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The Late Classic and Early Postclassic civic centers of Moxviquil and Cerro Ecatepec/CV‐38, located in the Jovel Valley of highland Chiapas, supported a number of institutions that provide evidence for a low level of commercialization. These include a possible periodic marketplace in the Main Plaza of Moxviquil, indirect evidence of merchant activity, and the use of widely circulating formal currencies, media of exchange, and imported luxury goods. However, many imported commodities were not equally consumed at all sites in the valley, and many widely‐circulating currency items were ultimately deposited in elite funerary contexts.[Maya, Chiapas, marketplace, currency, exchange] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Capsicum is New World in origin and represents a complex of a wide variety of both wild and domesticated taxa. Peppers or fruits of Capsicum species rarely have been identified in the paleoethnobotanical record in either Meso- or South America. We report here confirmation of Capsicum sp. residues from pottery samples excavated at Chiapa de Corzo in southern Mexico dated from Middle to Late Preclassic periods (400 BCE to 300 CE). Residues from 13 different pottery types were collected and extracted using standard techniques. Presence of Capsicum was confirmed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)/MS-MS Analysis. Five pottery types exhibited chemical peaks for Capsicum when compared to the standard (dihydrocapsaicin). No peaks were observed in the remaining eight samples. Results of the chemical extractions provide conclusive evidence for Capsicum use at Chiapas de Corzo during a 700 year period (400 BCE–300 CE). Presence of Capsicum in different types of culinary-associated pottery raises questions how chili pepper could have been used during this early time period. As Pre-Columbian cacao products sometimes were flavored using Capsicum, the same pottery sample set was tested for evidence of cacao using a theobromine marker: these results were negative. As each vessel that tested positive for Capsicum had a culinary use we suggest here the possibility that chili residues from the Chiapas de Corzo pottery samples reflect either paste or beverage preparations for religious, festival, or every day culinary use. Alternatively, some vessels that tested positive merely could have been used to store peppers. Most interesting from an archaeological context was the presence of Capsicum residue obtained from a spouted jar, a pottery type previously thought only to be used for pouring liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evidence for local imitations of fine orange pottery is found in Central Chiapas. • INAA was conducted on samples from Jovel Valley and Central Depression archaeological sites. • Fine orange pottery was produced locally in the Jovel Valley and Central Depression respectively. • Potters in highland Chiapas imitated Gulf Coast fine orange vessels that they perceived as successful. This article examines the complex production and exchange networks through which Central Chiapas polities manufactured and imported fine orange pottery. The Jovel Valley of highland Chiapas formed part of the western frontier of the Maya area, traditionally considered a relatively isolated periphery zone. Conversely, the neighboring Central Depression is considered by many scholars to be a corridor for trade, transportation and cultural contact, inhabited by Zoque cultural groups prior to occupation by Chiapanec-speaking people during the Postclassic period. Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) of fine orange pottery samples from sites in the Jovel Valley and Central Depression revealed that they were locally-produced imitations of Balancán Fine Orange ceramic serving dishes from the Lower Usumacinta River region, rather than imported vessels. Our results suggest that potters working independently in the Jovel Valley and Central Depression were making and locally exchanging imitation Balancán ceramics, using many different clay sources/recipes. An interpretive framework of isomorphism adapted from new institutional theory is useful for distinguishing the production of a standardized, elite-attributed, God-N-decorated set of vessels, from multiple, independent potters' communities, all under the widespread stylistic influence of Balancán-style Fine Orange wares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo discurre sobre el uso de los chiles en las civilizaciones prehispánicas en Chiapas, México. Los autores comentan sobre las prácticas agrícolas de los grupos indígenas y describen los proyectos arqueológicos de varios sitios en la región, los cuales produjeron hallazgos como jarrones y ollas con la presencia de chiles.