Recent archaeological fieldwork on Isla de Mona in the Caribbean has led to the discovery of a substantial corpus of early colonial inscriptions inside the darkzone of one of the 200 cave systems on the island. Cave 18, like multiple others on Isla de Mona, was a well-established indigenous spiritual realm in the centuries leading up to European colonization. Christian symbols, individual names, written dates, and Spanish and Latin religious commentaries are located in direct association with preexisting indigenous iconography and activities. This paper applies paleographic (handwriting) analysis to establish the authenticity, authorship, and chronology of the inscriptions and to interpret the nature of this early spiritual encounter. We conclude that these sixteenth-century inscriptions represent visits to the cave by first-generation Europeans, including Spanish royal officials in Puerto Rico, and reflect their reactions to native religious landscapes. The inscriptions on Isla de Mona capture personal, face-to-face encounters with native religion and represent Christian commentaries and reactions to indigenous spaces and worldview in the early colonial period.

In the last four decades, a number of archaeologists and art historians have posited that “Toltec” Chichén Itzá (Yucatán, Mexico) flourished during the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. They argued that because the “Toltec” style in Yucatán predated the Tollan phase at Tula (Hidalgo, Mexico), most of the style features shared between the cities originated with the Maya. Here, I examine the relevance of the Epiclassic relief sculpture of Tula Chico for the timing and nature of contact between Tula and Chichén Itzá. The presence of reliefs of reclining figures in clear “Toltec” style at Tula Chico in contexts predating their occurrence at Chichén Itzá suggests that claims for a predominantly Maya origin for that style stand in need of revision. Such a rethinking is supported by other fragmentary images from Tula Chico (eagles and Venus symbols), as well as by new studies of ceramic materials and chronology at Chichén Itzá. It is clear that Tula was an active participant in whatever interactions led to similar visual arts at Chichén Itzá, and at least some of the shared iconography has temporal priority at Tula.

En este artículo se realiza una descripción y análisis de los primeros edificios monumentales, caminos, geoglifos y canales de irrigación del valle de Chincha, costa sur del Perú, como un conjunto de rasgos producto de la construcción de un paisaje ritual y político. Se plantea que los edificios monumentales del periodo Paracas tardío (400–100 a.C.) fueron puntos de llegada, encuentro y salida de grupos humanos muy bien organizados en el territorio. Para organizar y dirigir los movimientos sociales hacia esta arquitectura, las elites que dirigieron la construcción de estos rasgos en el paisaje utilizaron su conocimiento del movimiento del sol durante el año, especialmente, durante los solsticios y equinoccios.

Chavín de Huántar is a Formative-period site (broadly 1500–200 B.C.) in the Peruvian Andes known for its highly complex art and monumental architecture. Recent excavations in the La Banda sector uncovered domestic settlements. The zooarchaeological analysis demonstrates that meat was locally produced and many bone tools were manufactured in this sector. These results contrast with previous faunal analysis from other parts of the site in which it was argued that dry camelid meat on the bone (ch’arki) was traded in exchange for local crops. The local economy of Chavín de Huántar was complex, showing different economic strategies across the site. While there is abundant evidence for the trade of lightweight exotic goods at the site (seashells, marine bone, obsidian, and cinnabar), the subsistence economy was locally focused.

Los cuyes (Cavia sp.) son roedores que fueron domesticados en la Zona Andina de América. Su consumo aún sigue siendo importante en países como Ecuador y Perú, así como en el sur de Colombia. En épocas prehispánicas, el aprovechamiento de Cavia se realizaba a lo largo de la cordillera de los Andes en Colombia; sin embargo, en la actualidad solo es consumido en Nariño, al sur del país. En Colombia existen dos especies silvestres (Cavia anolaimae y Cavia guianae) y una doméstica (Cavia porcellus) y en el área de la Sabana de Bogotá fue una fuente proteica muy importante. Existen evidencias de cuyes domésticos en sitios precerámicos como Tequendama 1, Checua y Nemocón 4. El objetivo de este trabajo es entender el papel que jugaron los cuyes dentro de las estrategias de subsistencia de los grupos cazadores-recolectores y agricultores de la Sabana de Bogotá, a partir de un estudio zooarqueológico y tafonómico de los restos encontrados en el sitio arqueológico Aguazuque. El consumo de Cavia a lo largo de las ocupaciones de dicho sitio, determinó las estrategias de subsistencia de estos grupos humanos. Se consumieron cuyes silvestres (C. anolaimae), así como también cuyes domésticos (C. porcellus). Asimismo, se identificaron modificaciones antrópicas relacionadas con el procesamiento y consumo de estos animales.

The past decades have witnessed major advancements in our understanding of Classic Maya political history, particularly geopolitical dynamics centered on hegemonic states. Yet there has been only halting progress toward historically based archaeological research focusing on the political, social, and economic impacts of political domination and subordination. To address this deficiency, I examine changes in settlement patterns and ceramic sphere affiliation in the Río Champotón drainage within broader historical and geopolitical developments. In this region, the end of the Classic period is characterized by dramatic changes in ceramic links, with a shift from inland-focused traditions to the incorporation within a coastal ceramic sphere—the Canbalam sphere—that linked maritime trade centers between northwest Yucatán and coastal Tabasco. These transitions were embedded within major reorientations in regional settlement patterns and broader geopolitical dynamics centering on the expansion and dissolution of the Kanu’l state, or Snake Dynasty. Following the decline of the Snake Dynasty of Calakmul, communities in central Campeche forged new political and economic ties with emergent centers along the Gulf Coast and the northern Maya Lowlands. The results of this study demonstrate the transformative nature of hegemonic interpolity relationships and highlight the potential for new avenues of conjunctive research combining historical and archaeological data sources.

Archaeometric analyses (Raman Spectroscopy Analysis, X-Ray Diffraction, and Electron Microprobe Analysis) of greenstone beads of the precolumbian Tairona culture (A.D. 1100–1600) of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, have revealed that they are made of variscite-group minerals. These beads were curated at the Museo del Oro, Bogotá, and the Archaeology Laboratory of the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla. Variscite minerals of the variscite-strengite series are rare in nature, and therefore provenance data of source material are useful for the development of intercultural influence models. The abundance of this rare material in prehistoric Colombian collections strongly indicates not only that this material had important symbolic and prestige value for ancient Tairona societies (Nahuange and Tairona periods) but also that these societies participated in ancient trade routes, including, at least, the Andes of present-day Colombia and Venezuela, and the southern Caribbean coast.