This article charts the collection history of the only surviving precolumbian cotton reliquary (cemí) from the Dominican Republic, establishing its provenance from the mid-nineteenth century through a previously unpublished manuscript written by the collector, Rodolfo Domingo Cambiaso Sosa, and using archival documents in Italy. The cemí, found in a cave in the southwest of the country near the town of Petitrou (Enriquillo), was purchased in 1882 by Admiral Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Cambiaso, one of the founders of the Dominican Navy. It emerged in international publications commemorating the quadricentennial of the Spanish–Indigenous encounter in 1892 and shortly thereafter was sent to Genoa, Italy. It entered the collections of Turin's Royal Museum of Antiquities in 1928 before being passed to the newly established Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. It was rediscovered by Dominican scholars in the 1970s and has inspired numerous investigations since, including renewed collaborative links between the Dominican Republic and Italy.

Ceramics play a central role in the debates around the relationship between the Viru and the Moche. A recent model considers Negative and Moche-decorated ceramics produced by potters affiliated with the elites to be the cultural markers of the Viru and Moche populations, respectively. Due to the similarity of Viru and Moche plain-wares and the presence of Castillo Decorated ceramics in Viru and Moche contexts, this model sees both types of ceramics as domestic traditions, produced by independent potters and sharing a common technique. The research we present here supports this recent model by reconsidering the social and cultural meaning associated with these ceramic types: it uses a novel approach for South America of reconstructing the chaîne opératoire by studying the traces visible on ceramics at a macroscopic and microscopic scale. The study demonstrates how these potters used their own traditions to produce decorated and undecorated ceramics. Furthermore, we found that Castillo Decorated is a type produced only by Viru potters, and we argue that its presence in Moche contexts is evidence of the numerous exchanges maintained by these two populations.

In the area along the southern Gulf Coast in Mexico, a large number of previously unrecorded archaeological sites have recently been detected with the aid of lidar data, which also allowed us to determine the orientations of hundreds of structures and architectural assemblages, including many standardized complexes dated to the Early-to-Middle Formative transition. As revealed by our analyses, most orientations were based on astronomical and calendrical principles, occasionally combined with certain concepts of sacred geography. While the results of these analyses were presented in a recently published article, here we explore the potential of alignment data for addressing other questions of archaeological relevance. The distribution of particular building types and regional variations in alignment patterns in the study area suggest the existence of two somehow different cultural spheres, loosely corresponding to the areas conventionally called the Gulf Olmec region and the western Maya Lowlands. Examining pertinent evidence, we argue that it was in this area where some of the most prominent orientation groups materialized in later Mesoamerican architecture originated. We also attempt to reconstruct the paths of their diffusion, which are expected to contribute to understanding the dynamics of long-distance cultural interaction in Mesoamerica.

Complex human–environmental processes form identifiable, lasting features on the landscape that can illuminate past human behavior and human–environment interactions. We examine the anthropogenic landscape of the ancient port of Macurany, located along the middle Amazon River in Parintins, Brazil, and identify four classes of anthropogenic landscape features at the site: wharfs, middens, terra preta (dark or black earths), and cultural forests. Middens, terra preta, and cultural forests have been found at archaeological sites in regions surrounding Macurany, but wharfs have not previously been reported in Amazonian contexts predating European contact. Taken together, these features are clearly the result of anthropogenesis and represent a range of subsistence, settlement, and infrastructure-building activities pointing to an ancient society that was actively engaged in modifying the surrounding landscape for purposes beyond settlement and subsistence. Evidence for a permanent, extensive, continuously settled society practicing intensive landscape engineering in this region of Amazonia reinforces findings of dense habitation, infrastructure, and early urbanization in Amazonia prior to European contact. This research helps expand our understanding of human–environment interactions, landscape formation processes, and settlement organization in ancient Amazonia.

The increasing use of massively parallel sequencing in the study of current and ancient human populations has enabled new approaches to bioanthropological and archaeological issues; however, its application to archaeological samples requires the use of technologies that are not easily accessible outside US and European research centers. To obtain an ancient mitogenome in Argentina, several institutions collaborated to apply massively parallel sequencing and bioinformatic methodologies on an enriched ancient DNA library of an individual from the Beagle Channel (dated 1504 ± 46 years BP), a region of particular interest for this line of inquiry. Phylogenetic reconstruction showed a close relationship with a Yamana from Navarino Island and an individual from Hoste Island (Chilean Antarctic Province): the three shared an ancestor who lived between 203 and 4,439 years ago. These three have mutations reported only for current and ancient individuals from the Beagle Channel, and their relationship with the rest of the D1g sub-haplogroups is unclear. The results obtained here are consistent with the reduction of mobility in the Fuegian archipelago around 4500 years BP that has been proposed based on archaeological evidence.

We examined stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S) of camelid, cavid, and cervid remains from Upanca, an archaeological site located in the Southern Nasca Region on the south coast of Peru. Occupation at the site began in the Middle Archaic (around 3200–3000 BC) and continued through the Nasca period (AD 100–650). Remains predating 2500 BC show low δ13C and δ15N values, whereas remains after this time show increasing and especially more variable isotopic values. We interpret this pattern as marking both a process of agricultural intensification and camelid husbandry diversification. Agricultural intensification began first with C3 plants in fertilized fields, beginning around 2200 cal BC, followed by an increasing use of C4 plants (maize, kiwicha, or both), particularly after 800 cal BC. By the beginning of the first millennium, people were using a diverse range of strategies to raise llamas and alpacas, including feeding them wild or cultivated C3 plants, feeding them cultivated C4 plant foods, mixing C3 and C4 plant foods, foddering some in natural coastal environments, and acquiring still other camelids by hunting wild stocks (guanaco, vicuña). Data also suggest that cavids were consuming at least some C4 products after 1000 cal BC and that the use of C4 plants increased over time.

Se presentan los primeros resultados del análisis de pieles procesadas recuperadas en el sitio Puerto Tranquilo 1, ubicado en el extremo norte de la Isla Victoria, en el Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, Provincia de Neuquén, Argentina. El material estudiado proviene de un nivel tardío, por encima de un fogón fechado en 640 ± 60 años aP (1288–1431 cal dC). El conjunto incluye tanto fragmentos de piel con pelo como depilados, con costuras de tendón y pelo, pintados y con reparaciones. Se aplicó una metodología específica para el análisis de las pieles y las fibras, con una descripción técnico-morfológica detallada a partir del análisis macro- y microscópico (SEM/óptico). Las características de la médula y de la cutícula de las fibras permitieron la identificación de Lama guanicoe y Mustelidae (cf. Galictis). Se aplicaron estrategias analíticas y metodológicas novedosas y se generaron datos acerca de las diferentes dimensiones del uso humano de los recursos faunísticos y de la producción de tecnologías en el área boscoso-lacustre norpatagónica. La comparación con otras evidencias arqueológicas, etnográficas y etnohistóricas permitió reconocer rasgos tecnológicos recurrentes en la preparación de las pieles y en la manufactura de artefactos, como parte del proceso productivo del cuero en Norpatagonia.

This article evaluates the level of interpersonal violence among human groups that inhabited northern Patagonia and southern Pampa (Argentina) during the Middle and Late Holocene, especially before contact with Europeans. We analyzed a particular type of trauma—blunt force trauma—in skull samples from several archaeological localities and compared our outcomes with those of a previous experimental work. The results agree with what is expected for small-scale societies within the regional historical and archaeological framework. The recorded percentages show a diachronic increase toward higher frequencies of this injury among males than among females and subadults, but the differences are not statistically significant. Generally, the levels of violence remained relatively constant during the period studied. Most of the injuries reflect low levels of damage, which allows us to hypothesize that the objects causing the injuries would be elements of everyday life. A smaller proportion show significant bone alteration that could be associated with weapons manufactured to exert violence or hunt animals.

The Lomas Entierros archaeological site provides a case study of domestic activities in two socioeconomic sectors. Located in Central Pacific Costa Rica, it was a primary center and important node for the exchange of goods throughout the region. In this article, we characterize and compare the domestic and socioeconomic activities at two structures from different sectors of the site through the analysis of micro-remains, chemical residues (phosphates, carbonates, pH, carbohydrates, protein residues, and fatty acids), and starch grains. Our findings show that differences between the two structures were determined both by their function and the socioeconomic status of their occupants. Structure 13, in the elite sector, presents a richer dataset that suggests the cooking of plants and mollusks in the interior of the dwelling. Structure 44, in the intermediate-status sector, has a lower diversity and density of remains, suggesting very low use that may result from its role as a storage space. This article provides a nuanced methodology for the study of domestic spaces in tropical areas.

For many years, the existence of ancient human settlements in the Amazon was deemed impossible, particularly those as old as 12,000 BP as found in Pedra Pintada Cave in Monte Alegre, in the state of Pará, by Anna Roosevelt and colleagues in the 1990s and by Edithe Pereira's team in 2014. In this article, we present the results of the technological analyses of the bifacial tools found in the cave, focusing on raw materials, techniques, shaping and retouching methods, and technical procedures. The analyses indicate careful knapping, with no mistakes, in hundreds of flakes in the shaping and retouching phases, as well as fragmented tools with flaws. Whenever possible, we compare the results to the data published by Roosevelt and colleagues in 1996 from the same site.

Este artículo analiza la arquitectura del período Clásico de Pahñú, un centro ceremonial en el noreste del valle del Mezquital, México. Esta arquitectura se distingue porque desarrolló un estilo local, integrando elementos de distintas tradiciones culturales. Por un lado, los conjuntos arquitectónicos de patio hundido siguen los estándares de la tradición del Bajío. Por otra parte, los edificios muestran rasgos de la arquitectura monumental teotihuacana y zapoteca. A partir de esta evidencia se concluye que Pahñú definió su identidad étnica estableciendo filiaciones políticas con las culturas del centro y el Bajío. Esta interpretación pone a prueba varias explicaciones previas que conciben el desarrollo regional durante el período Clásico como aculturación o resistencia a Teotihuacán. Asimismo, pone a prueba las interpretaciones que sostienen que la fusión cultural entre los grupos del centro y el Bajío comenzó hasta el Epiclásico. Finalmente, Pahñú es importante porque representa un pequeño centro político que mantuvo su liderazgo por unos seiscientos años, aprovechando su posición fronteriza entre el centro y el Bajío.

The typological, technological, and use-wear analyses of obsidian artifacts from Terminal Classic Pook's Hill (AD 830–950+) provide opportunities to better reconstruct socioeconomic activities in this plazuela group, including long-distance trade, tool production, subsistence practices, domestic tasks, and the organization of craft production. Based on visual sourcing, most of the obsidian originated from highland Guatemala, specifically El Chayal. The majority of obsidian artifacts were prismatic blades, although both casual and bipolar reduction of blade cores and the recycling of blades from earlier occupations occurred at the site. Use-wear analysis reveals that obsidian tools were mainly used for subsistence and domestic household activities; however, the concentrations of tools with specific wear patterns (bone, ceramic, plants, and shell) at some locations in the plazuela provide evidence for local craft production among the population. Further support for craft production is provided by comparable use-wear on chert/chalcedony tools from these same locations. The products of low-level craft production were used within Pook's Hill itself and may have been distributed to neighboring communities within the Roaring Creek and Upper Belize River Valleys. Despite the sociopolitical and socioeconomic disruptions to lifeways that accompanied the Terminal Classic period, the Pook's Hill Maya seem to have experienced minimal upheaval in their daily lives and continued local low-level craft production. However, one important change in the Terminal Classic appears to be the increased difficulty in obtaining obsidian at Pook's Hill and the growing need for tool recycling and raw material conservation.

Andean prehispanic textiles are renown for being complex masterpieces made with labor-intensive techniques and high-quality raw materials. Nevertheless, the vast majority of textiles, those used by the population at large, were plain, simple, and without any decoration. We study a sample composed of the most common textiles used by people living at Cerro de Oro in the Cañete Valley, Peru. Our analysis focuses on fiber selection, yarn thickness, and the presence of errors throughout the process of weaving. We discuss relevant aspects of the social process of textile production, such as the role played by plain-weave textiles in different contexts, their use in different types of garments, and the varied ways community members, with particular skill levels, participated in clothing the living and the dead at Cerro de Oro.

Este trabajo se focaliza en el análisis espacial intrasitio del material lítico procedente de un montículo de tierra del sitio arqueológico Pago Lindo (Departamento de Tacuarembó, Uruguay). Se realizaron análisis tecnológicos y distribucionales (vecino más cercano, K de Ripley y modelos kernel) que permitieron caracterizar distintas fases de ocupación y uso del espacio entre 3021 ± 32 y 690 ± 35 años 14C aP. Se reconoció una tecnología predominantemente expeditiva en la que no se observaron cambios significativos a través del tiempo. Los resultados de los análisis distribucionales muestran patrones heterogéneos que responden al uso diferencial del espacio en la estructura monticular. Los patrones agrupados, observados principalmente en microlascas, permitieron identificar sectores donde se localizaron espacios domésticos cuya ocupación y gestión de residuos contribuyó al crecimiento del montículo. También se reconocieron sectores donde las agrupaciones del material lítico tienden principalmente a la aleatoriedad, y que corresponden a episodios constructivos planificados. Esto es congruente con el modelo de crecimiento espaciotemporal discontinuo de las estructuras monticulares —basado en la alternancia de momentos de abandono y momentos de uso— pero también con episodios constructivos intencionales.

Anthropologists have demonstrated that having information about new settlements is crucial for drawing migrants. Pilgrimage to ritual landscapes and their shrines allows people, including Maya societies, to explore places where they can settle. They then establish or augment settlements around the landscape shrines, which explains the locations and growth of some centers. Migrants continue to make pilgrimages to shrines, such as sacred mountains, near their receiving settlements to enhance community cohesion through ritual contact with spiritual forces. In this article, I show that pilgrimage is an important element in the establishment of select migrant settlements and their community identity. I focus on Maya and Mesoamerican cultures, particularly at Mensabak in Chiapas, Mexico, and on supporting archaeological, historical, and ethnographic information. I conclude that Maya perceptions of movement, connectivity, and transformation in their world are linked to pilgrimage, migration, and community formation. Importantly, pilgrimage provides a religious variable, in addition to better-known economic, political, or demographic factors, to consider in migration.

This article analyzes the assemblages of humans and other-than-humans that animated the sacred landscape of Cerro de la Virgen, a hilltop site occupied during the Formative period (1800 BC–AD 250) in the lower Río Verde Valley of coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. Commensalism in the region increased markedly in scope and complexity throughout the Formative period, culminating in the region's first polity at AD 100. Feasting practices became relatively standardized, but the placement of objects and bodies in public architecture—a set of collective practices associated with the vital forces that animated the cosmos—varied considerably from site to site during the late Terminal Formative period (150 BC–AD 250). Lower Verde scholars have argued that these idiosyncrasies reflect the myriad collective identities of the region's hinterland communities, a pattern rooted in local affiliations that may have conflicted with an expanding regional identity centered at the urban center of Río Viejo. I augment this discussion by highlighting the role that the materiality of the landscape, present before humans even occupied the region, played in the construction of collective identity. I develop an interpretive approach that pays special attention to Indigenous concepts of ontology, particularly those related to animacy and its transference, and uses the semiosis of American philosopher Charles Peirce to elucidate meaning from deposits of cached objects. The animate qualities assembled through fired clay and chiseled stone at Cerro de la Virgen afforded a ritual pattern that was unique in coastal Oaxaca at the end of the Formative period.

Archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations in the south of the Colombian Plateau, in the Eastern Highlands, suggest that before European contact Guatavita was an important Muisca chiefdom—largely because of the prestige conferred by the presence of ceremonial centers in their territories, especially around the lakes in the hills surrounding the Guatavita-Guasca Valley. The fame of Lake Guatavita as the most important Muisca shrine was fueled by Spanish chronicles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which described it as the core of mass offering ceremonies or of lavish rituals for the chief's investiture, which fed both the story and the myth of El Dorado. This article presents the results of the archaeological survey done around the lake. The type and distribution of the material culture suggest that there was a shrine where small-scale ritual offerings took place, rather than conspicuous celebrations.

Recent excavations at the ancient Maya minor center of Tutu Uitz Na in the Belize River Valley revealed an especially large—about 20 million shells—Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) shell deposit underlying the plaza. Although marine shell species make up a small percentage of the assemblage, most shells are Pachychilus spp., a common freshwater snail known in the southern Maya Lowlands as jute. This report describes the architectural context and assemblage of the deposit and compares it to similar examples in the region. We propose that the Tutu Uitz Na deposit provides one of the earliest examples of depictions of the Maya primordial sea in an architectural context.

En las canteras-taller los individuos y grupos llevan a cabo diversas actividades vinculadas al aprovisionamiento de recursos líticos. El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar cómo las acciones tecnológicas y prácticas sociales configuraron un paisaje de canteras-taller en Antofagasta de la Sierra (provincia de Catamarca, Argentina). En este sentido, interesa conocer cómo las personas interactuaron con su entorno físico y la variabilidad de actividades que se realizaron en el interior de un paisaje de aprovisionamiento. Para ello se hicieron prospecciones sistemáticas, muestreos, excavaciones y un análisis tecno-tipológico de conjuntos líticos. A partir de este estudio se identificaron loci de actividades con un registro lítico con atributos tecno-tipológicos distintos. Entre los contextos arqueológicos documentados se encuentran campamentos de actividades múltiples, o AET, talleres de reducción de grandes nódulos, o ADT, parapetos (estructuras de muro simple con forma de U), acumulaciones de rocas y reparos rocosos. Cada una de estas áreas de actividades se emplaza en el interior de una zona de canteras-taller y conforma un paisaje social que fue utilizado persistentemente. Precisamente, a partir de esta investigación se logró comprender cómo las personas configuraron un paisaje de tareas a través de sus prácticas sociales y sus modos de habitar un lugar.

Excavations at the Wacheqsa sector from Chavin de Huantar identified contexts from the Middle Formative (1100–900 BC) and Late Formative (900–550 BC) periods. We present results of starch analysis conducted in culinary equipment (ceramics) retrieved from domestic occupations and a large midden. Microbotanical analysis revealed a variety of plant food resources, such as maize, beans, olluco, and possibly chili peppers.