Investigations of the Proyecto Arqueológico Tlajinga Teotihuacan (PATT) in 2019 focused on the southern neighborhood center of this cluster of non-elite residences in the southern periphery of the ancient Mexican metropolis. Our objective was to better understand the social infrastructure of public space within the district and how it tied its inhabitants together. Our methods included excavations at two large architectural complexes, geophysical prospection of these and adjacent structures and plazas, and chemical residue analysis of floors and sediments. They revealed architecturally elaborate complexes decorated with mural painting that appear to have been the loci of civic-ceremonial activities. Materials from the excavated portions of the complexes are inconsistent with residential uses, although it is possible that local elites lived elsewhere in the complexes or in others located nearby. The investigations therefore demonstrate that the semipublic spaces of neighborhood centers were distributed as distantly as this periphery of Teotihuacan and could be as elaborate as those in the urban epicenter, underscoring the city's more muted social inequality.

Este trabajo identifica íconos de numerales asociados a dos tipos de cómputo del tiempo plasmados en el arte de Teotihuacan durante el periodo Clásico (150-650 dC). Primero, se analiza la pintura mural del altar de Atetelco, distinguiendo seis íconos de números y un símbolo matemático empleados para computar cuentas de 104 años trópicos, y 72 y 7.300 ciclos sinódicos de Venus. Un segundo análisis muestra que ambas cuentas fueron usadas en obras de estilo teotihuacano mediante una iconografía distinta al sistema numérico de puntos y barras. Las fechas teotihuacanas pueden ser correlacionadas con los registros de la cuenta larga del área Maya, lo que nos permite datar los monumentos y artefactos arqueológicos mediante la iconografía. La evidencia muestra que los teotihuacanos midieron el tiempo a largo plazo plasmando las cuentas en complejas obras como parte de la institucionalización del registro del tiempo.

Mortuary rituals are compared and contrasted in order to better understand social interaction between the Tucson Basin Hohokam of southern Arizona and the Trincheras tradition populations of northern Sonora. This interaction is explored through the examination of ideas about personhood and embodiment, and their relationship to the biological profiles and posthumous treatments of individuals during the Hohokam Classic period (AD 1150–1450) and the occupation of Cerro de Trincheras (AD 1300–1450). In both areas, cremation was the main burial custom, and both groups had complex, multistage cremation rituals, in which burning of the body played only a small part. Examination of rich archaeological data and well-excavated contexts at these sites revealed remarkable similarities and differences in body treatment during the mortuary ritual. Tucson Basin Hohokam mortuary practices suggest a stronger connection to, and remembrance of, the deceased within smaller social groups. In contrast, mortuary practices at Cerro de Trincheras emphasize similarities among the various cremated individuals, with rituals directed more toward the broader social group. Results suggest that the two groups were fundamentally similar in how they treated the bodies of the dead during the cremation process, but different in how the dead were remembered and commemorated.

Paleodemographic simulations are rare in the Maya region, because generally the skeletal collections do not represent well the ancient living population, are poorly preserved, and lead to flawed age-at-death estimations. The skeletal collection of Xcambó, however, is suitable for paleodemographic analysis and is large enough to enable comparison of paleodemographic trends between the Early (AD 250–550) and Late Classic (AD 550–750) periods. Three demographic simulations were generated; two relied on growth rates calculated from the site's previous archaeodemographic data, and a third simulation was based on a stationary scenario by applying Weiss's (1973) and Séguy and Buchet's (2013) models. All simulations indicate that Xcambó’s Late Classic population was growing faster than its Early Classic peers, with higher rates of survivorship and more severe mortality rates. We argue that the differences are more likely due to shifts in lifestyle and wealth than to environmental changes, as is confirmed by other bioarchaeological and skeletal indicators.

San José 520 is a Classic period hamlet of single-family residences in the urban periphery of Teotihuacan, just beyond the southeast edge of the city. Three burial features were associated with one of the residences, AF2. One of the features contained the burial of a single adult, another the successive burials of eight adults and one neonate, and the third held a neonate. We analyzed 29 bone and enamel samples from the adults for bioapatite phosphate oxygen-isotope composition; we also considered isotopic data for another five bone samples analyzed in a separate project. The isotopic results suggest a pattern of birth in the Teotihuacan region and then movement in early childhood to a “relocation” region, the geographic location of which is unknown. Later, probably in adolescence, the individuals returned to live, and eventually die, in San José 520. Without knowing more about the occupation of the relocation region, it is difficult to say what concerns or beliefs underlay this unusual but long-established settlement system.

The Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén is extraordinary in that it was preserved by volcanic ash following the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption. The excellent preservation conditions offer a unique opportunity to understand plants in their primary use contexts, and to examine geospatial relationships between plants—both living and curated—in gardens, fields and households. The geospatial analysis of ‘plantscapes’ at Cerén presented here provides a template for interpreting botanical resource use and management at other contemporaneous Maya sites, and can contribute to a broader understanding of the use of space, plants and agriculture in the past.

Maya script—the most elaborate and extensive system of native writing in the New World—was in active use across the Yucatán Peninsula from 300 BC–AD 1700. Maya epigraphy began in the late nineteenth century, developing through the efforts of key figures, often with oblique approaches from other disciplines. Today, the research landscape is increasingly virtual; new discoveries have been combined with greater precision in translation, providing unique access to the complex interactions of Maya society, where the elite shared a language across political boundaries that was incomprehensible to most of their subjects.

Maya murals depicting scenes of courtly life are well known from sites such as Bonampak; far less common are scenes depicting life outside the royal sphere. Recent excavations at Xultun in Guatemala have revealed well-preserved murals in a domestic context that offer a fresh perpective on life in the Maya court, that of the priests, scribes and artists who attended the royal governor. Here, the authors decode the images to reveal the lives and activities of those who planned, performed and recorded official events in Classic-period Xultun. One of only two well-preserved examples of eastern Maya lowland wall painting from the Late Classic period, this rare display of master craftsmanship outside of the royal court sheds new light on the lives of those who produced it.

The authors explore the practice of extracting the thighbone from burials in Mesoamerica, making use of a newly excavated Classic period Zapotec burial at the Mitla Fortress, where the femur had been carefully removed and the interment resealed. They conclude that the femur acted as an ancestral emblem and could be used by families of relatively low social rank. This function contrasts with the Aztec, where the large bones could also be used as war trophies. Archaeological readers studying ancestor worship and the cult of relics in other continents will find much of value here.

The 1998 excavations at the Maya city of La Milpa have revealed important structures of the ruling élite, including several throne rooms, but also evidence for a sudden cessation of élite activity when the occupation was at its height. Extensive mapping suggests a population of some 46,000 over a short period in the 8th and 9th centuries AD.