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A newly discovered site at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River region has revealed the oldest open-air sedentary village and domesticated rice in south China.

A wide range of rapid innovations are associated with the shift from mobile communities to sedentism in southwestern Asia. It was during this period that human societies generated many solutions de...

Neolithization was a complex, protracted process of domestication, sedentarization, and technology change that occurred in various combinations in various times and places around the world. Understanding the causal relationships among those and other important human behaviors remains an analytical challenge. This study examines Neolithization through the lens of lithic artifact variation in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Drawing on previous lithics research, we outline a synthetic model linking changing diet, mobility, and projectile technology to predicted trends in lithic assemblages. The expectations are then compared to two large, well-dated lithic assemblages from the Titicaca Basin—one from the Middle/Late Archaic forager site of Soro Mik’aya Patjxa (8.0–6.5 cal. ka) and the other from the Terminal Archaic horticultural site of Jiskairumoko (5.2–3.4 cal. ka). We find that the strongest signal in lithic technology change is related to the introduction of archery technology. Signals for subsistence change and declining mobility are relatively weak. The results suggest an early but unconfirmed adoption of archery technology in the Terminal Archaic Period with major transitions in mobility and diet likely to have occurred subsequently in the Terminal Archaic or Formative periods. The findings are consistent with a behavioral model in which changes in projectile technology played a prominent role in the evolution of resource intensification and residential sedentism as well as resource privatization and sexual division of labor in the high Andes.

Investigation of underwater prehistoric sites during the twenty-first century has been gathering momentum. This has been a positive development for the discipline that has been strengthened by research into human occupation of the drowned lands around the British coastline, particularly the submerged forests of the Solent seaway on the south coast of England as well as the North Sea. Over the last two decades underwater investigations at the Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff, off the isle of Wight has revealed advanced wood working technological capabilities, the presence of sedimentary DNA from einkorn and outstanding levels of organic preservation including string, worked timbers, and most recently, a wooden platform. The timber assemblage represents the most extensive collection of Mesolithic worked wood in the country including previously unknown methods of timber working and wooden artefacts. The material evidence indicates links across Europe, while the wooden structures suggest some degree of sedentism. The site was occupied just prior to the severance of Great Britain from continental Europe, therefore, similar sites could remain in comparable landscapes before they were drowned by the emergent North Sea. This paper presents new evidence from Bouldnor Cliff to support previous interpretations, demonstrates how shallow underwater sites near the modern coastline can reveal new information about patterns of land use, population contacts and dispersal patterns over wide areas. It highlights their significance as a complement to large scale mapping of more deeply submerged landscapes and as a model for the discovery of archaeological sites in deeper water, and emphasises the need for more intensive investigation given the constant threat of erosion and destruction of such evidence.

The archaeological site of Checua is located on an isolated hill in the Checua river valley in the Sabana de Bogota, Northern South America. Archaeological data obtained at the site two decades ago, suggested that it was occupied by groups of hunters and gatherers since Early Holocene. Good preservation of cultural materials allowed researchers to study several aspects of ancient inhabitants of the site including subsistence strategies as well as lithic and bone technologies to manufacture artefacts. Since 2015, a research program has been carried out at Checua in order to obtain relevant data to clarify chronology and to suggest a more detailed sociocultural characterisation of the people dwelling the place. We obtained new and complementary information about chronology, subsistence and mortuary practices. Radiocarbon data allowed us to assess the earliest and latest occupation of the site, showing that while it was used since ca. 9500 years BP, mortuary practices where carried out only between 7580 and 7475 years cal BP (2σ) and 5190-5052 years cal BP (2σ). We also discuss how these data can be used to explore permanence of human occupation at places in the landscapes during the process of sedentism among hunter and gatherers groups in Northern South America.

Scholars have long debated when the Neolithic began in China. Neolithisation, however, is a process rather than an event. It is more realistic to investigate the timing and nature of the socio-economic trajectory from mobile, microblade-using foragers to sedentary communities during the Palaeolithic–Neolithic transition in northern China. Here, the authors use artefacts from Shuidonggou locality 12 to demonstrate the socio-economic organisation of the site's inhabitants. They identify long-term site occupation by a large group exhibiting high levels of individual mobility. Comparative analyses with contemporaneous data indicate that the early stages of complex social organisation—a fundamental element of Neolithisation—emerged among microblade-using groups.

The transition from the dart to the arrow, and the commensurate changes in lithic technology is poorly understood in the American Southwest. This transition has often been linked to shifts in seden...

The Neolithization of Northern Eurasia is marked by the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer societies. The driving forces behind the adoption of ceramic cooking vessels among non-agricultural societies remain unclear, although previous research, mainly in North East Asia (e.g. Japan, Korea and the Russian Far East), suggests that it was adopted as a specialist technology for processing aquatic resources, linked to the intensification of fishing activities and a move to sedentism. The stratified site of Zamostje 2 in the forest zone of the Volga-Oka region includes both aceramic Mesolithic and two early ceramic horizons dating to Early Neolithic (EN) and Middle Neolithic (MN). This provides a unique opportunity to look at the impacts of the adoption of pottery on the wider economy and determine whether pottery function changes over time. This was achieved through the analysis of lipids from 166 potsherds dating from the earliest phases (mid-6th millennium cal BC) to the MN (5th millennium cal BC). Contrary to our expectations, the pottery from the EN phase was used to process a broad range of foodstuffs including terrestrial resources, such as forest fruits, in addition to freshwater fish. In contrast, pottery from the MN phase was used exclusively for processing aquatic resources. The results show that in this case, pottery was adopted as a more general-purpose cooking container, at least in the earliest phases of use, and that a specialist function only emerged later.

The ethnographic literature of California has long attributed some measure of reduced mobility to nearly all of its Native societies, but methods for determining this measure for any given group ha...

Author(s): Torres-Rouff, Christina; Pimentel, Gonzalo; Pestle, William J; Ugarte, Mariana; Knudson, Kelly J | Abstract: Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100–400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacamenos and Tarapaquenos. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.

The Palaeolithic–Neolithic transition in East Asia is characterised by the transformation of mobile hunter-gatherer groups into sedentary communities. The existence of ‘ice-age’ pottery in the Japanese archipelago, however, is inconsistent with claims that directly link climatic warming with sedentism and the development of ceramics. Here, the authors reconsider the chronology and palaeoenvironment of the Maedakochi site in Tokyo. New AMS dating and environmental data suggest that intensified inland fishing in cold environments, immediately prior to the Late Glacial warm period, created conditions conducive to sedentism and the development of subsistence-related pottery.

For over 120 years, the shell middens of western Scotland and the series of open-air sites on Oronsay have been the focus of debate in European Mesolithic studies. This paper challenges the significance of Oronsay in light of results from the geophysical survey and test-excavation of a new limpet and periwinkle shell midden dated to the late 5th or start of the 4th millennium calbcat Port Lobh, Colonsay that offers fresh evidence to re-evaluate critically the role of Oronsay and coastal resources in island settlement models ahead of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition. Test excavations recovered a marine molluscan assemblage dominated by limpet and periwinkle shells together with crab, sea urchin, a fishbone assemblage composed mainly of Gadidae, some identifiable bird and mammal bone, carbonised macroplant remains, and pumice as well as a bipolar lithic assemblage and coarse stone implements. Novel seasonality studies of saithe otolith thin-sections suggest wintertime tidal fishing practices. At least two activity events may be discerned, dating from the late 5th millennium calbc. The midden could represent a small number of rapidly deposited assemblages or maybe the result of stocastic events within a more extended timeframe. We argue that alternative research questions are needed to advance long-standing debates about seasonal inter-island mobility versus island sedentism that look beyond Oronsay to better understand later Mesolithic occupation patterns and the formation and date of Oronsay middens. We propose alternative methodological strategies to aid identification of contemporaneous sites using geophysical techniques and lithic technological signatures.

Physical, mineralogical and geochemical analyses were conducted to ascertain the techniques used to manufacture Gosan-ri-type pottery (GTP) excavated on South Korea's Jeju Island. The results indicate that Neolithic occupants of Jeju Island addressed the challenge of sourcing raw materials, in the absence of sufficient clay content and high specific gravity minerals, by selecting plants of the family Poaceae to use as temper. The technique of pottery production using plant materials as temper was prevalent on Jeju Island alone in the Korean Peninsula during the period 7600–4500 cal BC. This phenomenon is acknowledged as a unique local tradition on the island. Structures and artifacts found in association with GTP indicate that its users practiced sedentism.

En el presente artículo se reporta el hallazgo de varios contextos arqueológicos tempranos descubiertos e investigados recientemente en el noroeste de la ciudad de Quito, en el sector urbano denominado Rancho Bajo. Se trata principalmente de un cementerio relacionado con una superficie de uso de muy antigua fecha para la región, que presentó también un área de actividad dedicada a la talla de obsidiana. Los datos estratigráficos, así como las dataciones radiocarbónicas, ubican estos contextos en un momento de transición (3600-3400 cal. AP) entre el periodo Precerámico y el Formativo Temprano. Este último se consideraba, a través de los materiales culturales de filiación Cotocollao, el asentamiento sedentario más antiguo de Quito, caracterizado por la presencia de cerámica desde su inicio. Los hallazgos de Rancho Bajo muestran una ocupación sedentaria acerámica anterior estratigráficamente a la ocupación de la fase Cotocollao y dan razón, de esta manera, sobre los primeros quiteños conocidos hasta el momento. En el texto se discuten aspectos cronológicos y terminológicos que concluyen en la necesidad de añadir un nuevo periodo en la tabla cronológica quiteña. ENGLISH: This paper reports on the recent discovery and investigation of early archaeological contexts in the northwest section of Quito, in the urban sector named Rancho Bajo. The principal context is a cemetery associated with a paleosurface that dates to an early moment for the region. Additionally, an activity area dedicated to working obsidian also was found in association with the paleosurface. The stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates indicate that these contexts pertain to a moment of transition (3600–3400 cal BP) between the Preceramic and Early Formative periods. Based on cultural material affiliated with Cotocollao, the latter period was considered to include the oldest sedentary settlement in Quito with ceramic vessels present from the beginning of the occupation. The discoveries at Rancho Bajo document an aceramic sedentary occupation in a stratigraphic context below Cotocollao materials, indicating that the aceramic inhabitants of the site are the earliest known Quiteños to date. In this paper, I discuss chronological and terminological issues that demonstrate the necessity of adding a new period to the chronology of Quito.

Archaeobotanical remains recovered from a large ∼8000-year-old-shell midden (CA-SRI-666) on Santa Rosa Island provide the first ancient plant data from this large island, shedding light on ...

Recent survey and excavation conducted in the Mil Plain region of the southern part of the Republic of Azerbaijan challenges traditional notions of Neolithic sedentism. Here, the authors present their findings, and propose that prior to its abandonment towards the end of the sixth millennium BC, the occupation of the region was comprised of numerous highly variable short-term sites and multi-mounded sites (Qarabel Tepe), as well as anchoring sites (Kamiltepe). This indicates multi-scalar patterns of mobility of a much more complex nature than had previously been supposed, making this region quite unique for the Late Neolithic of South-western Asia.

The author suggests that the presence of early Late Archaic houses in Falls region reflects changes in hunter-gatherer social organization associated with increased sedentism. The aggregation of domestic structures implies greater investments associated with territorial demarcation and smaller home ranges. With more permanent settlements and decreased mobility, individuals and groups would have made efforts to communicate their social affiliations and status to others. This led to distinctive bannerstone styles that reflected social boundedness and identity within the Falls region and bone pin styles that signaled ties to those living to the west in the lower Ohio River Valley.

The lowlands of south-western Iran have been studied archaeologically since the mid nineteenth century. The Neolithic period, however, was mostly investigated in the 1960s and 1970s, when Early Neolithic settlements were reported in the western plains, positing the idea that the rest of the lowland plains had been populated after the Neolithic period. The excavation at Tapeh Mahtaj in 2015, however, has changed this view. This article provides inter-disciplinary results and discusses the nature of the Early Neolithic in the Iranian south-western lowlands, thereby enabling a better understanding of the emergence of early domestication and sedentism in the region specifically and in the Eastern Fertile Crescent.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether fishing in southern Scandinavia may have created conditions for a sedentary lifestyle. This would contradict the current image of the Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence. The image of Early mesolithic as dependent on hunting subsistence is in a dichotomous relationship in contrast to Late mesolithic fishing subsistence, which leads to fishing amongst Early mesolithic cultures being overlooked. A dichotomous relationship has also appeared between the mesolithic and neolithic way of life, where the mesolithic attributes as nomadic hunter-gatherers are in contrast to sedentary neolithic farmers. Underwater archaeology has not until recently focused on Early mesolithic settlement. Recent discoveries in the south-eastern Sweden can indicate that fishing would have been a more central part of the Early Mesolithic society than previously assumed.

This chapter explores the study of Egyptian settlements and the characteristic range of domestic architecture and artefacts found within living spaces and urban contexts. It will focus on the changing approaches to the material culture of sedentism, urbanism, and use of domestic artefacts in Egypt over the last 150 years. The main section, discussing settlement archaeology in Egypt, aims both to provide a summary of progress to date and to highlight areas of the topic that are neglected, controversial, or disputed. The final section discusses artefacts that derive from ancient Egyptian domestic contexts, with specific emphasis on the study of patterns of production and consumption and the physical locations in which these activities took place.

The number of Mesolithic structures known in Britain has significantly increased since 2000, providing new opportunities for economic and social interpretations of this period. We describe a further structure, represented by features from the Mesolithic site of Criet Dubh, Isle of Mull. We compare the inferred Criet Dubh structure to other Mesolithic structures from Britain, notably those described by Waddington & Bonsall (2016) as ‘pit-houses’. We then consider the implications of the radiocarbon dates from such structures for the temp of occupation and past settlement patterns. While the use of Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates has encouraged interpretations of prolonged occupation and sedentism, we propose alternative interpretations with patterns of intermittent occupation for Criet Dubh and the pit-houses, involving their re-use of after extended periods of abandonment within a sparsely populated landscape. The ability to debate such interpretations reflects the transformation in Mesolithic research made possible by the discovery of such structures, the use of multiple radiocarbon determinations, the application of Bayesian analysis, and the exploration of associations between cultural and environmental change. These developments have made the Mesolithic a particularly innovative period of study.

Neolithic material engagements transformed the ways in which communities interacted with the physical world and one another. Based on evidence from the flanks of the Zagros Mountains, in western Iran and north‐eastern Iraq, Robert Braidwood initially proposed his ‘Hilly Flanks’ hypothesis for the origins of agriculture and sedentism. The evidence for multi‐centred developments in domestication has demonstrated that elements of these practices spanned south‐west Asia in the Early Neolithic. The Zagros Mountains (and the eastern branch of the Fertile Crescent as a whole) constituted an area of vibrant engagement with new ideas, materials, experimentation and innovation, participating in the networks of interaction and exchange that facilitated the spread of alternative lifeways. This research examines how engagements with clay influenced the development and spread of new ways of thinking about the physical world, highlighting the role of clay as a transformational material through sites in the Central Zagros.

The Epipaleolithic sequence of the southern Levant (ca. 24,000–11,500 cal. BP) reflects the shift from mobile to sedentary foraging societies, eventually paving the way to nascent villages, domestication and farming. Early and middle Epipaleolithic cultures (locally, the Kebaran and the Geometric Kebaran) generally produce an archaeological signature of mobile foragers, while the late Epipaleolithic Natufian Culture is renowned for the regular and intensified appearance of durable architecture, cemeteries, groundstones and art, joined with a broad-spectrum economy, and therefore indicates a more complex and sedentary society. Epipaleolithic archaeofaunas have been thoroughly investigated to detect shifts in site-occupation intensity, including changes in prey abundances, ungulate culling patterns and carcass processing habits, but carcass transport decisions received less attention. The transition to sedentary living in the Natufian would entail the exploitation of a defined and contracted territory around the site. In this case, central-place foraging theory predicts that ungulates will be hunted in the site's proximity and hence will be carried away in a more complete form, undergoing minimal or no field butchery. Therefore, we predict that skeletal-element profiles in sedentary Natufian hamlets will be more complete than in pre-Natufian camps, used by mobile foragers. We test this prediction by constructing detailed skeletal-element profiles and examining skeletal-element evenness. The results indicate that ungulate carcasses were transported significantly more completely in the Natufian assemblages, supporting our prediction. We further zoom in to explore the differential distribution of skeletal element abundances within a Natufian hamlet, showing the discard and attrition patterns that eventually produced our skeletal-element record. The results of our analysis of skeletal-element evenness correspond to other archaeological proxies for increased site-occupation intensity and territorial contraction in the Natufian.

The Aceramic Neolithic site of Ganj Dareh (Kermanshah, Iran) is arguably one of the most significant sites for enhancing our understanding of goat domestication and the onset of sedentism. Despite its central importance, it has proven difficult to obtain contextually reliable data from it and integrate the site in regional syntheses because it was never published in full after excavations ceased in 1974. This paper presents the Ganj Dareh archive at Université de Montréal and shows how the documentation and artifacts it comprises still offer a great deal of useful information about the site. In particular, we 1) present the first stratigraphic profile for the site, which reveals a more complex depositional history than Smith’s five-level sequence; 2) reveal the presence of two possible pre-agricultural levels (H-01 and P-01); 3) explore the spatial organization of different levels; 4) explain possible discrepancies in the radiocarbon dates from the site; 5) show some differences in lithic technological organization in levels H-01 and P-01 suggestive of higher degrees of residential mobility than subsequent phases of occupation at the site; and 6) reanalyze the burial data to broaden our understanding of Aceramic Neolithic mortuary practices in the Zagros. These data help refine our understanding of Ganj Dareh’s depositional and occupational history and recenter it as a key site to improve our understanding the Neolithization process in the Middle East.

Monagrillo pottery (ca. 4500-3200 14C yr B.P.) is the earliest in Panama and one of the first ceramics in the New World. It is found in two distinct site types: (1) shell-bearing middens of the northeastern Azuero Peninsula and (2) rock shelters of the Pacific plains, foothils, and cordillera, and the Caribbean slopes of central Panama. Here, I present a study that sources Monagrillo ceramics using petrography to distinguish locally produced from transported wares. Results indicate that ceramics were mainly produced in two zones: northeastern Azuero, and the Pacific slopes around Rio Grande. Diachronic changes in ceramic sources were not observed. A number of vessels found in the Pacific plains rock shelters in the intermediate area were wares transported from both production zones. Most ceramics from the Caribbean slopes were manufactured on the Pacific slopes. As the first systematic pottery sourcing project conducted in Panama, this research provides the basis for future evaluations of degrees of sedentism, patterns of human mobility, and exchange, which can improve the knowledge of the context of ceramic origins in New World tropics.

Based on calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates from stratigraphically controlled contexts, the Early Formative period site of La Consentida was occupied between 1950 and 1550 cal BCE. In addition to evidence of early pottery and mounded earthen architecture, this site has produced fourteen sets of human remains in twelve discrete burials. The people of La Consentida lived and died during a period of key socioeconomic transitions including the establishment of sedentary villages, a shift toward agriculture, and the origins of formalized social inequality. In this paper, we discuss the archaeological context of La Consentida's burials and the results of bioarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses of human and faunal remains from the site. Stable isotope values and paleopathological data suggest significant maize consumption concurrent with increasing dental attrition. Considered alongside changes in food processing tools, this pattern suggests a culinary transition regarding maize use. Burial goods and associated features (including a ceremonial cache containing faunal remains, ceramics, and a musical instrument) shed light on mortuary practices. As some of Oaxaca's earliest known human remains the burials of La Consentida offer a rare opportunity for multidisciplinary investigation of the diet, lifestyles, and mortuary traditions of an early Mesoamerican village.

Pottery was adopted by hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Baltic at the end of the 6th millennium cal BC. To examine the motivations for this cultural and technological shift, here we report the organic residue analysis of ceramic vessels from the earliest pottery horizon (Narva) in this region. A combined approach using GC-MS, GC-C-IRMS and bulk IRMS of residues absorbed into the ceramic and charred surface deposits was employed. The results show that despite variable preservation, Narva ceramic vessels were preferentially used for processing aquatic products. We argue that pottery was part of a new Late Mesolithic subsistence strategy which included more intensive exploitation of aquatic foods and may have had important implications, such as increased sedentism and population growth.

Excavations at two Late Archaic shell rings on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, revealed evidence of significant amounts of subterranean storage. Based on botanical evidence, ethonographic analogies, and interpretations of other Late Archaic sites, hickory nuts and acorns are the most likely resource being stored, and quantifying the capacity found at each ring highlights the prevalence and importance of mast storage. These findings are important because large-scale storage has rarely been proposed for Late Archaic coastal peoples and, therefore, its impact as a potential factor for social changes enacted during this time period, including increasing sedentism, formalization of intragroup relations, and regionalization of cultural identities, has yet to be explored.

The Zvejnieki burial ground in northern Latvia is one of the largest concentrations of burials from the Mesolithic and Neolithic in Northern Europe. The 308 burials, dominated by primary inhumation, excavated in the 1960s and 1970s have become important references for understanding the hunter-gatherer mortuary practices in the region. Recent excavations, implementing a taphonomy-focused archaeothanatological protocol revealed 26 additional burials. The analysis confirmed important aspects of the patterns already observed at the site, such as primary inhumation, multiple depositions, and the occasional practice of wrapping the body before disposal. The analysis also revealed previously ignored patterns of systematic disturbance. By focusing on the disarticulated remains and on establishing the sequence of disturbances, the study concluded that the disturbance of older burials must be understood not as accidental but as an integral and meaningful part of the mortuary practices that can be tied to a concern with permanence of places in the landscape at the transition to increasing sedentism among the Neolithic populations in the Eastern Baltic.

In Japan plant remains excavated from lowland sites have revealed that people managed and used plant resources, especially arboreal ones, around settlements since the early Jomon period starting at ca. 7000 cal yr BP. This management of arboreal resources mainly consisted of management and use of native Castanea crenata (chestnut) and introduced Toxicodendron vernicifluum (lacquer tree) resources. At present this management system seems to have been established suddenly at the beginning of the early Jomon period. This is partly due to the paucity of sites of the preceding incipient and initial Jomon periods that yielded plant materials. Even in these periods, however, people must have used and did some kind of management of plant resources, because the management system appearing in the early Jomon period seems to be too sophisticated to appear suddenly and includes various introduced plants beside the lacquer tree. To clarify the human–plant relationship during the incipient and initial Jomon periods, we reviewed the studies on plant remains carried out in central to northeastern Japan. Based on the collected materials, we discussed change in the human–plant relationship from the incipient and initial to the early Jomon periods from three points, change in the availability of Castanea crenata resources, change in people's mobility and sedentism, and submergence of sites in relation to the late Glacial to the early Holocene transgression.

Investigations at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, documented an artificial plateau, measuring 600 x 340 m in horizontal dimensions and 6 to 15 m in height. Unlike highly visible pyramids, such horizontally extensive constructions covered by the rainforest are difficult to recognize on the ground, but airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) revealed its planned form. Excavations carried out over many years provided data on its construction sequence, fill volumes, and labor investments. The initial construction of the plateau occurred around 950 B.C. when a formal ceremonial complex was built in its center. This was the period when the inhabitants of the Maya lowlands were adopting a new way of life with greater reliance on maize agriculture, full sedentism, and ceramic use. The inhabitants of areas surrounding Ceibal, who retained certain levels of residential mobility, probably participated in the construction of the plateau. In this regard, the Ceibal plateau is comparable to monumental constructions that emerged before or during the transition to agriculture or sedentism in other parts of the world. The data from Ceibal compel researchers to examine the social implications of monumental constructions in the Maya lowlands before the establishment of centralized polities with hereditary rulers. Unlike pyramids, where access to the summits may have been limited to privileged individuals, the horizontal monumentality of the plateau was probably more conducive to inclusive interaction. The Ceibal plateau continued to be built up during the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 175), and its fill volume substantially surpassed those of pyramids. Large-scale construction projects likely promoted organizational and managerial innovations among participants, which may have set the stage for later administrative centralization.