The ballgame, played in an open-air public facility, was an integral institution for most major Mesoamerican centers. Although its social roles likely included political and social mediation among polities or communities, who could witness a game? Our estimates of the numbers of viewers derive from lines of sight toward the playing alley from nearby construction and plazas or other open ground. Focusing on centers in south-central and southern Veracruz, Mexico, we assess court viewership relative to people accommodated in the main plaza to determine the degree to which prime ballgame viewership was restricted. Ratios of prime viewers to plaza capacities for primary and secondary centers show that relative limitations in viewership did not covary consistently with the settlement hierarchy. We show that viewership was markedly curtailed compared to public assembly space in plazas and likely favored the upper echelons of society.

Intervals of 260 days are recorded by architectural orientations at a number of Maya sites, a pattern that may have developed early at sites such as Nakbe. The 260-day calendar, emphasizing sets of 13 and 20 days, dates back to the Middle Preclassic, when early E-Groups in the Maya area were used for solar observations. These observations were probably linked with a maize cycle spanning 260 days. By the end of the Late Preclassic, however, most E-Groups were abandoned or modified for a different function, serving as a stage for rituals performed by rulers at a time when the Long Count calendar was being developed. The changing role of E-Groups relates to the rise of royal rituals associated with the detailed historical records documented in Maya Long Count inscriptions.

We present the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of bone collagen and bone bioapatite from the ancient Maya center of Minanha, Belize (ca. 100 B.C. to A.D. 1260). The purpose of this research was to reconstruct diet and investigate the influence of sociopolitical and environmental factors. Overall, diet was relatively stable over time, with maize being a staple in all periods. Maize consumption reached its peak in the transitional Early to Middle Classic periods and decreased over time. When isotope data from dry periods were compared to normal periods, there were no significant differences, although comparisons of isotope data by burial location and type suggest that the apical or ruling elite consumed a more diverse diet, with more animal protein, relative to the lesser elites. The temporal variability in maize consumption seems best explained by sociopolitical factors documented at Minanha and within the Vaca Plateau. This study demonstrates the resilience of ancient subsistence practices in the face of climatic instability and highlights the impact that social and political factors can have on diet and subsistence economy.

This study discusses the investigation of a series of pit-kilns in and around the prehispanic site of Kiuic in the Puuc region of the northern Maya lowlands and presents the multiple lines of evidence that identify these structures as lime production features. The study reports the results of systematic excavations, archaeometric analyses, archaeological experiments, ethnographic inquiries, and spatial analyses. Burnt lime has been used for architectural, dietary, hygienic, and other purposes by the Maya for at least three millennia and yet its importance in prehispanic Maya society is belied by the lack of lime production features identified in the archaeological record. The identification of these structures as lime production features has implications for understanding subregional differences in socioeconomic organization and resource management practices among the prehispanic Maya. This report provides a model for using multiple methods and analyses to investigate and identify lime production kilns that can be applied to societies and landscapes throughout the Maya area and the broader premodern world.

Investigations of ancient political economies frequently focus on craft production. How manufacturing is organized can provide critical insights on more than the economy because social interactions and political processes are also involved. Here we consider how the acquisition, fabrication, and distribution of obsidian blades figured in the political strategies of craftworkers and elites within the Late Classic (AD 600–800) lower Cacaulapa Valley, northwestern Honduras. This evidence provides insights into the organization of craft manufacture across southeastern Mesoamerica and suggests that current models do not capture the varied production strategies that may be pursued within the same polity.

We present new data on a class of ceramics called Tiltepec yellow wares, dated to the Late and Terminal Formative period occupations at Cerro Jazmín, Oaxaca (300 BC– AD 300). Evidence from 27 radiocarbon-dated ceramic assemblages indicates that Tiltepec yellow wares are a distinct ceramic type. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) results further confirm the wares’ identification. Defining Tiltepec yellow wares as a type apart from Classic-period orange ceramics allows the reassessment of the regional settlement sequence, previously understood to indicate widespread settlement abandonment in the Terminal Formative period. The new data suggest that Cerro Jazmín had a more continuous urban occupation than previously thought.

In precolonial Andean archaeology, specialists frequently deal with objects whose names and functions are unknown. Similarly, early colonial documents from the Andes often mention objects without describing their shapes or functions. How can we articulate these three features—names, shapes, and functions—for objects from precolonial and colonial periods? How can we define these objects while taking into account intra-Andean variability? This article addresses these questions using one section from a well-known document of the early seventeenth century, the Huarochirí Manuscript. This section includes a term extensively discussed in Andean archaeology: husno or ushnu, which has been translated and described in various ways by diverse scholars. Through analysis of the function, form, and translation of the Quechua term ushnu, I explore a typological approach to articulate names, shapes, and functions and also propose a redefinition of the concept itself.

We focus on prehispanic paleodiets among the indigenous populations who inhabited the delta of the Paraná River during the Late Holocene. Stable isotope analyses of δ13C—from collagen and apatite fractions— and δ15N were performed on human bones from sites assigned to different archaeological entities (mainly Goya-Malabrigo and Guaraní). We contextualize the isotopic data with results from the study of zooarchaeological and archaeobotanical materials from these sites. The Guaraní case shows a greater reliance on C4 plants (maize or wild C4 plants). By contrast, for most Goya-Malabrigo individuals, δ13C values indicate a predominant consumption of C3 plants that could include both domesticated and wild species. Through the integration of archaeofaunal, archaeobotanical, and isotopic information, we conclude that the Goya-Malabrigo case shows a mixed economy. Furthermore, small-scale horticulture of the maize-squash-bean triad supplemented a diet of wild resources procured through hunting, fishing, and gathering.

Horizontal excavations at the large Inka heartland village of Cheqoq (Maras, Cuzco, Peru) revealed the remains of a ceramic workshop where imperial-style vessels were produced (AD 1400–1530s). Cheqoq was a multiethnic settlement of forcibly migrated retainer laborers working for the noble lineage of the Inka ruler, Wayna Qhapaq. Production of imperial-style pottery in a small workshop associated with a royal lineage indicates that the heartland craft economy was not centralized in the urban Cuzco capital. The material remains of in situ production—raw materials, manufacturing facilities, tools, and by-products—provide a baseline for comparing other Inka pottery assemblages to this production locus.

This paper presents archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological data recovered from the colonial Spanish city known as Old Panama or Panama Viejo (Republic of Panama). The main goal of this study is to determine the food resources that were used by Europeans in the first Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast of Central America (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries). The results presented here were obtained using starch grain analysis from colonial lithic tools and include faunal data analyzed in previous works. Based on the data, we argue that the first Europeans quickly incorporated native crops such as maize, manioc, and the common bean into their diet. In addition to the domesticated animals that were introduced to the region, Spanish settlers supplemented their diet with the consumption of wild indigenous animal species.

Hunter-gatherers collected and used various woody species depending on the landscape, availability of plant communities, and sociocultural considerations. With extensive paleo-wetlands and groundwater-fed oases, the Atacama Desert was interspersed with riparian woodlands that provided vital resources (fuel, water, and game) at the end of the Pleistocene in areas such as the Pampa del Tamarugal (PdT) basin. We use anthracological analyses to determine the fuel management strategies of hunter-gatherer societies in this hyperarid environment and explore whether the “Principle of Least Effort” applies. First, we present the combustion qualities and characteristics of woody taxa from the Atacama and analyze possible exploitation strategies. Second, we use anthracological analyses from Quebrada Maní 12 (QM12), a late Pleistocene archaeological site (dated from 12,750 to 11,530 cal B.P.) located in the PdT basin, to show the prevalence of two woody species that were either freshly collected or gathered (very likely on purpose) from subfossil wood. Our results suggest that fuel selection strategies were based on prior knowledge of the qualities of these woody taxa and how they burned. Thus we conclude that fuel management was part of a number of social and economic decisions that allowed for effective colonization of this region. Furthermore, we stress the need for caution when using charcoal to exclusively date archaeological sites located in desert environments.

Contrary to Burger et al. (2016), there is ample evidence of colonial cinnabar mining in southern Ecuador.

Our LAQ paper concluded that cinnabar pigment found by archaeologists in northern Peru was produced at Huancavelica in south-central Peru. In contrast, Bruhns and her colleagues suggest the mines near Azogues in southern Ecuador were an important cinnabar source for prehispanic Ecuador and Peru. In their commentary, they introduce new historic and geologic information to support their view, but a critical analysis demonstrates that it does not undermine our conclusions.