Since the Formative times, maize is and has been a highly valued social commodity in the Andes, particularly in the form of a traditional beer called chicha. While chicha production is well attested in the archaeology and ethnohistory of Andean states, the emergence of maize symbolism in earlier societies has not been systematically addressed. In this study phytolith and starch grain analyses are used to trace production, processing, and consumption of maize at sites on the Taraco Peninsula of Bolivia and thus the entrance of maize into the region. We systematically examine the role of maize by addressing its rarity, use contexts, and preparation. The pattern of plant part representation and use suggest that maize was being consumed in the form of chicha at its earliest introduction to the Titicaca Basin (800–250 B.C.). Drinking of alcohol in ceremonial spaces embodies the process of commensality of public ceremony and the establishment of reciprocal relationships during the Formative period. These results demonstrate that contextual analysis of microbotanical remains has great potential to answer anthropological questions surrounding food, ritual, and identity.

The role of seed crops in the Maya diet is well understood. The role of root crops in the ancient Maya diet has been controversial, with some scholars suggesting they were staples, and others arguing they were not cultivated at all. Research in the 1990s found occasional manioc plants in kitchen gardens within the Classic period Cerén village, leading to the interpretation that manioc did contribute to the diet, but was not a staple. Recent research outside the village encountered sophisticated raised-bed monocropping of manioc over an extensive area. This area was harvested essentially all at once, about a week prior to the eruption. An estimated ten tons of tubers were harvested. The various uses of manioc include consumption as food, exchange with other settlements, fermentation, drying and storage as a powder, and as an adhesive. It is possible that many or all these alternatives were being followed. At Cerén manioc was a staple, not just an occasional adjunct to the diet. Because Cerén is toward the wet end of the ideal range for manioc cultivation, other areas of the Neotropics that receive less than 1,700 mm of precipitation may be more suitable for manioc cultivation than Cerén.

Este artículo examina, desde una perspectiva etnohistórica, las relaciones económicas y sociales entre los choles del Manché, lacandones y acaláes, hablantes de choltí, de las tierras bajas mayas del sur, con los k’ekchi’es del Ah Xoy y la Verapaz, basadas en los agrosistemas de producción de la triada de cacao-achiote-vainilla, durante los siglos dieciséis y diecisiete. El intercambio de cacao y achiote por plumas de quetzal, algodón, copal, sal, así como hachas y machetes de origen europeo, constituyó un complejo sistema de intercambio entre choles, lacandones y k’ekchi’es. Se establecieron relaciones entre puntos de encuentro y puertos de entrada de gran importancia para entender los sistemas de comercio prehispánicos. Entre 1689 y 1695 las poblaciones choles y lacandonas fueron sometidas por los españoles y reubicadas fuera de sus territorios, lo que ocasionó su extinción. Con la desaparición de estos grupos se pensó que el conocimiento del cultivo asociado de cacao-achiote-vainilla se había perdido; sin embargo, este trabajo demuestra que los kekchi’es se convirtieron en receptores de esa sabiduría. Este artículo analiza el impresionante agrosistema cacao, achiote y vainilla de los antiguos choles y lacandones y su pervivencia hasta la actualidad en los huertos especializados de los k’ekchi’es del norte de Alta Verapaz.

A unique cotton Taíno reliquary—the only extant example currently known—provides an unprecedented window onto the complex mortuary and ritual ceremonies of the pre-Hispanic Caribbean. This study explores its cultural context as recorded by the early Spanish and French chroniclers and missionaries who were witness to the use and beliefs surrounding these objects in both the Greater and Lesser Antilles. It provides the first AMS radiocarbon date for the reliquary, placing it within a firmer historical context. It also examines the woven sculpture in some detail, providing a review of the manufacture process and a detailed study of the components—cotton, animal hair, lianas, gourd, resins and shell—that went into its creation. From the wrapping of important cemís (representations of spirits) in cotton, to the binding of the skeletal remains of venerated ancestors within elaborate weavings, cotton had an intrinsic value as a material that wrapped and bound the ancestors to the living and the living to each other.

En este trabajo se analiza la información arqueológica recuperada en el Valle de Guasapampa (provincia de Córdoba, Argentina), en su mayoría paneles con representaciones rupestres grabadas y pintadas, presumiblemente ejecutadas durante el período prehispánico tardío (ca. 1400–400 a.P.). Los datos reunidos permiten comprender el rol del arte rupestre como un medio activo para el establecimiento, negociación y reproducción de determinados vínculos sociales entre sus productores y observadores. En tal sentido, se asume una perspectiva comparativa que permite identificar las particularidades de la ocupación de las secciones sur y norte del valle, y en especial los rasgos que definen a los contextos de producción y significación del arte. Las diferencias determinadas en cada sección refieren a contrastes y oposiciones en las prácticas sociales efectuadas en torno y a partir de esta materialidad. De este modo, se consideran los elementos que sustentan su definición como un medio para la significación de lugares entre grupos mínimos de pertenencia, en un paisaje abierto y compartido en el caso de la sección sur, y como marcas territoriales en el norte, en relación con la existencia de límites y restricciones a la circulación y el acceso a los recursos, en particular a las aguadas estacionales.