This paper presents an analysis of stature of the prehistoric population from the Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. From this analysis, based on 55 skeletons from the Tikal burial series, three important conclusions emerge with respect to ancient Maya demography and social organization. (1) Tikal was settled by people of moderate stature, and this remained relatively stable over several centuries. A marked reduction in male stature in Late Classic times may be indicative of a situation of nutritional stress, which may have had something to do with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. (2) Stature differences between those buried in tombs and others at Tikal suggest that, in the last century B.C., a distinct ruling class developed at Tikal. This simple class division of rulers and commoners may have become more complex in Late Classic times. (3) There was a marked sexual dimorphism in stature between males and females at Tikal. This is probably partially genetic and partially a reflection of relatively lower status for women as opposed to men in Maya society.
Current interest among anthropologists in population size as a major independent variable makes it likely that attempts will be made to estimate the size of populations resident at various prehistoric sites at particular points in time in Mesoamerica. Such estimates are likely to depend on some notion of the average number of people resident in a single house. The problem of arriving at such a statistic is illustrated for the Classic Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. A consideration of demographic data from Tikal and modern Yucatán Maya communities, as well as information on household composition in sixteenth century Yucatán are reviewed which suggests that it is best to assume that each individual dwelling within a prehistoric household group at Tikal was inhabited by an average of 5 people. This requires some slight modification of previously published population estimates for Tikal and Mayapan, which relied on a base figure of 5.6 people per house.
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