Ritual and Economy in a Pre-Columbian Chiefdom is a welcome addition to the growing body of research on the non-Maya region of southeast Mesoamerica. Kenneth Hirth and colleagues draw attention to the ritual economy, a “process through which worldview and social ideology are materialized through the production, provisioning, and consumption of economic resources” (p. 6). The authors present evidence from the site of Salitrón Viejo for feasting, the construction of civic-ceremonial architecture, and the acquisition of dedicatory offerings through long-distance trade. This volume fills a gap in the prehistoric cultural history of western Honduras and documents a society organized around egalitarian collective strategies quite different from the hierarchical societies common among their Maya neighbors to the north.

In comparison to the robust description of material remains, the theoretical perspective is lean. Aside from passing reference to behavioral economics, the focus is almost entirely on rituals. The authors draw on contributions to the 2007 volume Mesoamerican Ritual Economy: Archaeological and Ethnological Perspectives edited by Christian E. Wells and Karla L. Davis-Salazar, especially the concluding chapter by John M. Watanabe, who notes a distinction between ritual of economy (the ideological motivations that permeate provisioning activities) and economics of ritual (how rituals are materially financed). Hirth and coauthors deftly utilize both concepts, although their work at Salitrón Viejo emphasizes the economic costs of ritual activities. They argue that material resources are gathered in support of both ideological concepts and sociopolitical ambitions, and the ritual economy offers a holistic lens through which to view past societies. Perhaps of greater importance, these ritual behaviors alter the material record in ways accessible to archaeologists.

Ritual and Economy is clearly written and well organized. The research was undertaken as a salvage effort between 1980 and 1989 ahead of the construction of the El Cajón dam. At the time, the Proyecto Arquelógico El Cajón was concerned with the relationship between settlement and ecology. The authors provide a detailed presentation of the different ecological zones alongside a discussion of subsistence strategies. They also present a culture historical summary for the El Cajón chiefdom (400 BC–AD 1000). Salitrón Viejo is the largest settlement in the survey region and has a distinctive site layout with two civic-ceremonial complexes, the North Precinct where visitors from outlying communities were welcomed, and the Iglesia Precinct. The construction sequence of the Iglesia Precinct is meticulously documented. This is the central architectural complex dedicated to ritual activities. It is also the largest and most important ritual complex in the El Cajón region. The detailed documentation of the growth of this complex over time is stunning. The accompanying figures and radiocarbon dates supplement the description to great effect.

The central chapters are devoted to the detailed description of nearly 3,000 (n = 2,904) ritual artifacts and their depositional context within the civic-ceremonial complexes. These objects include jade beads, pendants, ear flares, and other lapidary objects. Beyond documenting the unusually large volume of these objects, the authors make several points. First, there is no evidence for specialized lapidary production and all the high-value objects were imported from beyond the site (p. 135). Second, most of these offerings were deposited during a relatively short time frame at the transition from the Formative Period to Classic Period, about AD 238–352 (p. 202). Third, these objects were not interred as mortuary offerings to aggrandize any individual but rather enlivened the built environment through the animating force of these objects. Finally, when included in the costs of raising the architecture, “the amount of labor represented in the offerings appears to far exceed the effort needed to construct civic-ceremonial structures in the Iglesia Precinct” (p. 290).

Given the nature of this work, there are three groups of scholars who will find this book of interest. Most broadly, anthropologists focused on middle-range societies will find the methodological approach and conclusions valuable. The authors’ emphasis on ritual helps to illustrate one way that chiefdoms are integrated. The case study from Salitrón Viejo further provides an example for group-oriented egalitarian organizations with limited hierarchy. As Hirth and colleagues note, rare imports are to be expected in the royal tombs of their Maya neighbors, but the consistent use of jade and other precious materials in the dedication of public spaces suggests a quite different practice at Salitrón Viejo. The intentional removal from circulation without reinforcing inequality and hierarchical elites is yet another indication of how differently organized this society was from their Maya neighbors.

The second group of scholars are those working with Mesoamerican material culture, especially ornamentation manufactured from jade or marble. The classification and description of the ritual objects interred in the civic-ceremonial construction are exceptional. The drawings and photographs are of sufficient quality that comparative analyses can be reliably done with both archaeological assemblages and museum collections. Perhaps of equal value is the exposition of ideological context through which one might interpret the meaning of these objects.

Finally, archaeologists working with precolonial Indigenous communities in southeast Mesoamerica will appreciate this important contribution to the culture history of the region. There may be a few observations throughout this volume upon which regional experts may disagree. To their credit, the authors provide details specific enough to spur spirited conversation. However, any points of disagreement are not significant enough to warrant revision of the authors’ conclusions. There is one noteworthy omission: since systematic research began more than 50 years ago, publications have relied on phrases such as “poorly understood,” “underresearched,” and “lesser known” to describe the non-Maya cultures of Honduras. At no point in Ritual and Economy do Hirth and coauthors resort to any of these phrases. This omission reflects both the current state of research on the prehistory of Honduras and the quality of the authors’ analysis of the extensive archaeological evidence from the El Cajón region.