluyendo una fase transicional entre ambos períodos y caracterizar a la vez el desarrollo ocupacional del montículo. Estas evidencias permiten proponer que el proceso circumpuneño de emergencia de complejidad sociocultural tendría un carácter autónomo e independiente de las relaciones pan-andinas en términos de núcleo-periferia.

This study explores the early use of obsidian at the Maya site of Colha in northern Belize and the implications that variations in source distribution have for the site and its regional connections. Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) analysis of 104 specimens of obsidian from Preclassic contexts at the site identified El Chayal obsidian as the most common overall followed closely by that from San Martin Jilotepeque. Ixtepeque obsidian, not common in many Preclassic assemblages, was also strongly represented. The results revealed a Middle Preclassic dependence on San Martin obsidian gradually diminishing through the Preclassic to the Classic period, when San Martin all but disappears from the site. A corresponding increase in El Chayal obsidian use through time at Colha coincides with the rise of Kaminaljuyu in the Guatemalan highlands. Analysis of the obsidian by context indicated that El Chayal obsidian dominated in architectural and ritual deposits while Ixtepeque obsidian was the most common in workshops. San Martin accounted for a slightly greater percentage than El Chayal obsidian in middens, with Ixtepeque materials notably less common. The data indicate that Colha was connected to a broad distribution network from the Middle Preclassic onward, and that obsidian source variability was greater during the Preclassic than the subsequent Classic period.

Early occupation at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, on the western edge of Lake Petén Itzá, is dated by two ceramic complexes, K'as and Chich. These represent the Late and Terminal Early Preclassic or the early and late “Pre-Mamom” periods, respectively (ca. 1300–800 BC), including a “Transitional” period incorporating Nix Middle Preclassic (Mamom) pottery. Comparisons with complexes at other sites in the region permit the dating of 10 construction loci, including 3 in the civic-ceremonial core. Low late Pre-Mamom platforms were raised and expanded in Transitional and Early Middle Preclassic times, when they were elaborated into two E-Groups and a Triadic Structure on the central axis. This building activity is interpreted in terms of cooperative or corporate labor organization and related to evolutionary game theory. The ritual foundation of such organization is evident in the site's gridded layout based on a mythical world-creation crocodile.

Archaeological residues of ritual are often ephemeral, and reconstructing the dynamics of performed actions that create deposits can be difficult. Rituals associated with the dead are common across many cultures since all human groups have specific means of disposing of corpses. Evidence of peri- and postmortem manipulation of human remains, such as cutting, dismemberment, or disarticulation can provide details of the sequence of actions performed related to the circumstances surrounding death and the possible social meaning of those behaviors. Cut marks observed on the upper chest and throat of 93 percent of 117 children and men found interred at the Temple of the Sacred Stone at Túcume, Peru are consistent with three symbolic behaviors: cutting the throat, opening the chest cavity, and decapitation. This patterning of skeletal trauma demonstrates that a highly elaborate series of violent ritual behaviors was carried out on a regular basis at this location, beginning in the Late Intermediate Period (∼A.D. 1100) through to the end of the Late Horizon Inca occupation of the site around A.D. 1532. The recent finds of bioarchaeological evidence of ritual violence across the Andes suggests that, although rare, these mortuary remains provide important clues to the elaborate nature of ritual behaviors at different sites.

Recent excavations of the Spanish Colonial Maya communities of Lamanai and Tipu, Belize, combine with extensive ethnohistorical research to provide guidelines for the location of other Historic-period sites in the region. We present brief case studies of community-location data from the ethnohistorical record, followed by observations regarding survey expectations and approaches appropriate to identification of Spanish Colonial-period sites. Though rooted in Belize experience, the strategies outlined should prove applicable throughout the Maya Lowlands, and perhaps beyond the region's borders as well.

Archaeologists working with complex societies are concerned with the administration of political economies. Beginning with the premise that there are differing forms of administration and that bureaucracy, in the classic formulation of Max Weber, is one of these, I develop a heuristic dichotomy between two types of administrators: stewards (who closely supervise goods and people) and bureaucrats (who process and control information). Bureaucracy is often linked to written records, but in the Central Andes alternative methods of record keeping were developed, such as the quipu or knotted string record. I argue that one alternative record-keeping device was an architectural form, the U-shaped structure. U-shaped structures are closely identified with the administrative architecture of the Chimu kingdom (ca. A.D. 850–1470) on the north coast of Peru. Four independent lines of argument demonstrate the development of bureaucracy from stewardship at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Brief comparisons are made between the Chimu administrative pattern and commodity and information flow in the earlier Huari and Tiwanku civilizations, and with the later Inka pattern. These comparisons show how record-keeping technology affects political economy and the strategy of expansion.

Moholy-Nagy"s (1990) discussion of the confusion of lithic-reduction sites (workshops) and workshop refuse dumps included criticism of a statement by Healan et al. (1983) as an example of such confusion. In reality no confusion is implied in the statement. Instead, Moholy-Nagy's criticism and the manner in which she defines her basic units reflect an overly narrow and simplistic conception of workshop and workshop dump.

Tututepec was a regional capital that dominated much of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1100-1522). This article synthesizes the results of compositional (neutron activation and petrography), stylistic, and iconographic analyses of pottery from commoner household excavations at Tututepec to address questions concerning ceramic production and distribution and also to shed light on aspects of political economy and domestic ritual at the capital. The study focuses primarily on Mixteca-Puebla polychromes, painted serving vessels bearing complex decorative motifs. Our compositional analyses, interpreted in light of the bedrock geology of the region, indicate that commoners obtained at least six to ten distinct varieties of pottery made from raw materials available locally within greater Tututepec. We argue that households probably acquired pottery through a central marketplace at the capital. In addition, our study demonstrates that commoners had regular access to polychromes from multiple producers, challenging the widespread notion that these vessels were restricted to elites who controlled their production. We argue that polychrome serving vessels played a prominent role in commonly occurring domestic rituals. Furthermore, commoners appear to have consciously selected vessels painted with imagery associated with warfare and sacrifice, suggesting that they actively supported the official imperial ideology of Tututepec.

One of the most serious limitations in studies of prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies based on the archaeological record has been the difficulty of establishing distinctions among groups that inhabited a given area at the same time. This article suggests that, at least during a period ranging from 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1000, the Central Chilean Andes, specifically the Maipo River Valley, was occupied by two groups of hunter-gatherers that were distinct enough for us to propose that they were actually two different social units.