La comunidad indígena Dojura (Emberá-Chamí) en Colombia está olvidando su iconografía tradicional, debido a que perdieron el contacto con sus territorios ancestrales por diferentes eventos de desplazamiento forzado. Por ello, se propuso construir una metodología de recuperación de símbolos a partir del modelo SECI (Socialización, Exteriorización, Combinación e Interiorización) de Nonaka, con lo cual, se espera lograr una sistematización de signos y a su vez una resignificación en la comunidad de modo que su cosmogonía en los territorios que habitan actualmente, les permita obtener sentido de pertenencia con su entorno. El trabajo llevado a cabo permite mostrar cómo a través de la sistematización de esta experiencia y con distintos ejercicios de generación de conocimiento, es posible recuperar los símbolos y permitir que haya un proceso de aprendizaje en la comunidad, como parte de los procesos de salvaguarda de la práctica cultural del tejido en chaquira.

Although direct evidence of civic planning is rare among Mesoamerican sites, such features offer great insight into past practices, intentions, and urban transformation. Using data from the transition to the Late Formative period (ca. 400–300 BC), I argue that direct evidence of urban planning is present in the monumental constructions of Yaxuná in Yucatán, Mexico. There, investigators detected a series of carefully rendered incised lines directly on Floor 6 of the E Group plaza. Along with the buildings' exposed surfaces, incised lines served as visual markers for placing rubble and dry-core fill into two categories: large dry-core stones and small compact fill. These visual distinctions informed the location of features built on top of this fill, including Floor 5 and a causeway spanning the plaza's central axis, distinguished from the white floor surface sascab (a durable product of pulverized limestone) by a red-orange color. The incised lines at Yaxuná grant insight into how ancient builders envisioned public works and then implemented and completed features in a step-by-step design process, which required precision and foresight.

This article summarizes the results of controlled experiments in which flaked-stone points that varied in impact strength by a factor of almost three were shot at media that were increasingly inelastic and therefore likely to break the points. Broken tips were reworked if possible, and used again under the same conditions. Our results show that all damage to low impact-strength materials, especially obsidian, was generally catastrophic, and, consequently, these points could only rarely be reworked. The fact that low-strength stones were commonly used to make small arrowpoints suggests that reworking was not a primary concern for their designers. Furthermore, in those instances when broken tips could be reworked, their performance declined. In addition, reworking broken points also resulted in shapes that are uncommon in many arrowpoint assemblages. Our results suggest that the original design attributes of arrowpoints may have been less affected by reworking, and, consequently, may more accurately suggest temporal and behavioral associations.

Introduction. Mango-based orchards in Senegal occur in a large diversity of cropping systems, but few typologies of these systems exist and none are associated with their comprehensive and quantitative analysis. In this study we defined and characterized the typology of these systems based on a quantitative assessment of their planting design, management, vegetative state, hedgerow structure and infestation by a major pest of mango, the Bactrocera invadens fly. Materials and methods. Multivariate analysis and clustering methods were applied to data from 64 mango-based orchards and their surrounding hedgerows sampled in the Dakar and Thiès regions, in Senegal. Results and discussion. Four types of cropping systems were identified according to orchard design and management patterns: (1) ‘No-input mango diversified orchards’, (2) ‘Low-input mango orchards’, (3) ‘Medium-input citrus-predominant orchards’ and (4) ‘Medium-input large mango- or citrus-predominant orchards’. Orchard characteristics varied among these patterns. For instance, vegetation was dense and homogeneous in system 1, and the mortality rate of trees was high in system 2 but low in system 3. Orchards of systems 3 and 4 were mostly associated with hedgerows with, respectively, boundary-marking and defensive species. Lastly, the number of B. invadens flies was high in orchards of system 4, whereas it was low in those of system 2. Conclusion. The diversity of mango-based cropping systems in Senegal is now well described and quantified. This characterization is a preliminary step that is essential for further studies aiming to improve these systems.