Archaeologists working with complex societies are concerned with the administration of political economies. Beginning with the premise that there are differing forms of administration and that bureaucracy, in the classic formulation of Max Weber, is one of these, I develop a heuristic dichotomy between two types of administrators: stewards (who closely supervise goods and people) and bureaucrats (who process and control information). Bureaucracy is often linked to written records, but in the Central Andes alternative methods of record keeping were developed, such as the quipu or knotted string record. I argue that one alternative record-keeping device was an architectural form, the U-shaped structure. U-shaped structures are closely identified with the administrative architecture of the Chimu kingdom (ca. A.D. 850–1470) on the north coast of Peru. Four independent lines of argument demonstrate the development of bureaucracy from stewardship at Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom. Brief comparisons are made between the Chimu administrative pattern and commodity and information flow in the earlier Huari and Tiwanku civilizations, and with the later Inka pattern. These comparisons show how record-keeping technology affects political economy and the strategy of expansion.

Recent research on prehispanic water management throughout the Americas has made significant contributions to our understanding of the diversity of adaptive systems employed in regions where water is seasonally scarce, such as the Maya Lowlands. Since much of this workfocuses on large-scale technologies, the political and economic consequences of these systems for smaller social units remain poorly understood. Social dynamics associated with less-intensive forms of water use and control are investigated at Late Classic (A.D. 600–900) Copán, in a water-rich setting of western Honduras. Ethnographic, iconographic, and archaeological datasets suggest that lagoons located in Copán’s urban residential sectors may have been conceptualized, utilized, and maintained as communal property with ancestral ties by the inhabitants of surrounding domestic groups. By shifting the scale of analysis from the polity to the community level, these lagoons can be viewed as forms of communal property that created an economic and ideological basis for local social integration but offered limited opportunity for the centralization of power through monopolistic control. Yet, toward the end of the Late Classic, the appropriation of water-related dynastic symbolism and possibly ritual seems to have provided nonroyal elites with a means for creating local social identities, which undercut and eroded royal authority.

Assignment by instrument of Maya obsidian artifacts to geological sources has demonstrated the presence of several sources and variations in their distribution over time and space. Of special interest is the minor, but long-standing, presence of green and gray obsidian from Central Mexico. More attributions of large, carefully selected samples are necessary to continue the considerable progress already achieved in understanding Maya obsidian procurement and use. However, assignment by visual means is not an appropriate method for the Maya area because of the range of optical characteristics exhibited by gray Guatemalan and Central Mexican obsidians, some of which are common to several geological sources. Moreover, the determination of obsidian sources must not be considered an end in itself. Combining source results with behavioral typology and archaeological data can further our understanding of obsidian procurement and use in past cultural context. Finally, it would be helpful if analysts reported trace element composition in a standardized manner, so that archaeologists can easily compare the results from different laboratories.

An archaeological survey on the Azuero Peninsula in Panama has recently discovered a Paleoindian quarry/workshop at the base of a quartz outcrop. The Nieto site contains seldom-seen preforms and flake blanks that provide new information on early-stage reduction strategies used by Clovis-like point makers in the Neotropics. Finished tools recovered at the site include gravers, side scrapers, and large scraper planes. The production of flake blanks followed a core reduction and rejuvenation strategy already observed at other Paleoindian sites in Costa Rica and Florida. Although the quartz outcrop is located only a few kilometers away from better-quality sources of jasper and chert, Paleoindians appear to have preferred this translucent stone for their weaponry. This new information, when combined with late-stage production strategies previously recorded from other Panamanian sites, brings us closer to tracing a complete manufacturing trajectory for Clovislike points on the Isthmus. It is hoped that data from the Nieto quarry/workshop will eventually help archaeologists determine if the presence of the fluting technique in Central and South America is attributable to a migration of Clovis-related people or a technological diffusion among pre-established southerly populations.

Computer simulations are used to shed light on the probable origins of the earliest Preceramic cultures of the Greater Antilles and to understand the navigation skills necessary for island colonization. These cultures, dating to between ca. 4000 B.C. and 2000 B.C., are found on Cuba, Hispaniola, and possibly Puerto Rico. Two areas, northern South America and northern Central America, have assemblages that bear resemblance to the assemblages of the Greater Antilles, but there are important differences. Chance discovery of the Greater Antilles is possible from three areas: northern South America, northern Central America, and southern Florida. Directed voyages have a high degree of success from all three areas. However, voyages from northern South America require the least navigational skill, making it the most likely source of colonization. From northern Central America, foreknowledge of the islands appears to be required, while directed voyages from southern Florida encounter considerable risk.

The emergence of agriculture during the Formative period in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin played a crucial role in the development of the region’s first complex societies. Our study of Chenopodium seeds from the site of Chiripa, Bolivia, sheds light on some of the small-scale processes contributing to the development of agricultural systems between 1500 B.C. and A.D. 100. Using a combination of scanning electron and light microscopy, we identified the crop/weed complex of the domesticate, quinoa (C. quinoa Willd.), and its weedy relative, quinoa negra (C. quinoa var. melanospermum Hunziker), at Chiripa by 1500 B.C. Analyses of quinoa/quinoa negra morphometry and seed frequencies suggest that during the Early Formative period, farmers maintained gardens where both the crop and weed grew and were harvested for consumption. Around 800 B.C., however, we find samples almost entirely of quinoa at Chiripa’s social and political center, the Montículo. The paucity of quinoa negra seeds suggests that Middle Formative period farmers became more meticulous cultivators of quinoa, perhaps through weeding, careful seed selection, and construction of fields. This study complements previous investigations of settlement patterns, landscape modification, and stone tool use in this region, providing a richer understanding of Formative period agriculture.