Costume is one of the most significant forms of material culture in ethnographic contexts, yet remains of cloth are extremely rare at most archaeological sites. Artifacts that typically relate to textile production include spindle whorls and bone tools. This paper summarizes results of analyses of a large corpus of whorls and a remarkably extensive assemblage of bone tools from the Early Postclassic site of Santa Isabel in Pacific Nicaragua. Ethnohistoric sources identify several Mesoamerican groups as living in the region during the Postclassic period, with the Oto-Manguean-speaking Chorotega likely candidates for the cultural group at Santa Isabel. Textiles were probably made from cotton, among other plant fibers. In addition to cloth production, we consider the importance of spinning thread for fishnets and hammocks.

Research on the emergence of social complexity and state economies tends toward an understanding of either political economies or market economies as the privileged economic form and with producer specialization emerging contemporaneously with the state. Markets and political control need not be seen as oppositional; rather, they are part of the continuum of multiple strategies elites use to create the larger political economy of a state. The Late Postclassic period Tarascan state is known for its strong centralizing tendencies, and an overview of previous research indicates political involvement in various aspects of the larger economic coordination of metal, obsidian, and agricultural production and distribution. Tarascan state ceramics are highly distinctive in form and decoration. Ethnohistoric evidence suggests that they were produced under court control, yet no direct evidence for ceramic production has been found in the Tarascan core, the Lake Patzcuaro Basin. A mix of compositional and statistical analyses of the ceramic assemblage from Urichu, Michoacan, Mexico, indicates that ceramics were not under centralized political control but, instead, were produced at a local level and distributed using the market mechanisms of the larger mixture of economic strategies on the part of the Tarascan political elite.

Figurines offer archaeologists intriguing insights into many aspects of prehistoric culture. Beyond their utility as chronological markers, figurines offer information regarding the social and cultural structures of a society. This paper will demonstrate how the figurines of Michoacan can be used as markers of ethnic identity and ethnic continuity in the Lake Patzcauro Basin. The high degree of continuity in decorative and production styles throughout much of the sequence serves as evidence for ethnic continuity and the identity of the people who made the artifacts. A preliminary typology for the Michoacan figurines is presented to support the idea that a distinctly Michoacan style of figurine exists. The application of this figurine typology reveals a high degree of continuity in the figurine record. This supports the hypothesis that the ethnic origins of the Michoacan people may reach back as far as the Late Preclassic/Early Classic period.