Paleoethnobotanical remains from the Three Dog site (SS-21), an early Lucayan site located on San Salvador, Bahamas, are presented and compared to data from other prehistoric Caribbean sites. Flotation, in situ, and screen recovery (1/16", 1.58 mm) revealed six taxa of fuelwood and charred Sapotaceae seed fragments. Preliminary SEM analysis of six chert microliths revealed possible evidence of the Caribbean aroid, Xanthosoma sp. (cocoyam, malanga, yautía) or Zamia sp. The presence of Sapotaceae and possibly Xanthosoma sp. or Zamia sp. in the archaeobotanical record can be attributed to a number of alternative explanations. The site"s inhabitants may have transported these plants from their homelands and transplanted them to home gardens. An alternative view is that they exploited or managed wild representatives or created disturbed habitats that encouraged the spread of wild or cultivated forms. The pollen data from two Bahama cores, one from Andros, the other from San Salvador, reflect anthropogenic disturbance during the prehistoric occupational sequence. The increasing frequency of Sapotaceae pollen in the San Salvador sequence is consistent with the occurrence of Sapotaceae at the Three Dog site. Finally, preservation- and recovery-related issues are discussed. The study suggests that multiple means of data recovery must be employed to gain a more representative picture of prehistoric Caribbean plant use and floristic environment.

This study examines archaeofaunal materials contained within a large bell-shaped prehistoric pit from the site of Pechichal (M3B4-011) in northern Manabí Province of lowland western Ecuador. This feature provides a high resolution archaeological context for understanding assemblage accumulation and deposition, and provides important data for inferring local environmental conditions. The archaeofaunal assemblage can be divided into two distinct groups based upon the vertical representation of its skeletal remains throughout the pit. One group, characterized by variable skeletal representation and vertical concentration, likely includes both culturally disposed and naturally entrapped taxa. The other group, characterized by a few isolated fragments, low skeletal completeness, and dispersion in vertical profile, is likely dominated by culturally disposed taxa. When the natural histories of the pit faunas are considered along with their distinct numerical representation, the entire pit assemblage makes ecological sense. The data suggest that the pit was located at the edge of a modified forest fragment.

In 1999, the Quispisisa source of obsidian was located in the Province of Huanca Sancos in central Ayacucho near the village of Sacsamarca. This discovery has been confirmed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) by comparing the neautron activation analyses of source samples with artifacts. The Quispisisa source of volcanic glass provided the raw material for most of the obsidian artifacts utilized in central and northern Peru throughout prehispanic times.

During the last four decades, mesoamerican archaeologists regularly have employed various chemical assay techniques to determine the geological sources of obsidian artifacts. In recent years, the reliability of these analytical procedures has increased and their costs have declined, encouraging the assay of ever larger samples. Nonetheless, several constraints make it unlikely that compositional data will be used routinely to attribute entire collections to their geological sources. This report describes a test of visual sourcing, a technique that for many sites in the Maya region is only slightly less accurate than compositional assay. We also propose sampling strategies that combine visual and compositional sourcing in ways that allow large collections to be accurately sourced at low costs. Finally, we suggest ways to develop the technique for use throughout Latin America.

A long low mound of rubble incompletely surrounds part of the central zone at the Classic Period site of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico. This wall was hastily built from stone robbed from nearby buildings and roadbeds and it clearly served as a defensive barricade. All indications are that the barricade represents a one-time event whereupon the site was attacked, overrun, and abandoned. Re-analysis of other known fortified sites across Yucatan"s northern plains show some fundamental similarities. I suggest that all sites with barricades still standing suffered wars of annihilation rather than wars of conquest and subjugation by the victors. I suggest that the Chunchucmil distribution node was annihilated because its proximity to consumption centers in nuclear Mesoamerica reduced the competitiveness of other Yucatecan coastal trade sites that were located further away along the Gulf Coast maritime trade route.

James Aimers and colleagues consider the social meaning and function of round structures, a poorly understood but significant architectural feature of many Preclassic Maya sites. Based on my own work on the connection between such structures and the development of social stratification and changes in the relations between households and the state, I offer additional examples of the location and role of these structures in order to expand on the insights offered by Aimers et al.