Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan species Pachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize. Pachychilus not only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat of Pachychilus is given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded that Pachychilus was one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.

Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan species Pachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize. Pachychilus not only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat of Pachychilus is given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded that Pachychilus was one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.

Surveys, test pitting, and large-scale excavation carried out since 1975 around the Classic Maya center of Copan, in western Honduras, have yielded a wealth of settlement data. A total of 2,048 obsidian-hydration dates have redefined the Late Classic Coner ceramic phase, showing it to extend well into the Early Postclassic. Sites with Coner ceramics exhibit much more intraphase chronological variation than expected. The Classic “collapse” at Copan was much more protracted than thought previously. There is an abrupt royal collapse at about A.D. 800, but subroyal elite activity continues for another 200 years, and population declines gradually over a period of four centuries.

In Mesoamerica concentrations of stone debitage from archaeological contexts frequently are regarded as being in primary contexts and marking production loci or “workshops.”

Ethnoarchaeological observations of stone- and glass-artifact manufacture and disposal of the resulting waste indicate that in sedentary societies debitage does not remain in primary context at workshops, but rather enters secondary context when it is moved into workshop dumps. Microdebitage, which often is left in place at the production locus, appears to be the most reliable indicator of workshop location.

An awareness of ethnoarchaeological data can facilitate more plausible constructions of past behavior at different stages of the use-life trajectories of durable materials. Present evidence suggests that concentrations of stone debitage from archaeological settlements are secondary deposits and represent workshop dumps, not workshops.

De las dos pinturas de un felino que adornan la entrada del edificio interior de Cerro Sechin, un sitio del período Inicial en la costa norte del Peru, la del lado oriental es auténtica, mientras que la del lado occidental se cree es una falsificación. Aunque un recien artículo y fotografía sugieren que el felino occidental fue repintado en 1971-1972 para mejorar la vista para el público, un estudio cuidadoso de la fotografía apoya la posición que el felino occidental es una obra moderna.