Pedro Rojas's 1961 excavation of numerous stone vessels at the Huayurco site has led scholars to suspect that the Jaén region of the northeastern Peruvian Andes was an important center of early ceremonial stone bowl production. This discovery not only provided clear evidence of an independent craft technology within the ceja de selva, or eastern Andean tropical montane forest, but the similarity of these stone vessels to examples found at coastal and highland Andean sites also suggested that the Jaén region produced these vessels as a means of participating within early interregional exchange networks. Because empirical evidence of tropical forest exchange items within coastal and highland sites is difficult to obtain because of these items’ suspected perishable nature, the stone vessels represented an alternative means for understanding early Andean–Amazonian relations. Despite the importance of this discovery, little follow-up investigation has been conducted. In this article, I define the Jaén stone vessel tradition on the basis of form, design, and technology. I then review the archaeological literature on early Andean stone vessels to show how these vessels help articulate Jaén's participation within Andean interaction spheres between 2500 and 800 BC.

Se analizan las redes de tráfico de la Quebrada de Humahuaca en tiempos del “fenómeno Isla”, evaluando críticamente el protagonismo atribuido a Tiwanaku en su organización. Con este fin se presentan las investigaciones realizadas en Muyuna —uno de los principales sitios de la época en la Quebrada— ofreciendo información novedosa sobre contextos domésticos y funerarios, economía y modo de vida. Un análisis bayesiano de todas las dataciones disponibles para el componente Isla lo ubican entre fines del siglo once y comienzos del siglo catorce dC. Estos resultados, junto con el probable origen de los bienes presentes en estos contextos, llevan a concluir que las interacciones con otras regiones de los Andes circumpuneños fueron más importantes para los procesos de diferenciación social en las comunidades Isla que las relaciones con el estado Tiwanaku. En este marco, cobran especial relevancia la relación con el Río Grande de San Juan y la gravitación de ciertos colectivos supra-regionales (pastores, consumidores de alucinógenos) que podrían introducir una dimensión heterárquica en la organización de las redes sur andinas.

The exceptional preservation of perishable artifacts on the arid west coast of the Andes has led to an abundance of knowledge on prehispanic textile production. Yet comparatively little of this knowledge is based on highland examples due to their poor preservation in the moist environment of the Andean sierra. Systematic excavations in 2011–2012 at the archaeological complex of Hualcayán in highland Ancash, Peru, revealed surprisingly well-preserved textiles and cordage from four partially looted machay-style tombs. In this article we provide an overview of textile forms, production techniques, and iconography from a sample of 292 textile and cordage fragments, equaling 20% of Hualcayán's assemblage. This work contributes to a better understanding of ancient Andean weaving in general and interregional interaction during the Early Intermediate period and Middle Horizon (ca. AD 1–1000) in particular. Significantly, we document variability in cotton yarn and a general uniformity in camelid yarn and weaving techniques in the overall sample. These findings, in combination with similarities in weaving techniques and style between coastal examples and Hualcayán's fabrics, suggest a coastal–highland relationship.

The occurrence of nonlocal objects, raw materials, and ideas in the southwestern United States (U.S. SW) has long been recognized as evidence of interaction between prehispanic peoples of this region and those of greater Mesoamerica. Although many archaeologists have analyzed the directionality and potential means by which these objects and concepts moved across the landscape, few have assessed the degree to which Mesoamerican practices and traditional assemblages remained intact as the artifacts and ideas moved farther from their places of origin. The current study analyzes the distribution and deposition of blue-green stone mosaics, a craft technology that was well established in Mesoamerica by the Late Preclassic period (300 BC–AD 250) and spread to the U.S. SW by the start of the Hohokam Pioneer period (AD 475). We assess the spatial distribution, contextual deposition, and morphology of mosaics at sites within Hohokam Canal System 2, located in the Phoenix Basin of Arizona. We use these data to infer mosaics’ social value and function within Hohokam social structure. Analyses suggest that, although the technology of mosaic making may have originated in Mesoamerica, the contexts and ways in which mosaics were used in the Hohokam regional system were decidedly Hohokam.