Artifacts made from Quispisisa obsidian are widely disseminated in the Peruvian Andes, but the geological source of the Quispisisa geochemical type was only recently located in southern Ayacucho. Following the positive identification of the source in 1999 by Richard Burger and colleagues, we found evidence of broad quarrying activities in unexplored portions of the source area. We describe 34 quarry pits, some as large as 80 m across, together with evidence of early-stage lithic reduction at the source. We encountered high concentrations of reduction debris associated with more extensive knapping in two localities, but our preliminary evaluation of surface evidence suggests that much of the material quarried was removed from the area as intact nodules or after minimal reduction at the source area.

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.

Se describen las evidencias de procesamiento carnicero halladas en los esqueletos del roedor Lagostomus maximus (vizcacha pampeana) provenientes de sitios arqueológicos del Holoceno Tardío Final (1000 a 600 a.P.) de las sierras de Tandilia Oriental (provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina). La diversidad ósea registrada, la cantidad de ejemplares, las huellas de corte, las de raspado y las fracturas intencionales indican que las vizcachas fueron ingresadas enteras a los sitios y que se les aplicaron procesos de desollado, desarticulación, descarne y fracturas. La comparación con la explotación de la vizcacha durante milenios anteriores en las mismas sierras muestra que sólo hacia el Holoceno Tardío Final esta especie adquirió mayor importancia numérica y le fueron aplicados procesos carniceros más elaborados. Este fenómeno está vinculado al desarrollo de una subsistencia de intensificación y diversificación en la cual la caza menor fue preponderante en Tandilia.

This article explores religion, death, and mortuary practices in the Southern Moche (A.D. 1-800) periphery as viewed through the excavation of grave contexts at the site of Huambacho, Nepeña Valley, Peru. Moche influence reached Nepeña as is visible in the construction of religious buildings at the site of Pañamarca and the presence of Moche style ceramics at several sites. In 2003 and 2004, scientific excavations at Huambacho, an Early Horizon center mainly built and occupied during the first millennium B.C., yielded a series of intrusive graves containing Gallinazo, Virú, and Moche style objects. This contribution contextualizes these discoveries and focuses on the analysis of funerary patterns of burial, osteological evidence, and symbolic meanings with the objective of understanding local funerary practices and Moche religious and cultural expressions. Symbolic references to coast-highland interactions, inversions in body positioning, and possible human sacrifices bring insights into the complex and potentially tense sociohistorical cirmcumstances in Nepeña during the Moche phase.

Excavations at the site of Ixlú in northern Guatemala recovered a series of skulls and dismembered postcrania from a Postclassic (ca. A.D. 1000—1525) Maya temple. The current study considers demography, taphonomy (including mortuary processing), cultural modification and biological distance among the remains in light of ethnohistoric and archaeological data. Doing so addresses who made the deposits, why they were made, and who was interred, and informs on the use of ritual violence in the Postclassic Southern Lowlands. Six skulls were arranged in pairs on the east-west midline of the building, and fifteen skulls were placed in rows in the center of the building. All of the skulls faced east. Four postcrania were placed perpendicular to the skull rows. The skulls and postcrania were primarily late adolescent to young adult males. Three of the individuals exhibited a rare dental trait, supernumerary teeth, indicating that at least some of the individuals were related. The most likely scenario to account for the deposits is that the Itzá, a dominant political group in the area, sacrificed enemy combatants drawn from raiding and buried them as a part of a dedicatory ritual in the temple.

The investigation of social inequality in the Caribbean mainly has focused on the larger islands of the Greater Antilles where ethnohistoric records and monumental architecture form the basis for analysis of precolumbian complex societies. This paper presents evidence for status differentiation in the Lesser Antilles on the small island of Anguilla within a deposit at the Sandy Hill site and evaluates associated archaeofauna for evidence of rank-based differences in food consumption. When compared with three other sites, the higher density of status-related artifacts and higher densities of food remains at the Sandy Hill site are interpreted as the result of feasting. No evidence for inequality is observed in patterns of food consumption.

Se presentan los resultados del análisis arqueofaunístico del sitio arqueológico Agua de la Cueva (sector sur), en el lapso temporal comprendido entre ca. 11,000 y 5000 a.P. Los materiales analizados indican una escasa diversidad de taxa, con un fuerte predominio de Lama guanicoe en todos los componentes. Las diferencias principales entre las ocupaciones pertenecientes al Pleistoceno Final-Holoceno Temprano en relación a las del Holoceno Medio se vinculan principalmente a la disminución significativa en la tasa de especímenes óseos a lo largo del tiempo y la ausencia de Vicugna vicugna a partir de ca. 9000 años a.P. En relación a esto último, los análisis osteométricos y morfológicos descartan la posibilidad de que los especímenes pertenecientes a esta especie correspondan a la denominada subespecie extinta Lama (Vicugna) gracilis. Por el contrario, los mismos parecen corresponder a la actual Vicugna vicugna, cuya dispersión tiene su límite sur unos 600 km al norte del sitio estudiado. Por último, los datos aquí presentados permiten discutir aspectos de la subsistencia humana en el centro-oeste del continente sudamericano durante las primeras etapas de ocupación de la región y cómo los hombres reaccionaron a los principales cambios ambientales ocurridos durante la primera mitad del Holoceno.

Se estudiaron los restos de micromamíferos y otros pequeños vertebrados (Número de Especímenes Identificados = 2,754) del sitio arqueológico Quebrada del Real 1, provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. Las muestras analizadas estuvieron dominadas por roedores caviomorfos de las familias Caviidae y Ctenomyidae, incluyendo taxones de tamaño relativamente grande (200—700 g), hábitos coloniales o gregarios, ubicación predecible, y fáciles de explotar como recurso. El estudio tafonómico de los restos sugiere que las acumulaciones tienen un origen mayoritario en actividades antrópicas de consumo. Las evidencias incluyen la presencia de huellas de corte (especialmente en mandíbulas y huesos del esqueleto apendicular) y un patrón diferencial de alteración térmica, mayormente restringido a las porciones distales de tibias. En el contexto regional, el consumo de pequeños vertebrados sugiere que la implementación de una dieta de amplio espectro posiblemente no sea un proceso arqueológico exclusivamente tardío, sino que se remonta al menos al límite Holoceno Medio-Tardío (ca. 3000 a.P.).