The Ballgame,Termination Ritual,and the Transformation of Classic Period Authority in the Mesoamerican Southern Gulf Lowlands

In the Gulf lowlands, Late Classic fluctuations were concomitant with the increasing importance of the Classic Veracruz style complex. A characteristic feature of the style was ballgame imagery on ballcourt panels, molded ceramics, and paraphernalia such as yokes, hachas, and palmas, as well as courts, markers, and stelae. Components of the Classic Veracruz style have been documented for the Gulf lowlands and adjoining regions of Mesoamerica. Few examples, however, derive from stratigraphic excavations of in situ deposits. We document the discovery, excavation, and initial interpretation of a monument-yoke-offering complex at Matacanela, located in the south-central Tuxtla Mountains. We present suggestive evidence for associated decapitation ritual. We conclude by assessing these data and generating hypotheses regarding the transitioning of authority. We situate the Matacanela complex within regional demographic, political, and economic transformations that occurred throughout the Classic period (ca. a.d. 300–800/1000), culminating in disruptions that may have been contentious.     

Detecting Apprentices and Innovators in the Archaeological Record: The Shell Bead-Making Industry of the Channel Islands

Archaeologists have demonstrated that it is challenging but feasible to identify the material remains of apprenticing activities associated with stone tool and ceramic assemblages. Building on this work, I explore apprenticing behavior in North America??s most intensive ancient shellworking context, using the large bead-making assemblages from California's Channel Islands. I examine a spectrum of production errors associated with a newly identified variant of Olivella shell bead and offer generalizations about what we should find in the material record of apprentices engaged in manufacturing ornamental goods. I also explore how we may distinguish novices?? errors from the mistakes of skilled experts experimenting with new bead forms. Existing ethnoarchaeological studies of children??s roles and contemporary craft practitioners specializing in ceramics, bead making, stone work, and other materials are foundational sources of data for this project, providing insights into the transmission of technical information from experts to novices in communities of practice. Such work directly informs archaeological research and facilitates our understanding of apprenticing from periods and regions where ethnographic information is insufficient or inapplicable.     

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Nordlinger, Eric A. Isolationism Reconfigured: American Foreign Policy for a New Century Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 335 pages, $29.95. ISBN 0-691-04327-2 Publication Date: September 1995

Ireland, Owen S. Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics: Ratifying the Constitution in Pennsylvania University Park, PA: Penn State Press 292 pp., $55.00 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-271-01433-4 cloth ISBN 0-271-01434-2 paper Publication Date: October 1995

Rozell, Mark J. and Clyde Wilcox, eds. God at the Grassroots: The Christian Right in the 1994 Elections Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield 288 pp., $59.50 cloth. $22.95 paper ISBN 0-8476-8097-5 cloth ISBN 0-8476-8098-3 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Cavanaugh, John William Media Effects on Voters: A Panel Study of the 1992 Presidential Election Lanham, MD: University Press of America 182 pp., $39.00, ISBN 0-8191-9942-7 Publication Date: September 1995

Verba, Sidney, Kay Lehman Schlozman, and Henry E. Brady Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 640 pp., $39.95 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-674-94292-2 cloth ISBN 0-674-94293-0 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Silver, Marc L. and Martin Melkonian, eds. Contested Terrain: Power, Politics, and Participation in Suburbia Westport, CT: Greenwood 262 pp., $59.95, ISBN 0-313-29600-6 Publication Date: July 1995

Orum, Anthony M. City-Building in America Boulder, CO: Westview 261 pp., $65.00 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-8133-0842-9 cloth ISBN 0-8133-0843-7 paper Publication Date: April 1995

Browne, William P. Cultivating Congress: Constituents, Issues, and Interests in Agricultural Policymaking Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 295 pp., $29.95 cloth, $14.95 paper ISBN 0-7006-0700-5 cloth ISBN 0-7006-0701-3 paper Publication Date: April 1995

Schick, Allen The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy, Process Washington, DC: Brookings Institution 223 pp., $36.95 cloth, $15.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-7734-5 cloth ISBN 0-8157-7733-7 paper Publication Date: 1995

Himelfarb, Richard Catastrophic Politics: The Rise and Fall of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 University Park, PA: Penn State Press 132 pp., $28.50 cloth, $13.95 paper ISBN 0-271-01465-2 cloth ISBN 0-271-01466-0 paper Publication Date: November 1995

Thompson, Dennis F. Ethics In Congress: From Individual to Institutional Corruption Washington, DC: Brookings Institution 256 pp., $34.95 cloth, $14.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-8424-4 cloth ISBN 0-8157-8423-6 paper Publication Date: August 1995

Mann, Thomas E. and Norman J. Ornstein, eds. Intensive Care: How Congress Shapes Health Policy Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution 316 pp., $38.95 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-8157-5464-7 cloth ISBN 0-8157-5463-9 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Pearce, David D. Wary Partners: Diplomats and the Media Washington, DC: CQ Press 205 pp., $35.95 cloth, $23.95 paper ISBN 1-56802-067-8 cloth ISBN 1-56802-066-X paper Publication Date: April 1995

Thurber, James A. and Roger H. Davidson, eds. Remaking Congress: Change and Stability in the 1990s Washington, DC: CQ Press 218 pp., $38.95 cloth, $24.95 paper ISBN 1-56802-160-7 cloth ISBN 1-56802-161-5 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Kerbel, Matthew Robert Remote and Controlled: Media Politics in a Cynical Age Boulder, CO: Westview 170 pp., $45.00 cloth, $13.95 paper ISBN 0-8133-2592-7 cloth ISBN 0-8133-2593-5 paper Publication Date: August 1995

Lewis, Charles and Center for Public Integrity The Buying of the President: An Inside Look at the Special Interests behind Clinton, Dole, Gramm, Wilson, Buchanan, and Others New York: Avon Books 271 pp., $12.00 paper ISBN 0-380-78420-3 paper Publication Date: February 1996

Ragsdale, Lyn Vital Statistics on the Presidency: Washington to Clinton Washington, DC: CQ Press 455 pp., $46.95 cloth, $32.95 paper ISBN 1-56802-050-3 cloth ISBN 1-56802-049-X paper Publication Date: November 1995

Weko, Thomas J. The Politicizing Presidency: The White House Personnel Office, 1948-1994 Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 224 pp., $35.00 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-7006-0695-5 cloth ISBN 0-7006-0696-3 paper Publication Dale: April 1995

Mayer, William G., ed. In Pursuit of the White House: How We Choose Our Presidential Nominees Chatham, NJ: Chatham House 366 pp., ISBN 1-56643-027-5 paper Publication Date: January 1996

Landy, Marc K. and Martin A. Levin, eds. The New Politics of Public Policy Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 344 pp., $49.95 cloth, $16.95 paper ISBN 0-8018-4877-6 cloth ISBN 0-8018-4878-4 paper Publication Date: 1995

Lynn, Laurence E., Jr. Public Management as Art, Science, and Profession Chatham, NJ: Chatham House 199 pp., $19.95. ISBN 1-56643-034-8 Publication Date: April 1996

Sunderland, Lane V. Popular Government and the Supreme Court: Securing the Public Good and Private Rights Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 361 pp., ISBN 0-7006-0743-9 Publication Date: January 1996

Rochefort, David A. and Roger W. Cobb, eds. The Politics of Problem Definition: Shaping the Policy Agenda Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 216 pp., $29.95 cloth. $14.95 paper ISBN 0-7006-0646-7 cloth ISBN 0-7006-0647-5 paper Publication Date: September 1994

Lerner, Robert, Althea K. Nagao, and Stanley Rothman Molding the Good Citizen: The Politics of High School History Texts Westport, CT: Praeger 187 pp., $55.00 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-275-94919-2 cloth ISBN 0-275-95100-6 paper Publication Date: 1995

Lind, Michael The Next American Nation: The New Nationalism and the Fourth American Revolution New York: Free Press 436 pp. $23.00, ISBN 0-02-919103-3 Publication Date: July 1995

Kutulas, Judy The Long War: The Intellectual People's Front and Anti-Stalinism, 1930-1940 Durham, NC: Duke University Press 334 pp., $39.95 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-8223-1526-2 cloth ISBN 0-8223-1524-6 paper Publication Date: July 1995

Godson, Roy, Ernest R. May, and Gary Schmitt, eds. U.S. Intelligence at the Crossroads: Agendas for Reform Washington, DC: Brassey's 315 pp., $25.95, ISBN 1-57488-036-5 Publication Date: 1995

Stearns, Monteagle Talking to Strangers: Improving American Diplomacy at Home and Abroad Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 201 pp., $24.95, ISBN 0-691-01130-3 Publication Date: February 1996

Yetiv, Steve A. America and the Persian Gulf: The Third Party Dimension in World Politics Westport, CT: Praeger 180 pp., $49.95, ISBN 0-275-94973-7 Publication Date: July 1995

Roman, Peter J. Eisenhower and the Missile Gap Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 264 pp., $25.00. ISBN 0-8014-2797-5 Publication Date: 1995

Khalilzad, Zalmay, ed. Strategic Appraisal 1996 Santa Monica, CA: RAND 329 pp., $20.00 paper ISBN 0-8330-2343-8 paper Publication Date: January 1996

Simpson, Christopher National Security Directives of the Reagan and Bush Administrations: The Declassified History of U.S. Political and Military Policy, 1981-1991 Boulder, CO: Westiew 1032 pp. $119.95, ISBN 0-8133-1177-2 Publication Date: March 1995

Thompson, John Herd and Stephen J. Randall Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press 387 pp., $45.00 cloth, $18.95 paper ISBN 0-8203-1618-0 cloth ISBN 0-8203-1619-9 paper Publication Date: September 1994

Franks, C. E. S., J. E. Hodgetts, O. P. Dwivedi, Doug Williams, and V. Seymour Wilson, eds. Canada's Century: Governance in a Maturing Society: Essays in Honor of John Meisel Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press 369 pp., $49.95, ISBN 0-7735-1293-4 Publication Date: July 1995

Nickson, R. Andrew Local Government in Latin America Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 315 pp., $49.95, ISBN 1-55587-366-9 Publication Date: August 1995

Bartell, Ernest and Leigh A. Payne, eds. Business and Democracy in Latin America Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburgh University Press 290 pp., $49.95 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-8229-3853-7 cloth ISBN 0-8229-5537-7 paper Publication Date: November 1995

Mainwaring, Scott and Timothy R. Scully, eds. Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 578 pp., $60.00, ISBN 0-8047-2307-9 Publication Date: March 1995

Collinson, Sarah Europe and International Migration London and New York: Pinter 189 pp., $57.50, ISBN 1-85567-049-6 Publication Date: June 1993

Schneider, Gerald, Patricia A. Weitsman, and Thomas Bernauer, eds. Towards a New Europe: Stops and Starts in Regional Integration Westport, CT: Praeger 240 pp., $55.00. ISBN 0-275-94856-X Publication Date: November 1995

Kourvetaris, George A. and Andreas Moschonas, eds. The Impact of European Integration: Political, Sociological, and Economic Changes Westport, CT: Praeger 335 pp., $65.00 cloth, $22.95 paper ISBN 0-275-94952-4 cloth ISBN 0-275-95356-4 paper Publication Date: January 1996

Doud, David Tieman Berlin 2000: The Center of Europe Lanham, MD: University Press of America 327 pp., $49.50, ISBN 0-7618-0067-0 Publication Date: October 1995

Swietochowski, Tadeusz Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition New York: Columbia University Press 290 pp., $32.50, ISBN 0-231-07068-3 Publication Date: August 1995

Parrott, Bruce, ed. State Building and Military Power in Russia and the New States of Eurasia Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe 319 pp., $59.95 cloth, $22.95 paper ISBN 1-56324-360-1 cloth ISBN 1-56324-361-X paper Publication Date: September 1995

Fish, M. Steven Democracy from Scratch: Opposition and Regime in the New Russian Revolution Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 300 pp., $39.50, ISBN 0-691-03703-5 Publication Date: March 1995

Sun, Yan The Chinese Reassessment of Socialism, 1975-1992 Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press 352 pp., $45.00 cloth. $18.95 paper ISBN 0-691-02999-7 cloth ISBN 0-691-02998-9 paper Publication Date: October 1995

Shih, Chih-Yu State and Society in China's Political Economy: The Cultural Dynamics of Socialist Reform Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 206 pp., $45.00, ISBN 1-5587-580-7 Publication Date: April 1995

Gregor, A. James Marxism, China, and Development: Reflections on Theory and Reality New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction 283 pp., $34.95, ISBN 1-56000-195-X Publication Date: 1995

Hunt, Michael H. The Genesis of Chinese Communist Foreign Policy New York: Columbia University Press 343 pages. $34.50, ISBN 0-231-10310-7 Publication Date: February 1996

Gu, Weiqun Conflicts of Divided Nations: The Cases of China and Korea Westport, CT: Greenwood 263 pp., $59.95. ISBN 0-275-95112-X Publication Date: July 1995

Alagappa, Muthiah, ed. Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 446 pp., $60.00 cloth. $19.95 paper ISBN 0-8047-2504-7 cloth ISBN 0-8047-2560-8 paper Publication Date: 1995

Yasutomo, Dennis T. The New Multilateralism in Japan's Foreign Policy New York: St. Martin's Press 230 pp., $39.95, ISBN 0-312-04778-9 Publication Date: October 1995

United Nations; intro, by Boutros Boutros-Ghali The United Nations and Human Rights, 1945-1995 New York: United Nations 544 pp., $29.95, ISBN 92-1-100560-4 Publication date: October 1995

Weiss, Thomas G., ed. The United Nations and Civil Wars Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 231 pp., ISBN 1-55587-527-0 Publication Date: 1995

Kent, Peter C. and John F. Pollard, eds. Papal Diplomacy in the Modern Age Westport, CT: Praeger 288 pp., $59.95, ISBN 0-275-94441-7 Publication Date: June 1994

Goodwin, Charles Stewart The Third World Century Lanham, MD: University Press of America 168 pp., $32.50. ISBN 0-8191-9534 Publication Date: June 1994

Westlake, Martin A Modern Guide to the European Parliament London: Pinter 302 pp., $59.00 cloth, $22.00 paper ISBN 1-85567-200-6 cloth ISBN 1-85567-201-4 paper Publication Date: December 1994

Zartman, I. William and Victor A. Kremenyuk, eds. Cooperative Security: Reducing Third World Wars Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press 376 pp., $39.95 cloth, $16.95 paper ISBN 0-8156-2647-9 cloth ISBN 0-8156-0305-3 paper Publication Date: August 1995

Webb, Michael C. The Political Economy of Policy Coordination: International Adjustment since 1945 Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 269 pp., $37.50, ISBN 0-8014-2929-3 Publication Date: July 1995

Burns, Richard Dean. ed. Encyclopedia of Arms Control and Disarmament New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 3 vols., 5280.00, ISBN 0-684-19281-1 Publication Date: 1993

Tullis, LaMond Unintended Consequences: Illegal Drugs and Drug Policies in Nine Countries Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 227 pp., $42.00, ISBN 1-55587-549-1 Publication Date: 1995

Gunther, Richard P., Nikiforos Diamandouros, and Hans-Jürgen Puhle The Politics of Democratic Consolidation: Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 493 pp., $60.00 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-8018-4981-0 cloth ISBN 0-8018-4982-9 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Shain, Yossi and Juan J. Linz, eds. Between States: Interim Governments and Democratic Transitions New York: Cambridge University Press 326 pp., $59.95 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-521-47417-5 cloth ISBN 0-521-48498-7 paper Publication Date: July 1995

Rohr, John A. Founding Republics in France and America: A Study in Constitutional Governance Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas 370 pp., $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-7006-0733-1 cloth ISBN 0-7006-0734-X paper Publication Date: November 1995

Franklin, Daniel P. and Michael Baun, eds. Political Culture and Constitutionalism: A Comparative Approach Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe 246 pp., ISBN 1-56324-415-2 cloth ISBN 1-56324-416-0 paper Publication Date: 1995

Jacobsen, David Rights Across Borders: Immigration and the Decline of Citizenship Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 181 pp., $33.50, ISBN 0-8018-5150-5 Publication Date: 1996

Manuel, Frank E. A Requiem for Karl Marx Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 255 pp., $24.95, ISBN 0-674-76326-2 Publication Date: August 1995

Giddens, Anthony Politics, Sociology, and Social Theory: Encounters with Classical and Contemporary Social Thought Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 304 pp., 545.00 cloth, $16.95 paper ISBN 0-8047-2622-1 cloth ISBN 0-8047-2624-8 paper Publication Date: September 1995

Derber, Charles What's Left: Radical Politics in the Postcommunist Era Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press 225 pp., $40.00 cloth, 514.95 paper ISBN 0-87023-953-8 cloth ISBN 0-87023-954-6 paper Publication Date: July 1995

Disch, Lisa Jane Hannah Arendt and the Limits of Philosophy Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 226 pp., $29.95, ISBN 0-8014-3013-5 Publication Date: 1995

Piore, Michael J. Beyond Individualism: How Social Demands of the New Identity Groups Challenge American Political and Economic Life Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 215 pp., $22.95, ISBN 0-674-06897-1 Publication Date: 1995

Mahoney, Daniel J., ed. In Defense of Political Reason: Essays by Raymond Aron Lanham, MD: Rowman &; Littlefield 187 pp., $52.50 cloth, $19.95 paper ISBN 0-8576-7877-6 cloth ISBN 0-8476-7878-4 paper Publication Date: February 1994

Johnston, Douglas and Cynthia Sampson, eds. Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft New York: Oxford University Press 350 pp., $29.95, ISBN 0-19-508734-8 Publication Date: August 1994

Fleming, James Rodger and Henry A. Gemery, eds. Science, Technology, and the Environment: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Akron, OH: University of Akron Press 347 pp., $39.95 cloth, $21.95 paper ISBN 0-9622628-9-7 cloth ISBN 1-884836-00-3 paper Publication Date: December 1994

Peters, Julie and Andrea Wolper, eds. Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives New York: Routledge 372 pp., $65.00 cloth, $17.95 paper ISBN 0-415-90994-5 cloth ISBN 0-415-90995-3 paper Publication Date: April 1995     

Entrenched Disbelief: Complex Hunter-Gatherers and the Case for Inclusive Cultural Evolutionary Thinking

Advocates of traditional, agriculture-based models of sociopolitical evolution argue that the adoption of domesticates is requisite for developments such as sedentism, village life, ascribed status, hereditary leadership, and other features that underpin institutionalized political complexity. We counter in this essay with a well-documented suite of politically complex hunter-gatherer (CHG) societies that exhibit these same features, thereby demonstrating that reliance on agriculture per se—or any other specific food regime such as fishing—should be excised from explanations of emergent political complexity. Despite the failure of the agricentric model to account for a significant number of cases of institutionalized complexity, some of its architects remain entrenched in their disbelief and rigidly ignore the implications of CHG studies. By continuing to situate farming as foundational to everything complex, they perpetuate not only a story of human cultural evolution over the last 10,000 years that is incomplete but also a narrative that is incorrect. We reject subsistence (domesticates) as the central organizing principle and introduce here a new forum for thinking about how societies operate and evolve. We propose a model consisting of integrated platforms of societal dynamics that are inclusive (encourage discourse of all societies), nonprogressive, and serve as an organizational structure to discuss cultural evolution in any comparative or singular ethnographic context. The platforms are nonhierarchical and not fixed in order or importance. They are (1) agency and authority, (2) social differentiation, (3) participation in communal events, (4) organization of production, (5) labor obligations, (6) articulation of ecology and subsistence, and (7) territoriality and ownership. All sociopolitical cases and all topics can be productively discussed on these platforms, from bands to the largest empires, comparatively or diachronically. In the present article, we use the platforms to examine political evolution. We assemble considerable evidence that a variety of dietary regimes are associated with the emergence of institutionalized political complexity. Rather than diet, it is the ways people integrate and use labor that demands our attention.     

Belts vs. Blades: the Binary Bind in Iron Age Mortuary Contexts in Southwest Germany

The complex interplay between dress and identity has long been a subject of analysis in several fields of study, but until recently, the approach to gender in archaeological mortuary contexts has tended to default to a reductionist binary structure. The concept of intercategorical intersectionality (McCall Signs, 30(3), 1771–1800, 2005) as applied to dress and its material correlates both confounds and challenges this problematic and restricted view of gender in prehistoric societies. Data from an area of Europe in which Iron Age populations marked an interconnected set of social roles through the medium of personal adornment in mortuary contexts reveal significant ambiguities, including two related and apparently significant patterns: the relative under-representation of adult males as compared to females (with a correspondingly large “indeterminate” gender category) and what appears to be an exclusively (and improbably) “female” subadult elite group buried in tumuli. The complex interdigitization of gender with other social roles in mortuary contexts suggests that our interpretations of the early Iron Age burial program must be correspondingly flexible to do justice to this intersectional complexity.