The history of maize in Central America and surrounding areas has implications for the slow transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. The spread of early forms of domesticated maize from southern Mexico across Mesoamerica and into South America has been dated to about 8,700–6,500 years ago on the basis of a handful of studies relying primarily on the analysis of pollen, phytoliths, or starch grains. Recent genomic data from southern Belize have been used to identify Archaic period south-to-north population movements from lower Central America, suggesting this migration pattern as a mechanism that introduced genetically improved maize races from South America. Gradually, maize productivity increased to the point that it was suitable for use as a staple crop. Here we present a summary of paleoecological data that support the late and uneven entry of maize into the Maya area relative to other regions of Central America and identify the Pacific coastal margin as the probable route by which maize spread southward into Panama and South America. We consider some implications of the early appearance of maize for Late Archaic populations in these areas; for example, with respect to the establishment of sedentary village life.

Dentre as inúmeras informações possíveis de se obter a partir da análise de artefatos ósseos, uma delas é a identificação das espécies e partes anatômicas utilizadas para a confecção desses artefatos. No território brasileiro, quatro espécies de cervídeos são comumente encontradas nas regiões sul e sudeste: Mazama americana, Mazama gouazoubira, Ozotoceros bezoarticus e Blastocerus dichotomus. Ao longo do Holoceno, ossos e galhadas dessas espécies de cervídeos foram utilizados no lascamento lítico, na produção de pontas ósseas e espátulas, entre outros artefatos. Estudos preliminares dos artefatos ósseos recuperados de três sítios arqueológicos de grupos caçadores-coletores do sudeste e sul do Brasil - sítio Lapa do Santo (MG), sítio Tunas (PR), e sítio Garivaldino (RS) - demonstram uma preferência por ossos de cervídeos para a confecção desses artefatos.

Traditionally, the wide distribution of distinctive Chihuahuan polychrome ceramics has been interpreted as evidence for the extensive interaction sphere of Casas Grandes, or Paquime. The role of the major center of Paquime in the political and economic system is a crucial question in defining the nature and intensity of interactions in the Casas Grandes region and the extent of intraregional social and political integration. A large-scale, regional sourcing project using Chihuahuan polychrome ceramics provides new information on their production and distribution. It also demonstrates the limitations of ceramic sourcing analyses and presents a strong case for the fact that the underlying geology of a region determines the resolution at which ceramics can be attributed to production loci or resource procurement zones.

The labor investment in ancient monumental architecture is an important factor in hypotheses concerning a society’s size, organization, and social complexity. Most methods of quantifying labor expenditures are limited to simply designed structures with a minimal number of elements. Due to the lack of practical analytical methods, complex architecture is often described subjectively, offering little quantitative value, resulting in inferences that could be misleading or wrong. Using Ciudadela Rivero at the site of Chan Chan, Peru, as a case study, this research employed construction industry-standard planning, estimating, and scheduling tools to calculate the labor requirements and construction times under various building scenarios. Additionally, the application of Critical Path Method scheduling provides the means to model and compare numerous building scenarios by simulating the effects of various construction and labor organization strategies in their cultural context. The results for Ciudadela Rivero revealed a labor input of over two million labor hours, which could be accomplished by a modest labor force of as few as 250 workers over a six-year period. These data affect numerous archaeological hypotheses concerning scale of construction, organization of labor, and complexity of social organization.

The suggestion made early in this century that pages 43b to 45b of the Dresden Codex are concerned with the synodic cycle of the planet Mars was vigorously opposed in mid-century by J. Eric S. Thompson but supported during the last decade by other scholarship, including our own. Thompson’s interpretation, which Bruce Love has recently argued is correct, is certainly of historical interest and value, but it is no longer adequate in light of more recent advances in understanding codical instruments. In particular, it ignores the great importance to the authors of these instruments of the commensuration of calendrical and astronomical cycles. The Mars table is not just a Chac almanac dealing with weather and agriculture.

Los camélidos sudamericanos han sido uno de los recursos de mayor importancia desde la llegada de los primeros humanos al continente, registrándose su domesticación para los Andes centro-sur alrededor de 4400-3000 aP. Las investigaciones realizadas en la región Chaco-Santiagueña para la etapa Agroalfarera (350 dC hasta la conquista española en el siglo dieciséis) en su mayoría han interpretado la presencia o ausencia de la especie doméstica de camélidos Lama glama a partir de fuentes etnohistóricas o por consideraciones eto-ecológicas. Sin embargo, con el avance de los estudios zooarqueológicos en la región, asignamos por técnicas osteométricas y análisis estadísticos multivariados especímenes al taxón L. glama para un sitio Agroalfarero tardío (ca. 1200-1500 dC). En este trabajo se incorporan sitios de toda la secuencia Agroalfarera y de distintas zonas geográficas de la región Chaco-Santiagueña con el fin de diferenciar especies de camélidos. A partir de los resultados se interpreta el posible uso de camélidos silvestres y domesticados en la región desde los primeros grupos sedentarios. El uso de llamas podría haber sido una herramienta importante para el establecimiento de redes de interacción social a grandes distancias.

One of the most impressive examples of an Inca capacocha ceremony was discovered during an archaeological expedition to the summit of Misti volcano in 1998. The offerings at the site included several human sacrifices, along with fine ceramics and figurines made from gold, silver, and Spondylus sp. shell. One of the two burials appeared to contain the bones of males and the other of females. The sex was established based on the contents of the graves, because the fragile skeletal material had been badly affected by volcanic activity and exact identification was difficult to make in situ. To limit the risk of damage, the bones were excavated together with the surrounding soil and transported in frozen blocks to the Museo Santuarios Andinos of Universidad Católica de Santa María in Arequipa. This material was the object of a bioarchaeological investigation in February and March 2018. The results revealed that at least eight individuals had been buried in the graves. The findings have increased our understanding of the age categories and physical condition of the individuals chosen to be sacrificed during the capacocha ritual.

We recently conducted excavations at the Inka administrative center of Tambo Viejo in the Acari Valley of the Peruvian south coast. Our excavation of two centrally located structures demonstrates that, despite the apparent brief occupation of the site, there was substantial rebuilding as older structures were demolished and replaced by new ones. The final layout of Tambo Viejo had been preceded by continuous modifications. Furthermore, the establishment of Tambo Viejo was accompanied by ritual activities comprising the burial of sacrificial offerings such as plants and animals.

This study discusses the investigation of a series of pit-kilns in and around the prehispanic site of Kiuic in the Puuc region of the northern Maya lowlands and presents the multiple lines of evidence that identify these structures as lime production features. The study reports the results of systematic excavations, archaeometric analyses, archaeological experiments, ethnographic inquiries, and spatial analyses. Burnt lime has been used for architectural, dietary, hygienic, and other purposes by the Maya for at least three millennia and yet its importance in prehispanic Maya society is belied by the lack of lime production features identified in the archaeological record. The identification of these structures as lime production features has implications for understanding subregional differences in socioeconomic organization and resource management practices among the prehispanic Maya. This report provides a model for using multiple methods and analyses to investigate and identify lime production kilns that can be applied to societies and landscapes throughout the Maya area and the broader premodern world.

Excavators working in a ceremonial plaza group in the Classic period Lowland Maya city of Caracol, Belize, encountered thousands of pieces of chert and obsidian scattered above a royal tomb. A recent analysis of the chert from this context confirms that the assemblage included pieces from each stage of reduction in the production of blades. Taken together, the quantity of both chert and obsidian makes it the largest reported collection of lithic debitage found at the site and provides insight into the techniques of lithic crafters at Caracol. In this article, we consider the sequence of actions involved in the burial of a high-ranking individual and suggest that the layering of flaked stone above the tomb is reminiscent of other reported above-tomb contexts in the Maya Lowlands. Further, a technological analysis of this collection produced results similar to analyses of assemblages typically found in crafting-intensive residential groups. This finding suggests that lithic crafters throughout the city of Caracol donated flaked stone material for funerary events, providing a protective layer and sealing the grave below.

This paper analyzes the reading format and reading order of the recently described Cascajal Block, an artifact with an Olmec-style inscription. The analysis, based not on the iconicity of the signs and their orientation, but solely on the formal and organizational characteristics of the text as a whole, and the patterns of repeated sign sequences, suggests that the text was written from left-to-right, bottom-to-top—if one assumes the orientation assigned to the block by Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006). However, a simple 90-degree rotation of the block would render the text in left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading format and order—the same as that of later Mesoamerican scripts. It is suggested that the San Andres roller stamp and the La Venta obsidian core, both of which exhibit a pictorial image and an accompanying text, allow for a determination of the relative orientation of text and image with respect to each other, and support the hypothesis for the reading format proposed here. Also, preliminary structural analysis of the text reveals several patterns that are possibly indicative of linguistic structuring, and steps for future work on decipherment are outlined. Finally, the findings are placed within a broader context of previous studies of Olmec writing.

Shared identities create deep historical ties to community spaces and can facilitate or constrict political expansion. This research examines the relationship between the ways in which families engaged local landscapes and developed shared identities at Actuncan, Belize, during the Terminal Classic period, a time when the city experienced population growth as surrounding centers declined. The nature and location of activity patterns in and around three residential groups allow inferences about shared practices and the expression of identities that those activities enabled and constrained. Importantly, this research includes investigations of both residential groups and architecturally free areas. It uses multiple methods to explore activities and to produce overlapping datasets, including excavation and analysis of macroartifacts, microartifacts, and soil chemical residues. The results suggest that Actuncan residents used not only the formal patio spaces of residential groups but also the interstitial spaces between them. Moreover, one residential group, Group 1, appears to have been a locus for distinct activities including sequential burials and, possibly, affiliative ritual practices connected to ancestral landscape use. Understanding relationships among residents is an important foundation for exploring broader political dynamics, including relationships between residents and rulers and how rulers created, legitimized, and maintained power and authority.

During the colonial era, southern Mendoza, Argentina, functioned as a frontier where indigenous and Spanish-speaking people interacted. Contact caused major transformations to indigenous economic, social, and political organization. Archaeological analysis is fundamental to understanding the characteristics of local indigenous populations that rapidly incorporated European products into their diets. Analysis of archaeological remains from the region, therefore, can cast light on important aspects of Spanish-indigenous interactions. The aim of this work is to describe the archaeobotanical record of Cueva de Luna—located in the Rio Grande Valley and containing occupations dated between ca. 3800 B.P. and European contact—and to understand how plants were exploited by the inhabitants of southern Mendoza. Preliminary analysis of the archaeobotanical record, consisting primarily of seeds and woody endocarps in a dry state of preservation, indicates the use of native wild taxa, among which algarrobo (Prosopis sp.), molle (Schinus polygamus), solupe (Ephedra), and jarilla (Larrea nitida) abound. American cultivars including beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are also present. Significantly, the record includes Eurasian taxa, including wheat (Triticum sp.) and walnut tree (Juglans sp.). The Cueva de Luna record is important in this regard for it may correspond to the nineteenth century, when the area was inhabited by what may have been the last indigenous Pehuenche group preceding the current ranchers. Our results provide a basis for future work related to change and continuity in the prehistoric use of plants.

El objetivo de este trabajo es examinar la presencia o ausencia de una ideología colectiva en la expresión iconográfica de la cerámica polícroma de Tepeticpac, asentamiento fundador y miembro activo de Tlaxcallan durante el Posclásico tardío (1250–1519 dC). De acuerdo con la teoría de acción colectiva recientemente aplicada para Tlaxcallan, hipotetizamos que estas vasijas deberían carecer de íconos ligados a nobles, gobernantes o personajes particulares, promoviendo más bien la unidad colectiva. Para evaluar esta hipótesis, analizamos materiales procedentes de diversas excavaciones realizadas en plazas, conjuntos arquitectónicos, terrazas y templos. Concluimos que, lejos de privilegiar a personajes, individuos o incluso a una deidad en particular, la cerámica polícroma más bien muestra temas que no fueron regulados por las élites políticas y que están centrados en alusiones al sacrificio, la guerra, las festividades, los dioses, la jerarquía noble y probablemente, los méritos por conquista, temas y actividades en los que cualquier individuo, a cualquier rango, pudo involucrarse.

Seven AMS radiocarbon dates (1950–1525 cal BC) from controlled contexts demonstrate Early Formative period occupation in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. These dated elements from the site of La Consentida include hearths, occupational surfaces, carbon adhering to pottery from a midden, and human bone collagen processed with XAD purification. They were excavated from primary contexts and do not represent redeposited materials. An eighth sample, dated to the Middle Formative period, is considered postoccupational. The diversity of dated deposits and features, their distribution, and their overlapping calibrated ranges indicate settlement by an initial Early Formative period village.

Our interdisciplinary study provides new information and interpretations of Ossuary I, a large assemblage of human bones associated with the ceremonial center dedicated to a life-size clay figure of a splendidly attired human skeleton (often identified as Mictlantecuhtli in the archaeological literature) at the site of El Zapotal in south-central Veracruz-Recovered in 1971, this assemblage has been interpreted as a ritual deposit of women who died during childbirth, whose bodies were dedicated in later Aztec lore to the Tlazolteotl goddess. The present paper provides new insights into the depositional sequence, the type and number of individuals within the assemblage, the sex and age profile of the mostly female cohort, the distribution of artificial head shapes as an ethnic marker, and evidence of perimortem violence and postmortem processing in the form of flaying. Our evidence indicates that Ossuary I represents the slow accumulation of loose bones and limb segments of partially skinned individuals in a circular shaft. Postdating the functioning of the Death God adoratorio and showing fluctuations in the patterns of pre-depositional body treatment, the assemblage expresses the Late Classic period ritual practice of flaying both males and females in Veracruz. In later stages, the ossuary was used again for a female cult, consistent with the original interpretation of women who died during childbirth.

The Carboncillo area in the southern highlands of Ecuador is identified as the only confirmed source of archaeological obsidian located in the country outside of the northern highlands and is the first identified in the large gap between the known Ecuadorian and Peruvian sources. With the identification of this source, it can no longer be assumed that all obsidian found in Ecuador came from sources in the northern highlands. Thus the Carboncillo source has significant implications for interpreting patterns of long-distance exchange in the Andes, especially in southern Ecuador and the far north of Peru. A geochemical analysis of the Carboncillo material shows that it can be easily distinguished from the obsidian from other Ecuadorian sources. A provenance study of archaeological obsidian samples from the southern highlands of Ecuador using x-ray fluorescence demonstrates that the Carboncillo obsidian was used at the Preceramic site of Chobshi Cave and at a number of late prehispanic sites in the Saraguro region. The results indicate a high level of sociopolitical and economic isolation in late prehistory, most likely tied to a preoccupation with warfare between neighboring groups, and provide additional evidence that the economic organization of the southern highlands differed markedly from that of the north during this time.

The impressive multi-story funerary monuments found in the Upper Marañón Drainage of the northern Central Andes of Peru have long fascinated people. Archaeologists and historians have studied their spatial distribution to define the identity of the populations occupying the region during the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1000—1450). Rather than focus on monumental architecture, in this paper I explore group identity in the Upper Mara ñon by analyzing the shape and layout of houses and evidence of residential funerary practices. Based on a regional comparative approach, I argue that diversity in domestic architecture and mortuary customs reflects a constellation of distinct collective identities

Meggers's commentary does not effectively address our critique of the seriational argument that large Amazonian sites always represent occupational palimpsests. As a consequence, more general claims about the limitations that Amazonian environments posed for prehistoric cultural development based on this same argument remain unconvincing and fail to account for relevant variability in the archaeological record.

Among the most ubiquitous “functionally identifiable” archaeological artifacts found in the Belize Valley are so-called ceramic “censer horns” or “three-prong incensarios,” sometimes glossed in the literature as “chile mashers” or “pestles.” Since their original identifications in the 1920s, they generally have been regarded as incensarios—or ceremonial objects—and used regularly as indicators of private or public ritual activities. The authors have examined many of these sherds and the restorable vessels represented; adhering residues; the reported depositional contexts; and their functional contextual associations, and submit that the vessels, sherds, and formal types represented had little if anything to do with ceremonial activities, public or private, but were in fact portable domestic braziers or braseros, and are primarily indicative of household or personal domestic activities rather than personal, familial, or corporate ritual observances. In actuality, two distinct classes of three-horned burner stands do exist and can be distinguished by appearance, intactness, and context. We describe and discuss both classes, and reiterate that although previously used to identify household shrines, religious activities, or other ideo-ritual observances, the majority of these vessels had little or nothing to do with anything other than warming beanpots, beans, or hands, or keeping away biting insects.