This article discusses the measurement system used at Cacaxtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico. It addresses the ideological concepts this system may have expressed, its relationship to other systems used in Mesoamerica, and its implications for evaluating the hypothesis of a Maya presence at Cacaxtla during the Epiclassic. Measurements used at Cacaxtla combine the practical needs of builders with symbolic expression reflected in architecture. Two moduli served as the basis for the dimensioning: the unit of .488 m and its triple, 1.465 m. This measurement was in turn multiplied by 3,4,9, and 12 to obtain the lengths of the main spaces, which served as the basis for the dimensioning system used during different phases of construction. In specific places, three anthropometric measures were used. Additionally, the spatial distribution of pillars according to their sizes confirms the coexistence of two zones within the site that express a duality also present in mural paintings. The moduli and units used at Cacaxtla agree to a considerable degree with those identified for the Maya area and, in some cases, with Teotihuacan and the Nahua culture. I hypothesize that this system was shared by several Mesoamerican cultures and lasted from the Classic to the Postclassic periods.

This paper assesses a set of ideological practices related to the growth and abandonment of ceremonial and administrative buildings from the southern Moche area of the north coast of Peru. The archaeological record at Huacas de Moche, El Brujo, and Guadalupito, three of the main settlements in the region, includes evidence for the deposition and manipulation of animal and human bodies, burning, and the alteration of wall iconography. These activities took place in the period between A.D. 300-750, and were related to either the construction and renovation of structures or the abandonment of monumental built spaces. The analysis of this data contributes to a better understanding of Moche ritual dedicatory behavior, contextualizing it in a broader perspective on place making and the marking of time in precolumbian South America.

The indigenous polities of eastern Sonora, Mexico, play an important role in reconstructions of the late prehispanic political geography of northwest Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Most interpretations of political organization in the region rely heavily on Spanish conquest accounts from the 1500s augmented by some archaeological data. Researchers have argued that political units in this region were organizationally complex and controlled substantial territories. Recent investigations in the Moctezuma Valley mostly refute these interpretations. This paper presents evidence of the limited scale of political organization in the region, including settlement patterns, the distribution of public architecture, the movement of rare goods, stylistic differences in material culture, and demographic reconstructions. Previous ethnohistoric research mistakenly assumed that Spanish exploration chronicles provided a near complete list of primate centers. This approach produced interpretations of geographically expansive polities. Present data suggest that the region was highly balkanized into numerous autonomous political units that were minimally involved in macro-regional political and social trajectories. The character of political organization in this region resulted in part from a patchy landscape, low demographic pressure, and geographic location between more centrally organized groups.

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.

Our approach assumes that pots are tools, containers whose performance characteristics are adjusted to their primary uses. Traditional agricultural peoples generally distinguish among multiple vessel shapes that have distinct intended uses. In this article, we present afunctional analysis of vessel shapes and sizes performed on a sample of 160 rim sherds from the site of El Chorro de Malta, Cuba. These were assigned to 13 defined vessel shapes, most of which displayed more than one size mode based on estimated orifice diameters. The majority of specimens from El Chorro de Malta are low-profile, composite-contour bowls made in medium and large size modes, followed in frequency by simple-contour bowls and plates. Late Ceramic Age peoples in the Greater Antilles are historically documented as participating in the manioc breadcake-cassareep- stewpot foodway common to much of the tropical lowlands of northern South America. Consequently, it should be possible to show how the container assemblage of El Chorro de Malta is adapted to the requirements of that foodway. We note that, ethnographically, the elaborate processing of bitter manioc itself to produce breadcakes as a staple food does not necessarily require pottery vessels at all. Nonetheless, common stewing as a key component of the foodway—including the production of the condiment called cassareep in the Guianas—can require several containers with potentially distinct performance requirements: one to collect the juice below the sleeve press, another to reduce the expressed juice to the thickened sauce over afire, and a third, the stewpot itself, adapted to simmering vegetable and meat stews. We provisionally suggest that some of the most common shape-size classes at El Chorro de Malta are suited to producing and serving stews and cassareep, the traditional complement to eating manioc breadcake.

We report on the archaeometallurgical analysis of eight pieces of copper recovered from the Villa JMC-1 cemetery (Pitren Complex, Early Ceramic period) in the locality of Labranza, La Araucania. These artifacts provide the earliest evidence of metal use in southern Chile. They are also the southernmost prehispanic metal artifacts ever found in South America. These contextualized results complement those obtained from the analysis of an earring from Kilómetro 0—Enlace Temuco (El Vergel Complex, Late Ceramic period), an archaeological residential site dated to almost 500 years after the Labranza cemetery. Particle Induced X-ray Emission, X-ray radiography, and stereomicroscopy analyses allow us to offer an elemental characterization of the pieces, an assessment of their manufacturing process, and a comparison between the metals and alloys discovered. We follow with a discussion of proposals regarding cultural relations in the Araucania region during different time periods.

The most archaeologically visible dimension of the Classic Maya Collapse is the abandonment of monumental royal courts. Yet, in some cases, non-elite populations lived for centuries in and around Classic Maya centers without rulers. Processes of abandonment among Classic Maya commoners are detectable and reflect their own ritual and social practices divorced from the ritual performances undertaken by the ruling elite. We study the abandonment context and chronology of three domestic groups from the Contreras Valley, an agricultural community located on the outskirts of the Classic Maya center ofMinanha, Belize. There, several artifact assemblages were deposited at the time of abandonment, representing termination rituals. This study goes beyond the ideological dimension of termination rituals to examine how these ceremonies helped reshape the identity of social groups who were about to abandon their home. We explore how the last inhabitants of a mostly abandoned landscape lived through this process of gradual depopulation. Moreover, we evaluate potential explanations for the archaeological processes behind the occurrence or non-occurrence of termination rituals in different domestic groups.

In this paper, we examine recently recovered data from two sites belonging to different chronological periods in the Lurin j Valley of the Perúvian central coast. We discuss in a comparative framework how rural elites in the settlements ofLote B \ and Panquilma saw their lives transformed while dealing with the intrusion of the Lima polity and the Inkas, respectively. Each site presents evidence of at least two sets of ritual and feasting activities, one in domestic contexts and another associated with monumental architecture. We propose that in both cases the rural elites of these two sites implemented a set of mutually constituted strategies when dealing with outside political influence. These strategies were oriented upwards to deal with changes at the regional level as well as downwards to maintain their privileged position in their own communities during moments of change. These parallel strategies were developed through a complex interplay of economics, ideology, and public prestige available to the elites. In the case of Lote B, the rural elites acquired economic power, consolidating a loose level of leadership by sacrificing part of their public prestige. At Panquilma, we find evidence for the existence of rural elites with a solid economic position who were compelled to search for legitimization and prestige in the local realm rather than by participating in a new and larger economic system.

Snuff trays are conspicuous objects that are found in archaeological contexts throughout Andean South America. At San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile, snuff trays that exhibit iconographic motifs similar to those found on Tiwanaku megalithic monuments have been assigned to the Tiwanaku style. In the present work, we propose a new definition for this style based on the occurrence of three morphological features: an overall trapezoidal shape, incurving sides, and sharp top corners. This group includes trays with iconography from the previously defined Tiwanaku style, as well as other trays without iconography. Principal component analysis shows that Tiwanaku-style trays with and without iconography make up a single group that is significantly different from plain, largely rectangular San Pedro-style trays. The relative proportion of Tiwanaku-style trays with and without iconography does not differ between cultural periods and archaeological sites. The results point to shape as an important trait for assigning trays to styles. Furthermore, the results show that during the Middle period four main types of snuff trays were in use: Tiwanaku trays with and without iconography and local San Pedro trays, also with and without iconography. We explore the possible social implications of this co-occurrence of styles.