Small depressions are a frequent landscape feature in the northeast Petén and northwestern Belize. Although generally considered the remains of seasonal ancient Maya water cisterns, they have not been subject to systematic study. Excavation of 16 depressions in northwestern Belize showed that these features are either natural sinkholes (dolines) or quarried cavities. In three depressions, quarrying for construction materials and mining for clay was evident and two depressions are the remains of collapsed chultuns. Depressions probably also served as areas where household activities were carried out, they may have played a role as gardens, and were used as trash dumps. For one quarter of the sample, a water storage function was established. Water input-output calculations showed that these features could have held water year round and thus theoretically could have played a much more important role in supplying water than commonly assumed. The study indicates that Classic Maya population could have relied on decentralized water sources and suggests that hypotheses of centralized water management in the central Maya lowlands should be critically reviewed.

This study examines isolated child skeletal remains from ritual structures at the Wari site of Conchopata (A.D. 600–1000) to evaluate how they were modified into trophy heads and whether the children were sacrificed. The skeletal remains represent at least seven children. Strontium isotope ratios are examined to determine whether children were taken from foreign locales. Results show that the children’s skulls exhibit a hole on the apex of the cranium and on the ascending ramus of the mandible, identical to the adult Wari trophy heads. At least one child may have been sacrificed. 87Sr/86Sr demonstrate that two of the four sampled child trophy heads were nonlocal, suggesting that children were occasionally abducted from distant communities, perhaps for sacrifice and certainly to transform some into trophy heads. The similar child and adult trophy heads suggest that the ritual treatment of children was not uniquely designed, at least as it related to their processing, display, and destruction. Furthermore, it is suggested that the child trophy heads were not simply passive symbols of pre-existing authority by the head-takers and trophy head-makers. The trophy heads simultaneously imbued those agents with authority—they did not merely reflect it—demonstrating the “effective agency” of the trophy head objects themselves. Finally, we suggest that prisoner-taking and trophy head-making by military and ritual elites served to legitimate the authority of those individuals while simultaneously serving larger state goals that enhanced Wari state authority and legitimated its policies and practices.

The technique of obsidian-hydration dating contains great potentials for error, from both laboratory determinations of rate constants and measurements of effective hydration temperatures (EHTs) in the field. The rate constants used to determine these dates are of questionable validity and need to be independently verified. Significantly, no measurements of EHTs were taken at the site of Copán, Honduras, until the majority of the obsidianhydration dates were calculated. An error of but a few Kelvins in estimated EHT can lead to dates that are in error by several centuries. In view of the likelihood of large errors in the Copán obsidian dates, the assertion that the Late Classic Coner phase should be extended beyond A. D. 900 (Webster and Freter 1990a) is premature.

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.

The origin of maize has been a topic of interest to both biologists and archaeologists. During the twentieth century, the view point that maize is a domesticated form of teosinte received convincing support from biological data and is now broadly accepted among biologists familiar with the issues and data. There is no support of any kind for an alternative view that maize is a hybrid of the grasses Zea diploperennis and Tripsacum.

Harkening back to the debates associated with “dualistic economies” in addressing emerging nation states, we examine aspects of the ancient economy of the lowland Maya. Resource-specialized communities were knit together in a network of interdependencies that allowed high degrees of self-sustaining separation from the large monumental centers about which we know most. The social and biophysical environs of the ancient Maya permitted multiple economic spheres that influenced their political organization and affected their lack of developed hegemonic controls. Evidence is presented from the present-day ecological set aside of the Programme for Belize in northwestern Belize.

The emergence of the Triple Alliance empire and the consolidation of political power in the Basin of Mexico is traditionally associated with a high level of economic integration achieved through regional market exchange. Although researchers debate whether the market system was dominated by commercial factors or political forces, the assumption that the pax azteca led to a single, basin-wide exchange system is not generally challenged. Yet an increasing number of stylistic and compositional analyses indicate that significant regional subdivisions existed within the Aztec core, although the spatial scale, nature, and significance of these systems remains poorly understood. This study contributes to the body of evidence suggesting that economic divisions existed under the Triple Alliance, by presenting spatial patterning in Aztec Red Wares (guinda or rojo pulido) ceramics. By combining both stylistic and compositional analyses of this ceramic ware, it is possible to demonstrate both the strength of economic divisions as well as map their boundaries for a significant portion of the Basin. The regional patterns in artifact distribution highlighted in this and prior studies underscore the complexity of exchange interactions that evolved under Aztec rule and which must be explained by future models of the Aztec market system.

Ethnohistorical and archaeological data suggest that a collection of more than 450 finely worked Inka building stones found near Saraguro in the southern highlands of Ecuador originated outside that region. The origin of those andesite blocks was investigated via geochemical analysis. Wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence determined the concentrations of nine elements in samples from stones in the Saraguro region and in samples from known Inka andesite quarries at Cojitambo in the southern sierra of Ecuador, and at the Rumiqolqa and Huaccoto quarries near the Inka capital of Cuzco in Peru. The results show that the geochemical composition of the Saraguro stones closely matches that of the Rumiqolqa material, indicating that the Inka had these large andesite blocks moved over a distance of more than 1,600 km, the greatest known distance for the transport of large objects in the precolumbian New World. This endeavor had many implications, including reinforcing state power and ideology, and is also perceived to reflect an imperial “made-work” policy that consumed excess labor through non-utilitarian assignments. These “made-work” projects are best explained as a strategy for reinforcing state control over subject provinces, in contrast to current models of Inka economic organization that focus on efficiency in the use of labor.

The Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000–1476) was a time between empires in the Andes when many regional groups reorganized and gained power. In the Nasca drainage this period has often been misrepresented, in part due to a focus on earlier cultural developments that were considerably different. Recent research attempts to provide a clearer picture of this time period by investigating sociopolitical and economic organization, and in particular the nature of local elites. Regional settlement patterns reveal that during this period population in the drainage was at its height with increased aggregation at town-size settlements. Excavations at the small village site of Pajonal Alto have identified local elites through variations in architecture and material culture. Evidence from Pajonal Alto reveals that there was a reformation of society in the Late Intermediate Period and local elites were no longer primarily associated with ceremonial centers but instead were present at every level of the settlement hierarchy. Elites obtained and maintained power in a variety of ways including participation in the production of utilitarian items, exchange, feasting, and community/exclusive ritual. Instead of integration through communal ritual on a regional level during certain times of the year, integration was based on a large network of local elites who had power that was wielded on a day-to-day basis.

In this study I examine local-scale associations between land resources and the density distribution of Maya residential sites for the prehistoric population maxima of the Late Classic period (ca. A. D. 600-900). Methods involve agricultural land evaluation following USDA guidelines, under assumptions of hand-cultivation technology. I give specific attention to the issue of concordance between the geographic scale of household agricultural production and the scale at which agricultural land evaluation is conducted. The focus is the upper Belize River area of Belize, Central America, where intensive archaeological survey and local-scale land-resource mapping provide the data necessary for a detailed analysis of ancient land-use patterns. The analysis reveals a strong and consistent relationship between prehistoric Maya settlement density and the agricultural productive capability of local soil types. For each land type, I discuss the amount of land available for each residential locus and probable cultivation methods used. I argue that the ability to identify clearly and quantitatively the association (or lack of association) between household settlement pattern and agricultural land capability is a necessary component of regional studies that seek to test models of Maya political economy and social change.

Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan species Pachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize. Pachychilus not only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat of Pachychilus is given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded that Pachychilus was one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.

Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan species Pachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize. Pachychilus not only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat of Pachychilus is given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded that Pachychilus was one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.

The present study reports on the cultural marks encountered in three (possibly four) skeletons retrieved from primary deposits of the Maya Classic period at Palenque, Calakmul, and Becán, Mexico. We propose that the patterns of cut and stab lesions encountered in the trunks of these individuals stem from perimortem violence that accompanied heart removal from below the rib cage rather than from postmortem evisceration. We confirm the feasibility of this procedure by experimental replication in modern corpses. The interpretation of those procedures synthesizes information obtained from osteological, archaeological, and iconographic sources and leads to a broader discussion concerning the techniques, impact, and meanings of human heart sacrifice and associated body manipulations in Classic period Maya society. Methodologically, we conclude that direct skeletal evidence of heart sacrifice can be rare, imposing a cautionary caveat on the current discussion of mortuary remains in the Maya area.

A careful reexamination of funerary contexts suggests that Moche (ca. A.D. 100–800) graves were not simply spaces for the disposal of decaying corpses, but contexts periodically revisited by certain members of Moche society. The dynamic nature of funerary practices is documented through an examination of delayed burials. It is argued that these were the product of two distinct ritual processes, one of which involved the storage of corpses to be used as retainers in subsequent rituals. The practice of grave reopening is also explored, leading to the identification of different types of rituals. At least some graves were reopened to remove skeletal parts of possible potent ancestors. Related ideology is addressed by examining cases of bone destruction and the more common secondary offerings of human remains. This study highlights the dynamic nature of Moche mortuary activity while stressing the important role of those in charge of manipulating ancestors’ remains. Finally, it is argued that the Moche shared with their highland neighbors a common vision of the eternal character of human remains, comparable ritual practices involving the human body, and a similar belief in the capacity of the living to influence the course of their destiny through periodic manipulation of ancestors’ remains.

The present paper describes obsidian sources and compositional analysis performed on obsidian recovered from natural flows in the upper Maule River basin (central Chile). We compare the composition of this obsidian with that of obsidian artifacts recovered from selected archaeological sites both in the middle and lower valley of the Maule River and in the Argentinian provinces of Mendoza and Neuquén. The results indicate that the collected obsidian samples can be separated into six major groups. Most of the obsidian artifacts are assignable to a particular source area, but there still remain some unknown sources. We conclude that the Laguna del Maule source area was exploited from at least 50 A.D. onward and that the material was distributed to sites located more than 200 km from the source.

Nasca culture and, particularly, Nasca ceramic iconography are held to evolve directly and smoothly out of antecedent Paracas. Yet the data reviewed in this article indicate that Paracas remains in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage, the heartland of Nasca culture on the south coast of Peru, are limited in nature, a fact that makes it difficult to derive Nasca from Paracas in Nazca. In contrast, there are rich and abundant Paracas remains in the Ica, Pisco, and Chincha valleys, at the Paracas type site itself, and along the Bahía de la Independencia. I look to the Ica Valley for the origins of the Nasca style.

For any particular historical circumstance, explanations of ceramic evolution should consider the performance characteristics of pottery vessels in their behavioral contexts, as well as the varying effects of evolutionary processes operating at different social, spatial, and temporal scales. The replacement of tempered black and differentially fired serving vessels by fine-paste wares during the Formative to Classic transition in the Sierra de los Tuxtlas, Veracruz, Mexico illustrates these points. New radiocarbon assays from the Bezuapan site document the rapidity of this transition. Evaluation of visual performance characteristics and contextual associations suggest that the Tuxtlas fine-paste tradition began as a Late Formative prestige technology. Adoption of updraft kilns in the Terminal Formative period lowered the risk of firing losses and allowed savings in paste preparation and resource procurement costs to be realized. As a result, the fine-paste tradition spread to wider segments of society, ultimately replacing earlier traditions. A volcanic eruption at the close of the Formative period and subsequent immigration of Central Mexican settlers constituted evolutionary sorting mechanisms, which perturbed general trends in ceramic evolution within a restricted area of the central Tuxtlas.

Two caches were recovered at Pikillacta, the largest Huari state installation (A. D. 550-1000) in the southern Andean highlands; each contained 40 richly garbed votive turquoise figurines. The figurines are analyzed in terms of their production, use, and deposition as well as their overall morphology. To the extent possible, the rank associated with the costumes worn by each figure is also considered. Reference is made to Inca apparel and its potential for interpreting Huari official garments. Because the number 40 also held special importance in Inca state organization as an administrative unit or division, the Inca example provides concepts of administration vital to the interpretation of the figurines. A more unusual source—origin myths associated with the Chimor Kingdom—supports the relation between turquoise figurines and ancestor worship. I argue that the stone figurines embody qualities and convey concepts that are central to Andean political administration, and that they are intimately tied into the web of ancestral cults through which kinship, hierarchy, and inheritance were determined.

Clothing styles, design motifs, and techniques of cloth production found in codex illustrations and on pottery and extant textile fragments suggest diffusion of culture traits from the northern coast of South America to West Mexico and on into the American Southwest. The non-mesoamerican garments depicted in a West Mexican sixteenth-century manuscript and on mortuary figurines buried more than 1,000 years earlier in an adjacent area find analogs only in styles that were present in Ecuador from 1500 B. C. up to the time of Spanish contact. Clothing and textile design motifs represented on figures found in the West Mexican shaft tombs of Ixtlán del Río, Nayarit, indicate that these parallels existed as early as 400 B. C. A variety of other data suggest that intermittent maritime contact persisted between Ecuador and West Mexico through the intervening period and into the sixteenth century.

Archaeologists have studied buildings for decades, but a very narrow range of analytical approaches has been applied to prehistoric architecture. This paper presents a basic theory of architectural meaning, which has as its principal focus the role of access patterns within buildings as a medium of social control. On the north coast of Peru, Andeanists have held an implicit notion about the relation between access patterns and social control, but have lacked the analytical tools to explore this question further. A set of basic tools borrowed from graph theory and locational geography is presented, and discussed, and then applied to a specific set of Prehispanic constructions—the monumental compounds of Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu state (A. D. 900-1470). The methods illuminate differences and similarities in the organization of access within the compounds, and they are used to test a hypothesis about the role of a specific architectural element—the U-shaped room—in controlling access within royal compounds at Chan Chan. The results have implications for understanding the nature of social control in the Chimu state and suggest the potential that new analytical methods may have for the study of prehistoric constructions.

This paper pursues the application of a central tenet of the dual-processual framework, the corporate/network continuum, to the development of Uxbenká, a small monument-bearing polity in the southern Maya Lowlands. During its growth, Uxbenká underwent a transformation from a small farming community to a complex polity with many of the trappings of elite authority that characterizes Classic Maya centers. It was one of the earliest complex polities to develop on the southeastern periphery of the Maya lowlands during the Early Classic period (A.D. 300—600). The polity was founded upon earlier agricultural communities that are now known to extend back to at least A.D. 100. Starting after A.D. 200 the location of the original agricultural village (Group A) was leveled and reorganized to form a public monument garden and the center of political authority throughout much of the Classic period (A.D. 400—800). In this article we present radiocarbon ages from well-defined stratigraphic contexts to establish a site chronology. Based on these data we suggest that by A.D. 450 Uxbenká was the center of a regional political system connected to some of the larger polities in the Maya world (e.g., Tikal). We argue that at this time Uxbenká underwent a significant change from a polity organized by a corporate inclusionary form of ruler-ship to a more networked one marked by exclusionary authority vested in elites who privileged their ancestral relations and network interactions across the geopolitical landscape.