Significant indirect evidence suggests that one of the Classic-period residential groups at Tikal was the residence of a family of potters who produced high-quality painted wares. Delineation of the borders of residential Group 4H-1 at Tikal led me to postulate that thebajowas a major resource zone for ceramic manufacturing rather than a spatially limiting feature. This family of upscale ceramic producers used the adjacentbajoas a source of clay and fuel for firing pottery. The configuration of other groups near Group 4H-1 suggests not only that the people occupying the several groups on this peninsula were related, but that they were all involved in the production, painting, and distribution of fine ceramics. These several residential groups, located on adjacent house lots, define abarriowithin Tikal whose occupants formed an extended kin unit sharing an economic focus on the production of high-quality ceramics. A consideration of the contents of trash deposits that were used by the Maya for building fill and a study of the middens found adjacent to residential groups at Tikal provide clues to the location of a specific kiln, or firing area. Broken pottery in the structure fill tells us more than architectural history. In this example, pottery indicates how other aspects of one or more house lots were organized and used. In particular, these data suggest that abarrio-like cluster of households at Tikal, with its own ritual center (Group 5G-I), housed families of ceramic producers who had specifically located their residences in direct proximity to thebajo. The search for the firing facilities associated with the production of ceramics in Group 4H-1 is now a major research focus. “Kilns,” or firing facilities, should be among the various architectural features found “out back,” or located on the margins of a house lot. Kilns may have been of the trench type or free-standing small buildings, possibly within sheds, and are expected outside the perimeter formed by the main buildings of the residential group. The structures facing a plaza or series of plazas that are the most obvious elements of a single household tend to attract archaeological attention. Location of structures “out back,” or peripheral to the residential core buildings, could help define the configuration of household lots.
Recent models for the organization of Classic period Maya in the Guatemala lowlands suggest a complex system of stratified social classes. Much of the basic data supporting such theoretical models is derived from the evidence for the existence of numerous occupational specializations. Previously, the data have been largely inferential, but extensive and comprehensive excavations at Tikal over a period of 13 yr have provided significant information suggesting that the occupations of residents of specific buildings or house groups can be determined. This evidence also suggests techniques by which future excavations might be directed in order to augment existing information.
Four archaeologically derived populations of human infants provide evidence for age at closure of the mandibular suture. These data suggest fusion by 7-8 months of age, with a range from 6 to 9 months. This provides a useful tool for age identification of the remains of young children recovered from archaeological and other contexts.
Recognition of architectural patterning among groups of structures at lowland Maya sites dating from the Classic period provides insights into the ways that residences and ritual complexes were organized. Each structured group arrangement, or Plaza Plan (PP), reveals an architectural grammar that provides the database enabling us to predict urban as well as rural settlement patterns. Wide variations in sizes among examples of residential PPs suggests that heterarchy was an important aspect of Classic Maya society. Examination of PP2 at Tikal indicates that a heterarchic pattern of organization existed. Heterarchy may relate to the fragility of the structure of lowland Maya kingship, and this may explain the gradual demise of states during the Terminal Classic and Postclassic periods and their replacement by re-emergent Maya chiefdoms.
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