The Aztec empire was composed of at least two kinds of entities, subject states and tribute provinces, and these were administered through at least two separate hierarchies. Imperial tribute, which was extracted from the common people, was not delivered through the same channels as those through which subject rulers interacted with their imperial overlords. This arrangement enabled the latter to deal with the subject rulers not as tribute-givers, but as allies and colleagues, while extracting a heavy tribute from their commoner subjects. In the core area of the Aztec empire, which included the northern Valley of Mexico, the boundaries of the subject states and tribute provinces did not coincide, and this contributed to the economic and political integration of the core area. The tribute provinces consisted only of those communities within a region that gave tribute to the empire, and the elimination of such obligations after the Spanish conquest effectively liquidated the tribute provinces.

Recent archaeological settlement pattern research in the 550 sq km Comayagua Valley in central Honduras has documented considerable variation in the political structure of one ranked society over a 2,500-year period of prehistory. Data presented suggest that this Lenca and proto-Lenca culture group underwent at least five major political restructurings during this time as a response to the local, regional, and interregional political climate on the southeast Mesoamerican periphery. Such variability calls into question traditional models postulating a lack of complexity or adaptive flexibility for indigenous cultures of lower Central America.

Salvage excavation of a small mound on the south coast of Guatemala revealed evidence of Late Preclassic salt production. Most potsherds are of a crude, thin-walled utility ware believed to have been used in evaporating salt water over fires. Level-by-level attribute analysis suggests evolution of a more efficient vessel form for this purpose. A typological study of fine ware and radiocarbon dating firmly position the mound chronologically. Charcoal was abundant; daub and elongated hearths probably figured in the technology. Also, the absence of edible plant remains and the scarcity of obsidian blades and animal bone add to the picture of a specialized, salt-producing locality. The represented salt-making technology is partially reconstructed using comparative ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and archaeological sources from southern Mesoamerica.

A new obsidian source has recently been discovered in the highlands of Guatemala, near the city of Sansare, El Progreso. Ten samples have been subjected to neutron activation analysis, and the results are presented. While ceramic affinities tie the Sansare area with Formative and Classic period Highland Maya sites, linguistic evidence suggests that Postclassic inhabitants of this region were Xinca speakers.

Anthropologists have long speculated that ancient peoples of Mesoamerica used a toad, Bufo marinus, as a ritual intoxicant. This hypothesis rests on many iconographic and mythological representations of toads and on a number of speculative ethnographic reports. We reject B. marinus as a candidate for such use because of the toxicity of its venom. A more likely candidate is the Sonoran desert toad, Bufo alvarius, which secretes large amounts of the potent, known hallucinogen, 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT). We demonstrate that the venom of B. alvarius, though known to be toxic when consumed orally, may be safely smoked and is powerfully psychoactive by that route of administration. These experiments are the first documentation of a hallucinogenic agent from the animal kingdom, and they provide clear evidence of a psychoactive toad that could have been employed by Precolumbiae peoples of the New World.

Excavation of the large elite structures around the Structure 10L-32 plaza at the northeast corner of Group 10L-2, at the south edge of the Acropolis at Copan, supports the view that this group was the residence of the royal family during the Late and Terminal Classic Coner phase. During the hundred years of construction at the uppermost plaza level, structure change and growth follows two patterns: (1) a tendency for subsequent buildings in one place to retain a similar form and probably function, and (2) a trend away from domestic structures to ritual or public buildings. As the buildings around the plaza grew, access to the complex was increasingly limited. The largest two, Structures 10L-32 and 10L-30, were built late in the eighth century by a noble named Chac, who was a close associate, relative, or sibling of Yax Pac. The older Structure 10L-29, on the terrace above the plaza, was dedicated to the worship of royal lineage ancestors. The collapse of this group occurred in two stages, a decline of the nobility early in the ninth century, followed by violent destruction of buildings and monuments sometime before that century ended. This sequence of events may apply to the entire Principal Group and adjacent elite residential areas.

The architectural sculpture legacy of Late Classic Copan provides a source for understanding the sociopolitical and ideological adaptations of the rulers of this ancient city. Fieldwork conducted since 1985 has been directed toward documentation and conservation of the tens of thousands of mosaic sculpture facade pieces covered for centuries by collapsed debris or lichens. Hypothetical reconstructions of motif configurations and their rearticulation within building facades compose larger iconographic themes. The iconological study of these compositions opens a window for analyzing the nature of the religious and political symbolism produced by the last four rulers of Copan. Using these data, a shift from the cosmological and fertility themes employed by the thirteenth and fourteenth rulers to the emphasis on warfare by the fifteenth and sixteenth rulers can be documented.

The investigation of Structure 10L-26 has revealed a series of sequent monumental constructions underlying the elaborate final phase temple/pyramid made famous by the Maya area's largest hieroglyphic stairway. The meticulous recording and analysis of the archaeological, architectural, hieroglyphic, and iconographic materials from this sequence of sculpture-adorned buildings provides the opportunity for a diachronic view of the nature of the historical record and political symbolism. Investigations conducted to date provide hieroglyphic and archaeological evidence in support of the sequence of rulers documented in the official histories of the last four rulers of Copan, and evidence of a dramatic shift in the use of this space, and of political symbolism in general, by the fifteenth king, Smoke Shell. While the lack of evidence for “re-writing of history” will be encouraging to many, the evidence also shows the need for a careful assessment of official histories by archaeological excavations. Just as important, the Copan Acropolis research demonstrates the usefulness of incorporating ideas and data derived from the careful scrutiny of the public monuments in ongoing archaeological investigations and model building.

As a consequence of long-term archaeological research at Copan, 1,425 archaeological sites containing 4,507 structures have been located and mapped over an area of 135 km2. As part of the PAC II research, 200 archaeological sites representing a 15% stratified random sample of all valley sites were test excavated from 1983–1989. From these excavations, 2,150 obsidian hydration dates were processed, representing the largest number of chronometric dates from controlled contexts currently available from any southern Lowland Maya site. Based on this chronological research, there appears to be an excellent fit with various other available chronological techniques for all time phases except the ending date of the important Coner ceramic phase, which now appears to have extended to A.D. 1250. This more detailed Copan chronology suggests that the political collapse of the Main Group and immediate vicinity was quite sudden, taking place c. A.D. 800–830. Beyond that, however, the chronometric data provide evidence that some of the secondary elite, or lineage heads, and large numbers of rural commoners continued to reside within the valley in reduced courtyard groups or small rural hamlets for about 400 years following the decentralization of the Copan polity.

Decipherments and interpretations presented by Peter Mathews and Bertold Riese a decade ago led to the identification of numbered-successor titles that list individual rulers according to their numerical position in a historical succession of kings. Work on the inscriptions of Copan has shown that the “counts of successors” there began with a single founding ancestor, who has been identified archaeologically. Since the rulers of other kingdoms calculated their descent from different founding ancestors, the evidence suggests that Maya kingdoms were ruled by lineages or dynasties of males who calculated their descent for a single anchoring ancestor, who was very probably a historical individual. Evidence from Naranjo also suggests that alternative descent lines were calculated from supernatural anchoring ancestors. The metaphorical term for these lineages was “spout-tree-house.” All of the people in the lineage descending from these founders were called “sprouts,” while the ruling patriarch was the ahau of the descent line.

Interpreting the social meaning of polity center architecture opens a window onto the organization and history of the society responsible for its construction. Our research is designed to examine the form, function, and organization of Copan's Acropolis architecture. Through a unique program of tunneling, surface excavation, and architectural recording, more than 400 years of monumental architecture (c. A.D. 400–800) are being documented and analyzed to comprehend the evolution of the Acropolis and its role in the Copan polity. The dramatic erosion cut through the eastern Acropolis edge allows ready access to all major construction levels and presents a rare opportunity for extensive exposure of superimposed architectural plans. Our tunneling excavation methods provide a more complete, less destructive, and more efficient means of such documentation. Exposed architecture is being recorded by a computer-assisted mapping program, its first application to the sequential development of Classic Maya architecture, and its first use in tunnel excavations. As a result, our research is documenting the architectural transformation of the Acropolis during the time of Copan's increasing sociopolitical complexity and is doing so at a level of detail impossible to achieve by most projects using traditional archaeological techniques. The correspondence between architectural data and data sets from epigraphy, iconography, and settlement survey is being evaluated in light of current discussion on the political and economic trajectory of Copan in particular, and in general, the architectural expression of political power and integration in complex societies.

The estimated 600 individuals in the Copan skeletal sample make it one of the largest and most important collections from Precolumbian Mesoamerica. The sample is analyzed using a bioarchaeological approach. An overview of the goals of the osteological study and its progress are presented. As an illustration of the results obtainable from osteological analysis, mortality patterns and the incidence of enamel defects in the deciduous dentition of the children of an elite compound, 9N-8, are discussed. Even at an early stage of analysis, children commonly have evidence of health stress that is relevant to understanding the collapse of the Classic Maya society at Copan.

The study of Copan's extensive hieroglyphic texts has grown hand in hand with long-term architectural excavations. Recent progress in Maya decipherment, much of it derived from work at Copan, now allows for new and potentially rewarding opportunities to integrate epigraphy and “dirt” archaeology. Toward this end, this paper provides an overview of the current knowledge of Copan's elite history, summarizing current knowledge of the ruler sequence and attributions of monuments and architecture to individual reigns. Thematic and stylistic changes are evident in the inscriptions between the Early and Late Classic periods, including a proliferation of subordinate elite texts in the decades leading up to political collapse. Also, new information is provided on the changing relations between Copan and Quirigua throughout the Classic period.

Several projects carried out at Copan since 1975 provide extensive settlement data that form the basis for a simulation of Copan population history between A.D. 400–1250. Most important is a set of 2,048 obsidian hydration dates, associated with 15% of all known sites, that allows unprecedented chronological control of occupational episodes at domestic sites of all social ranks. This article summarizes the results of our simulation, and some of its implications for agricultural intensification, sociopolitical structure, and labor demand for elite construction projects.