At the end of the nineteenth century, Eduard Seler identified the bats depicted on a ceramic vessel excavated by Erwin Dieseldorff at the site of Chama, Guatemala, as the camazotz, or death bat, from the K’iche’ Maya myth, the Popol Vuh. The attribution was never critically reviewed. Nevertheless, it became so deeply entrenched that virtually every image of a Maya bat is identified as a camazotz. We have located no ancient depictions of the Hero Twins in the chamber of the camazotz, which calls into question the salience of this scene for the ancient Maya. In iconography and ethnohistory, multiple figures with bat-like characteristics exist, both bats and anthropomorphic bat-men. Clearly, the situation is complex. We argue that bats appear principally in four roles. The first is as an emblematic symbol representing some group. The bat played a second role as a messenger, often paired on vessels with a bird. A third category relates to pollination, vegetation, and fertility, and here the bat may be paired with the hummingbird. The last and largest category is wahy beings, which most epigraphers now think were bestial forms of personified diseases. Included here are the many vessels depicting the fire-breathing bat, including Dieseldorff's Chama vessel. We argue that the identification with the camazotz should be dropped altogether and that the associations proposed by Seler need to be rethought.

Entre los años 2007 y 2010 se desarrollaron reconocimientos pedestres acompañados de sondeos y pequeñas excavaciones en el Archipiélago de Las Perlas, Panamá. Las investigaciones más intensivas se realizaron en Isla Pedro González. Esta breve síntesis preliminar de la cronología de la ocupación prehispánica de esta isla se basa en dataciones radiocarbónicas. También incluye comparaciones tipológicas y cronométricas con dos regiones culturales: Gran Coclé hacia el Oeste, donde floreció una tradición de policromía particular entre 2500 y 450 cal a.P. y el área que se constituyó como la región cultural de Gran Darién a partir de 1200–800 cal a.P. El yacimiento más antiguo en Pedro González es precerámico (6200–5600 cal a.P.). Después de un largo hiato, esta isla fue colonizada por grupos alfareros para el 2350 cal a.P. Se plantea la existencia de cinco fases cerámicas basadas en los rangos a 2σ de las dataciones radiocarbónicas, las que se traslapan entre sí. Entre 2350 y 1450 a.P. la alfarería isleña refleja la trayectoria diacrónica de la cerámica en Gran Coclé con características propias que se extienden a zonas de tierra firme hacia el Norte, así como a islas cercanas a la costa como Taboguilla. Sin embargo, entre 1450 y 1200 cal a.P., las similitudes tipológicas con la Península de Azuero, Coclé y Playa Venado (en la costa Sur del área canalera) son tan marcadas que se asume que este área comprendió brevemente una misma zona de interacción cuya homogeneidad cultural pudo estar vinculada al comercio marítimo estimulado por la importancia de las conchas de arrecife, como Spondylus. La alfarería cambia abruptamente entre 1200 y 800 cal a.P., aludiendo a una nueva población o a un reajuste en las conexiones con tierra firme con un énfasis en el litoral Este de la Bahía de Panamá y el noroeste de Colombia.

The site El Indígeno contains the greatest known concentration of hunter-gatherer residential features in the southern Andes. Located at 3,300 m asl in a meadow in the Cordillera of west-central Argentina, the site is notable for its 133 habitation structures, that—when considered along with the other characteristics of the site—represent an anomalous but perhaps not entirely unexpected adaptation to the highest altitude environment in the region. Based on radiocarbon dating and artifact typologies, the site was occupied between ca. 800 and 1500 B.P. It consequently represents the latest step in the indigenous colonization of what is arguably the most marginal environment in the region. This chronology suggests that the site was occupied when nearby lowland regions were under their most intensive use and during a time when new resources were incorporated into the high-altitude hunter-gatherer diet. In this article I report on research conducted at El Indigeno and compare the results of these studies to the regional record, ultimately concluding that regional population increase affiliated with the spread of increasingly complex socioeconomic systems most parsimoniously explains the intensive occupation of this large, high-altitude hunter-gatherer site.

The past decades have witnessed major advancements in our understanding of Classic Maya political history, particularly geopolitical dynamics centered on hegemonic states. Yet there has been only halting progress toward historically based archaeological research focusing on the political, social, and economic impacts of political domination and subordination. To address this deficiency, I examine changes in settlement patterns and ceramic sphere affiliation in the Río Champotón drainage within broader historical and geopolitical developments. In this region, the end of the Classic period is characterized by dramatic changes in ceramic links, with a shift from inland-focused traditions to the incorporation within a coastal ceramic sphere—the Canbalam sphere—that linked maritime trade centers between northwest Yucatán and coastal Tabasco. These transitions were embedded within major reorientations in regional settlement patterns and broader geopolitical dynamics centering on the expansion and dissolution of the Kanu’l state, or Snake Dynasty. Following the decline of the Snake Dynasty of Calakmul, communities in central Campeche forged new political and economic ties with emergent centers along the Gulf Coast and the northern Maya Lowlands. The results of this study demonstrate the transformative nature of hegemonic interpolity relationships and highlight the potential for new avenues of conjunctive research combining historical and archaeological data sources.

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.

Archaeometric analyses (Raman Spectroscopy Analysis, X-Ray Diffraction, and Electron Microprobe Analysis) of greenstone beads of the precolumbian Tairona culture (A.D. 1100–1600) of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, have revealed that they are made of variscite-group minerals. These beads were curated at the Museo del Oro, Bogotá, and the Archaeology Laboratory of the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla. Variscite minerals of the variscite-strengite series are rare in nature, and therefore provenance data of source material are useful for the development of intercultural influence models. The abundance of this rare material in prehistoric Colombian collections strongly indicates not only that this material had important symbolic and prestige value for ancient Tairona societies (Nahuange and Tairona periods) but also that these societies participated in ancient trade routes, including, at least, the Andes of present-day Colombia and Venezuela, and the southern Caribbean coast.

The stirrup-spout bottle is one of the most representative forms in the Chimú (A.D. 900-1470) ceramic repertoire. I discuss the ceramic assemblage of this coastal culture and describes more precisely the various manufacturing processes of the stirrup-spout bottle. Although molds used to produce these complex vessels are known today, only little information has been published on the various stages involved in their manufacture. My purpose is to contribute to this research using medical imaging computed tomography (CT) scans of intact stirrup-spout vessels. Based on my findings, I propose that changes in the construction of these vessels correlated with a transition in ceramic production to a semi-industrial level during the time of the Chimú Empire.

In this article, we describe the material record associated with the ritual performances of prehispanic farming communities in Las Pailas (Salta Province, Argentina), and how these practices are maintained and resignified by current inhabitants of the area. The archaeological site of Las Pailas located in the northern Calchaqui Valley was an enclave composed of a large farming area and a complex hydraulic network that was continuously occupied from the beginning of the Christian era to the Spanish invasion. Las Pailas features several huancas, elongated stones characterized as menhirs or monoliths, which are located in the center of farming enclosures individually or in pairs. Based on their different morphologies and sizes, they were classified into five types. The analysis of the huancas and their locations, together with information obtained from oral histories, suggests that these features were associated with agricultural fertility rituals. Even today, these stones are important informing contexts, although their meaning has been resignified in a new social and cultural context

In the Andean region, spindle whorls have been the subject of archaeological analysis less often than other artifact classes, such as pottery. Nevertheless, spindle whorls may have much more to contribute to archaeological interpretations of production, status, and exchange patterns than previously acknowledged. The case study presented here examines the spindle whorl collection from the site of El Purgatorio, Peru, the capital city of the Casma polity (ca. A.D. 700–1400). Spindle whorls were not only expertly crafted utilitarian tools for spinning yarn, but also items of personal adornment, symbols of wealth or status, and possible indicators of intra-polity exchange patterns. The analysis of spindle whorls in regard to form and function provides insight into Casma social and economic organization. The spindle whorls discovered at El Purgatorio also reflect varying degrees of standardization and technical knowledge, suggesting that at least some may have been manufactured by specialists in metallurgical and ceramic workshops.

This report describes recent low-intensity archaeological investigations conducted at three small sites in the northern Basin of Mexico. The sites are represented by surface artifact scatters and are located on the former shoreline of the now-drained Lake Xaltocan, originally one of the principal lakes in this region. Fieldwork included mapping surface concentrations and site dimensions, conducting test excavations, and recovering surface collections. The analysis of surface artifacts focused on determining site function and chronology. Based on fieldwork and analysis, we propose that Michpilco likely was a habitation site with a substantial occupation during the Classic period. The smaller Non-Grid 5 site was occupied during the Epiclassic period, and site Non-Grid 6 was occupied during the Late Postclassic to colonial periods. These sites reflect occupations in a lacustrine landscape throughout different periods. They also exemplify the rapid disappearance and threat of destruction that looting, infrastructural development, and agriculture pose to archaeological sites in the region.