The hegemonic-type empires of ancient Mesoamerica are difficult to study archaeologically because they left fewer material traces than more territorially organized empires such as the Inka or Roman cases. We present a material culture model for the identification of such empires using archaeological data. The model, based upon Michael Doyle’s analytical approach to imperialism, is developed fro...

Tuberculosis is a contagious and destructive disease that has plagued humans and their domesticated animals for at least 6000 years (Morse, Brothwell, and Ucko 1964), and continues to be a serious disease worldwide. Like most infectious diseases, the virulence of tuberculosis constantly fluctuates as changes occur in the host, the pathogen, and the environment. For example, in the United States...

This chapter discusses several topics, from why statistics is important in anthropological research to statistical notation. The first section (statistics and scientific enquiry) defines basic scientific terms and explains the role of statistics in anthropological research. The second section (basic definitions) reviews the vocabulary we need for the rest of the book. The third section (statist...