We present quantitative data on population size and plaza area in three groups of ancient Mesoamerican settlements: a sample of 30 Late Postclassic cities and towns from throughout Mesoamerica and two regional settlement systems from the Classic period, including south-central Veracruz (the Mixtequilla) and the Palenque region. Plaza size scales with population in a sublinear relationship in all three groups, meaning that larger settlements had considerably less plaza area per capita than smaller settlements. These results suggest that the currently popular interpretation drawn from Classic Maya archaeology that plazas were places designed to hold the entire urban population for passive viewing of spectacles may be incomplete. We argue that the observed quantitative relationships between population and plaza area support the notion that plazas were designed to be used for a variety of purposes—including several types of ceremonies and marketplaces—held at different times following a regular schedule.

Este trabajo proporciona datos sobre las recientes excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la estructura de Akapana, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Esta es la construcción religiosa más masiva y alta del sitio. Después de mencionar algunos datos de las temporadas de campo 1988 y 1989, se describe una serie de restos parciales humanos articulados, ubicados en un ángulo remetido del sector norte de la estructura. Los autores ofrecen una serie de hipótesis alternativas para explicar este patrón, poniendo especial énfasis en la componente ritual.

We present new regional settlement pattern data from the eastern Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico, including a detailed reconstruction of the first millennium A.D. occupation of the site of Izapa. Results from an initial campaign of light detection and ranging (lidar) data acquisition and analysis of systematically collected surface remains document the full extent of the Classic-period occupation of Izapa. These lidar and pedestrian survey data also illustrate how people were distributed across the landscape from 100 B.C. to A.D. 1000 (Hato to Remanso phases). Survey results indicate significant population increase during the Terminal Formative (A.D. 100–300) and initial Early Classic (A.D. 300–400) periods, followed by a virtual abandonment of both piedmont and low-hills survey zones from A.D. 400 to A.D. 700. The population increased in both survey zones during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (A.D. 700–1000) coinciding with the presence of a large regional center in the low-hills zone and 46 secondary centers recorded within the 400-km2 area covered by the lidar survey. These secondary centers consist of numerous small mounds around circular or square plazas. Together, the results of the lidar study and systematic pedestrian survey offer the first glimpse of population dynamics and political organization in the area around Izapa during the first millennium A.D.

The fall of the Early Postclassic capital of Chichen Itza is generally described in native chronicles as the result of a widespread revolt of native Yucatec Maya against the Itzá rulers of northern Yucatan. This historic event was the outcome of complex social, economic, and ecological processes that ultimately led to the weakening and dissolution of the Itzá polity. The historic legends that trace the fall of the Itzá are a superficial manifestation of deeper problems, which likely included tense relations with subjugated peoples, excess economic and human tribute, overpopulation, scarcities of land and agricultural resources, and possible climatological changes resulting in drought. The Itzá economy was linked to all these processes, but as they primarily were focused on the exploitation of coastal resources and long-distance trade, they failed to establish a viable economic system in the interior. This failure, coupled with the overexploitation of a declining social and economic resource base, led to the Itzá collapse. This essay presents a preliminary discussion of these processes.

Corporate political strategies (Blanton et al. 1996) that privilege power-sharing over exclusionary tactics are recognized to be important yet understudied forms of political behavior in early complex polities. I present the case of the Tequila valleys of western Mexico to illustrate several points about this corporate system: that the component descent groups can be recognized through their different approaches to architectural construction and burial patterns; that they form groups of counterpoised lineages that shared power; that the relationships between these groups become more fixed and hierarchical across different scales of architecture; and that there are distinct strata within the burial patterns that separate power-sharing groups from the rest of the community. It may be easier to identify and trace aspects of political organization here than in complex and layered urban settings that have been the focus of similar research.

Specialized production forms an important component of the socioeconomic organization of ancient complex societies. Excavation provides critical information on the internal organization of production within a particular workshop and permits the recovery of features not preserved on the surface. In large settlements like Teotihuacan where modern occupation covers much of the ancient city, it is not feasible to fully excavate every suspected craft production locale. At Teotihuacan and in other complex societies, the use of surface indications to generate thematic maps permits discussion of the spatial relationships between economic and social units within the settlement. I use the surface collections made by the Teotihuacan Mapping Project and the partial excavation of one apartment compound and ceramic workshop in the Tlajinga district to consider the organization of specialized production in this neighborhood. I rely on the co-occurrence of ceramic production indicators to define likely workshops, using the surface collections from the excavated workshop as a reasonable indicator of production. Considering the evidence for vessel form specialization and dimensional standardization and previous ethnoarchaeological analyses of the excavated materials, Tlajinga district pottery production appears to have been maximally organized at the community level, with individual apartment compounds forming the basic production units.

Meggers's critique of views presented by DeBoer et al. (1996), Wüst and Barreto (1999), and Heckenberger et al. (1999) in Latin American Antiquity misrepresents these authors and others. Her criticisms, largely directed at the present authors, obfuscate fundamental points raised regarding the nature and variability of cultural formations and economic patterns in Amazonia. By conflating indigenous resource management systems, which we discuss, with mechanized development strategies of the modern world, she creates an unnecessarily polemical atmosphere for debate.

The intellectual, artistic, and architectural accomplishments of Maya elites during the Classic period were extraordinary, and evidence of elite activities has preserved well in the archaeological record. A centuries-long research focus on elites has understandably fostered the view that they controlled the economy, politics, and religion of Maya civilization. While there has been significant progress in household archaeology, unfortunately the activities, decisions, and interactions of commoners generally preserve poorly in the archaeological record. Therefore, it has been challenging to understand the sociopolitical economy of commoners, and how it related—or did not relate—to elite authority. The exceptional volcanic preservation of the site of Cerén, El Salvador, provides a unique opportunity to explore the degree to which elites controlled or influenced commoner life. Was society organized in a top-down hierarchy in which elites controlled everything? Or did commoners have autonomy, and thus the authority to decide quotidian, seasonal, and annual issues within the village? Or was there a mixture of different loci of authority within the village and the region? Research at Cerén is beginning to shed some light on the sociopolitical economy within the community and in relation to elites in the Zapotitan valley. A domain in which there was considerable commoner-elite interaction in the Cerén area was the marketplace. Elites and their attached specialists provided products, and commoners decided which marketplace they would attend to exchange their items. Evidence from Cerén also suggests that there were numerous other domains of authority within the community that had no detectable control or influence from outside. For instance, people in the village decided what crafts or specialized agricultural products to produce as surplus to be exchanged within the community for different products from other households. Cerén community members acted independently as individuals, as households, or in other domains within the community. Understanding the multiple layers of authority at Cerén sheds light on the sociopolitical organization in one non-elite Classic period Maya community.

Abbreviated Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was carried out on a sample of obsidian artifacts from the Terminal Formative to early Late Classic period site of Palo Errado, located in the southern Gulf lowlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Our understanding of Classic period obsidian economies in the southern Gulf lowlands has been largely informed by studies of the political economies of the highland Mexican cities of Teotihuacan and Cantona, which appear to have controlled the Pachuca and Otumba, and Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian sources, respectively. However, the NAA results from Palo Errado indicate that while the local obsidian economy was dominated by prismatic blade technology utilizing Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian, five additional highland Mexican sources were used during the Early Classic period. The presence of Ucareo and the use of Otumba in core-blade reduction, for instance, set Palo Errado apart from contemporary sites in the southern Gulf lowlands. Temporal variation in quantity of supplemental obsidian sources and their use in different reduction technologies suggest that consumers at Palo Errado had access to abundant Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian of a quality high enough to facilitate the production of fine prismatic blades. At the same time, however, they continued to participate in exchange networks that tied them to other areas of central Mexico, independently from other contemporaneous sites in the southern Gulf lowlands.

Five seasons of archaeological fieldwork at the Maya lowland site of Rio Azul are summarized. The site is an urban center located on the Rio Azul. The locality was occupied from at least 900 B.C. to ca. A.D. 800. Farming villages gave way ca. 150 B.C. to communities that built large platforms, and the urban center was established about A.D. 200. Rio Azul apparently was conquered by Tikal ca. A.D. 380 and became a frontier city and commercial center. Strong influence from Teotihuacan is indicated. A hiatus in the sixth century A.D. evidently represents a period of civil wars. Rio Azul was reoccupied and then overrun again in the ninth century by northern Maya groups. Once more reoccupied, it was finally abandoned ca. A.D. 880. Evidence for ancient cultural institutions also is summarized.

Los estudios sobre macro y microrrestos botánicos en contextos de cazadores-recolectoresde Pampa y Norpatagonia se han incrementado, al igual que el conocimiento del impacto de las plantas en la dieta de estas poblaciones. Con este propósito se han integrado diversos indicadores y técnicas analíticas. En algunos casos se registra el uso simultáneo de plantas silvestres y cultígenos. El marco temporal de uso de plantas domesticadas en la macroregión se ha desarrollado hasta ca. 2000 años a.P., mientras que la escala espacial se extiende entre el área cordillerana hasta las provincias fitogeográficas del monte y el espinal (34º a 40º S y 72º a 63º O aproximadamente). En este trabajo se presentan datos novedosos referidos a la presencia simultánea de maíz (Zea mays), cereales y leguminosas silvestres (Prosopis sp. y Poaceae) en contextos de cazadores-recolectores de la Pampa Occidental Argentina. Estos datos provienen del análisis de microfósiles en diferentes soportes: cerámica, artefactos de molienda y dientes humanos. Estos resultados permitieron conocer el rol que tuvieron las plantas para estas sociedades. A su vez, los datos fueron integrados, con investigaciones que focalizan el estudio de restos vegetales, tanto silvestres como domesticados, en una escala macroregional.

This article examines changes in ritual practices during the Epiclassic period in central Mexico. It presents data recovered from recent excavations of a shrine discovered in Lake Xaltocan in the northern Basin of Mexico. Pottery and AMS dates place the construction and use of the shrine in the Epiclassic period. The shrine was first built during or soon after the collapse of the Teotihuacan state. With the decline of Teotihuacan and the emergence of competing centers, ritual practitioners began human sacrifice: the remains of over 30 individuals were documented, including 13 complete severed crania. This practice suggests conflict as the political landscape became decentralized. Despite how broader processes may have affected behavior, the shrine, ritual practice was fundamentally local. We present archaeobotanical evidence of offerings of food, incense, and flowers that elucidates the microlevel nature of ritual at the shrine.

The limited excavation of rural houses in the Mexican highlands has made it difficult to understand the structure of urban-rural economic relationships during the Classic period (A.D. 150 to 650), when many of the large cities at Teotihuacan, Cholula, and Monte Albán first developed. This paper examines economic consumption at Operation 7, a Late Classic rural residence located 11 km outside of the large center of Cholula, Puebla. The results show that Cholula was not the only, or even the primary, distribution center for goods consumed at Operation 7. Multiple procurement networks were operating during the Late Classic period to provision rural households with the goods they used. The recovery of a large number of imported ceramics and other goods with strong Teotihuacan affinities suggests integrated market networks, rather than solar market systems, operated to circulate goods throughout rural areas in Central Mexico. Comparative analysis of domestic assemblages is employed to identify differences in economic consumption that can be used to reconstruct the participation of rural households in regional distribution networks centered on their urban neighbors.

The ceque system of Cuzco was composed of at least 328 shrines (huacas) organized along 42 hypothetical lines (ceques) that radiated out of the city of Cuzco, the capital of the Inca. Ethnohistoric research indicates that the system was conceptually linked to, and essentially reproduced, the fundamental social, political, spatial, and temporal divisions of the Cuzco region and Inca society. As such the ceque system is one of the most complex, indigenous Prehispanic ritual systems known in the Americas. This article summarizes the basic organizational features of the ceque system according to ethnohistorians and reviews the current literature. Archaeological data document the likely positions of 85 shrines and the probable courses of nine ceques in Collasuyu, the southeast quarter of the Cuzco Valley. The courses of the nine Collasuyu ceques are then compared with predicted courses set forth in current models of the system. The findings suggest that numerous internal inconsistencies, if not errors, exist in the seventeenth-century documentary source that describes the ceque system and that the courses of the ceques may have varied far more than is suggested in the literature.

Results of physico-chemical analysis of samples of rock paintings and blue and green pigments from the Atacama Desert (northern Chile) allow us to incorporate a new technology, pigment production, to processes of mining and copper production, which until now have been related only to lapidary and metal working. Archaeological contexts associated with paints and pigments, as well as information available from historical times, allow us to suggest hypotheses about their importance in sharing networks of late prehispanic times (A.D. 900—1550) and after Spanish contact. In these times, the production and circulation of pigments would have closely connected the Upper Loa region to the Lípez region in south-western Bolivia and other regions of the Atacama Desert.

Warfare was a prevalent phenomenon throughout the Andes during the Late Intermediate period (LIP; AD 1000–1450). A salient research topic within broader investigations of conflict is how populations cope with chronic warfare. This article utilizes statistical and GIS-based analyses of architectural features and settlement patterns to reconstruct defensive coping mechanisms among groups living in 15 fortified settlements in the Nazca region of Peru. This research evaluates how populations deployed artificial defenses (fortifications), natural defensibility, and settlement placement to best protect themselves and critical resources from enemy incursions. Intersite variation in fortification was primarily driven by population size: the smallest and most vulnerable settlements were the most heavily fortified and occupied the least accessible areas. Variation in fortification investment within each site was driven by differences in the accessibility of approaches leading to the residential sector of a site. Settlement patterns were largely driven by natural defensibility, large viewsheds, and proximity to economic resources. This research demonstrates that LIP populations made optimal trade-offs between competing defensive variables, revealing highly patterned regional defensive strategies. Broader spatial, settlement, and architectural data indicate that warfare in the region was chronic and internecine.

One of the earliest pottery assemblages in the New World (5900 B. P.) was manufactured by logistically mobile hunter-gatherers at San Jacinto I, in Colombia, South America. The vessels were constructed using fiber temper and were elaborately decorated. These characteristics along with the archaeological context of the pottery suggest that its use was unrelated to cooking or food processing. Visual and statistical analyses indicate the pottery had high economic and social value for this semisedentary group; it likely was utilized for feasting/serving activities and possibly for short-term storage. Comparative analyses indicate that the pottery from other early sites in northeast South American may have served similar functions during the early Formative period.

Pottery in contexts that predate the entrance of Arawak societies to the Antilles (500 B.C.) by at least one millennium demand a reassessment of the introduction of this technology to the islands. We summarize the available evidence of what we term the Pre-Arawak Pottery horizon and address the social implications of the introduction of such technology to the insular Caribbean, based on the role of pots as tools. We show that this early pottery is more widespread than originally thought, extending from Cuba to Hispanola and perhaps to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as well. We argue that the paucity of early ceramic contexts discovered thus far could have resulted from the consideration of pottery as intrusive in Pre-Arawak contexts and because of its technological and stylistic overlap with wares associated to the Ostionoid series (A.D. 600-1500) of the Greater Antilles. Based on this evidence, we conclude by suggesting that some of the post-Saladoid manifestations that have been identified in the islands could have resulted from a multifocal development of these pre-Arawak cultures rather than simply from the divergent evolution of Saladoid societies as has been argued thus far.

Los sitios con entierros humanos y evidencias de actividades residenciales, situados en sectores sobreelevados del paisaje, son un rasgo característico del patrón de ocupación prehispánica de la Cuenca del Río Negro. El estudio de algunos de estos sitios y, sobre todo, de los restos humanos en ellos recuperados, ha sido empleado por numerosos investigadores para explorar las diversas formas en las cuales los cazadores-recolectores se relacionaron con la muerte y discutir problemas de carácter social tales como prácticas rituales y religiosas, patrones de movilidad y procesos vinculados con la complejidad social. Aportamos aquí información cronológica y contextual de varios sitios en donde coinciden espacialmente los productos materiales de actividades domésticas y prácticas mortuorias, y discutimos las posibles relaciones entre ambos tipos de registro. Sobre la base de la información preexistente y de nuevos datos, retomamos el problema relativo a la interpretación y conceptualización de estos sitios y discutimos las nociones de cementerio y área formal de entierro. Finalmente, proponemos que estos sitios, ocupados de manera recurrente durante el Holoceno Tardío, pueden definirse como lugares persistentes (sensu Schlanger 1992) y que su configuración actual es el resultado de una compleja confluencia de condicionantes de índole religiosa, social y ambiental.

A model of late pre-Inka political geography of the region surrounding Cajamarca, in the north highlands of Peru, is presented. This model, based on ethnohistoric data and archaeological research, can be projected back through time to help delineate the culture history of the Cajamarca ethnic group. Several chiefdoms emerged during the Late Intermediate period, following a time of sociopolitical disintegration. The region that became the Inka province of Cajamarca had been occupied by five or six chiefdoms during the latter part of the Late Intermediate period. The data are equivocal on the subject of whether political centralization had developed in the region before the Inka conquest, but suggest that at least some form of confederation existed. Comparison with other regions of the Peruvian Highlands reveals that the Cajamarca ethnic group was modest in population, but controlled a very large area. Other groups, such as the Wanka and Lupaqa, appear to have been undergoing a similar process of sociopolitical centralization. The Inka reorganized the region upon its incorporation into the empire, creating an economic and religious center for several surrounding provinces.