Geometric earthworks located in the interfluvial zone of the Upper Purús and Madeira river tributaries in the southwestern Amazon are formed by ditches of varying shapes and sizes along with contiguous exterior embankments and roads terraced with low backfill banks. The earthworks in the Brazilian state of Acre were used from 1200 B.C. to the fourteenth century A.D., indicating a continuous, collective cultural institution, a generalized regional phenomenon characterized by local variants and alterations and probably not exclusively restricted to a specified ethnic group. The carefully planned position of the earthworks in the landscape and the recurring geometric forms represented in this earthwork architecture suggest functions that were part of a tradition of shared ideology related to rituals and/or the sociopolitical activities of ancient Amazonian peoples. Recent archaeological fieldwork on two composite earthwork sites, Fazenda Atlântica and Quinauá, situated in the core location of the geometric earthworks, provides further evidence for the predominantly ceremonial use of these constructions.

Campanayuq Rumi is a large civic-ceremonial center located in the south-central highlands of Peru. Founded in the late Initial Period (1100–800 BC), Campanayuq Rumi became an important center within the Chavín Interaction Sphere in the Early Horizon (ca. 800–400 BC). In particular, Campanayuq Rumi is significant because of its geographical proximity to Quispisisa, the most important and widely circulated obsidian source during the Early Horizon. Portable X-ray florescence (pXRF) was used to geochemically source a sample of 370 obsidian artifacts from Campanayuq Rumi. Though obsidian from Quispisisa dominates the assemblage throughout the site's history, diachronic analysis indicates that the diversity of obsidian sources increases markedly in the Campanayuq II Phase (700–450 BC). The pXRF data lead us to conclude that Campanayuq Rumi was the locus of obsidian distribution to other locations in highland and coastal Peru within the Chavín Interaction Sphere, and functioned as a regional center of worship and interaction.

Aunque las tres fuentes principales de obsidiana se encuentran ubicadas en las tierras altas, los modelos propuestos hasta la fecha para reconstruir la distribución de este material en las tierras bajas no suelen tomar en consideración los factores sociopolíticos e históricos que han afectado las entidades mayas de tierras altas. Sin embargo, estos factores son determinantes de los sistemas comerciales a larga distancia. Al examinar y comparar la ruta por tierra de Alta Verapaz y la ruta fluvial–marítima del Motagua–Caribe en una perspectiva geográfica, sociopolítica, e histórica que integra los grandes centros de Kaminaljuyú y de Quiriguá, así como los centros de Verapaz, se concluye que la segunda ruta fue sin duda más activa que la primera en el comercio de obsidiana, entre otros bienes. Pero, la complejidad de las secuencias históricas de estos centros y la variabilidad de sus estructuras sociopolíticas sugieren que la competencia entre las dos rutas fue intensa y provocó cierta inestabilidad en los sistemas comerciales y flujos de obsidiana, por una y otra ruta.

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.).

Completed excavations at this important Preclassic Maya site have produced 350 m2 of Middle Preclassic (1200-400 B. C.) deposits dug to bedrock; a continuous section 47 m long through the Preclassic deposits documents the architectural history of the site. Nine more Middle Preclassic burials, the remains of earth- and plaster-floored houses with associated yard surfaces, and a chultun chamber containing well-preserved plant remains document economic and ritual behavior in the Swasey and Bladen phases (1200-650 B. C.).

The Middle Horizon (ca. A.D. 600-1100) was a period of great change in the Andes, with much of Perú connected through long-distance exchange and widely shared Wari styles and practices. Recent research has begun to detail the transformations that occurred within the period, leading to questions about the development of the Wari state and its shifting relationships with outlying areas over time. This article expands this research by exploring the temporal differences within a funerary assemblage at La Real, a site in the Majes Valley of southern Perú. The artifacts and human remains from La Real are used to explore Middle Horizon dynamism in relation to both the surging interregional interaction of the period and emergent social stratification in the valley. Mortuary profiles and sublethal violence remain fairly constant throughout the period, but lethal violence significantly increases in the late Middle Horizon. There are also significant changes over time in the presence of exotic goods and other items, reflecting an increase in craft specialization, the adoption of Wari-related styles and practices, and the development of a more regionally oriented economy. The role of the Wari state in these changes, although unclear, may relate to attempts by Wari leaders to manipulate the long-distance movement of a restricted group of artifacts and resources.

Spondylus and Strombus shells are believed to have been sacred items in Latin American societies, often traded over long distances. Studies of the manufacturing sites of these and other prized marine shells have been mainly undertaken to investigate the long distance trade networks and symbol systems of the ancient societies. In contrast, this report examines evidence from small, inland sites of the Regional Developmental Period-Guangala Phase in southwest Ecuador to understand the role of shell working as a craft activity within the local socioeconomic system. It is shown that this activity, which involves interaction between littoral and inland dwellers, played an important role in subsistence adaptations to the semi-arid southwest coast of Ecuador. These findings will also be of interest to scholars of the subsequent period seeking to understand the organization of the late prehistoric Ecuadorian trading chiefdoms.

Comparisons of Late Classic (A.D. 600-900) and Early-to-Middle Postclassic (A.D. 1000-1400) settlements at Laguna de On illuminate the transformation of Maya society at the community level in the aftermath of the Classic-period collapse. Affluent subsistence production communities such as Laguna de On reflect the emergence of the village as a focal point for social, political, and economic organization at this time, a pattern that persists in the Maya Lowlands to this day. Ties with the past are observed in comparisons of Classic-to-Postclassic domestic and public architectural efforts, burial patterns, faunal remains, lithic tool production and use, and settlement strategy at Laguna de On. Although some technological and material differences are observed in household assemblages of each period, the changes are not interpreted as material reflections of population replacement or ethnic difference. Postcollapse Belize Maya community organization and domestic patterns are analyzed as scaled-down transformations of Classic-period institutions in response to altered conditions of regional demography, ecology, and political geography.

Archaeologists traditionally investigate the emergence of complex sociopolitical formations at micro- and macroscales. As fruitful as these analyses have been, they ignore insights garnered from studying how the diverse members of individual communities contested for power and material resources during periods when former political capitals were in decline. Such volatile circumstances provide ample opportunities for those seeking power to experiment with novel political forms while their would-be subordinates maneuver to undermine these overweening ambitions. Site 128 in the Naco Valley, northwestern Honduras, witnessed these struggles during the Terminal Classic. Taking advantage of the waning power of the Naco Valley’s Late Classic rulers at La Sierra, magnates in this small community competed for control over clients and their labor. The resulting political configuration pitted corporate institutions against individual aggrandizers, each using a limited suite of valuable resources to capture the loyalty and labor of supporters. The inability of one faction to vanquish the other created an unstable situation ultimately undermined by unresolved tensions. Though studies of political decline usually highlight the falls of dynasties, there is much to be gained by studying those who scrambled, with varying success, to cobble together sociopolitical structures in the shadows of former states.

Analyses of pollen and other terrestrial microfossils in sediment profiles from neotropical lakes can complement and extend archaeological studies by documenting the timing of prehistoric human disturbances within watersheds. However, assessing the scale of prehistoric human impact from sedimentary microfossil assemblages alone is often difficult. We explore here the utility of combining stable carbon isotope (δ13C) analyses of lake sediments and isotopie mixing models to improve our ability to gauge the extent of prehistoric human disturbance recorded in sediment profiles. Our test case involves the analysis o f a sediment core from Laguna Bonillita on the central Caribbean slope of Costa Rica that spans approximately the last 2,700 calendar years. Variations in the δ13C values of the Laguna Bonillita sediments suggest that human population growth and environmental impacts in the watershed were at their maximum ~cal yr 300 B.C. This finding is in keeping with archaeological evidence of rapid regional population growth at this time but differs from initial interpretations of the sediment record that were based on pollen and charcoal analyses alone. We believe that the use of stable carbon isotope data from sediment profiles can improve estimates of the scale of prehistoric human impact and in doing so improve the contributions of paleoecological research to archaeology.

Recientes estudios en la cordillera andina de Chile Central nos han permitido identificar la coexistencia de dos modos de vida distintos en el mismo territorio durante el período Alfarero Temprano (350 a.C. a 900 d.C). Estos dos modos de vida corresponden, por un lado, a poblaciones de cazadores recolectores continuadores de la tradición Arcaica, especialmente en los aspectos económicos y en la tecnología lítica orientada curatorialmente, pero poseedores de algunas vasijas de cerámica adquiridas desde otros grupos propiamente alfareros y, por otro lado, a poblaciones semi-sedentarias con una economía hortícola, una desarrollada industria alfarera y una tecnología lítica principalmente expeditiva. Ambas poblaciones coexistieron e interactuaron en este territorio hasta fechas cercanas al 900 d.C.

El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en el análisis de la evidencia arqueológica de las Sierras Centrales de Argentina correspondiente al período que abarca desde la Transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno (11,000 – 9000 a.P.) hasta fines del Holoceno Temprano (ca. 6000 a.P.) y sus implicancias para el conocimiento del proceso de poblamiento inicial de este sector de Argentina. Proponemos la existencia de una presencia humana poco intensa y discontinua durante la Transición Pleistoceno-Holoceno y que la intensidad de la ocupación aumenta notablemente con posterioridad a ca. 8000 a.P. Las evidencias sugieren que desde la llegada de los primeros grupos a las Sierras Centrales ca. 11,000 a.P. hasta el logro de la colonización efectiva del área (sensu Borrero 1989-1990) ocurrida a partir de ca. 8000 a.P., se produjo un proceso de exploración caracterizado por muy bajas densidades poblacionales que bien pudo incluir colonizaciones fallidas. Estas conclusiones alertan sobre el empleo de modelos de poblamiento que asuman continuidad biológica-cultural durante todo el Holoceno.

Interaction between distant, culturally distinct, complex societies can significantly impact the sociopolitical development of the societies involved. In Classic period Mesoamerica, the urban center of Teotihuacan was a dominant force in the Valley of Mexico, and there is compelling evidence that its influence extended well beyond this region. The role of Teotihuacan in the political development of Maya cities has been debated for decades, though interaction may have also included exchange and the presence of Maya individuals at Teotihuacan. In this study I investigate interaction between Teotihuacan and several Maya polities through typological, spatial, and compositional analyses of Maya ceramics found at Teotihuacan. Data from instrumental neutron activation analysis are used to identify probable subregions from which Maya ceramics were imported to Teotihuacan. Results indicate that diverse Maya polities interacted with Teotihuacan over the course of five centuries, and that relationships involving polities in the central Petén region were particularly long-lived. This research has important implications for understanding the sociopolitical histories of Mesoamerican complex societies specifically, and interaction among complex societies in general.

An archaeological survey on the Azuero Peninsula in Panama has recently discovered a Paleoindian quarry/workshop at the base of a quartz outcrop. The Nieto site contains seldom-seen preforms and flake blanks that provide new information on early-stage reduction strategies used by Clovis-like point makers in the Neotropics. Finished tools recovered at the site include gravers, side scrapers, and large scraper planes. The production of flake blanks followed a core reduction and rejuvenation strategy already observed at other Paleoindian sites in Costa Rica and Florida. Although the quartz outcrop is located only a few kilometers away from better-quality sources of jasper and chert, Paleoindians appear to have preferred this translucent stone for their weaponry. This new information, when combined with late-stage production strategies previously recorded from other Panamanian sites, brings us closer to tracing a complete manufacturing trajectory for Clovislike points on the Isthmus. It is hoped that data from the Nieto quarry/workshop will eventually help archaeologists determine if the presence of the fluting technique in Central and South America is attributable to a migration of Clovis-related people or a technological diffusion among pre-established southerly populations.

Formative Ecuadorian coastal societies possessed the technologies and skills necessary not only for fishing, but also for deep-sea navigation. Although marine shellfish are acknowledged as significant both for dietary and religious purposes, the importance of sea-fishing is rarely highlighted or explored. In order to help evaluate more fully the significance of the sea in the Ecuadorian Formative, this paper presents recently studied evidence, excavated at the Salango site, in the Province of Manabí, for local off-shore tuna fishing during the Middle Formative Machalilla phase (ca. 1500–900 B.C.), where Scombrids constituted 80 percent of recovered fish remains. The results are then compared with those obtained from other Machalilla sites. Finally, data from the subsequent Late Formative Engoroy phase (ca. 900–100 B.C.) indicate that while Scombrid fishing continued to predominate at Salango, species capture changed through time, with a shift from yellowfin tuna in the Machalilla phase to black skipjacks in Engoroy times. It is suggested that the decline in tuna capture reflects not so much change in fishing strategy as change in the populations of fish species reaching the local marine environment.

This article examines the organization of specialized craft production at the urban site of Moche, known as the capital of the Southern Moche state. Recent excavations in workshop contexts revealed that the urban population of Moche was in part composed of ceramists, metallurgists, and lapidaries. These craft specialists played a significant role in the economic, political, and religious spheres of the Moche polity. Data obtained during excavations of workshops and domestic compounds are used to analyze the context, scale, and intensity of craft production, taking into account the nature of the goods produced and the identity of consumers. The discussion also considers the integration of craft specialists into the daily life and social structure at the site of Moche. Excavations showed that while urban craft specialists were not independent, they were not tightly controlled by a centralized ruling elite. They produced symbolic goods in various small to middle-scale workshops integrated into residential units, under the direct authority of urban leaders taking advantage of this particular organization of semi-attached craft production in various status-building strategies.

The ancient Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions of the upper Usumacinta region record an intensive interaction that took place among its regional capitals. The precise geographic locations of some of these sites are presently unknown. Through the application of the Gravity Model within the framework of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we present the probable locations and possible territorial extents of a few of these: Sak Tz’i’, Hix-Witz, and the “Knot-Site.” On this occasion, however, we concentrate our discussion on the role that the kingdom of Sak Tz’i’ played in the geopolitical scenario of the region. It is our belief that this case study constitutes a good example of how, through a conjunctive approach that integrates the archaeological with the epigraphic data, GIS can represent an excellent analytical tool to approach archaeological issues such as the political organization of the Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic period.

Datos sobre asentamiento nuevamente obtenidos en el sitio puuc de Xculoc y sus cercanías (Campeche, México), nos permiten calcular el tamaño de la población de este sector en el momento de su auge (900-1000 D.C.). Los datos incluyen dimensiones de los pisos internos de toda residencia potencial, así como las capacidades de las cisternas subterráneas (chultunes) que constituían las únicas fuentes de agua durante la temporada seca de seis meses (noviembre-mayo). La división de las superficies y capacidades totales por coeficientes basados en datos etnoarqueológicos produce cifras de población menores que las que se habrían obtenido por medio de la aplicación de las proporciones utilizadas en el sitio cercano de Sayil (McAnany 1990; Tourtellot et al. 1990). Los resultados sugieren que es necesario re-examinar los cálculos de la población maya del horizonte Clásico producidos durante los pasados 20 años. La reducción de 30 a 50 por ciento que proponemos tendría implicaciones sustanciales en cuanto a nuestra concepción de la organización económica, política, y social de la sociedad clásica maya.

Khipus are knotted-string devices that were used in the Inka Empire for communication and for recording information. We recently analyzed the names and associated khipu cords in a newly discovered hybrid khipul alphabetic text from the Central Andes. Results indicate a significant relationship in the text between knot direction and a form of social organization known as moieties, in which S-knots correspond to the upper (Hanan) moiety and Z-knots correspond to the lower (Urin) moiety. This relationship suggests that knot direction was used to indicate moiety in Andean khipus and, as such, may represent the first decipherment of a structural element in khipus since the decoding of the number system in the 1920s.

In this study the Pacariqtambo origin myth of the Inca, as described in a number of different Spanish chronicles, is analyzed through examining archaeological data from the Province of Paruro (Department of Cuzco, Peru). The findings suggest that the rock outcrop of Puma Orco, located in the District of Pacariqtambo, may represent the Tambotoco of the Pacariqtambo origin myth, and that the nearby Inca ruins of Maukallaqta may have contained an oracle of the first mythical Inca, Manco Capac. It is suggested that these ruins were built by the ruling elite of Cuzco to commemorate their mythical progenitor and to legitimate their sacred status within Inca society.