The existence of the mesoamerican Tuxtla script is based primarily on inscriptions from five objects in addition to very scant epigraphic evidence on 16 other items (Méluzin 1992). The name “Tuxtlatec” is used to refer to the language rendered by this script. The longest inscription so far known in this writing system is on the recently discovered La Mojarra, Veracruz, Stela 1, which also reveals two Initial-Series-style dates. A bilingual approach is attempted using the month and day glyphs in the stela dates and their presumably equivalent glyphs and names in the Yucatec Maya calendar. Meanings of the four calendar names in the Tuxtlatec system are suggested. The four corresponding Maya glyphs are reinterpreted with alternate Yucatec translations offered for two of them. In two of the analyses Zoque words are pivotal, but it is argued that this in itself does not prove that Tuxtlatec was a dialect of Zoque.

Epiclassic occupants of the site of La Quemada left the disarticulated remains of 11-14 humans in an apparently sacred structure outside the monumental core of the site. Several lines of evidence are reviewed to generate propositions about the ritual meanings and functions of the bones. A comparative analysis reveals the complexity of mortuary practices in northern and western Mexico, and permits the suggestion that these particular remains were those of revered ancestors or community members. The sacred structure is seen as a charnel house, in which the more ancient tradition of ancestor worship expressed in shaft tombs was essentially perpetuated above ground. Hostile social relations are clearly suggested, however, by other categories of bone deposits. Recognition of the rich variability of mortuary displays leads to questions about their role in the maintenance of the social order.

Examining textiles and other usually perishable artifacts, this paper focuses on textile style as an indicator of ethnicity in archaeological textiles excavated in the cemetery of Coyo Oriental, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The Coyo Oriental cemetery was occupied during a period of strong Tiwanaku influence in San Pedro de Atacama (A. D. 500-1000) recognized in artifacts decorated with Tiwanaku images. The analysis presented here identifies at least two distinct textile styles recognized in tunic striping, embroidered selvage treatments, and headgear, a fact that possibly indicates a multiethnic use of the cemetery and oasis of Coyo Oriental. Associated textiles and artifacts suggest that one group represents a local style and ethnic group and the other is a different ethnic group closely related to Tiwanaku. Instead of only minor Tiwanaku influence, I suggest that the oasis was home to a foreign altiplano population who maintained for centuries an ethnic identity visible in a distinct textile style.

Two caches were recovered at Pikillacta, the largest Huari state installation (A. D. 550-1000) in the southern Andean highlands; each contained 40 richly garbed votive turquoise figurines. The figurines are analyzed in terms of their production, use, and deposition as well as their overall morphology. To the extent possible, the rank associated with the costumes worn by each figure is also considered. Reference is made to Inca apparel and its potential for interpreting Huari official garments. Because the number 40 also held special importance in Inca state organization as an administrative unit or division, the Inca example provides concepts of administration vital to the interpretation of the figurines. A more unusual source—origin myths associated with the Chimor Kingdom—supports the relation between turquoise figurines and ancestor worship. I argue that the stone figurines embody qualities and convey concepts that are central to Andean political administration, and that they are intimately tied into the web of ancestral cults through which kinship, hierarchy, and inheritance were determined.