From their beginnings some 4,000 years ago to their decadence around 400 b.c., the Olmec people achieved a high level of sociopolitical complexity and dominated their native geographic territory, the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico. The first Olmec capital of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, was the only site in Mesoamerica that produced imposing monumental stone sculpture and architecture between 1800 and 1000 b.c. These characteristics reflect the capabilities of its centralized political system headed by hereditary rulers with divine legitimation. Key issues regarding the development of San Lorenzo Olmec culture center on subsistence and environment. The present study focuses on a portion of the landscape located immediately north of the first Olmec capital of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, that has been proposed as a key resource area during the development of the first civilization in Mesoamerica. We calculate the surface, volume, and water depth of this area based on archaeological data and a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derived from an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) survey. The expected minimum and maximum area, local minimum altitude, and the DTM of 5-m spatial resolution provide a basis for inferences regarding the characteristics of the wetland ecosystem during Olmec times. The goal is to quantify and qualify the potential of this resource zone relying on LiDAR topography. Our models validate the observations in the field and, when combined with algorithms, they confirm the archaeological conclusions. We affirm that the northern plain in Olmec times was deeper than it is today and would have been a source of abundant aquatic resources for the primary subsistence of the early Olmec society.

Burnt lime has played a significant role in daily Maya life since at least as far back as 1100 b.c., and yet its ephemeral nature has limited archaeological studies of its production. The application of new surveying and remote sensing technologies in recent decades is now allowing for a more in-depth investigation of the burnt lime industries that existed in different subregions of the Maya area. This article provides an overview of the current understanding of pre-Hispanic Maya burnt lime production. It then presents an analysis of the factors influencing the development and identification of distinct subregional lime production industries, including: lime consumption requirements and inter-site spacing; natural environment; local social and economic trajectories; and the objectives and survey universes of archaeological investigations. In reporting the tremendous advances made over the past few decades, this paper encourages archaeologists to include a focus on identifying lime production features in their research agendas.

Ceramic figurines are ubiquitous throughout the archaeological record of Mesoamerica. These small, handheld objects continue to fascinate archaeologists, and their role in the daily lives of the people who created and used them remains a point of debate in some academic circles. The figurines have been interpreted variously as children's toys, fertility fetish tools, and ritual objects. At the site of Cahal Pech, located in the Belize Valley of west-central Belize, a large assemblage of figurines has been recovered from construction fill dating to the Cunil (1200–900 b.c.) and Kanluk ceramic phases (900–350 b.c.) of the Preclassic period. In this article, we analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution of these objects in the settlement and conclude that these objects were used in a variety of ritual events. Although they mainly served as venues for invoking ancestors in domestic rituals, their discovery in public spaces suggests diverse social uses. Most importantly, their limited presence in residential and public spaces outside the Plaza B section of the site core during the late facet of the Kanluk phase may indicate that certain rituals were not performed by the entire community.

When I was a child, my favorite book was Wonderful Journey by Selma Lagerlof in Hungarian translation. The story is about a boy who is turned into a Tom Thumb for bad behavior. He joins a flock of wild geese and travels with them on the back of a goose on a series of adventures through towns and forests, even under the sea to an “Atlantis.” He speaks the language of the animals and learns good behavior. As a reward, after a year, he is transformed back into a regular boy and goes home. He looks up wonderingly at the flock of geese going on another adventure but can no longer understand the language of animals. He is sad. At this point, I always cried. (I did not know that the story, written in 1907, took place in Sweden and was a geography lesson of Sweden, specifically. It is available now in English as the Wonderful Adventures of Nils. Selma Lagerlof received the Nobel Prize.)

We present three new analyses of existing data from past fieldwork at Teotihuacan. First, we confirm and refine the wealth-based housing typology of Millon's Teotihuacan Mapping Project (TMP). Second, we analyze the spatial configurations of excavated compounds, using network methods to identify the size and layout of individual dwellings within walled compounds. Third, we use those results to generate the first population estimate for the city based on measurements from the TMP map. We extrapolate the average sizes of dwellings from excavated compounds to the entire sample of mapped residences as depicted on the TMP map of the city. We generate a range of population estimates, of which we suggest that 100,000 persons is the most reasonable estimate for the Xolalpan-Metepec population of Teotihuacan. These analyses show that legacy data from fieldwork long past can be used to answer research questions that are relevant and important today.

La guerra florida es considerada un conflicto en el cual se enfrentaron, durante muchos años, la Triple Alianza Azteca y los reinos del valle tlaxcalteco-poblano. Por mucho tiempo la xochiyaoyotl se ha estudiado como una guerra ritual, prolongada en el tiempo y basada en un recíproco acuerdo. Según las teorías críticas que avaloran esta tesis, el fin de la xochiyaoyotl era obtener las víctimas cuyo sacrificio proveía la alimentación de los dioses. Sin embargo, en las últimas décadas del siglo XX, gracias al descubrimiento y a la traducción de nuevos documentos relativos a la historia prehispánica, el concepto ritual y religioso de la xochiyaoyotl ha empezado a cuestionarse. La fuente que otorga más detalles sobre la xochiyaoyotl es la obra del cronista chalca Domingo Chimalpahin. Este testimonio da evidencia de enfrentamientos llamados xochiyaoyotl precedentes al reinado de Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, en que estuvieron involucrados primeramente chalcas y tlacochcalcas y, después, los mexicas. A través del análisis del testimonio de Chimalpahin este estudio busca matizar las teorías acerca de la finalidad puramente ritual de la xochiyaoyotl, avanzando como hipótesis que los mexicas se adueñaron del concepto de xochiyaoyotl, desarrollándolo conforme a las nuevas necesidades políticas sobrevenidas.

Traditionally, cups have been the primary artifact through which beverage consumption has been inferred or defined, regardless of the numerous other artifacts that may be involved in beverage production, preparation, and service. Conversely, not all cup-shaped artifacts were intended to be used as drinking vessels, nor were all of them necessarily intended to contain a liquid. For the Maya Classic period (a.d. 250–900) decorated cylinder vessels in particular, this paper shows that the residues of their former contents do not agree with epigraphers’ interpretations of what have been taken as self-referential statements about their contents and uses. This disparity between expectations and data indicates that we have misunderstood both the vessels and the text, and perhaps that we have failed to recognize one or more classes of vessels. The research presented here suggests that we need to rethink the generally accepted interpretation that all cylinders were drinking vessels and that those that are currently referred to as “chocolate” vessels were never used for the consumption of liquid cacao beverage. These results provide a new context for interpreting the use, function, and purpose of these vessels. Methods drawn from both the natural and social sciences are used to relate archaeological materials, residues of their ancient contents, their hieroglyphic texts, ceramic imagery(/iconography), and past behavior. This diversity of methods accentuates that combining data from all these sources constrains the interpretations of each, and shows that our initial expectations about vessels with hieroglyphic tags have been overly specific. Determining the functions and uses of these vessels is not as simple as we have been supposing, but distinctions that prove to be relevant give us access to more complex systems of cultural practice.

Los sonidos producidos por los seres humanos, así como los de su medio, son percibidos y codificados por las personas dependiendo de sus experiencias como parte de un grupo cultural; por esta razón, es esencial incorporarlos como un medio de comunicación entre los grupos sociales. En este trabajo presentamos el estudio arqueoacústico de dos flautas triples mayas. La primera proviene de las excavaciones en el sitio arqueológico de Jaina, y la segunda de un entierro en Copan, Honduras (Nakamura 2004). Ambas emiten una gran variedad sonora, la cual puede dar indicios de esta comunicación, tipo de manufactura y preferencias sonoras para el caso de los mayas prehispánicos. Este estudio es totalmente nuevo para el área maya y tiene una gran relevancia para incluir los sonidos como parte sustancial de la comunicación maya.

El gobierno de K'ihnich Bahlam Chapaht corresponde a uno de los más longevos de todos los gobernantes conocidos de Tonina. Con excepción de su nacimiento y entronización, conocidos por referencias retrospectivas muy reiteradas, es poco lo que se conoce de su vida. Sin embargo, gracias al recientemente restaurado Monumento 181 y al altar identificado como Monumento 182, hemos logrado reconstruir pormenores adicionales de su gobierno. En el presente ensayo, presentamos nuevos datos sobre ritualidad y jerarquía político-religiosa en Tonina durante el reinado de K'ihnich Bahlam Chapaht resultado del análisis de estos dos monumentos.

Research on Classic Maya personhood confirms that personhood was extended to non-human entities; however, questions about its operation and impact remain. What is the nature of the linkage between human beings and object persons, and how does personhood pass between them? What is the impact on an object of becoming personed? I approach these questions through depictions in Classic Maya iconography of faces shown on non-human objects, indicating potential to act in person-like ways. Close examination of “faced” objects reveals that Classic Maya personhood represents a substance that does not require humans as a source, and acts, instead, as an untethered resource accessed by entities able to act in social, relational ways. Furthermore, object personhood represents a state of identity in which essences of persons and objects co-exist, opening possibilities for complicating categories of being in the ancient Maya world.

The Altica Project that began in 2014 is an important step in addressing over two decades of limited problem-oriented research at Formative sites in the Basin of Mexico. Through this research, we demonstrate that Altica is the earliest known settled village in the Teotihuacan Valley and one of the only first-farming village sites in the Basin of Mexico that has not been engulfed by the urban sprawl of Mexico City. It represents the northward spread of settled village life in a time that people of the region were transitioning from a mobile foraging lifestyle to one more reliant on food production. Despite its small size and remote location, Altica was an important part of Early and Middle Formative exchange networks, as it imported multiple types of goods from distant places in Mesoamerica and may have played a role in the early trade of Otumba obsidian. This paper leads the Special Section by framing the research project and outlining its major goals. Survey and excavation results are introduced. Finally, we preface each of the presentations to situate them within the framework. Altica spans a transitional period in Mesoamerica that began around 1000 cal b.c. We establish Altica as a proxy to understand broader Mesoamerican processes at that time.

This work addresses varying interpretations of the production, circulation, and consumption of jades in the Maya area from the Preclassic through the Postclassic periods (600 b.c.–a.d. 1697). Traditionally, exchange of jades has been seen as a dyadic relationship between elites (gifting and tribute). Some have argued for gradations of value in the circulation of jades, which probably circulated in both elite and commoner spheres. More recent research argues that jade blanks were commoditized because they could be standardized. In this article, we evaluate this last claim, concluding there is no evidence for standardization and commodification of jade blanks, and a dearth of jade blanks in archaeological deposits. We critique the expectation that commodities in some nonindustrial economies should be standardized, and make suggestions about what kinds of jade objects, if any, have greatest potential to become commodities in the Maya area.

Social groups in Honduras played a key role in regional developments between a.d. 800 and 1100, acting as the pivot in long-distance networks extending west as far as Tula, north to Chichen Itza, and south to Costa Rica. Understanding the role of Honduran settlements at this time has been obstructed by the lack of well-dated contexts from this period and the associated uncertainty about the development of the key Honduran ceramic type, Las Vegas Polychrome. This paper offers a definition of the distinctive features that characterize Las Vegas Polychrome, reviewing evidence supporting earlier dates than traditionally suggested for this type, as early as the emergence of any white-slipped polychrome in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. It summarizes evidence for a suite of luxuries consumed in conjunction with Las Vegas Polychrome, and points to the products most likely produced in Honduras for exchange with partners who provided these. Finally, the article considers the ideological, social, and political implications of changes in Honduran settlements where the new pottery was used.

Excavations at the Late Classic Maya site of Cancuen (Petén Department, Guatemala) uncovered a small-scale hydraulic system including stone-lined canals and reservoirs within the architectural core of the site. The abundance of other nearby potable water sources along with the elaborate form of the system demonstrate that it served an ideological rather than practical function. Artifacts deposited in the reservoirs support this interpretation. Moreover, the reservoir located in front of the site's royal palace contained the remains of at least 30 individuals who may represent members of the royal court massacred during the site's collapse. This paper reports the animal remains found within the site's reservoirs to further explore the nature and extent of ritual and disposal activities within these aquatic contexts. Inter- and intrasite comparisons are used to contextualize the results within broader discussions of how we identify ritual activity in the zooarchaeological record, and the role of water in ancient Maya ideological and political systems.

The Formative-period site of Altica in the Patlachique Range poses many methodological problems when designing an excavation strategy. Three millennia of erosion, twentieth-century chisel plowing, and modern reforestation efforts have destroyed or disturbed most surface architecture above the local tepetate bedrock. As such, in the early stages of the Altica Project, the primary concern was the detection and identification of subsurface features, especially deep pits as found at other Formative sites. Although Altica is located at the top of a low, flat ridge, strong localized rain frequently flooded the terraces of interest for days, making it impossible to detect subsurface features using the most common prospection techniques. Because of these practical and taphonomic limitations, we relied on magnetic gradient prospection. This technique had never been applied to an early village site in the Basin of Mexico. This paper presents the methods used, discusses various difficulties encountered during prospection, applies interprets the results of the magnetic gradient study using results from excavation and aerial multispectral remote sensing. We discuss how the method might be applied to similar Formative sites to remotely detect indicators of anthropogenic activity, including subsurface features.

En este artículo realizamos un análisis tecnológico de una concha esgrafiada tolteca, recientemente excavada en las periferias de la antigua ciudad de Tula, Hidalgo, México. Asimismo, efectuamos un análisis iconográfico de los motivos esgrafiados en la pieza. Proponemos la técnica de manufactura del objeto, su probable lugar de producción, así como la función ritual que el objeto pudo tener. Así, postulamos que la concha representa a un integrante de los linajes hegemónicos de Tula y que la inhumación del objeto pudo ser similar a los dones depositados en La Casa de las Águilas, en México-Tenochtitlan.

-Yolia is one of the principal indigenous terms present in Christian Nahua terminology in the first decades of European contact. It is employed for “soul” or “spirit” and often forms a doublet with ánima in Nahuatl texts of an ecclesiastical, devotional, or secular nature. The term -yolia/teyolia has also lived a rich and fascinating life in scholarly literature. Its etymology (“the means for one's living”) is strikingly similar to that of the Spanish word ánima, or “soul.” Taking into account the possibility that attestations of the seemingly pre-Hispanic -yolia can be identified in some of the written sources, we have reviewed historical, linguistic, and anthropological evidence concerning this term in order to revisit the Nahua concept of the “soul.” We also scrutinize the very origin of -yolia in academic discourse. This analysis, based on broader historical and linguistic evidence referring to both pre-Conquest beliefs and Christianization in sixteenth-century central Mexico, is the point of departure for proposing and substantiating an alternative hypothesis about the origin of -yolia. Our precise focus has been to trace and pinpoint a pervasive Christian influence, manifest both in indigenous Colonial texts and conceptual frameworks of modern scholars interpreting them. We conclude that -yolia is a neologism created in the early Colonial period.

This study examines 2,000 years of marine trade to the ancient Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala. Located almost 150 kilometers from the nearest coast in Belize, Ceibal was a large community spanning the Middle Preclassic through early Postclassic periods (1000 b.c.–a.d. 1200). It therefore provides an excellent opportunity to assess the marine resources imported through the southern Maya lowlands over many centuries, offering insight into trade networks, uses of shell ornaments, religious beliefs and rituals, and other activities involving marine species. The study compares marine invertebrate data from Ceibal to a neighboring subordinate community, Caobal, as well as data previously reported from sites in the southern Mesoamerican lowlands, in order to understand regional sociocultural and trade connections over time. The majority of Ceibal's marine taxa are Atlantic species and reflect shell trends observed elsewhere in Guatemala and Belize, suggesting strong ties to trade networks eastward to the coast that lasted many centuries.