Archaeology prides itself on its ability to see beyond the urban elite. The countryside, the urban poor, gender and even children have all gradually come under the discipline’s gaze. The elderly, however, have failed to attract much scholarly attention. The few groundbreaking studies that tackled the issue scrutinized mortuary data and examined the ‘body’ of the elderly, but hardly any archaeological attention was given to the social aspects of the daily life of the old. Using one of the most detailed archaeological case studies available, and with the aid of ancient texts and ethnography, this article seeks to identify the ‘elderly’ and ‘elders’ in Iron Age Israel and, using Building 101 at Tel ʿEton as a test case, it places the fathers and mothers and their activities within the household.

This paper analyzes a specific genre of colonial Maya literature: the prophecies found in the so-called Books of Chilam Balam, written in the Maya language during the colonial period. These texts predict events related to 20-year periods known as k’atun. A comparative examination of these prophecies reveals that while some are of clear Maya origin, others gradually incorporate Christian concepts and even direct references to Catholic texts. I propose a typology of three distinct kinds of prophecies: traditional, transitional Christianized, and overtly Christianized. This classification is supported by linguistic and structural analysis, including the presence of loanwords, shifts in grammatical constructions, changes in prophetic structure, and the semantic transformation of key terms. Traditional Maya prophecies primarily express concerns with good governance by local rulers; in contrast, Christianized prophecies reinterpret similar passages to foretell the authority of a universal Christian God. Rather than approaching these texts from a purely historical or philological perspective, this study adopts an anthropological–linguistic lens. It considers the prophecies as literary and ideological efforts by Maya authors and scribes to reframe their pre-Hispanic past and make sense of their transformed world under colonial rule.

En este texto realizamos una revisión del espacio ritual de dos celebraciones que tienen una historia profunda entre los pueblos indígenas de Mesoamérica, la ceremonia ritual de los Voladores y el Juego de Pelota. A partir de la indagación en evidencias arqueológicas, históricas y de la experiencia de la ritualidad, exponemos los principios comunes en la diversidad de estas celebraciones rituales. Consideramos la perspectiva de los practicantes contemporáneos para incluir su conocimiento sensitivo a la discusión, esto es, un punto de vista emic que complementa el abordaje etic de los principales aspectos documentados de estos rituales. Proponemos que, como opuestos complementarios, ambos rituales constituyeron un medio para que sus practicantes lograran transitar entre los niveles del cosmos. El ritual de los Voladores es metáfora y experiencia de acceder a los niveles superiores, mientras que el Juego de Pelota lo es de acceder a los niveles inferiores. Estas celebraciones requieren del sacrificio y de un estado latente de muerte que demanda de sus practicantes una rigurosa preparación y conocimiento de las normas rituales. Concluimos observando que, a pesar de las profundas trasformaciones históricas, la pervivencia de estas celebraciones expresa los esquemas organizativos de las cosmovisiones mesoamericanas, manifiestas en la experiencia de los complejos y elaborados programas rituales indígenas.

This article examines the tabular presentations in Sima Qian’s Shi ji and Gu Donggao’s Chunqiu dashi biao through the lens of a siege in 630 bce. Recognized as exemplary historical tables of the Spring and Autumn Period, the two tables process historical narratives at both micro and macro levels in an unprecedented manner, aiming to provide a larger picture of general historical trends. By emphasizing a visual and spatial representation of history in its tabular design, the Shi ji table invites the reader to examine the text nonlinearly and to construct a dialectical relationship between it and related narrative chapters. On the other hand, Gu’s text-oriented tables, usually misunderstood as a mere continuation of those in the Shi ji, require a linear reading and cannot directly produce a visual representation of the general patterns of the Spring and Autumn Period. However, to compensate for the lack of a visual overview, Gu composed “impromptu poems” (kouhao), which orally sketch general historical trends, to help beginners memorize the history of the Spring and Autumn Period. This article aims to demonstrate the use of tabulation at the crucial beginning point of Chinese historiography and its reinvention in the late imperial period.

Maya quarries were sites of resource extraction. We cannot forget that they were also sites of labor, collaboration, and personal relationships. In this paper, we explore two case studies: quarrying and transporting limestone at Early Classic Naachtun of Petén, Guatemala, and extracting sascab (powdered limestone) at Late Classic Xunantunich, Belize. We offer quantitative analyses of these tasks using the methodology known as architectural energetics, a methodology designed to investigate ancient building through evidence of its various output activities. But we go farther than abstract calculations to offer relatable and relevant public outcomes through storytelling, highlighting the human-centered aspects of quarrying and construction. Following important precedents, this study offers two examples of how quantitative methodologies can intersect with archaeological storytelling, specifically analyzing how architectural energetic studies can inform narratives intended for public audiences.