Application of a neuropsychological model, developed in the laboratory, to the graffiti of Tikal reveals that the great majority of the latter are products of altered states of consciousness, depictions of visions seen by people in states of trance in relatively private settings. Beneath this art's apparent surface disorder and haphazard arrangement lies a definite neuropsychological order. Consideration of the provenances of graffiti suggests that the practice of trancing was widespread in Classic times, at least among the elite class and upper stratum of commoners.

In this paper we summarize more than a decade of interdisciplinary work at Calakmul, including (1) the mapping project, which has covered more than 30 km2; (2) the excavation project, which has uncovered major structures and tombs in the center of the city; (3) the epigraphic project, whose goal is to study the hieroglyphic texts and relate them to the archaeological evidence; (4) the analysis of the architecture, ceramics, and chipped stone to define sacred and secular activity areas and chronological stages; and (5) a focus on the ecology, hydrology, and paleoclimatology of Calakmul and its environs with the aim of understanding more fully its periods of development and decline.

Recent publications have seriously misrepresented architectural and archaeological information concerning the important Initial Period (1800-900 B. C.) site of Huaca de los Reyes in the Moche Valley, Peru. Excavation evidence available since the mid-1970s clearly shows that most of the surface architecture at the site belongs to a single, integrated construction phase and is not the cumulative result of eight construction phases as proposed by Conklin (1985). This chronological clarification is especially significant because some Initial Period coastal mound sites are the result of only one or two large construction phases (Pozorski and Pozorski 1986), whereas others apparently contain multiple small construction phases (Burger 1992). Large-scale planning and construction imply more sophisticated levels of sociopolitical organization.

Although the ceremonial center of Vilcanota was called the third most important temple in the Inka empire in the sixteenth century, its exact location and meaning have remained matters of conjecture. In this article I examine historical and archaeological information which demonstrates that the temple was located at the pass of La Raya. Ecological and ethnographic data from the region support the conclusion that the temple was built at La Raya because of the area's association with sacred rivers and mountains which were in turn linked with fertility concepts, the birth of the sun, and an ecological/political boundary. Together these factors made the place of special significance in Inka religion.

The proposal that the Prehispanic Maya recorded the revolutions of the planet Mars was made in the 1920s, and subsequently dismissed by Eric Thompson. Victoria Bricker and Harvey Bricker, followed by John Justeson, have rekindled the debate by proposing new lines of evidence supporting a “Mars Table” in the Dresden Codex. A review of the evidence does not support their contention and concludes that Thompson, following Seler, was essentially correct when he interpreted the “Sky Beast” as associated with rain and lightning. The purported Mars table is in fact a variant of the Chac almanacs that deal with weather and agriculture.

A remeasurement that corrects the previously reported orientation of Building J at Monte Albán, Mexico, suggests that the “pointer” angle did not point to any prominent star or group of stars. New data, however, do strongly relate this structure to both astronomy and the calendar. We propose that the principal function of the building was as a calendar temple.