In this article, we present research on Inka actions in the face of resistance by indigenous peoples on the northern frontier. We link fieldwork at the Pambamarca complex in northern Ecuador with historic documents to provide important context for further examining imperial processes. With its three site types, Pambamarca offers an opportunity to examine the range of tendencies that groups undergo during imperial moments. Its sites show evidence of both direct displays and the materialization of forceful control or takeover, as well as the more passive, nonsettler, decentralized hegemonic narratives also commonly associated with empire. Here we present detailed data for Inka military installations used to confront a prolonged resistance by the País Caranqui, a decentralized confederation of Caranqui-Cayambe peoples. Evidence from surveys and excavations— including architectural planning, distribution of artifacts, and military encounters—at two large sites in the complex, Quitoloma and Campana Pucara, helps expand our current understandings of the Inka invasion in northern Ecuador while broadening our perspective on the imperial narrative in South America.

Since at least 1742, the mineralogical collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN) in Paris has hosted, under the reference number 22.U, a biconvex lens-shaped obsidian artifact, also described as a mirror, measuring 250 mm in diameter and finely polished on both faces. It has usually been ascribed to the shipment sent by Hernán Cortez in 1522 to the Emperor Charles V, which was captured by a French privateer. We investigated the object using modern techniques. The elemental composition of the obsidian determined by the particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) method showed that the raw material originates from the Mullumica deposit (Ecuador). Documentary investigations revealed that the lens (renumbered No. 176.101) was sent in 1737 from Quito, Ecuador (at that time part of the viceroyalty of Peru), to France by members of the Godin–La Condamine geodesic expedition (1735–1743). The mirror is thus among the rare Ecuadorian archeological or colonial artifacts to have reached the Old World during the eighteenth century.

Un trabajo de rescate arqueológico en la cuenca alta del Río Loa (norte de Chile) resultó en el hallazgo de una inhumación prehispánica de un infante asociado a variados atavíos y ofrendas, junto a los restos óseos parciales de una adolescente. Ambos individuos fueron sometidos a análisis de isótopos estables para establecer paleodieta (δ13C y δ15N) y movilidad (δ18O y 87Sr/86Sr). Además, se efectuaron dataciones radiocarbónicas pareadas de los restos bioantropológicos y culturales con el fin establecer la cronología de la inhumación y, a la vez, evaluar la existencia de un posible efecto reservorio marino. Los resultados isotópicos sugieren consumo de dieta principalmente terrestre y un origen local para los individuos, aunque con una ingesta moderada de recursos marinos. Los fechados radiocarbónicos presentan una inesperada diferencia entre las edades de las ofrendas y los restos humanos, indicando la existencia de un importante efecto reservorio. Dichos resultados dan nuevas luces sobre el consumo de alimentos marinos durante el Formativo temprano en la región, a la vez que permiten ejemplificar los alcances de efectuar dataciones pareadas de restos humanos y culturales.

We conducted unmanned aerial vehicle lidar missions in the Maya Lowlands between June 2017 and June 2018 to develop appropriate methods, procedures, and standards for drone lidar surveys of ancient Maya settlements and landscapes. Three site locations were tested within upper Usumacinta River region using Phoenix Lidar Systems: Piedras Negras, Guatemala, was tested in 2017, and Budsilha and El Infiernito, both in Mexico, were tested in 2018. These sites represent a range of natural and cultural contexts, which make them ideal to evaluate the usefulness of the technology in the field. Results from standard digital elevation and surface models demonstrate the utility of deploying drone lidar in the Maya Lowlands and throughout Latin America. Drone survey can be used to target and efficiently document ancient landscapes and settlement. Such an approach is adaptive to fieldwork and is cost effective but still requires planning and thoughtful evaluation of samples. Future studies will test and evaluate the methods and techniques for filtering and processing these data.

Stone tool producers in the Maya Lowlands had several types of raw materials from which to choose. Limestone, chert, and obsidian are the most naturally abundant, whereas chert and obsidian outnumber limestone in archaeological contexts. The presence of flaked-stone tools made of limestone is typically attributed to the scarcity of more suitable raw materials. Nevertheless, in chert-rich areas, such as the upper Belize River valley, limestone bifaces and production debitage are present. To understand their presence, we examine limestone biface production and use at Buenavista del Cayo.

AMS radiocarbon dating of two modified pearls from the Covacha Babisuri site, Espíritu Santo Island, Baja California Sur, México, corroborates associated midden dates suggesting that traditional indigenous use and modification of pearls as items of adornment began at least 8,500 years ago. To our knowledge, these are the oldest modified pearls found in dated archaeological contexts anywhere in the world. The presence of similarly modified pearls in later components at Covacha Babisuri suggests that this custom continued throughout the Middle Holocene, and ethnohistoric accounts indicate that similar modifications of pearls continued up until the Historic Era. These data show a long history of cultural continuity in the region in pearl harvesting, modification, and use as adornment.

The human head was a potent symbol for many South American cultures. Isolated heads were often included in mortuary contexts, representing captured enemies, revered persons, and symbolic “seeds.” At Salango, a ritual complex on the central coast of Ecuador, excavations revealed two burial mounds dated to approximately 100 BC. Among the 11 identified burials, two infants were interred with “helmets” made from the cranial vaults of other juveniles. The additional crania were placed around the heads of the primary burials, likely at the time of burial. All crania exhibited lesions associated with bodily stress. In this report, we present the only known evidence of using juvenile crania as mortuary headgear, either in South America or globally.

En este trabajo se presentan los resultados del análisis de una pieza ósea que brinda información pionera sobre aspectos tecnológicos prehispánicos en el sector ribereño Paraguay-Paraná del Chaco argentino. Se analizó un elemento óseo de Rhea americana con evidencias de formatización. Con el objetivo de caracterizar la etapa de producción representada, se registraron marcas de manufactura, una de las cuales fue analizada con microscopio electrónico de barrido a fin de identificar el material con que se produjo la formatización (piedra o valva). A partir del análisis, se define el elemento como un núcleo con “extracción bosquejada”, es decir, una pieza en la cual se evidencia una forma base que aún no ha sido extraída. Se propone que la técnica de manufactura consistió en el ranurado a partir de filos de valva (Diplodon sp.). Este trabajo constituye el primer aporte con evidencias sobre el uso de filos de valvas de molusco en el proceso de confección de artefactos óseos en sitios arqueológicos de Argentina.

Seven AMS radiocarbon dates (1950–1525 cal BC) from controlled contexts demonstrate Early Formative period occupation in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. These dated elements from the site of La Consentida include hearths, occupational surfaces, carbon adhering to pottery from a midden, and human bone collagen processed with XAD purification. They were excavated from primary contexts and do not represent redeposited materials. An eighth sample, dated to the Middle Formative period, is considered postoccupational. The diversity of dated deposits and features, their distribution, and their overlapping calibrated ranges indicate settlement by an initial Early Formative period village.

Se presenta el análisis de 21 puntas de proyectil San Martín provenientes de la cuenca de Salinas Grandes (Salta, Argentina), asignables a finales del Holoceno temprano e inicios del Holoceno medio. Se obtuvo información novedosa mediante el examen de (1) variedad de rocas, (2) inversión de trabajo en manufactura, y (3) sistemas de armas. Se plantea la selección de rocas locales y de tenacidad intermedia, la aplicación de diferentes modalidades de formatización y un mayor sustento como armas de mano y lanza arrojadiza. En conjunto con la evidencia regional, las piezas analizadas serían consecuencia de un proceso de diversificación de clases de puntas de proyectil ocurrido en un contexto de cambio ambiental.

Rosenswig's discussion of the sculptural chronology of Izapa contains some inaccuracies that require correction. The dates of the monuments at Izapa also require further evaluation.

The following report provides new data on a Sun Pyramid cache excavated by René Millon in 1959, including confirmation that the cache was associated with a substructure. A technological analysis illustrates the anthropomorphic eccentric production sequence, and indicates that the miniature projectile points were produced from debitage from multiple reduction technologies. All obsidian artifacts were attributed to the Otumba source area via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). In addition to providing data on the production of obsidian implements for ritual deposits, we suggest that the cache may be a representation of scaffold sacrifice.

In this report we introduce the site of Noh K'uh, a Late Preclassic (400 BC–AD 250) community in the western frontier of the Maya Lowlands. This new body of data contributes to the study of how complex societies emerged both within the Usumacinta River region and the Maya area overall.

I thank my colleagues for their comments, but I disagree with their conclusions.

Two modified skulls from Pacbitun, Belize, one with a glyphic text, match ancient Maya depictions of trophies fashioned from war captives and worn by elite warriors.