War, captives, and human sacrifice were parts of Late Postclassic (AD 1250–1524) Maya culture in highland Guatemala. Las Casas (1958:152) wrote that the supreme lord “put the heads of the sacrificed on some poles on a certain altar dedicated only to this, where they had these for some time, after which they buried them.” These cultural aspects show up in human remains excavated at Iximche’, the Kaqchikel Maya capital. Here, we integrate previously published and unpublished results of stable isotope analyses and explore their implications for diets and the geographic origins of individuals who were buried at the site on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Data from Iximche’ are compared with available results from other ancient Maya sites.

Jade has been long recognized by archaeologists as an important trade item among ancient Mesoamerican cultures, particularly for ancient Olmec and Maya cultures. Unfortunately, the precocious development of Olmec society led many early archaeologists to overemphasize Olmec influence on the Maya during the Formative period (ca. 1000–400 BC). This is particularly noteworthy in the attribution of tri-lobed jade “spoon” pendants to the Olmec despite the lack of archaeological evidence. Using a recently discovered tri-lobed jade “spoon” pendant from the site of Ka'kabish, Belize, and dated to the Middle Formative period (ca. 800–600 BC), this article argues that such pieces should not be unquestionably attributed to the Olmec. This argument is supported by correlation with similar objects from other secure archaeological contexts at Maya sites dating to the Middle Formative period. This article contends that using the ethnonym Olmec to describe these objects creates an a priori assumption that these objects originated in the Olmec region and were merely repurposed by the Maya and argues for a reinterpretation of the origin and meaning for these objects.

La Milpa, situated in northern Belize, stands out as one of the region's largest archaeological sites, having served as the capital of an ancient Maya city-state. Its significance is indicated by extensive monumental architecture, with the epicenter covering approximately 8.8 ha. The site's corpus of monuments, comprising 23 stelae and several altars, underscores its prominence in northern Belize, rivaling the corpora of sites such as Nim li Punit and Caracol. Despite its remote location, La Milpa has garnered the attention of researchers, particularly since the first modern survey of the site in 1988. Subsequent studies—in particular, that by Nikolai Grube in the 1990s—has provided detailed analyses of the site's corpus of carved monuments. Recent efforts, including epigraphic documentation in 2019, serve to enhance our understanding of La Milpa's dynastic history through traditional epigraphic and computational photographic methods. Utilizing field observations, raking light photography, and 3D photogrammetric models, we have refined previous analyses and provide new insights into the iconography and textual segments of the monuments. Here, we present the results of these recent efforts as well as our new analyses of a selection of monuments.

People are often assumed to expand existing mechanisms—kinship in particular—to include others when they form communities. These models (con)fuse similarity with sameness, as we argue based on Husserl's concept of empathy. People recognize others without overlooking differences. They form community by negotiating belonging. We ask how individuals materialize community, how they create unity in a political process, and how they employ bordering and bonding social interactions. Our case study is Dos Ceibas, a Late Preclassic (350 b.c. to a.d. 250) Maya hamlet in the Petexbatun region. The North Plaza originated as a residential group—possibly of the hamlet's founder—and was transformed over multiple construction episodes into a public and ceremonial place. By a.d. 250, Dos Ceibas consisted of a small pyramid overlooking a plaza and two likely residential buildings. Its growth pattern sets the North Plaza apart from nearby Group MP16 and magnified internal differences. At the same time, Dos Ceibas's pyramid and plaza were likely communal constructions that project a shared community identity. The comparison with contemporary settlements nearby identifies distinct settlement layouts and suggests localized community identities.

Crafting is often assumed to have been a ‘dirty’ and hence low-status activity: elites managed the supply of materials or distribution of the products, lower-status workers undertook the hard graft. Here, the authors present an in situ stoneworking toolkit from El Perú-Waka’ in the central Maya lowlands of Guatemala. Recovered from a high-status neighbourhood, the tools indicate the involvement of elite crafters in the working of various types of stone and greenstone. The assemblage is discussed with reference to ontological understandings of raw materials in the Maya world and the importance of specialised and ritual knowledge. The results encourage greater consideration of the involvement of elites in craft production across Mesoamerica and beyond.

This article presents some preliminary results of the first field season of 3D documentation of buildings, monuments, and portable artifacts from the archaeological site of Dzibanche in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Documentation took place at Dzibanche, in the INAH regional research center in Chetumal, and in the Maya Museum of Cancun. Part of the resultant corpus of imagery and inscriptions has not been previously disseminated in academic literature. The analysis of published texts and iconography has benefited from higher resolution and visualization tools made possible by 3D digitization. The presentation proposes several updates to the published interpretations of Dzibanche monuments, and it highlights how new additions to the corpus expand our understanding of Dzibanche's political history and ideology.

The article presents the results of the last decade of archaeological and epigraphic research, which clarified the history of the polities of the ancient Maya sites of Holmul and Naranjo during the expansion of the Dzibanche royal dynasty in the eastern area of the Department of Peten, Guatemala, from the second half of the sixth century through the first half of the seventh century a.d. The discussion centers on the textual and material indicators of the geopolitical contacts of the royal families of Sak Chuwen of Naranjo and Chak Tok Wayaab of Holmul, including changes in polychrome pottery and hieroglyphic inscriptions, in particular, rhetoric of good governance and political loyalty. In the case of Holmul, the transformation affects the urban landscape of the site. New data clarify the relationship between Holmul and Naranjo during the initial period of their subordination to the kings of Dzibanche. The emerging picture of these secondary alliances and hierarchies within the Kaanu'l domain is essential for a better understanding of Classic Maya political systems at local and regional levels.

The Kaanuˀl dynasty ruled a hegemonic state with political influence over much of the Classic Maya Lowlands between a.d. 520 and 751. The present article introduces the subject for a special section of the journal, which refocuses attention on the archaeological zone of Dzibanche in southern Quintana Roo, Mexico, where new data are emerging about the origins of the Kaanuˀl dynasty, its urban organization, and its connections to neighboring centers. In this article, we present new data from a recent lidar survey as well as from previous work by Enrique Nalda's Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) project to reevaluate Dzibanche's characteristics vis-à-vis its rise as a kingdom with far-reaching political influence. We complement these archaeological data with epigraphic information from new monuments and reanalysis of existing ones based on 3D scanning to update the list of Dzibanche rulers. We then revisit the chronology of Dzibanche's royal burials proposing correlations with known Early Classic Kaanuˀl rulers. Overall, the contributions to this special section present new perspectives on the Kaanuˀl's rise to power and its relationship with distant vassals in the crucial period of expansion into northern Peten, leading to the defeat of Tikal and eventually to its transition to a new dynastic seat at Calakmul in the a.d. 630s.

The typological, technological, and use-wear analyses of obsidian artifacts from Terminal Classic Pook's Hill (AD 830–950+) provide opportunities to better reconstruct socioeconomic activities in this plazuela group, including long-distance trade, tool production, subsistence practices, domestic tasks, and the organization of craft production. Based on visual sourcing, most of the obsidian originated from highland Guatemala, specifically El Chayal. The majority of obsidian artifacts were prismatic blades, although both casual and bipolar reduction of blade cores and the recycling of blades from earlier occupations occurred at the site. Use-wear analysis reveals that obsidian tools were mainly used for subsistence and domestic household activities; however, the concentrations of tools with specific wear patterns (bone, ceramic, plants, and shell) at some locations in the plazuela provide evidence for local craft production among the population. Further support for craft production is provided by comparable use-wear on chert/chalcedony tools from these same locations. The products of low-level craft production were used within Pook's Hill itself and may have been distributed to neighboring communities within the Roaring Creek and Upper Belize River Valleys. Despite the sociopolitical and socioeconomic disruptions to lifeways that accompanied the Terminal Classic period, the Pook's Hill Maya seem to have experienced minimal upheaval in their daily lives and continued local low-level craft production. However, one important change in the Terminal Classic appears to be the increased difficulty in obtaining obsidian at Pook's Hill and the growing need for tool recycling and raw material conservation.

The twentieth and twenty-first centuries have witnessed a literary revival in the Indigenous languages of the region known canonically as “Latin America.” Across this varied corpus, a major theme is the cultural significance of maize. This article compares the depiction of maize in four bilingual poems, each written in a different Indigenous language alongside Spanish: Nahuatl (Ethel Xochitiotzin Pérez), Yucatec Maya (María Dolores Dzul Barboza), Central Quechua (César Vargas Arce), and Southern Quechua (Emilio Corrales). Through close textual analysis and by recourse to theoretical perspectives such as “literary cartography,” the “textual continuum,” “deep mapping,” and “trans-indigeneity,” the article argues that each poem communicates culturally specific ways of understanding geography that, when set in dialogue, challenge hegemonic definitions of the Western Hemisphere such as North, South, or Latin “America.” Rather, the poems in combination weave an interconnected yet multiperspectival cartographic tapestry with maize as the common thread.

This article revisits ear ornament data from Tikal—both material and visual—to better understand the varied roles of ear ornamentation in ancient Maya society over time. The author discusses relevant terms and terminology, then emphasizes the social aspects of ear piercing and stretching as well as the place of ear ornaments in economic exchange. Ear ornamentation was a critical aspect of socialization for ancestral Mayas, but the extent of this practice was classed. Whereas the styles of nonelite ear ornaments were more resistant to change over time, the jade earflares of elites became more standardized in form while growing in complexity. With this standardization, jade earflares achieved a status close to currency, not just to be coveted or collected but also to be displayed on the body to the fullest extent possible. However, like many currencies, jade earflares were more complex than simple tokens of exchange. The symbolic dimensions that gave these objects meaning and economic value were integral to their power.

This article examines Middle and Late Preclassic period ritual activity and caches discovered in the Central E Group complex at the ancient Maya site of Cival, which is located in northeastern Peten, Guatemala. It focuses on a series of excavations conducted in 2013 and 2014 at Structure 9, the E Group's western radial pyramid and uses theories of social memory and sacred place to provide insight into the recently discovered caches, termination rituals, and the deliberate destruction of architectural features found there. It also draws on previous ritual activity conducted in the Central E Group plaza and the site's broader history to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the role of this complex as a sacred place and hub of memory at Cival for more than 1,000 years.

Even though lithics in the Maya region have traditionally been relegated to appendices and tool-type lists, much has been done to move beyond this descriptive approach in the last decade. In this article we highlight general themes of lithic studies in the Maya region since 2011, including economic production and exchange, the role of lithics in ritual practice, and the use of previously understudied raw materials and lithic forms, such as ground stone. Employing a temporal scope that encompasses the Maya and their preceramic predecessors, we explore gendered patterns of research within lithic studies from a feminist perspective and discuss the impacts that gender disparities have on academic thought.

In the area along the southern Gulf Coast in Mexico, a large number of previously unrecorded archaeological sites have recently been detected with the aid of lidar data, which also allowed us to determine the orientations of hundreds of structures and architectural assemblages, including many standardized complexes dated to the Early-to-Middle Formative transition. As revealed by our analyses, most orientations were based on astronomical and calendrical principles, occasionally combined with certain concepts of sacred geography. While the results of these analyses were presented in a recently published article, here we explore the potential of alignment data for addressing other questions of archaeological relevance. The distribution of particular building types and regional variations in alignment patterns in the study area suggest the existence of two somehow different cultural spheres, loosely corresponding to the areas conventionally called the Gulf Olmec region and the western Maya Lowlands. Examining pertinent evidence, we argue that it was in this area where some of the most prominent orientation groups materialized in later Mesoamerican architecture originated. We also attempt to reconstruct the paths of their diffusion, which are expected to contribute to understanding the dynamics of long-distance cultural interaction in Mesoamerica.

Sounds produced by humans and their environment are perceived and codified based on people's experiences as members of social groups, resulting in some sounds being used as means of communication. In this article, we present an archaeoacoustic study of diverse types of instruments excavated or collected from Comalcalco and Jonuta, two important pre-Hispanic Maya sites located in the modern state of Tabasco (Mexico). We propose a methodology to analyze organological and acoustic characteristics for each type of instrument, considering their relevant archaeological information, so as to provide some interpretations of how sounds could have been materialized, shared, and used in specific moments of Maya ritual and daily life.

In this study, I use the type-variety-mode analysis to define the diagnostic ceramic material for the Ik'hubil Ceramic Complex dating to the Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 780–930/1000). The percentages of shared ceramic content indicate that multiple sites in the mid-to-lower Sibun Valley are members of an Ik'hubil Ceramic Sphere. My preliminary analyses of sites in the lower Belize River valley suggest that the Ik'hubil Sphere may extend across a broader area of north-central Belize during the Terminal Classic, discrete from the Spanish Lookout Sphere in the upper Belize Valley. Northern Yucatec traits are identified in ceramics and architecture in the eastern Sibun and Belize Valleys, along with marked changes in foodways. The presence of trading diasporas and more intimate social relationships, such as intermarriage, may explain this mix of local and hybrid forms of material culture introduced by the ninth century in this part of the eastern Maya Lowlands.

Nearly 60 complete or fragmentary slate backings from iron-ore mirrors have been found in pre-Columbian funerary contexts in northern Costa Rica, including a couple that bear Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions. With the exception of a single example dating between a.d. 800 and 1550, these slate objects typically occur in contexts dating from 300 b.c. to a.d. 500–600. Recent geochemical analyses indicate foreign production of these artifacts, likely in the Maya area, where slate-backed iron-ore mirrors were related to power, shamanism, and divination, and were manufactured by highly specialized artisans working under the patronage of members of the elite, particularly in the Classic period. In this article we address the question of when, how, and why mirrors from Mesoamerica made their way to Costa Rica and, ultimately, into the funerary contexts from which they have been recovered. To that end, we analyze the regions, contexts, style, and chronology of these Costa Rican examples and compare them with contemporary styles and contexts in the Maya area, including a reinterpretation of one mirror-back presenting hieroglyphic inscriptions. Finally, we explore potential distribution routes and the potential mechanisms of exchange that existed between these distant, yet somehow related areas.