Cathy Lynne Costin

Status Distinction and Legitimation of Power As Reflected in Changing Patterns of Consumption In Late Prehispanic Peru

Patterns in household consumption reflect changing strategies of control, finance, and legitimation used by the Inka empire after their conquest ofthe northern Wanka of Central Peru. Changes in consumption reflect differential access to goods. In pre-Inka Wanka II, the evidence of social stratification was relatively marked; in Wanka Ill-under Inka domination-this difference continued but narrowed significantly. The symbolic referents of prestige wares that distinguished elites from commoners changed from local styles to those conforming to Inka stylistic canons. We also recognize changing participation in activities associated with economic control and legitimation. In Wanka II, elite households yielded evidence of greater involvement in storage and feasting. In Wanka III, the overall quantities of items associated with these activities fell and the difference between elites and commoners was diminished as the state co-opted local elite prerogatives of status and power.

The Use of Ethnoarchaeology for the Archaeological Study of Ceramic Production

Ethnoarchaeological studies have longed served as a critical source of hypotheses, comparative data, and explanatory frameworks for archaeologists interested in describing and explaining ceramic production. In this paper, I lay out the central questions addressed by archaeologists studying craft production, discuss how ethnoarchaeology has contributed to our understanding of ancient production systems, and suggest avenues of further research that can benefit archaeological investigation of the organization of ceramic production.

Engendering Tomb 7 at Monte Alban: Respinning an Old Yarn [and Comments and Reply]

A contextual analysis of material culture recovered from Tomb 7 at Monte Alban suggests a radical reinterpretation f the gender identification of the tombs principal individual. Spinning and weaving implements found with the burial, previously interpreted as a male, indicate the strong possibility that the individual was gender-female. A reinterpretation fthe skeletal remains as presented in the published accounts further indicates that the osteological evidence is ambiguous at best and the skeleton may have been of a biological female. Finally, the total assemblage is considered in reference to the religious and gender ideologies of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to suggest that Tomb 7 may have been an important shrine to Lady 9 Grass, a principal member of the Mixtec Mother Goddess complex. This paper points up the necessity of periodic reevaluations of accepted wisdom that may have been developed under theoretical paradigms that minimized cultural diversity.