Archaeologists traditionally investigate the emergence of complex sociopolitical formations at micro- and macroscales. As fruitful as these analyses have been, they ignore insights garnered from studying how the diverse members of individual communities contested for power and material resources during periods when former political capitals were in decline. Such volatile circumstances provide ample opportunities for those seeking power to experiment with novel political forms while their would-be subordinates maneuver to undermine these overweening ambitions. Site 128 in the Naco Valley, northwestern Honduras, witnessed these struggles during the Terminal Classic. Taking advantage of the waning power of the Naco Valley’s Late Classic rulers at La Sierra, magnates in this small community competed for control over clients and their labor. The resulting political configuration pitted corporate institutions against individual aggrandizers, each using a limited suite of valuable resources to capture the loyalty and labor of supporters. The inability of one faction to vanquish the other created an unstable situation ultimately undermined by unresolved tensions. Though studies of political decline usually highlight the falls of dynasties, there is much to be gained by studying those who scrambled, with varying success, to cobble together sociopolitical structures in the shadows of former states.

This article balances current understandings of the political landscape of Postclassic Mesoamerica through a conjunctive analysis of the archaeology and ethnohistory of the Mixtec Empire of Tututepec in the lower Río Verde region of Oaxaca. Tututepec has long been known from ethnohistoric sources as a powerful Late Postclassic imperial center. Until recently, however, little has been known of the archaeology of the site. We discuss the founding, extent, chronology, and aspects of the internal organization and external relations of Tututepec based on the results of a regional survey, excavations, and a reanalysis of ethnohistoric documents. Tututepec was founded early in the Late Postclassic period when the region was vulnerable to conquest due to political fragmentation and unrest. Indigenous historical data from three Mixtec codices narrate the founding of Tututepec as part of the heroic history of Lord 8 Deer “Jaguar Claw.” According to these texts, Lord 8 Deer founded Tututepec through a creative combination of traditional Mixtec foundation rites and a strategic alliance with a highland group linked to the Tolteca-Chichimeca. Archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence indicate that Tututepec continued to expand through the Late Postclassic, growing to 21.85 km2, and at its peak was the capital of an empire extending over 25,000 km2.

A corpus of wooden figures archaeologically recovered from the Huacas Tacaynamo and El Dragón (also known as Huaca Arco Iris) at Chan Chan in the Moche Valley, Perú, forms the basis for this inquiry into the role and function of Chimú wooden figure sculpture. Although the sculptures were excavated from a disturbed context, they represent an important body of evidence relating to two problematic architectural complexes. The author places this group of figures within the temporal sequence of the region and defines the specific attributes of each sculpture to clarify social function. In reconciling the architecture’s relationship to the Chimú capital city, Chan Chan, and temporally placing the sites as Early Chimú, the figures are realigned within the larger artistic traditions of Perú’s North Coast. I suggest that the sculptures were part of a coherent artistic program that was integrally linked to the religious and funerary purpose of the architecture. More specifically, these characters depict scenes of socially prescribed ritual activities, including the interment of an important person whose funeral procession was attended by various servitors, and the celebration or consecration of burial through the sacrifice of prisoners.

A regional approach to public architecture offers a useful medium through which to study changes in the scale of integrative institutions. Changes in political structure are often associated with changes in the scale and complexity of public ritual space. In Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca Basin, Middle Formative period (800–250 B.C.) villagers along the Taraco Peninsula built earthen platforms that visually dominated their settlements. Until recently, research on the peninsula had focused almost exclusively on the site of Chiripa, with the result that little was known of the regional context in which this site and its neighbors emerged. Now, after excavations at the contemporaneous site of Alto Pukara, the sequence of public architecture at Middle Formative communities may be viewed within a regional context. This paper evaluates the trajectory of institutional complexity along the Taraco Peninsula through a formal comparison of public ritual architecture at Alto Pukara and Chiripa. Six criteria for measuring architectural variation—centrality, permanence, accessibility, visibility, scale, and ubiquity—facilitate this comparison. Only through a regional approach can we understand the integrative role of public space in these early village societies.

Ceramic diversity in the ceremonial center of Chavín de Huantar in the Peruvian highlands is assessed by neutron activation analysis, petrography, and stylistic analysis. These analyses lead to a new interpretation of ceramic production in Chavín between ca. 850 and 200 B.C. Several compositional groups with very different mineralogical paste types are identified. More than 30 percent of the ceramics are nonlocal. Most of these are bottles and fine wares, probably brought to the site as gifts or offerings. At the local level, ceramic production changed over time. A dramatic shift in resource procurement occurred at the end of the first occupation phase, and production became more diversified and intense as the site and its population grew larger.