Although the Cascajal Block (CB), an incised greenstone slab from southeastern Veracruz, Mexico, arguably contains the earliest written text in the New World, debate remains regarding the object's authenticity, dating, and cultural affiliation. To address these issues, this article details recent analyses of the CB via polynomial texture mapping (PTM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PTM revealed new details that have resulted in a new epigraphic drawing of the block's incised text and allowed for improved identification of several constituent signs. Spectrometric analysis confirmed that the chemical composition of the CB matrix is consistent with serpentine and identified a uniform patina on its surface, which provided additional contextual data. SEM micrographs of polymer replica molds taken from the incised text evidence manufacturing traces that correspond to lapidary techniques observed on other Formative-period Olmec objects of secure provenience. Results assist in clarifying the archaeological contexts of the object and confirm that in terms of symbols, material, and manufacture the CB conforms to other Formative-period Olmec objects, supporting the object's authenticity, dating, and cultural affiliation.

George L. Cowgill had a major influence on the study of the ancient city of Teotihuacan and the development and promotion of quantitative methods in archaeology. His wit, teaching, and research influenced many in the profession. We draw on two published autobiographical works (Cowgill 2008a, 2013a), some unpublished autobiographical notes (Cowgill 1983), his many publications, and our own associations with George.

After a long hospital stay, Mexican historian and philosopher Miguel León-Portilla passed away on October 1, 2019, at the age of 93. His prodigious work is known throughout the world because classics such as La filosofía náhuatl (León-Portilla 1956), Visión de los vencidos (León-Portilla 1959), Los antiguos mexicanos a través de sus crónicas y cantares (León-Portilla 1961), Las literaturas precolombinas de México (León-Portilla 1964), Trece poetas del mundo azteca (León-Portilla 1967), and Teatro náhuatl (León-Portilla 1974a), among others, have been published and republished dozens of times in a multitude of languages. Professor William R. Fowler kindly asked me to write an obituary for Ancient Mesoamerica and suggested that I focus my text on the contributions that Dr. León-Portilla made in my field, that is, archaeology. To this end I have decided to offer the readers of this journal an English translation of a brief discourse I presented on February 22, 2016 (Figure 1), in the context of a tribute paid to “Don Miguel” on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, which was organized by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

This paper studies the Cascajal Block, a serpentinite artifact with an Olmec text dating to ca. 1000–900 b.c. (Rodríguez Martínez et al. 2006a). It introduces a new line drawing made possible by the detailed documentation carried out by Carrasco and Englehardt, presents a distributional analysis of the inscription in order to assess the sign inventory proposed by Rodríguez Martínez et al. (2006a) and revised by Mora-Marín (2009), and, most significantly, suggests that certain irregularities in the patterns of sign co-occurrence raised by previous authors (Justeson 2012; Macri 2006) are consistent with spelling practices in logosyllabic scripts, showing that the script is linguistically motivated. The work by Carrasco and Englehardt (2015) on the identification and analysis of sign pairings as likely diphrastic kennings is highlighted as crucial to establishing semantic controls needed for any attempt at decipherment; a new, repeated pairing is proposed, consisting of the PELT-PAW signs. Finally, this paper assesses how the various models for the reading formatting and direction of the text could impact the proposed hypotheses.

This article seeks to contribute to the development of a method for analyzing the attributes of the gods of central Mexico in the manuscripts and the statuary from the time of the Spanish conquest. I focus on the Goddess of Water, Chalchiuhtlicue, “Jade Her Skirt.” The method consists of isolating the component designs of her array and grouping them in semantic groups. I begin by examining these designs and show that all of them were used in the notation of toponyms. These findings call into question the traditional separation between glyphs and icons. I next study the semantic groups and show that they consist of a series of culturally selected manifestations of water. Hence, it follows that the rules of composition of the goddess were grounded on a process of “definition by extension.” Thus, most of the semantic groups referred to different secondary names of the goddess, allowing us to think that they represented theonyms of a particular type.

Based on stratigraphic excavation data and associated radiocarbon dates we argue that the pre-Hispanic city of Cerro Jazmín, in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, underwent a period of political change between the Late Formative (300 b.c.–a.d. 50) and the Terminal Formative periods (a.d. 50–300). This shift is reflected in the city's layout and in the timing of construction and use of two different monumental sectors. During the city's Late Formative occupation, we found evidence of more exclusionary feasting activity taking place in a secluded monumental sector called the Sunken Courtyards near the hilltop. In the Terminal Formative, however, monumental construction expanded in the more accessible Tres Cerritos sector where larger and accessible public areas were the focus of activity. We argue that changes in the city's layout, along with the differing patterns of feasting, suggest that the city's leaders went from a more exclusionary form of government to a more collective political strategy during the Terminal Formative period. Despite of these efforts monumental construction largely stopped and the city's population declined by the start of the Classic period (a.d. 300).

Siguiendo los registros jeroglíficos de los que disponemos, pareciera que los gobernantes del glifo emblema de la cabeza de serpiente, asentados primero en Dzibanche y posteriormente en Calakmul, establecieron una organización político-social basada en la rígida autoridad del k'uhul ajaw que encabezaba la dinastía. Sin embargo, considerando la amplia distribución de referencias que indican eventos llevados a cabo en diferentes entidades políticas bajo la supervisión del gobernante de Kaan y las alusiones a distintas entidades corporativas fuera de la capital pero vinculadas al glifo emblema dinástico, sugiero una posible organización política establecida desde la entidad capital pero ejecutada en “la periferia” por distintos grupos de poder. Con base en lo anterior, propongo que éstos eran los verdaderos encargados de mantener los preceptos decretados desde la cabecera dinástica sin necesidad de la presencia física del k'uhul Kaan ajaw.

Archaeological and epigraphic data have greatly increased our understanding of ancient Maya warfare in recent decades. Nevertheless, one of the aspects that has received relatively little attention is the disambiguation between the different types of wars waged. The procurement of human trophies as attested in the archaeological record and imagery, as well as the counts-of-captives and captive statements recorded textually, all provide tantalizing clues that raids formed an integral part of Classic Maya military tactics. This rings particularly true when we consider that the Classic Maya terms for “captive” and “bone” are one and the same, thereby betraying emic conceptions wherein captives were deemed to be an ideal source of bone; human trophies par excellence. The features identified for the Classic Maya have to be set within a larger perspective since these are also found among other Mesoamerican cultures, as well as indigenous societies in both North and South America. In so doing, it becomes clear that raiding and the acquisition of captives and human trophies served to foster and heighten prestige, especially among societies that cultivated the warrior ethos. Therefore, raiding emerges as a shared Amerindian trait, rather than being the product of diffusion or independent innovation.

The first part of this two-part essay discusses the important roles crocodiles and sharks played in Preclassic (and later) political geography and myths of cosmogenesis in Mesoamerica. They are associated with sacrifices resulting in creation of the world and births of some major gods. Crocodiles are also associated with fertility, rebirth, and renewal of seasonal and temporal/calendrical cycles. Recent investigations at Nixtun-Ch'ich’ show that its gridded urban landscape, established in the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 800–400 b.c.), was likely modeled on a crocodile's back. The second part of the essay presents some speculations on the early role of this site and crocodiles in central Peten. At Tikal, archaeology and retrospective texts indicate that crocodiles appeared in early versions of the site's emblem glyph and in the name of an early ruler. Nixtun-Ch'ich’ might be the legendary chi place, important in the dynastic foundations of several lowland Maya centers.

Societies vary in how they approach the challenges of increased population, inequality, and occupational specialization. The city of Nixtun-Ch'ich’ and its satellite, T'up, in Peten, Guatemala exhibit orthogonal urban grids—a trait absent from all other known Maya cities. Such grids require extensive planning and the ability to mobilize the population. The present data suggests that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ was substantially larger than any of the surrounding settlements and was, therefore, a primate center during the Middle Preclassic period. The extensive urban planning of the site, as well as that of T'up suggests centralized planning. Yet, we have not encountered evidence of a central ruler propagated as a unifying symbol of the polity. The gridded public streets and lack of a rulership cult suggest that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ had a more collaborative social system.

Throughout the world, past and present, social organizations develop to cope with restricted water sources. Relying on traditional archaeology, labor estimates, and ethnographic data, the Palenque Pool Project set out to better understand a series of interconnected artificial water features located in the western sector of this Classic Maya site. Here, we detail our 2014–2015 fieldwork. First, there is consideration that the Picota Group was a civic-ceremonial center first established in the Early Classic period (a.d. 250–500), one km to the west of the “downtown” nucleus of the site. A review of labor estimates for the construction of architectural features of the Picota Group follows. We then explore the ethnographic component, comparing similar pool configurations investigated in the highland Tzotzil community of Chamula in 2015. The article concludes with a theoretical discussion of how and why social organizations evolve to manage water resources in the region, with reference to ethnographic information from highland Tzotzil communities.

In the Mesoamerican archaeological literature, collections of material regarded as somehow anomalous according to the archaeologist's expectations are often referred to as problematical deposits (PDs). Their problematical aspect originates in the researcher's current state of knowledge of the particular site, not in past behavior. PDs are site-specific, provisional classifications, and need further study to determine the function or intent of the activity that created them. A sample of 223 features designated as PDs by the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Tikal Project is examined here in an approach to understand their intent. A typology of the sample, based upon content, date, and variables of recovery context, indicates three principal intents broadly summarized as ritual, political, and site maintenance, and a category of PDs without intent. The study of PDs demands a wide-ranging approach. It provides an opportunity to reevaluate inadequate ideas and gain new insights into past cultural behavior.

A series of figurines, known in the archaeological literature as Mazapan-style, was recently discovered at the site of El Palacio, Michoacan, Mexico, in strata radiocarbon dated from the Early Postclassic (a.d. 900–1200/1250). Considered diagnostic markers for Early Postclassic cultural and economic dynamics, these artifacts raise questions regarding the role of this settlement at both regional and interregional scales prior to the rise of the Tarascan state. We study the specimens found at El Palacio through a thorough examination of the archaeological contexts, technological and iconographic characteristics, and compare them to cases from the literature. By demonstrating their local production and their association with other artifacts or iconographic traits characteristic of the Early “Postclassic international style,” we bring new elements to the definition of these artifacts and underline the capacity of local elites to connect culturally and economically with other regions of Mesoamerica.

The hieroglyphic texts of northern Belize are remarkable for their longevity, spanning from the Late Preclassic to the Late Postclassic (ca. 100 b.c –a.d. 1544). Together, these texts constitute an invaluable body of information that has thus far been generally overlooked and has not been integrated into larger syntheses of the region. This paper provides a diachronic review of the glyphic texts of northern Belize and contrasts them to the wider historical processes of the eastern Maya lowlands. A definition of the northern Belizean region precedes an outline of the corpora of monuments, as well as the textual sources on portable objects. This provides an historical review of northern Belize from the incipience of royalty to the eve of the Spanish Conquest.

The term “problematical deposits” was coined decades ago at Tikal to refer to special deposits that were neither burials nor caches. Since that time, the term has been expanded to refer to a range of deposits that have puzzled archaeologists. In this paper we review the various interpretations that have been offered for these deposits including de facto refuse, squatter deposits, and the remains of dedication or termination ritual, feasting, or pilgrimage. We argue that the superficial similarity of these deposits can make it difficult to identify the range of activities that they represent and that detailed contextual analysis is required to distinguish them. We offer some of the archaeological correlates that have been associated with different types of problematic deposits.

The site of Chinkultic in Chiapas, Mexico, remains largely absent from discussions of Classic Maya history and culture, despite a long history of excavation and a substantial corpus of monumental sculpture. This paper explores two groups of sculptures from Chinkultic, photographed using raking-light photographic techniques in 2011 and 2013. Sculptures in the first group depict royal accession and suggest that the rulers of Chinkultic acceded the throne as warriors. The second group of monuments demonstrates a ritual tradition involving rulers and subordinate individuals. Based on analysis of these groups, I argue that Chinkultic was home to consistent artistic programming that performed an elite identity based on warfare and control over surrounding people and places. Combined, these sculptures demonstrate artistic connections between Chinkultic and the Usumacinta region, provide a new window into the sociopolitical history of the Comitán valley, and reflect the innovative artistic programs of frontier places in ancient Mesoamerica.

The Maya area has long been characterized as a mosaic of polities large and small, with cultural connections, linguistic dialects, ethnicities, and economic networks that shifted, expanded, and contracted over time. In this paper, we examine different ways of constructing boundaries. From physical demarcations in the landscape to habitual practices of interaction and affiliation, the lines that tied and divided were both unstable and multiple. We draw on definitions and theories from anthropology, history, and geography to review the concepts of borders, frontiers, and boundaries and their implications for the Maya area over the long term.

Crab iconography in Mesoamerica is a novelty, often ignored academically while its meaning remains a mystery. In Cotzumalhuapa, the crab appears as either a base or a headdress in monumental art, but why? Why is the crab singled out in the creation portion of the Popol Vuh, establishing an unexplained precedent? The following work attempts to answer these questions. The decapod itself was not arbitrarily chosen for its role as paxil, or as a feminine symbol of creation, with links to the moon and rain. Rather, its biology and behavior mirrored the existing Mesoamerican worldview. Unfortunately, the linguistic and cultural affinities of Cotzumalhuapa are unknown. Thus, I analyze other objects from other regions/cultures and compares zoological, linguistical, and ethnohistorical data to conclude that the crab was conceptually feminine, a cognate to the moon goddess and the surface of the earth, representing creation. Furthermore, rulers of Cotzumalhuapa wore regalia that include crab imagery, which provided them the power of creation and propagated belief in the legitimacy of their rule.