We describe the development of a new chronology for the Postclassic site of Calixtlahuaca, Toluca, Mexico. We identify three ceramic phases using discriminant analysis of decorated and plainware types. These phases are consistent with excavated stratigraphy, as well as a series of 54 radiocarbon dates. We then assign absolute dates to the phases using Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates and historical information on the date of site abandonment. The resulting chronology identifies three phases at the site: Dongu (A.D. 1130-1380), Ninupi (A.D. 1380-1450), and Yata (A.D. 1450-1530). We then discuss the local and regional implications of the chronology. More broadly, our results demonstrate the utility of using multiple, complementary methods for developing more precise chronologies.

The impressive multi-story funerary monuments found in the Upper Marañón Drainage of the northern Central Andes of Peru have long fascinated people. Archaeologists and historians have studied their spatial distribution to define the identity of the populations occupying the region during the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1000—1450). Rather than focus on monumental architecture, in this paper I explore group identity in the Upper Mara ñon by analyzing the shape and layout of houses and evidence of residential funerary practices. Based on a regional comparative approach, I argue that diversity in domestic architecture and mortuary customs reflects a constellation of distinct collective identities

Throughout south-central Patagonia, at the southern tip of South America, artifacts of black obsidian and marine materials are found at sites far from their sources. This distribution is often attributed to the existence of exchange systems among hunter- gatherer groups occupying the region in the late Holocene. In this article, we analyze distance-decay patterns in the frequencies of both items. We explore the use of decay curves for explaining the existence of exchange systems. We also discuss the notion of exchange as a means of obtaining exotic goods. We conclude that there is much intermediate variation that is not explained by the ideal extremes of exchange or mobility (i.e., direct acquisition mode). This variation includes possible visits or other types of social interaction associated with open social formations. We argue that these mechanisms are relevant to understanding the distributional patterns of goods with known source locations recorded in south-central Patagonia.

El hallazgo de pipas en contextos fúnebres del litoral del Desierto de Atacama hace más de un siglo, ha sido la base para sugerir que los grupos de Pescadores, cazadores y recolectores marinos tuvieron como costumbre fumar durante el período Formativo (1500 a.C-1000 cal d.C). Lo que seguía siendo una incógnita es qué estaban fumando y de dónde provenían las sustancias consumidas. En la búsqueda de dar solución a este problema, presentamos el análisis de los residuos adheridos de cuatro pipas de piedra en forma de T invertida, recuperadas de un cementerio de la costa del Desierto de Atacama al norte de Chile, usando dos metodologías complementarias derivadas de la arqueobotánica y la química. Paralelamente, realizamos un análisis químico sobre cabello humano perteneciente a un individuo asociado a una de las pipas. Se logró identificar, al interior de éstas, la presencia de nicotina y otras sustancias, tales como microrrestos de Nicotiana y de otras especies, además de nicotina, en el cabello muestreado. Finalmente, discutimos estos resultados en función de la disponibilidad defuentes de estos recursos, estrategias de movilidad, relaciones de intercambio y el modo de vida de las poblaciones litorales.

In this paper 1 present an intensively dated chrono-stratigraphic sequence for the Cueva Huenul 1 archaeological site, Neuquen Province, Argentina. Located in the inland deserts of northwestern Patagonia, Cueva Huenul 1 offers a remarkable temporal record of events for a largely unstudied desert region. I connect this local record with available data on a macroregional scale to reassess (1) the timing of the first human colonization of the area and its implications for explaining the extinction of megafauna (ca. 14,000-10,000 cal B.P.) and (2) the decrease in human occupation recorded in several South American deserts during parts of the mid-Holocene (ca. 8000-6000 cal B .P.). The data presented here show a gap of about 1,500 calendar years between the extinction of megafauna and the appearance of humans. A review of evidence from the northern Patagonia and southern Cuyo regions is consistent with this record, favoring ecological causes for regional extinction ofmegafaunal taxa. Integration of this record with those indicating the earliest human presence in South America (e.g., Monte Verde, Chile) is consistent with a process of human radiation to the inland Patagonian deserts from nodes of initial occupation. The chrono-stratigraphic sequence from Cueva Huenul 1 also contributes to an assessment of a trough in human occupation along the South American Arid Diagonal around 8000-6000 cal B.P. Evidence for a decrease in occupational intensity during this period is found in the highland and lowland deserts in Mendoza and San Juan, the Puna region in northwestern Argentina, the Atacama Desert in Chile, and possibly the Pampean region. Previous researchers have suggested that persistent arid conditions would have produced increasing landscape fragmentation, particularly affecting desert areas. A more specific understanding of the demographic processes underlying this archaeological signal is needed. In this paper I suggest that this trough reflects not only spatial and social rearrangements, but also a macro-regional demographic retraction. This could have caused a population bottleneck with lasting biological and cultural implications.

Archaeologists have long celebrated their unique ability to deal with the long term. But we are increasingly recognizing that we can and must also understand more rapid events. They are critical for many of the questions we now consider most interesting, such as distinguishing between changes that unfolded gradually and those that happened suddenly. In considering interactions among regions, we need something better than cross-dating on the basis of resemblances in material objects. That is especially so when we would like to know where something first developed and the tempo of its spread to other regions. As one particularly clear example of the beneficial effects of finer chronologies, Robert Santley (in Sanders et al. 1979:65-73) showed how shorter phases can drastically alter our picture of the ebb and flow of settlement history in a region. When Basin of Mexico sites in the Cuauhtitlan region are dated only in broad terms to the Middle and Late Formative periods, a rather placid picture of settlement change emerges.

This study investigates changes in strategies ofrulership at the early Zoque polity ofChiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico, from its inception in the Middle Formative period through its peak of political power during the Terminal Formative period. Incorporating data from my survey ofChiapa de Corzo and its hinterland with excavation data from the center, I contrast changes in the organization of ceremonial activity and in the establishment of status differences at the site with strategies employed in the governance of the polity at large. The initial rulers ofChiapa de Corzo adopted civic-ceremonial conventions shared with the Olmec site of La Venta, including the E-Group architectural pattern repeated at a number of sites in Chiapas. In the Late Formative, rulers integrated the E-Group into an architectural template adopted from contemporary capitals in the Maya Lowlands. This new space was less accessible than the earlier Middle Formative ceremonial zone. The adoption of these new traditions was accompanied by increased status differentiation between rulers and subjects. At the same time, there was a reduction in the elaboration of the regional political hierarchy and a decrease in the practice of forced resettlement. The results of this study indicate that the novel ceremonial practices and changes in status differentiation at the capital were accompanied unevenly by interference of rulers in the daily life of the hinterland.

Salinas de los Nueve Cerros is a precolumbian Maya city located at the base of the highlands in the lowlands of west-central Guatemala. It is the only Classic-period center in the southern Maya Lowlands that based its economy on the production of an important raw material for export: salt. Because of its economic role and its location along a major trade route, Salinas de los Nueve Cerros had a particularly long history of occupation. The site has evidence of a large sedentary population starting during the Middle Preclassic (by ca. 800 B.C.) that continued several hundred years beyond the Classic collapse, before finally being abandoned ca. A.D. 1200. The salt source was located in the center of the city. This presents a rare opportunity to test the degree of elite control over the production of a non-elite resource. Production during the Classic period does appear to have been tightly controlled by elites, as evinced by the presence of multiple administrative structures and elite tombs throughout the salt-working zone, located less than 100 mfrom the site epicenter.

Tututepec was a regional capital that dominated much of southern Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1100-1522). This article synthesizes the results of compositional (neutron activation and petrography), stylistic, and iconographic analyses of pottery from commoner household excavations at Tututepec to address questions concerning ceramic production and distribution and also to shed light on aspects of political economy and domestic ritual at the capital. The study focuses primarily on Mixteca-Puebla polychromes, painted serving vessels bearing complex decorative motifs. Our compositional analyses, interpreted in light of the bedrock geology of the region, indicate that commoners obtained at least six to ten distinct varieties of pottery made from raw materials available locally within greater Tututepec. We argue that households probably acquired pottery through a central marketplace at the capital. In addition, our study demonstrates that commoners had regular access to polychromes from multiple producers, challenging the widespread notion that these vessels were restricted to elites who controlled their production. We argue that polychrome serving vessels played a prominent role in commonly occurring domestic rituals. Furthermore, commoners appear to have consciously selected vessels painted with imagery associated with warfare and sacrifice, suggesting that they actively supported the official imperial ideology of Tututepec.

This study focuses on trophy head taking during the transition between the Late Formative period and Tiwanaku period (A.D. 200-800) based on evidence from a dedicatory offering found at the site of Wata Wata, east of the Titicaca Basin. Although trophy-head taking was common in other precontact Andean cultures, evidence of the practice among cultures from this region is usually present only in iconography and not in actual physical remains. We explore the nature of this find and its placement within the trade and ceremonial center of Wata Wata. The three individuals included in the offering underwent various levels of violence at or around the time of death, including beheading, cranial and facial fracturing, defleshingjaw removal, and possible eye extraction. Such violence makes it unlikely that the heads were offered as part of a cult to revere ancestors. We argue that these heads, entombed in a ritual cache and sealed with a capstone, embody a strategic metaphor to remove authority and influence from the individuals, because skulls can be Andean symbols of power in life and the afterlife. The violent acts carried out on these crania may also have been a way to advertise broader changes during this transitional period in the Kallawaya region, a strategic exchange corridor between ecological zones in the Central Andes.

This paper documents how ancient state expansion affected local communities. Many scholars have argued that the Wari state of Middle Horizon (A.D. 600-1000) Peru established direct imperial control over several provinces. Archaeologists have studied large Wari sites using a “top-down” approach, but rarely have they studied local settlements to see how and if local populations were affected by the expansion of the Wari into their regions. My research takes a complementary “bottom-up” approach and examines the impact of Wari state expansion on the village of Ak'awillay in the Cusco region. I report on the excavation of contexts dating to the Middle Horizon and earlier periods at the site. These provide a unique perspective for evaluating change through time and assessing local responses to Wari expansion. Results suggest that most of the changes seen at Ak'awillay occurred before the arrival of Wari colonists in Cusco. Their presence had minimal impact on the daily lives of the villagers of Ak'awillay, although it provided new exchange opportunities that local leaders mayhave used for their benefit. Like other early states elsewhere, the Wari state may have controlled a small area around its colony but had a limited impact on more distant communities.

Fieldwork at the Moche (A .D. 250–900) site of Licapa II in the Chicama Valley, Peru, has resulted in a more nuanced history of the changing sociopolitical relationships among Moche centers. The distinct archaeological signatures of Moche society, namely ceramics and huacas (monumental structures), have been interpreted as emblematic of an ethnic and political reality and as evidence for a state. Nonetheless, scholars are now disentangling these assumptions, arguing that Moche society was a complex mosaic of interacting settlements. My research at Licapa II combined surface collection, geophysical surveys, excavation, and chronometric analysis to better understand this site within the context of broader Moche sociopolitical dynamics. Ceramic and architectural evidence from Licapa II indicates that a shift in ideological organization occurred around A.D. 650. This shift reflects changes seen throughout the Moche world. Licapa II is located on the border of the northern and southern regions of Moche cultural development, and ceramic styles indicate that many of the interactions between these regions could have occurred here. By comparing these findings to evidence of sociopolitical reorganization seen elsewhere, research from Licapa II contributes to a non-state and decentralized view of the sociopolitical structure of Moche society.

En este trabajo se analiza una Iápida tolteca de reciente excavación en el Edificio K de Tula, Hidalgo, México. Dicho objeto muestra a un anciano ataviado con un traje en forma de mariposa, que porta un báculo curvo o chicoacolli, además de una probable fecha calendárica. Se documenta el contexto de aparición de la Iápida y se interpretan los motivos iconográficos mediante una comparación con otros materiales arqueológicos toltecas y con algunas fuentes históricas del period Colonial Temprano. Entre los antiguos mexicanos, la mariposa se vinculó con el complejo simbólico de guerra y fuego, por lo que se postula que el anciano alado puede relacionarse con poderes calóricos, con el dios Quetzalcóatl, patrono mítico de los toltecas, con una probable fecha de entronización, así como con la legitimidad de los primeros dignatarios de la antigua ciudad de Tula.

In recent decades, archaeology has provided evidence of the diverse nature of colonialism as well as of the specific local histories associated with this globalizing process. Archaelogists have also investigated the strategies of interaction and resistance adopted by indigenous peoples when faced with attempts at economic, political, and social domination. This article presents data about the dynamics of mobility and territorial occupation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of the Asurini do Xingu, an indigenous group living on the middle Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest, in the southern portion of the Brazilian state of Pará. We show that these dynamics represent a conscious and strategic choice by the Asurini to preserve their way of life in the face of colonialism and the expansion of capitalism.

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.

This article examines the significance of outlying groups in the spatial organization of Classic Maya settlements. The relative scarcity of textual records concerning outlying groups has often made it difficult for researchers to analyze in detail the political interactions between individuals associated with these groups and the royal authority. The recent discovery of a hieroglyphic stairway at the Guzmán Group, an outlying group of El Palmar, Campeche, Mexico, provides an exceptional opportunity for understanding the constitutive process of spatial organization during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (ca. A.D. 600-900). Epigraphic studies of the Guzmán Group stairway have identified a main individual who emphasized his genealogical ties to lakam (banner-bearer) officials and his political relationship with foreign rulers of Copán and Calakmul. The results of archaeological and epigraphic studies suggest that the Guzmán Group was a locus for negotiating power and ideology among different social actors.

The traditional view based on ceramics is that construction of the Sun Pyramid at Teotihuacan commenced in the first century A .D. Likewise, radiocarbon dates from the artificial cave beneath the Pyramid indicate that it was created at about the same lime. Both Pyramid and cave are seen as having a role in the founding of the city. Recent excavation inside the Pyramid produced radiocarbon dates that cluster in the mid-third century A.D. Members of the Sun Pyramid Project interpreted the dates as representing initial construction of the structure, moving it significantly later in time than previously thought. They also reinterpreted the dates for the construction of the cave, making it contemporaneous with the revised Pyramid construction. This paper adds radiocarbon dates from the cave to the original set and employs Bayesian analysis. The initial interpretation is supported: the dates reflect a cycle of cave creation through termination that began in the midfirst century and lasted about 200 years. I interpret the dates from the Pyramid as reflecting ritual associated with cave termination and a concomitant redefinition of the Pyramid that involved architectural modifications and tunneling. Pyramid and cave dates are reconciled with each other, with ceramics, and with the ceramic chronology. The traditional timing of first century Pyramid construction is maintained, along with its social, political, and economic implications.

The site of Inkawasi (or Incahuasi) is located in the Cahete Valley, on the south coast of Peru. It was a major garrison and storage facility for the Inka expansion onto the south coast, built for housing and provisioning troops in the Inka assault on the Huarco peoples. Archaeological excavations of the storage facility have exposed what is to date a collection of 34 khipus (or quipus), the Inka knotted-string recording devices. We first explain why we consider the collection to constitute an “archive” and what the implications of that classification are for considering the significance of such a large collection of accounting devices associated with state storage. Several of the khipus were found associated with, or covered by, aji (Capsicum sp.), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), and black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris). We suggest that these may be the products that the khipus recorded. Several khipus were tied together, and two sets of tied, paired samples are shown to contain very similar quantitative records. Close study of the paired samples, as well as the numerical values knotted into several other khipus, reveal different strategies that were being used by the khipu-keepers to maintain “checks-and-balances” accounting. Evidence was also found of possible standardized accounting units for agricultural produce brought to Inkawasi. These took the form of a grid-like array of squares produced by impressing ropes into the floors of two rectangular sorting spaces in the storage complex. The grid-work of squares may have served in the process of spreading out the produce on the floor and collecting and accounting for these products in standardized units. We conclude with reflections on how the processes, procedures, and routines of accounting observed at Inkawasi provide information for approaching the writing of an autochthonous history of the Inka state based on the study of accounting practices.

As the Chimú empire (ca. A.D. 900-1470) expanded along the north coast of Peru, it employed a mix of direct and indirect strategies to administer conquered populations. In order to investigate the extent to which Chimú conquest reshaped daily life in the provinces, I explore evidence from Pedregal, a rural farming village in the Jequetepeque Valley. I use cuisine as a window onto daily life at Pedregal, in order to construct a “view from the kitchen” of Chimú expansion. Excavation data from Pedregal households indicate that production of agricultural staples such as corn and cotton intensified during the Chimú period, but that while the focus of household culinary practice shifted, the overall range of household activities remained the same. The Chimú seem to have been able to establish political control and intensify agricultural production in conquered provinces without a radical reorganization of rural domestic economies. These findings have implications not only for emerging models of Chimú imperial expansion, but also for our understanding of how household-level change and continuity are articulated with regional political and economic processes.

Chachapoya societies that lived on the forested eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru between A.D. 1000 and 1450 remain largely absent from broader narratives of the Andean Late Intermediate period (LIP). This paper argues that environmentally deterministic frameworks and lingering Inka biases have led scholars to problematically isolate Chachapoyans from their highland contemporaries. This work reviews three aspects of Chachapoya built environments—settlement patterning, internal organization, and architectural style—in order to provide a baseline for comparison with other regions. Chachapoyas shared a pattern of hilltop settlement locations with nearly all of the highlands, which suggests that its inhabitants faced the same shared factors that prompted changes in settlement organization on a massive scale in this region during the LIP. At the same time, comparison of Chachapoya built environments with others of the northern, central, and southern highlands highlights the considerable diversity within and between regions. This demonstrates that Chachapoyas is best interpreted as simply one of many regions that were characterized by distinctive spatlalltles and architectural forms. These reflected locally specific cultural practices and social institutions. Including Chachapoyas and other regions of the Eastern Andes in accounts of the LIP underscores the diversity and dynamism that characterized this period of significant change in Andean history.