The city of Teotihuacan (AD 1–550) was a major multiethnic urban center that attracted migrants from as far away as west Mexico and the Maya region. Past research in the Tlajinga district at Teotihuacan using oxygen isotopes from human remains estimated that nearly 30% of the population of Tlajinga 33, a single apartment compound, were migrants. This study takes a dual-isotope approach (87Sr/86Sr and δ18Op) to reevaluate the proportion of in-migration at Tlajinga and includes data from two additional apartment compounds, Tlajinga 17 and 18 (n = 23). New results indicate that migrants comprised ~45% of the Tlajinga population. Previously acquired radiocarbon dates combined with mortuary and isotope data suggest that immigration to Tlajinga was highest during the first centuries of compound occupation. Nevertheless, migration was a continual process throughout its history. Additionally, a new finding suggests that residents of Tlajinga 33 ingested foods with higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than did those of Tlajinga 17 and 18. We hypothesize that the incorporation of imported lime for the nixtamalization process skewed the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of human remains, a potentially important finding for future studies at Teotihuacan.

Altica is a rare first-farming village site in the Basin of Mexico that has survived to modern times. Thus, it provides a glimpse into life during the Early–Middle Formative period. While valuable archaeological information on the village was recovered in excavation, only four burials comprising four individuals were recovered, a very small sample. Two individuals are older-aged females; the third, a middle-aged male, was accompanied by prestigious nonperishable goods and indicates that there are status differences even at this early date. The final individual was a young male buried in a deviant manner, suggesting possible foul play. While all individuals have indicators of periods of poor health, stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen paint a more complete picture of the types of foods these individuals consumed over their lifetime. Radiogenic strontium isotopes of tooth enamel identify one individual, the young male buried in a deviant manner, as non-native to the Altica region. Thus, there is mystery in the manner of death, but even in this small sample, the wider connections Altica had that are so evident in the artefactual analysis are found in the skeletons. In addition, accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating provides a chronology of occupation through the people.

Skeletal remains from Tlajinga 33 (33:S3W1) have been the focus of research in the southern sector of Teotihuacan since excavations took place in the 1980s. Recent excavations in Tlajinga Compounds 17 and 18 (17:S3E1 and 18:S3E1, respectively), located along the southern Street of the Dead, recovered nine additional skeletons. This article is a description of the burials from Compounds 17 and 18 and a comparative analysis of health, diet, and chronology across all three compounds (Compounds 17, 18, and 33). Here, we test the hypothesis that individuals between residential compounds at Tlajinga lived similar lives and that health and biogeochemical markers of individuals will reflect these similarities. Although the sample size is small, the paleopathological analysis of individuals at Compounds 17 and 18 indicates morbidity patterns similar to Tlajinga 33, but also that these residents were perhaps less susceptible to stressors during periods of juvenile growth. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes suggest that, overall, diets were analogous across compounds, but Compounds 17 and 18 were able to supplement their diet with a greater variety of plant resources. There were no clear dietary differences between higher and lower status individuals, however. Finally, accelerated mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates indicate that residential living may have occurred later at Compound 18 than at Compound 17 and Tlajinga 33.

Stable carbon isotope ratios in bone collagen and oxygen isotope ratios in bone and enamel phosphate from 25 individuals from the residential compound of Tlajinga 33 were used to examine the possibility that the inhabitants, who were craft producers, may have accepted immigrants to maintain either their ability to reproduce themselves as a social group or their level of economic productivity. Bone δ18O and δ13C values provide a long-term picture of geographic identity and diet, and enamel δ18O values provide a snapshot of geographic location during particular tooth development. A considerable proportion (29 percent) of the Tlajinga 33 inhabitants grew up elsewhere, but the majority of these immigrants had dwelt in Teotihuacan for many years before their death. Neither geographical relocation nor dietary differences are significantly associated with gender. The social position of foreigners appears to have been generally high. For example, the occupants of Tomb 50 appear to have come from elsewhere, possibly West Mexico, but foreigners were also found in lower status contexts such as middens. The stable isotope ratios reflecting long-term dwelling at Teotihuacan suggest that social status was achieved, which supports current archaeological evidence. Furthermore, the lack of dietary differences between immigrants and native Teotihuacanos may also imply political and/or ethnic assimilation.

Mortuary interments from Formative and Early Classic deposits of the Maya site of K'axob, northern Belize, show significant variation in four aspects: burial position, number of interments within a burial facility, incidence of secondary interments, and types of associated burial accoutrements. Burial data for more than 100 individuals of both sexes and all age grades indicate that these changes over time are significant. The implications of these patterns for heightening our understanding of mortuary ritual are explored in depth. Evidence suggests that tightly wrapped seated and flexed burials represent the Late Formative onset of more protracted rituals involving prolonged displays of ancestors. Terminal Formative mortuary deposits featuring collections of curated ancestor remains indicate the “gathering of ancestors,” generally at a locale at which a monumental structure was later built. Sex and age distributions within multiple interments (both primary and secondary) reflect the familial character of burial locales, particularly at the centrally located Operation I. Burial accoutrements demonstrate the connectivity of K'axob to general cosmological armatures of Maya society. Increasingly individualized artifacts indicate the socially diacritical role of burial offerings.

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.

Changes in the nature of social stratification and economic organization during the history of the urban center of Teotihuacan are charted using information from the residential compound of Tlajinga 33. This lower-class, artesanal compound yielded evidence of craft specialization and mortuary patterns that allow investigation of changes in economic specialization and differentiation of internal status through time. From the mortuary evidence it appears that Tlajinga 33 became poorer and reduced its internal status divisions from Early Tlamimilolpa to Late Xolalpan-Metepec times. The craft specialization of the residents changed from one of probable autonomy to one where the compound contributed to a neighborhood specialization. These changes support evidence from other researchers that Teotihuacan became more rigid in organization and socially stratified through time. The urban society was thus characterized by social and economic change during its apogee.