This study builds on the premise that local knowledge of limestone—and its workable characteristics—was foundational to landscape inhabitation in the Puuc region of Yucatán, México. Classic Maya architecture of the northern Yucatán generally is considered to represent the apogee of Maya construction prowess with extensive use of core-veneer masonry and the creation of tall, wide corbelled vaults. Less commonly discussed is the variable distribution of high-quality limestone across the Yucatán, the social matrix that undergirds the quarrying, transporting, and working of limestone, and the pronounced social differences materialized in stone architecture. This study explores these three topics by bringing to bear Yucatec Mayan linguistic evidence and excavation data from the archaeological site of Sayil, in the hilly Puuc region of Yucatán. That information provides a basis for understanding the development of a sprawling residential complex, the role that variable limestone quality played in its expansion, and serves as an index of intra-compound social difference. Late additions to the dwellings indicate that recognition of the cultural value of carved stone persisted long after masonry skills became attenuated. The durability of stone renders it a particularly effective—if underutilized—medium for interpreting social landscapes of the past.

Equating a single cultural group to a classificatory scheme has implications for not only how archaeologists develop the concept of cultural identity but how we investigate and theorize about internal social dynamics within that same society. For the ancient Maya, social organization remains largely understood as a two-class system—that of commoner and elite. While these categories reflect the extreme ends of known social strata, they inadequately characterize the reality of day-to-day interactions. This has led to tacit assumptions that commoners did not participate in or comprehend the political and social complexity of the world around them. This paper examines how occupants of a Late Classic Maya neighborhood employed ritual and public practices as a means of social differentiation. Excavations at the Northeast Group, part of the ancient Maya site of Chan, Belize, identified considerable diversity between households, suggesting that occupants shaped status and identity through the control and centralization of ritual. Understanding how people distinguished themselves within the context of a neighborhood provides direct evidence of class complexity, challenging traditional models of commoner behavior and more importantly the role they played in ancient Maya society as a whole.

Proponents of site-planning studies argue that the Ancient Maya expressed both political and cosmological symbolism in architecture and site plans, while detractors fault site-planning advocates for not being scientifically rigorous in their methods. Recently, the debate between the two sides has focused on whether or not the Maya created cosmograms in the layouts of their sites. Our recent investigations at La Milpa, Belize attempt to redirect site-planning studies back to a more encompassing approach that searches for meaning at various scales. In doing so, we propose that planning and engineering be considered together and that engineering can include ritual or symbolic components. This paper focuses on two contemporaneous caches, each of which contains incised jar lids decorated with a mat design. We argue the caches are ritually engineered deposits that integrate otherwise discrete architectural components into a coherent Late/Terminal Classic royal precinct plan. Furthermore, the mat design on the jar lids suggests royal sponsorship of the engineering and construction of the plaza. While much of the symbolism in the caches is unclear, we are able to recognize that political and/or cosmological symbolic communication has occurred as part of a ritually engineered component of Plaza B at La Milpa.

This paper pursues the application of a central tenet of the dual-processual framework, the corporate/network continuum, to the development of Uxbenká, a small monument-bearing polity in the southern Maya Lowlands. During its growth, Uxbenká underwent a transformation from a small farming community to a complex polity with many of the trappings of elite authority that characterizes Classic Maya centers. It was one of the earliest complex polities to develop on the southeastern periphery of the Maya lowlands during the Early Classic period (A.D. 300—600). The polity was founded upon earlier agricultural communities that are now known to extend back to at least A.D. 100. Starting after A.D. 200 the location of the original agricultural village (Group A) was leveled and reorganized to form a public monument garden and the center of political authority throughout much of the Classic period (A.D. 400—800). In this article we present radiocarbon ages from well-defined stratigraphic contexts to establish a site chronology. Based on these data we suggest that by A.D. 450 Uxbenká was the center of a regional political system connected to some of the larger polities in the Maya world (e.g., Tikal). We argue that at this time Uxbenká underwent a significant change from a polity organized by a corporate inclusionary form of ruler-ship to a more networked one marked by exclusionary authority vested in elites who privileged their ancestral relations and network interactions across the geopolitical landscape.

This paper presents studies and discussions of pottery-making practices during the Late period (ca. A.D. 900—1450) in Northwestern Argentina. It stems from an extensive archaeological research project carried out in the middle sector of the Abaucán Valley, Province of Catamarca, Argentina. Pottery production during this period is evaluated through the study of technological choices and technical identity, as well as its relationship to the technical behaviors developed by potters. The analysis of a large sample of ceramic sherds, complete vessels, and overfired sherds indicates that the potters produced a very narrow repertoire of ceramic forms (bowls, urns, and ollas) using local raw materials and technology, the latter with a strong hold in the area. Pottery production during the Late period was carried out in household contexts, becoming increasingly intensified and concentrated with the appearance of Inkas in the region. Additionally, some ideas are discussed concerning the technological choices of ancient potters during this period, and the implications for technological studies in archaeological ceramics.

Se describen las evidencias de procesamiento carnicero halladas en los esqueletos del roedor Lagostomus maximus (vizcacha pampeana) provenientes de sitios arqueológicos del Holoceno Tardío Final (1000 a 600 a.P.) de las sierras de Tandilia Oriental (provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina). La diversidad ósea registrada, la cantidad de ejemplares, las huellas de corte, las de raspado y las fracturas intencionales indican que las vizcachas fueron ingresadas enteras a los sitios y que se les aplicaron procesos de desollado, desarticulación, descarne y fracturas. La comparación con la explotación de la vizcacha durante milenios anteriores en las mismas sierras muestra que sólo hacia el Holoceno Tardío Final esta especie adquirió mayor importancia numérica y le fueron aplicados procesos carniceros más elaborados. Este fenómeno está vinculado al desarrollo de una subsistencia de intensificación y diversificación en la cual la caza menor fue preponderante en Tandilia.