This paper translates and analyzes references to eclipses in two seventeenth-century Zapotec calendrical booklets.1 These booklets are part of a corpus of 106 separate calendrical texts and four collections of ritual songs that were turned over to ecclesiastical authorities in 1704 and 1705 as part of an ambitious campaign against traditional indigenous ritual practices conducted in the province of Villa Alta in northern Oaxaca. Both of these booklets contain a complete day-by-day representation of the Zapotec 260-day divinatory calendar, with annotations in Zapotec alongside many of these entries. Two such annotations in Booklet 81 explicitly record the occurrences of solar and lunar eclipses visible in the Sierra Zapoteca in 1691 and 1693. Annotations in Booklet 63 do not mention eclipses but allude to them by recording the names and Gregorian dates of Christian feasts celebrated on the dates of eclipses in 1686 and 1690; such allusions are otherwise found mainly with the Zapotec dates of the beginnings or ends of significant Zapotec calendrical cycles—the 260-day calendar itself or its 65-day subdivisions, and the start of the Zapotec 365-day year—and so reflect a systematic pattern of engagement by at least one Zapotec calendar specialist with indigenous ritual knowledge and practices. Our analysis suggests that colonial Zapotec calendar specialists monitored and perhaps also anticipated the occurrence of eclipses in terms of the patterns of eclipse recurrence in particular parts of the divinatory calendar.

Intrasite variation in the production and consumption of obsidian prismatic blades is investigated at the Protoclassic to early Late Classic period site of Palo Errado in Veracruz, Mexico. There, the recovery of macrodebitage, as well as eraillure flakes, platform overhang flakes, and debitage with 90 degree angles between dorsal scars indicates that local blade production occurred at the site from imported marcocores and large polyhedral cores. In addition, detailed ceramic and obsidian data from excavated contexts demonstrate that the elite were involved in blade production and consumption, while the inhabitants of Mound 9, a non-elite, residential workshop locus, were specializing in prismatic blade production for exchange. At some point in the Early Classic period, the elite of the site undergo a significant change that intensifies their use of status markers, such as serving ware and personal adornment that corresponds to a decrease in elite blade production and an increase in blade consumption. However, no change in how blades are used by the elite is evident in this transition. While the vast majority of the obsidian artifacts recovered were made from Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian, significant intrasite variation in minor sources, as well as the types of blades recovered and degree of edge wear suggests that the elite and nonelite participated independently in a variety of obsidian provisioning networks. In the case of the Mound 9 residents, the ceramic and obsidian assemblage suggests that their economic independence corresponded to a physical and ideological separation from the rest of the site. In general the production and consumption of obsidian does not suggest its use in a local political economy. Rather, the inhabitants of Palo Errado may have been exchanging and obtaining obsidian commodities within local and regional marketplaces.

The Sotuta pottery complex has been used in the archaeology of the northern Maya lowlands to identify the Terminal Classic period and cultural association with Chichen Itza. The Sotuta complex, however, is made up of many pottery types, the majority of which are inappropriate markers of elite sociopolitical history. It is argued here that Sotuta-complex slate wares developed out of previous local slate wares regardless of the elite sociopolitical changes taking place with the arrival of the Itza. The wares produced and distributed by commoners were independent of elites and have been artificially chained to questions of elite political expansion for which they are inappropriate correlates.

Among the numerous archaeological remains that recent LiDAR flights revealed in Guatemala and Mexico, agrarian features are the most abundant. Archaeologists today are compelled to revise their paradigms in terms of methodology and assessment of environmental appropriation for agriculture. The Malpaís de Zacapu in west Mexico is one example. Besides the discovery of a substantial Epiclassic occupation near the well-documented Postclassic urban centers of the area, LiDAR imagery brought to light a deeply modified agrarian landscape and thereby dramatically changed our understanding of human settlement in this lava flows complex.

Focusing on the northern part of the Malpaís, this study uses archaeogeographical and soil science methods to assess ancient farming systems and their evolution. We updated the archaeological and soil maps of the area, combining traditional field survey techniques and LiDAR-derived data interpretation. This allowed us to identify residential zones and a wide range of associated agrarian features adapted to the variety and agronomic challenges of volcanic soils. We further implemented a production-consumption model to reconstruct agricultural strategies from the Epiclassic to the Middle Postclassic period, from self-reliance to the necessity of supra-local agricultural inputs, possibly foreshadowing the Tarascan state tribute system.

During the last two decades, four manuscripts have surfaced, all purportedly of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century origin and each describing historical episodes of the contact between the Maya and Spaniards. Although some of them received scholarly attention and have been used as authentic sources of Maya history and culture, their identification as modern fakes can be established beyond a reasonable doubt. The texts show characteristics identical to the Spanish translation of Sylvanus G. Morley's The Ancient Maya (1947), and they possess specific information and illustrative material (i.e., Mayan hieroglyphs) that were drawn from this work, indicating that these manuscripts were created between 1950 and 1965.

This article examines early colonial Kaqchikel Maya notions of the self, souls, and the heart. By integrating ethnohistorical data and contemporary ethnographic observations, we show that Kaqchikeles viewed the self as contingent on a dynamic balance of cosmic forces acting on the individual. The ways in which these forces are seen to effect one's state of being are documented through an extensive discussion of Kaqchikel metaphors of the heart and soul. We conclude by noting the importance of understanding processes of continuity (as well as change) in cultural constructions and argue for the continued utility of such approaches in ethnohistorical research.

Traditional analyses of ceramics from Maya Lowland archaeological sites have focused on descriptive typologies to define site and regional chronologies. However, T. Patrick Culbert's groundbreaking work on the ceramics of Tikal (1993) utilized vessel shapes, as well, involving an analytical system of two levels: shape classes and shapes. His systematized modal analysis and concentration on vessel-shape classes, in conjunction with a focus on the importance of deposit types and site-formation processes, revolutionized what ceramics can tell us about prehistoric Maya behavior. The same approach was applied to the research on the Cuello ceramics presented here to gain a better understanding of the behavior associated with ceramic-vessel usage during the Preclassic period at this northern Belize site.

In the Classic period Teotihuacan imported large quantities of Thin Orange ware from the Tepexi de Rodríguez area of Puebla. Thin Orange bowls were widely distributed in the city, many of them with post-firing graffiti inscribed on their walls or bases. Although not highly visible, the graffiti seem to have served as owner's marks. Some of the images, particularly in the city's central zone with its high concentration of elite residences and public structures, were drawn from the formal iconography of Teotihuacan. Most, however, seem to have been idiosyncratic expressions of personal identity or simply marks with no wider meaning. This general disinterest in the formal iconography as a source of personal imagery suggests that the ideology of the state may not have penetrated deeply into the daily lives of most Teotihuacanos and may even have stimulated some resistance.

The ancient Maya political landscape was permeated by regional systems of political asymmetry. These hegemonic networks fluctuated through time, but the steady presence of a few especially dominant polities shows that they were a persistent feature with very real sociopolitical effects. Based on research carried out at the sites of La Corona and Achiotal, and epigraphic studies in many other sites in the Maya Central Lowlands, we offer a general interpretation of the historical and sociopolitical development of one of these hegemonic polities: the Kaanul dynasty. Combining epigraphic and archaeological data, we discuss the Early Classic political landscape in the northern Peten region (“Chatahn” Winik, Suutz', and Sak Wahyis), as well as the development and maintenance of political relations with the Kaanul dynasty for over two centuries. These data allow us to suggest that the northwestern Peten was not only a strategic point for the initial expansion of the Kaanul dynasty in the sixth century a.d., but also an important lynchpin for the maintenance of its hegemonic control in the seventh and eighth centuries a.d. We suggest that epigraphic and archaeological data of the northern Peten from the Classic period help to illuminate how a unique regional hegemony over the Maya Lowlands was achieved and maintained.

10 Frisbie Place, the Cambridge location of Carnegie's Division of Historical Research, did not look much like Mt. Olympus, but to me, it was exactly that. An old, three-story frame building with drably painted clapboards, it must once have been some Harvard professor's house back in the Victorian era. Anyone looking for it now would never find it: it was demolished many years back to make way for the enormous biochemistry laboratories of a more modern Harvard. The ghosts of its Maya archaeologists–almost all gone now–must wander like disconsolate wraiths among the glassware and computer screens.

Tribute sources have played a significant role in reconstructions of the Triple Alliance's history and geography at the time just before the Spanish Conquest. The Tenochcan tradition has been the main source for these reconstructions. The critical historical analysis of the internal relationship of an alternative tradition, that of Tetzcoco, sheds new light on the Tenochcan tradition and on the tribute distributional ratio of 2:2:1, i.e., of the Triple Alliance tribute to Tenochtitlan, to Tetzcoco, and to Tlacopan. I conclude that this distribution only applied to a minor geographical area in the Triple Alliance conquests. This ratio shows only that Tetzcoco and Tenochtitlan had a major participation in the conquest of part of the northeastern area of central Mexico.

Smith and Kidder (1951:44) were among the first to highlight pyrite pre-Hispanic mirrors as “marvels of painstaking craftsmanship.” These mirrors present reflective surfaces consisting of 20–50 pyrite tesserae with beveled edges, perfectly cut, and average 2 mm in thickness. The first known examples of mirrors in Mesoamerica were the “Olmec” type—a concave mirror created from a single hematite piece developed during the Middle Preclassic period. Later, in the Classic period, pyrite mosaic mirrors replaced them. Unfortunately, we do not understand the changes from one type to the other. In this work, we present two pyrite mirrors found at the site of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico, dating around 700–500 b.c., as possible forerunners of Classic pyrite mirrors. Also, we present traceological analysis of their manufacturing process using experimental archaeology and scanning electron microscopy. Based on these examinations, we identify likely materials and techniques employed in crafting them. We posit that production of these mirrors could have been the result of the development of specialized artisans at distinct workshops, increasing the complexity and labor investment in the lapidary objects as prestige goods.

A survey of the Mesoamerican geoarchaeological literature published from 1990 to the present—in celebration of Ancient Mesoamerica's first 20-year katun anniversary—shows the full spectrum of small, focused projects to broad-range programs. Some scholars defend subdisciplinary boundaries and only do their research as physical science. Others combine natural with social science investigations, and some delve well into the humanities. I suggest here that the more successful programs are the latter because I believe the human experience in ancient Mesoamerica does not fit neatly into one or two of our Western disciplinary categories. Hopefully the next katun can be characterized by more open inquiry including the fullest range of scholarship from the natural sciences, through the social sciences, and embracing the humanities. The growth of new “bottom-up” approaches and post-structural theory—often including agency, practice theory, and resistance—help broaden inquiry and therefore bode well for the next katun.

This article utilizes the Maya Hieroglyphic Database (Looper and Macri 1991–2022) to study the spellings of three glyphic values based on T713 (Thompson 1962), namely, the logogram K′AB′ ‘hand, arm’ (n = 88), the logogram K′AL ‘to close, wrap, adorn’ (n = 484), and the syllabogram mi (n = 68), cataloged as MZ1, MR1, and MR2, respectively, by Looper et al. (2022). The main goal is to study the functions of certain graphemes typically placed atop T713 (T713's “holding site”) when it has the value K′AL, and to determine to what extent such signs can be described as lexical determinatives. The article concludes that MZ1 K′AB′ constitutes the unmarked value of T713, while MZ1 K′AL requires contextual or graphemic disambiguation, the latter facilitated by means of phonetic complements (e.g., k′a or la) or lexical determinatives (e.g., T617/1M3). Syntagmatic contextual associations resulting from frequent proximity to other signs was a common factor in the establishment of certain signs as lexical determinatives. The question of MR2 mi, which can be analyzed as either a digraph or a case of a “phonetic determinative” (distinct from “phonetic complement”) in the holding site of T713, is left open to future research.

El gobierno de K'ihnich Bahlam Chapaht corresponde a uno de los más longevos de todos los gobernantes conocidos de Tonina. Con excepción de su nacimiento y entronización, conocidos por referencias retrospectivas muy reiteradas, es poco lo que se conoce de su vida. Sin embargo, gracias al recientemente restaurado Monumento 181 y al altar identificado como Monumento 182, hemos logrado reconstruir pormenores adicionales de su gobierno. En el presente ensayo, presentamos nuevos datos sobre ritualidad y jerarquía político-religiosa en Tonina durante el reinado de K'ihnich Bahlam Chapaht resultado del análisis de estos dos monumentos.

Health benefits among the members of state-level societies may vary depending on sex, social privilege, and whether the individual resides in an urban or rural setting. Human skeletal remains are prone to express individual life experiences and, ultimately, well-being. This research elaborates on these correlates by contextualizing the physiological stresses among Classic Maya hinterland populations in comparison to their urban peers. Comparisons are made using the frequencies and expression of enamel hypoplasia, caries, porotic hyperostosis, infectious osteomyelitis/subperiosteal reaction and osteoporosis in 842 adult skeletons of both sexes from 63 peripheral and centric, inland, lowland settlements. The results suggest problematic inland weaning diets and higher infectious load among rural populations. While comparisons between urban and rural lifeways show inconsistent load differences, our results indicate repeated distinctions between the sexes. We cautiously interpret this pattern as an indication of a physically demanding regime of rural life compared to a more sedentary routine among urban peers and gendered lifestyles in general. We conclude that apart from these distinctions (and potential sample biases), the health costs versus benefits impacted rural lifestyles in a complex and non-uniform fashion during the first millennium a.d., rejecting clear-cut hierarchical conceptualizations while inviting more nuanced causal explorations.

This paper describes Early Formative (3250–2700 b.p., uncalibrated) anthropomorphic figurines from the site of La Joya, located in the Tuxtla Mountains of southern Veracruz, Mexico. Although recovered within the region traditionally identified as the “Olmec Heartland,” the La Joya figurine collection diverges in some fundamental ways from other published Early Formative Gulf Olmec collections. While the torsos from La Joya generally reflect the poses, postures, and costumes noted at contemporaneous sites, the La Joya figurine heads display characteristics that rarely conform to the traditional “San Lorenzo” stylistic canons. Rather, the overwhelming majority of figurine heads are similar to the Trapiche figurines from north-central Veracruz. These differences suggest that myriad intra- and interregional connections characterized Early Formative occupation along the southern Gulf lowlands. This variation also raises concerns regarding the suitability of the San Lorenzo material as necessarily “representative” of Early Formative Gulf Olmec lifeways.

The site of Huitzilapa, located northwest of the Tequila volcano, in central Jalisco, is a médium-sized site of the Teuchitlan tradition. An unlooted shaft tomb discovered and excavated at Huitzilapa has provided the most detailed information to date on the funerary customs of the Late Formative period. This article evaluates the place of Huitzilapa in local and regional settlement patterns, updates our understanding of the shaft tomb tradition, and examines whether the Huitzilapa evidence supports the proposition of stratified societies in central Jalsico during the Late Formative period.

Nonmetric (morphological) and metric analyses of dental traits and dentition are an established and effective, but still much underutilized, means of determining biological relationships among the individuals comprising a population over several generations. Combining such dental analyses, a social organizational typology adapted from social psychology, and small sample statistics, this study hazards a trial examination of the evidence for biological affinity within and between three archaeologically perceived social groups represented in the Classic-period Belize Valley community of Buenavista del Cayo. The groups comprise traditional high elite and commoner categories, and a putative middle level of intermediate elites. Findings suggest a dichotomous kinship structure of elites and non-elites, but one within which there had emerged an emically and archaeologically distinct “middle” status group of intermediate elites or subelites that remained affined by blood to the subordinate non-elite commoners and peasantry. The study differs from previous examinations of ancient Maya social organization in employing a truly integrated bioarchaeological approach to the topic rather than what have generally been intrinsically insular archaeological or osteometric approaches.