This paper discusses the importance of female breasts in gender construction in Maya art and explains artistic conventions and choices in their deployment. The visual analysis focuses on Late Classic pictorial vases and ceramic figurines. Rather than reflecting a natural body, the female breast was filtered through a cultural lens that drove its highly conceptual rendering in Maya art, mirrored in a breast hieroglyph. Through the principle of contrast, including morphology and absence vs. presence of breasts in specific pictorial contexts, Maya artists constructed female personae varying in age, class, supernatural status, and gender ambiguity. In order to flesh out the layered meaning of the breast, the paper turns to ethnographic studies of modern Maya medicine concerning the hot-cold system. It is argued that ethnographic data on women's bodies in medical discourse shed light on how the breast served as an index of age-based female stereotypes.

Este artículo se centra en la reconstrucción de las rutas de comunicación que transitaban por una de las áreas menos estudiadas del norte de Chiapas durante el periodo clásico. El resultado es ilustrado a través de un mapa de rutas óptimas, publicado por vez primera, elaborado con auxilio de SIG. Las rutas reconstruidas son además discutidas en el artículo como determinantes para la configuración de la geopolítica local prevaleciente en ese entonces. Este artículo tiene el mérito adicional de reunir toda la información existente que había estado dispersa sobre sitios arqueológicos en esta área de estudio.

The pages of the Mixtec screenfolds are painted with hundreds of place signs. Only a handful have been linked to specific locations on the ground. In this essay, I propose identifications for seven place signs which appear on pages 4 to 1 of the Codex Vienna and page 3 of the Codex Nuttall. I draw on five types of sources: testimonies from the 1544–1547 Yanhuitlan idolatry investigation, the pictorial records of the Mixtec screenfolds themselves, the findings from a FAMSI-funded study of colonial and independence-era land records, previous archaeological surveys, and on-the-ground reconnaissance. By considering the sequential relations of place signs painted in the Mixtec screenfolds, the spatial connections of geographic features visible today (features whose names and recent history are recorded in archival land records), and the sacred connections revealed by the actions of nobles and religious specialists in the Yanhuitlan idolatry investigation, strong proposals for the identification of particular place signs can be made. In turn, these identifications have broader implications for understanding colonial transformations of space. Over the course of the sixteenth century, sprawling pre-Hispanic polities were atomized. The land documents their leaders then created mapped out visions of political space that were far more circumscribed than those we see in pre-Hispanic books, and indeed in alphabetic documents—such as the Yanhuitlan idolatry investigation—that date to the first half of the sixteenth century. This suggests that different types of research methods are needed for studying landscape representations created before and after the middle of the sixteenth century.

The system of communication in use in central Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest was made up of signs composed largely of pictorial elements, including glyphs (signs in a script) and graphic representations of the ornaments of the deities. It had a generative character that was expressed mainly in the fact that it combined basic signs to create new meanings. This article deals with the combinations between the following signs: the smoking mirror, the flint, the down ball and the skull, all belonging to the field of sacrifice and dismemberment of the human body. They were associated with each other and created the following codified and conventional combinations: mirror-flint, mirror-down, flint-skull, flint-obsidian, skull-down, and a composite pectoral called anahuatl. This article proposes a typology of these combinations, and sheds light on their meanings and the processes of their construction.

Aztec culture provides a gateway to Mesoamerican studies because it represents the connecting point between the pre-Hispanic past and the globalized present. Current research on the Aztecs comes from several disciplines: anthropology, history, art history, religion, and literature. The nearly fifty articles on the Aztecs published by Ancient Mesoamerica since its inception in 1990 encompass the various branches of Aztec scholarship. In this article we discuss major themes in recent scholarship on the Aztecs: environment and subsistence, settlement and demography, economy, politics, and social relations, ideology and masterworks, and interregional relations.

In this article, we argue that landesque capital was integral to the development of complexity in the Maya Lowlands. Such features involved permanent investments in the landscape that supported material and ideological practices, resulting in increased sustainability and well-being. We contend that these developments stemmed from accretional modifications to soils in the Preceramic/Early Preclassic, as well as intentional investments of labor in agricultural features, large public works, and select civic complexes during the Middle Preclassic. Capital improvements were particularly important during the Middle Preclassic, when sedentary occupations and civic life were established. The timing and location of the investments strongly correlate with other aspects of Middle Preclassic lifeways, such as the transition to sedentism, acquisition and control of resources, changes in lithic production, and the emergence of an elite class. We note that some of the largest investments in landscape management during the Middle Preclassic occurred in the Central Karstic Uplands, where substantial cities rose in the Late Preclassic. We conclude that during the Middle Preclassic an ontology of landesque capital developed, based on the synergistic fusing of daily and ritual practices with physical features, which provided a foundation for resilience, sustainability, and well-being in subsequent generations.

During an archaeological survey in the municipality of San Pedro Mártir Quiechapa, Oaxaca, Mexico, archaeologists from the Proyecto Arqueológico de Quiechapa (PAQuie) encountered and documented a number of carved stone elements. Of particular interest are the 30 representations of ballcourts carved into natural rock outcrops at two sites in the region. This is the highest density in which this type of ballcourt representation occurs throughout Mesoamerica. After their initial discovery, members of PAQuie documented the carved stone ballcourts using structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, a quick and affordable technique to collect 3D spatial, quantitative, and visual data of stone carvings.

In this article, I report on the carved stone ballcourt representations documented in the Quiechapa region and offer some preliminary interpretations. I first provide some description of the broader archaeological context in which the carvings were found. Then I describe the methods used to record the stone carvings, followed by a presentation of the data. Finally, in dialogue with extant literature, I explore some possibilities as to why these carved stone ballcourt representations were created, how they may have been used, and what they may symbolize.

Social groups in Honduras played a key role in regional developments between a.d. 800 and 1100, acting as the pivot in long-distance networks extending west as far as Tula, north to Chichen Itza, and south to Costa Rica. Understanding the role of Honduran settlements at this time has been obstructed by the lack of well-dated contexts from this period and the associated uncertainty about the development of the key Honduran ceramic type, Las Vegas Polychrome. This paper offers a definition of the distinctive features that characterize Las Vegas Polychrome, reviewing evidence supporting earlier dates than traditionally suggested for this type, as early as the emergence of any white-slipped polychrome in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It summarizes evidence for a suite of luxuries consumed in conjunction with Las Vegas Polychrome, and points to the products most likely produced in Honduras for exchange with partners who provided these. Finally, the article considers the ideological, social, and political implications of changes in Honduran settlements where the new pottery was used.

Of the many items that were traded throughout the Postclassic (A.D. 850/900–1350) Aztatlan network, obsidian was perhaps the most prevalent. In this study, large assemblages of obsidian from five Aztatlan centers on the coastal plain are discussed: San Felipe Aztatan, Chacalilla, Amapa, Coamiles, and Peñitas. In total, over 12,000 obsidian artifacts were analyzed macroscopically and through handheld portable X-ray fluorescence. The results of these analyses illustrate regional patterns of obsidian use that appear consistent across the coastal plain. Generally, only three obsidian sources were used with frequency. The most proximal source was utilized for generalized reduction and probably acquired directly, while more distant obsidians from the Jalisco highlands are commonly found in the form of prismatic blades. These trends in obsidian use indicate an increase in source diversity concurrent with the development of the Aztatlan trade networks despite the local availability of quality obsidians. Finally, synchronic patterns of source distribution further indicate that sources were unevenly distributed as certain individuals likely had greater access to imported blades. In conclusion, this large study provides a regional perspective of obsidian use in Western Mexico on the coastal plain and showcases the pervasiveness of the obsidian trade during the Postclassic.

If we accept Good's (2001:211) definition of a textile as a “web of interlaced threads produced on a loom,” we may say that textiles have a long and storied existence in ancient Mesoamerica. In this Special Section we present four new studies on Mesoamerican textile production. All four papers are based primarily on archaeological data and analyses, but, because of the nature of the material, they cross disciplinary boundaries. At the risk of indulging in a rather hackneyed metaphor, we might envision the archaeological elements of each study as the warp embellished with a weft of ethnohistoric, ethnographic, art historical, iconographic, and epigraphic data and interpretations. In this Introduction we range across the boundaries touching first on the archaeological evidence for the antiquity of weaving and textiles in Mesoamerica, the nature of textiles as a commodity, and the theoretical foundations from political economy that influenced anthropology in the 1980s and generated a seminal article on cotton in the Aztec economy. Then we reference recent research dealing with cloth as costume that signifies ethnic and gender identity, and ideological associations with female deities. Finally, we return to the archaeology and the difficulties of preservation of textiles in Mesoamerica, setting the stage for comments on individual papers since they depend on the indirect evidence of spindle whorls and weaving implements.

Nearly 60 complete or fragmentary slate backings from iron-ore mirrors have been found in pre-Columbian funerary contexts in northern Costa Rica, including a couple that bear Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions. With the exception of a single example dating between a.d. 800 and 1550, these slate objects typically occur in contexts dating from 300 b.c. to a.d. 500–600. Recent geochemical analyses indicate foreign production of these artifacts, likely in the Maya area, where slate-backed iron-ore mirrors were related to power, shamanism, and divination, and were manufactured by highly specialized artisans working under the patronage of members of the elite, particularly in the Classic period. In this article we address the question of when, how, and why mirrors from Mesoamerica made their way to Costa Rica and, ultimately, into the funerary contexts from which they have been recovered. To that end, we analyze the regions, contexts, style, and chronology of these Costa Rican examples and compare them with contemporary styles and contexts in the Maya area, including a reinterpretation of one mirror-back presenting hieroglyphic inscriptions. Finally, we explore potential distribution routes and the potential mechanisms of exchange that existed between these distant, yet somehow related areas.

Today a standard has emerged in the English speaking world for writing the language of the Aztecs. According to this standard the phoneme /w/ is written <hu> in the position before a vowel, nahuatl, ahuacatl, ‘avocado.’ An alternative is to write /w/ with <u> (or <v>), a tradition which in the sixteenth century and onwards was common alongside of <hu>. I demonstrate that <hu> misrepresents the pronunciation of the language then and now, and in uncovering its origin, I suggest that Pedro de Gante was the prime promoter of <hu>.

Maya participation in the Postclassic Mixteca-Puebla or International Style has long been recognized in murals and manuscript painting. Recent explanations for Maya adoptions/modifications of this central Mexican style have shifted from invasion or “influence” to emphasize the active and selective participation of the Maya. I examine two examples, the solar murals of Mayapan and Flores Stela 4, to elucidate how they reflect Maya uses of the Mexican Other in service of local political and religious power. I argue that these works represent a Late Postclassic continuation of a long Maya tradition of using central Mexican forms and iconography as exotic ideological “prestige goods” reinforcing the legitimacy of local elites. They cannot be understood apart from the previous history of interactions between the Maya and central Mexico, particularly in the Early Postclassic, and some of the “Mexican” elements in these examples may derive from Maya-Mexican interactions during this earlier time.

For Eloise Quiñones Keber, and in memory of H.B. Nicholson

According to Purepecha oral tradition, the ancestors of the Uacusecha dynasty that ruled Michoacan at the beginning of the sixteenth century began their epic in the Zacapu region. The importance of this region also lies in the research carried out since the early 1980s that led to the elaboration of a regional sequence outlining the trajectory of pre-Hispanic societies centuries before the emergence of the Tarascan state.

New research carried out on the area since 2009 has clarified this reference framework and opened new perspectives. The research focused on the Malpaís volcanic flows and its immediate surroundings. It addressed the transformations experienced by pre-Hispanic societies between a.d. 500 and a.d. 1580, and their interactions with the volcanic environment with unprecedented analytical detail. The joint contributions of remote sensing, archaeological fieldwork, dating, and geological study participate in renewing a diachronic approach of this unique landscape of northern Michoacan.

How were so-called rural Maya settlements experienced by the people who lived in them? In this article, I focus on the archaeology of walking in the small site of Tzacauil, Yucatan (outlying the much larger site of Yaxuna), to explore how experiences of rurality were historically and socially contingent. Walking produces and reproduces embodied understandings of place—and, as such, can yield a more dynamic conceptualization of rurality. In Formative Tzacauil (ca. 300 b.c.–a.d. 250), grounded walking, incorporated with and sensitive to terrain, coexisted alongside groundless walking on artificial surfaces (i.e., sacbes and built walkways) imposed onto terrain. I argue that an understanding of everyday walking in Formative Tzacauil was not unlike that of urbanizing Yaxuna. I propose that only in Classic Tzacauil (ca. a.d. 550–1100) did walking become categorically different from Yaxuna, and I discuss how that shift opens new avenues for inquiry into rurality as an embodied experience of place that was always subject to change.

Having fled the violence of the Caste War in Mexico (1847−1901), the San Pedro Maya occupied nearly two dozen small villages in the forests of western British Honduras and the northeastern Peten from the 1850s to the 1930s. With no physically demarcated borders between British Honduras and its neighbors present prior to the late 1880s, archival and archaeological data demonstrate that the San Pedro Maya moved freely through the lightly populated forests of the area. Ultimately, however, the San Pedro Maya's ambivalence toward the border between British Honduras and Guatemala provided the Belize Estate and Produce Company (BEC) with an excuse to evict them from their villages in the 1930s. In this article, we present archival information and archaeological data from Kaxil Uinic, a small San Pedro Maya village in British Honduras, to examine the following issues: the conflicting views of the border held by the San Pedro Maya and their colonial counterparts; the evidence for ties between Kaxil Uinic and Icaiche, Mexico; and the roles chicle smuggling and commercial logging had in the eviction of the San Pedro Maya from BEC lands.

Over the past four decades the interpretive capacity of lithic analysis in Mesoamerica has changed dramatically. Lithic studies have grown from simple artifact descriptions to a powerful approach for studying and interpreting pre-Hispanic economy. The linchpin for this change was the development of the lithic technology approach (Collins 1975; Crabtree 1968; Flenniken 1981) and its use in asking culturally meaningful questions about the Mesoamerican past (Sheets 1975; Spence 1967). The utility of this approach is as obvious to those who employ it, as it is elusive to those who do not. It involves the recovery, analysis and interpretation of flaked stone residues, that is, the large and small flakes and chips produced when stone tools are manufactured and used. Moreover, it is the study of the mundane to view the mundane, and obtain a window onto the economic patterns of everyday life. The reward from studying thousands of ordinary flaked stone remains comes from the insight it provides for reconstructing and modeling past economic behavior.

I came in the back door, in 1993. It was the bottom of the Depression, and I happened to be in Washington, D.C., studying engineering in a technical school. One evening a man walked into our course, “Stresses and Strains in Structural Steel,” and asked for the drafting class. My professor told him it was down the hall, so our visitor backed out and apologized–he'd been looking for a draftsperson. In the of 1933 any job opening looked good, so I followed him and insisted that I had the appropriate qualifications. I didn't, of course, but you'd be willing to try anything in those years.

Analyses of the faunal remains from Cerro Portezuelo indicate that the site's pre-Hispanic residents made use of both wild and domesticated animals commonly found near lakeshores and agricultural fields. Most of the faunal assemblage examined comes from a Postclassic period residential structure, providing information regarding the animal species utilized by the early inhabitants of the area and the types of household activities they engaged in using tools made from worked bone. Examination of the collections from another part of the site shows intriguing similarities to the animal selection practices previously identified in the Epiclassic period collections from Oztoyahualco, Teotihuacan.

This brief essay argues that studying the non-Spanish inhabitants of Yucatan's past requires bridging the social distance generated by differences of time and culture and that the specific nature of that distance must first be understood. With respect to the Mayas, their mystique in the modern popular and academic imaginations is as much the creation of Maya elites in ancient and colonial times as it is the product of archaeologists and historians. To demystify the Maya, we must engage mundane as well as exotic sources and be aware of the obfuscating influence of those who interpreted Maya culture before us. A complete picture of colonial Yucatan and of the colonial Mayas must include Afro-Yucatecans, or Africans and their descendents in the peninsula. Rendered invisible by historical processes and lack of scholarly attention, Afro-Yucatecans must be fully examined if we are to fully grasp the Yucatec experience, including the Yucatec Maya experience.