Abramiuk thesis

Reliability Modeling Development at Ek Xux
Marc A. Abramiuk
A thesissubmittedto the Faculty of GraduateStudies
inpartial fulnllmentof the requirements
forthe degree of
Master of Arts
Graduate Programmein Social Anthropology
YorkUniversity
Toronto,Ontario
January 1999

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Reliability Modeling Development at Ek Xux
by MARC A. ABRAMIUK
a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of York
University in partial fulfillmentof the requirementsfor the degree
of
MASTER OF ARTS
Permrsston has been granted to the LIBRARY OF YORK
UNIVERSITY to lend or sel1 copies of this thesis, to the
NATIONALLIBRARY OF CANADA to microfilm this thesis and to
lend or sel1copiesof the film.
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Abstract
The purpose of my thesis is to investigate when and why the ancient Maya of the
cornmunityof EkXUXabandonedsettlement in the ninth century A.D. It is my
contention that the Maya left their homes in the Maya Mountainsof southem Belize as
the resuit ofinsufficient arable land with which to sustain the expanding population.
Since the communitiesof these mountains are believed to have been self-sufficient,
althougheconomically interconnected, I propose to treat Ek Xux as if it was one of
several componentsin a system. By utilizingthe mathematical concept of reliability. 1
will constnict a mode1that describes the development of Ek Xux and in so doing
illuminatethe role that subsistence fluctuationplayed in its demise as well as estimate a
time for its collapse. By using reliabilityto generate theoretical dates for the collapse it
will be possible to test the theoretical dates with actualdates that are obtained by future
excavations and epigraphic stuciy.

Acknowledgments
1would like to thank my thesis supervisorDr. Elizabeth Graham for hertime
and patience in looking over my previous clraftsand for her input on several aspects of
Maya archaeology.
1would also like to thank Dr. Malcolm Blincow for his cornrnents on the
previous draftof this thesis.
I cannot emphasize enoughthe important d e that Dr. Peter Dunharn played in
introducing me to the Maya Mountains. 1thank him for the severalyears of
encouragementand the several fieldworkopportunities1was given as a member of the
Maya MountainsArchaeological Project (MMAP).
The hardships which were overcomewhile conducting fieldwork deep in the
tropical raini'orests of the Maya Mountains are memones that ody a handful of people
experience. Becauseof the type of fieldwork I conducted, which was mainly surveying,
1operated on my own very far fiom base camp,often with only two Kekchi or Mopan
guides. I especiallythank Greg,Margarito, Enrique, Pedro, and Benino with whom 1
worked most closely. As much as I would like othersto appreciatethe events that
transpireci in the field, these individuals will be the only ones that t d y understand.
Lastly, 1would lïke to thank my mother, father, sister, and the rest of my family
for their constantand enduring support. 1also thank Anita Gombos for her
encouragementover the past three years.
Finally, 1would neverhave been able to accumulateas much data as 1had
without the hancial assistance fiom the SigmaXi, the ScientificResearch Society and
the Explorer's Club.

Table of Contents
Absîract
Acknowledgements
Chapter l -introduction
Chapter 2 - Background of Study Area
-The Maya Mountains
- The Bladen River Drainage
- Ek XU
- Ek Xux Settlement
- Chronology at Ek Xux
Chapter 3 -Backgroundof Domestic and Househoid ArchaeologicalTrends
in the Maya Area
- Identificationof the Household
- The DevelopmentalCycle
Chapter4 -CarryingCapacity
- Introduction to CanyingCapacity
- Previous Studies of Camying Capacity
- Factors Which InfluenceCanying Capacity
- SustainingArea and Site Size: Variables that Describe C-g
Capacity at Ek X w
- Archaeodemography
Chapter 5 -Reliability
- Introductionto Reliability
- Systems
- Systems Reliability
- A Systems Approach to Reliabilitydong the Bladen Branch
- Component Reliability
Chapter 6 -Methods
-Constmcting the Reliability Mode1
Chapter 7 -Analysis and Interpretation
- Results
- Ek Xux Valley Settlement
- AC Valley Settlement
-The Ek X w Realrn
- DefiningIntermunicipalBoundaries
- Interpretingthe Relationship between the Ek Xux Valley and
the AC Valley Seîtlement
- The CollapsePhenornenon
Chapter 8 -Conclusion
- FurtherDirections and Conclusions
Appendix A

List of Figures
Fig. 1 -Map of Belize with Major Sitesand the Maya Mountains
Fig. 2 -Map of Upper Bladen Branch
Fig. 3 - SurveyMap of the Ek Xux SiteCore
Fig. 4 - S w e y Map of Ek X w Settlementamund the Ek Xux Site Core
Fig. 5 -Settlement Area Data
Fig. 7 -Reliability Data for Ek Xux Valley Settlement
Fig. 8 - ReliabilityData for AC Valley Settlement
Fig. 9 -ReliabilityData forAl1Ek X w
Fig. 13- Failure Data for Ek Xux Valley Settlement
Fig. 14- Failure Data for AC Valley Settlement
Fig. 15- Failure Data for Al1 Ek Xux
Fig. 6 -Settlementas a Functionof Time (Cycles). From Top to Bottom: 127
Ek Xux Realm, Ek Xux Valley, AC Valley.
Fig. 10-Reliability as a Function of Time (Cycles) for Ek Xwc Valley 128
Fig. 11-Reliabilityas a Function of Time (Cycles) for AC Valley 129
Fig. 12-Reliability as a Function of Time (Cycles) for Entire Ek X w Realm 130
Fig. 16-Failure as a Function of Time(Cycles) for Ek Xux Valley 131
Fig. 17- Failure as a Function of Time (Cycles) for AC Valley 132
Fig. 18-Failure as a Function of Time (Cycles) for Entire Ek Xux Realm 133
viii

ter 1 -IntroducIipn
for Mv R e s e a
My interest in the collapsephenornenon began as a desire to predict
mathematically the collapse of a community. Given that 1knew possiblecausesof the
collapse,and giventhat I knew how the community operated with respect to the causes,
in theory I could constnict a systemicrepresentation of the communitythrough time. The
operationalinmr workings of the community would Wear as tirne went on, sirnilarto the
Wear to which the gearsof a mechanical deviceare subject. The deterioratingprocess
would kevitablycontinueuntil the seizingof functioningparts in the community would
cause a system-wideshutdown.
Unfortunately, mathematically modeling the detenorationof social systems, such
as ancientcommunities,is not as easy as modelingthe detenorationof adevice. For one,
ancient communities do not alwaysmakeexplicitthe causes of theirdemise. Second,it is
not always kncwnhow the community fhctioned;even if this is known, the levels at
which the comrnunity operated areoften too numerous to include in a concisemodel.
Therefore, over the courseof my research, themodel that I hadpreviously in mind was
simplifieci. First, it was decidedthat the most obviouscause for the collapseof Ek Xux
was that it reached its maximum carryingcapacity. This causewould be the instigating
factor in the collapse until more information codd be gatheredon otherlikely causes.
Second, only one ievei of operationwas chosen to act as the operating force behind Ek
Xux, because this was the most fundamental level, and the level upon which the cause for

the collapsewas contingent:household growth. One advantage of such a mode1is that it
is flexibleand can be improved upon in futurework. Another advantage lies in the fact
that the mode1can be tested and the assumptions that were utilized to conscnict it
similarlytested.
. . . .se of CI-
For centuries, and no doubt millennia, people have wondered why communities
disappeared, Oftentimes leaving behind ma@ ficent monuments and temples -the 1st
remnants of a once great civilization. The reasons that people leave theircommunities
aredifficult to understand. Thisis because eiiherthere are too many faciorsto account
for, or the factors for declineare so enmeshed in a cause-effectweb that they are difficult
to distinguish. Rarely can we narrow down one factor as the predominant cause(Ellen
1982). Theancient Maya are a perfect case in point.
a=mawmc
The ancient Maya were long thought to have disappeared asthe result of some
mysterious cause(Stephens 1843). It was not until the middleof this centurythat
hypotheses were being generatedto explain the collapse phenornenon (Thompson 1966).
Many romanticizedthe collapseof the ancient Maya (Morley 1920)while others
fomulated more realistic hypotheses (Culbert 1973). One theory held that Maya
civilizationin the southem lowlands collapsed as the result of invading peoples fkom the
Gulf Coast (Sabloff 1973). Another proposed that the Maya were involved in a new type
of warfare that arrived in the southemlowlands fkom the north, and slowly pulled apart

the fabric of the traditional ways (Scheleand Freidel 1990). Thisnew,aggressive,
imperialist form of warfaredictated that sitesbe conquered and their political and
econornicinfrastructures taken over. Another hypothesis held that the Maya were so
economically linked that a disturbancecaused al1the sites in the southem iowlands to
fdl, one after another (Culbert 1973). Diseaseand drought were also popular themes
(Willey and Shimkin 1973).
Whether these were the reascns for collapse are, to this day, hotly debated, but as
more data are collected, many scholars believethat a query into the instability of Maya
civilizationis a question more capableof being answered. Someancient Maya cities had
been flourishing for nearly three thousand years. Why at this point in their history should
they be abandonecl?
Thequestionof this hstability in recent years has been closer than ever to being
answered. What we see in the Maya Iowlandsis one of the most populated regions in the
pre-industrial world. Even the study area to be discussed, the Maya Mountains, was a
highiypopulated region according to the archaeological evidencethat has been
accumulateciin recent years @unham 1990;Graham 1994). With such a large
population, the question arises whetherancient Maya society had enough food to support
it. Infact, the evidence indicating subsistence fluctuationas the causeof instability for
the Maya is impossibleto ignore. Some have hypothesizedthat the problem of
insufficientfood yields became so pressing that it led to the necessity of food exchange
among sites (Culbert 1995). Whether fiuctuating subsistencewas the cause of instability

in Maya infrastructure,which led to the collapse,or whether it was the direct cause of the
collapse is a question that deservesa rigorous analysis.
t of-
The area that 1will be discussing is the Maya Mountains of southem Belize
(Figure 1). High up in this rnountain range several previously unrecorded sites have
been discovered over the past decade by the Maya MountainsArchaeological Project
(MMAP) (Dunharn1998). 1will discuss one of these ancient comrnunities in particular,
Ek Xux. Ek Xwc was chosen to study because thus far we have more archaeologicaldata
on Ek Xwc than any other site in the area.
In the following chapters1hope to shed light on the hinction that Ek Xux served
with respect to its peer polities, and to ascertain a demographicchronology for Ek Xux
with which we may constnict a mode1 forits collapse. This latter goal will be
accomplished by using a mathematical construct called reliability,which will be based on
the fusionof two fwidamental concepts, namely the developmentalcycle and carrying
capacity.
The work done here on Ek Xux will also set the foundation for a much larger
futureproject, one which will encompassEk Xux and fourof its neighboring sites in a
network. For the purposes of this paper, however, 1will analyze Ek Xux and estirnate its
probability of successas a fùnctioning community throughout the Late Classic. Inso
doing it will be possible to calculatethe date of collapse for Ek Xux. Though Lowe
(1985) and many othersbelieve that multiple factors eventually caused the demiseof

Maya civilization, I will study theeffectof one cause on a single community. 1 will show
that it is possible to calculatehow long the cultivable land availablecould support the
exploding population at Ek Xux.
tv"* A L
1hypothesizethat therewere two counteracting yet complementary pressures,
namely increasingsettlementdue to the increasingpopulation, and decreasing
agriculhiral land. In otherwords, Ek Xux had reached a saturationpoint. Unable to
sustain itself with the diminishingagriculnualarea, Ek Xux was eventuallyabandoned.
1propose that during Ek Xw's waning years that Ek Xux's carrying capacity
coefficient or ratio between settlementarea and total agricultural area was nearing that of
the cntical canying capacity coefficientfor ancient Maya sites. The camyingcapacity is
not only important for telling us the critical state Ek Xw<was in at the tirne of collapse,
but 1believe that the coefficientsmake ideal measurements for reliability. The concept
of reliabîlitycanbe used to generatea mathematical model, one that can generate
themetical dates for the collapse of Ek Xux as well as the site's probability for
hctioning at different points in t h e .
For example, a site's reliabifîtyat the tirne of abandonmentcan be calculated
simplyby subtractingthe sitesCCC fromthe critical CCC for the Maya areê The result
will be a very srna11nurnber because, accordingto our hypothesis, the Maya abandoned
Ek Xux because they were approachingacritical CCC. Here, Ek Xwr's CCC is simply
the basal area of settlementdivided by the total agriculhual area. Thecritical CCC for

this region can be estimatedby using Raoul Naroll's (1962) formula relating basal area
and population in conjunctionwith the standard support capacity for the Maya area
(Culbert 1995).
The purpose of Chapter2 is to provide a detailed descriptionof the environment
and the settlement that surroundEk Xux, especially sincethe rise in settlement in
conjunction with the delimiting environmentcontributedto thecollapseat Ek Xux.
In Chapter3, I will briefly review the previous literatureon domestic archaeology
in the Maya area in the hope that it rnay illuminate the social dynamicsof ancient Maya
society at Ek Xux. An important concept called the developmental cycle will be
introduced later in the chapter, whichwill allow me to reconstruct settlementgrowthwith
respect to time, and provide the operational framework for constmctinga reliability
model for Ek Xux.
Chapter4 will discuss the other important concept in constructing a reliability
model, carryingcapacity. Canyingcapacitywill allow me to deteminethe settlementto
sustainingarearatio at a point in time, also known as the carryingcapacity coefficient
(CCC). Using the same reasoning a maximum or critical canyingcapacitycoefficient
(CCCC) can be calculated for the Maya area. The CCCC minus the CCC for Ek Xux is
the probability that Ek X w will continueto function properly and will be taken to be the
measurement ofreIiabiIity.
In Chapter 5, the probability that a comrnunitywill Function properly, or its

retiability, can be extendedto many points in time assumingthat the developmental cycle
of Chapter 3 isoperating. Reconstmcting the probabilities of success and failure of any
system is the material that is covered in this chapter and the matenal that will permit me
to constnict a reliability model for Ek Xux.
In Chapter6, the methods used in measuringsettlementarea and sustaining area
in the field and in the laboratorywill be presented. Derivations of the basic formulas
presented in the earlier chapters will be applied in this chapter and allow for a
mathematicalmodel of the reliability of Ek Xux to be constnicted.
In Chapter 7, the results arepresented for the Ek Xux valley, AC valley, and the
entire Ek Xux realm. Therelationshipsbetween the Ek Xux valley settlementand the AC
valley settlement is interpreted fiom the results and a collapsedate is predicted for Ek
Xux, which can be tested through futureexcavations.
Chapter 8will be the conclusion. 1will discusswhat has been achieved with my
application of reliability modelingand conclude with futuredirectionsthat will be taken
as the result of this research.

The Maya Mountains
The Maya Mountainsof souhem Belize were home to thousands of Maya
inhabitants for hundreds of years (Dunharn 1998). Therefore, the purpose of this chapter
is to intmduce the study area and provide some background on the environment and on
any archaeologicalevidenceof settlement in the vicinity of Ek Xu. Thisinformation
will help us to understand how the environrnent and the ancient Maya interacted through
time, allowing us to situateEk Xux spatially and chronologically.
a Mo-
The Maya Mountainsnui dong a southwest-northeastaxis in the intenor of
Belize. The northeast end of the range is located in the present day Cayo District of
Belize while the southwestend of the chah extends into neighboring Guatemala. Along
this axis the Maya Mountain chah is approximateb 150kilometers long and about 75
kilometers wide. The highest point, Doyle's Delight, is approximately 1,200 meters
above sea level. This is the only mouritainrange in the entireMaya lowlands, in fact, the
only main relief featureon the Yucatan Peninsula (Wright et al. 1959; West 1964). The
Maya Mountainsare not imposing in the senseof height; however, they do constitute a
formidableareato penetrate. It is forthis reason, as well as the fact that the Maya
Mountains exhibit no value in tems of mineral resources (Dixon 1956;Graham 1994)or
extensivecultivable land (Wright et al. 1959),that the mountains are uninhabitedand

commercially unexploited today. It is not until we shed Our contemporaryviews that we
seethat theMaya Mountains zone comprises a wide range of mineral and biotic resources
that provided attractive opportunities for resource exploitationin the past (Le., in the
context of anon-globally oriented market).
TheMaya Mountains have a high annualrainfall, which approaches five meters.
It alsoretains cool temperatures, which canget as Iow as 4 degrees Centigrade. For this
reason, the Maya Mountains of southem Belize support a wide rangeof flora and fauna.
Also, as one of the two 1st Pleistocene refuges on Earth (the other being the Amazon
Basin) (Dunham 1998), the Maya Mountains harbor several biological species that have
become extinct elsewhere.
Dueto the high relief and extremely rugged tenain, the mountain range is
geographicallyisolated nom the rest of the Maya Lowlands and is, therefore, difficult to
traverse. Hemando Cortez discovered this fact when he lost over two-thirds of his horses
crossingthe western Banksof the mountains in 1525 A.D. (Sharer 1994; p. 736).
Thenvers and streamsdrainingthernountains cut steep courses, and deposition of
alluvium is limited to relatively smallpockets, at least until the rivers reach the coastal
plain, where more extensivealluvial deposition is possible (Wright et al. 1959). The sites
on which 1focusare located in these pockets.
TheMaya Mountains,since Cortez' journey, have rernained littleexploredwith
the exceptionof hunters, miners, chicleros, and loggers(Graham 1994). The reason

behind the lack of explorationby archaeologistswas the prevailing view that the region
was a hunting and gathering area for theancient Maya and not an area that could sustain
permanent settlement(Hammond 1975).Preliminary archaeological survey and
excavations, however, have been conducted in the eastem foothillsof the Maya
Mountainsand coastal plain, as well as in the Cockscomb Basin by Graham (1994).
Graham traced the sourcesof stoneused in severalancimt Maya grinding stones fiom
two major lowland sites, Uaxactunand Seibd, to the Maya Mountains and in so doing
provided evidencefor inter-regional exchange (Graham1987;Shipley and Graham
1987). From that point on, the Maya Mountainswere the subjectof renewed interest.
In 1992, the Maya Mountains ArchaeologicalProject (MMAP)began discovering
sitesnear the divide of the mountains. What was found over the course of five years were
sixteensites, thirteen of which were previously unrecorded. Several caves with artifacts
were also discovered. The Maya Mountains, previously thought to have been a
backwater,are now seen as a region with once bustling populations.
In light of the work conducted thus far it is inconceivablethat the ancient Maya
would have overlooked the Maya Mountains as a place to exploitminerd and biotic
resources, or as a place to settle. The Maya Mountains lie within the Maya lowlands,
muchcloserto the major lowland sites than the highlands of Guatemala, the next closest
mineral source. It seems much more Iikely that minerals assumed in the past to have
corne &om the Maya highlands (e-g.Rathje 1973),such as granite forgrinding stonesand
pyrite for mirrors, ùistead came kom the Maya Mountains (Dunham 1998;Graham

The Bladen River Drainage
The Bladen Branch is a river system located in the southwesternpart of the Maya
Mountains. The Bladen drains the mountains fkom West to east, eventuallyjoining the
Monkey River. Thereare five sitesthat arenestled deep within the tributary valleys of
the Bladen, and among these sites is Ek Xux, the object of this study.
e B u - TradeRoute
It is most likely that the sites dong the Bladen utilized the Bladen drainage as a
long-distance trade route to the foothills and fkom there to the cayes. Evidence for this
lies in the fact that sea shellsthat couldody be obtained fiom the Caribbeanwere found
in tombs at a site known as Muklebal in the Muklebal valley. Similarlythere is evidence
that the sites of the Bladen engaged in regional trade. A grinding Stone found at Ek Xux
canbetraced to Quebradade Oro Ruin in the Ramos Quebrada,a few valleys to the east
of Ek Xux.
ce of the Riad-
Theprecise role that the sites of the Maya Mocntains piayed in the Maya world is
difficult to assess until M e r excavationiscarried out. However, there are two principal
hypotheses concemingthe purposeof these sites high in the mountains(Dunham 1990).
The &t is that the sites were settled as a responseto the Maya collapse that was
beginning to take shape a Little after 700 A.D. By response,1irnply that the larger

lowland communitieswere beginning to break up and therefore that the Maya Mouritains
settlements were essentially peripheral sitesthat were last attempts to hold on to the old
ways. If this is the case, then the Maya Mountains sites have a very short life span, from
the end of the Late Classic to the end of theTerminal Classic. The second hypothesis is
that the Maya Mountainssiteswere inhabitecimuchearlier and acted as small centers,
independentlyexploitingmineral andbiotic resources and exportingthem to the larger
Iowland sites. If this is the case, the sites wereoccupied throughout the florescenceof
Maya civilization and played a key role in the ancient econorny.
Regardless of which mode1 is correct, these settlementswere exploiting local
mineral and biotic resources @unharn 1998). Al1 five sites appearstrategically located;
al1are nearly quidistant ftom each other along the Bladen, and al1 five sites occupy
valleys with distinct mineral resources. It is reasonedthat sinceregional ûade existed,
and each site was associated with its own distinctivemineralresource, that each site
exported its mineral resource for goods in exchange. If this is tme, then each of the sites
was acting as a component in a system of exchange involving larger Maya centers
throughoutthe lowlands.
Ek Xux
The ancient Maya site of EkXux, or black FerdeLance in Kekchi, was narned
&er hding such a viperat the site. Ek Xux was discovered by the MMAP in 1993
along with fourother sites that sameyear. Ek Xux lies on the western Bank of the Ek

Xux tributary, which flowsinto the Bladen Branch. The Ek Xux tributary flows roughly
north to south through the western half of the valley, crossing midway down to the
eastem half of the Ek XLUCvalley. It continuesto flow the rest of the way down to the
Bladen Branch onthe eastern side of the Ek Xux valley. The Ek Xux valley, tapered at
the headwatersnear the divide to thenorth, graduallywidens farther southas it meets up
with the Bladenvalley drainage. The Ek Xux valley, therefore, is an alluvial pocket
circumscribed by high sheer limestone cliffs, its area approximately2.6 squared
kilometers. On the West of the valley is a small pass, which allowseasy access to the
next valley to the west (Figure2). The valley to the west has been dubbed AC pocket
because of the mouth of a cave systemthat points at Our campsite. The cool air rushes
out of the mouth and cools the camp area several degreesthus acting as a natural air-
conjitioning, or AC. The AC tributary, running parallel to the Ek X w tributary, also
flows into theBladen river system. TheAC valley is considerably narrower than the Ek
Xux valley and coversabout a fifth of the area of the Ek Xux pocket, approximately 0.7
squared kilometers in ares The AC vailey, like the Ek Xux valley, is circumscnbedby
hi& sheer cliffs.
The Ek Xux valley offersa wonderfil opportwiityto study the natually isolated
site of Ek Xux. The valley or alluvial pocket containswater throughouttheyear, and
because high cliffs surroundthepocket, thesite's temtory is well dehed. The cliffs act
to contain Ek Xux and make it difficdtto cultivate land anywherebeyond the confinesof

the alluvialpocket. Conditionsare thereby created that act as a laboratory in which the
area utilized for agriculturecanbe accurately measured and the realm of Ek X w easily
detennined.
v
Ek Xux is a modest site when compared to the large lowiand Maya centers;
however, when factoring in its surroundingsone is awestruck that such extensive
settlementcouldbe packed into a valley of this size. Ek X w is a Late Classiccenter
(Figure 3).Its main featuresconsid of a largecivic plaza, a maller stela plaza, and an
elite satellite group or east group. The stela plaza and the elite group are comected to the
civic plaza by parapettedand raised (sacbe)causeways on the north and east,
respectively. The east causeway acts as a dam separating Reservoir 1 on the north frorn
Reservoir 2 on the south. These reservoinareslightly lower in elevation than the rest of
the site and collect the runoff fiom the rainy season. The buildingsof Ek Xux consist
mostly of earth core,which was most likely obtained fiom these reservoirs and fiom a
bluffjust north of the site. The buildings' next most abundant constituentis river cobble,
likely coming fkom the very same bluff. There is a small amount of cut limestone that
makes up the southem façade of Structure 3 and the upperedge of the northwesteni face
of Structure2.
By studyingthe layout of Ek Xw, major phases in the sequence of its
constructionand the sourcesof its materialscan be deduced. The stela plaza and northern
causewayare accommodateciby the chic plaza; this suggeststhat they were both the

result of planning and built at approximatelythe same time. However, there is little if any
accommodation in the civic plaza for theeastem causeway from the dite groups,which
indicates that the east group was likely added after the civic plaza. Neitherdid the
reservoirs accommodatethis causeway, forcing the causeway to weave between them.
Thereservoirsand chic plaza predate the causeway and perhaps the associated elite
cornplex. Separate from the civic plaza is Reservoir 2, which is closelyassociated with
Structure24 and Terrace 12. Reservoir 2, Structure 24, and Terrace 12may date apart
fkom the causeway and east group. It is likely, therefore, that Reservoir 2 acted as the
borrow pit for Structure24 and Terrace 12, whereas Reservoir 1, being conternporary
with the civic plaza, acted as theplaza's designated borrow pit. The bluff was the
probable sourceof cobbles for al1the structuresof the site as well as the source of earth
cote for the stela and east groups.
. .ttes in Versus That at
To the ancient Maya,the most important cardinal directionswere east and north.
East, however, represented the directionthat the Maya held most sacred, for it was the
directioninwhich the sun god retumed victoriously from battle in the underworld. It is
for this reason that many believe that the Maya oriented their cities using the sumise as
their marker (Ashmore 1986). In fact, this is the reason that many antient Maya centers
also adopted a rnistake; that is, sincethesun actuallyrises slightly south of tme east, so
do we h d that the ancient Mayacentersare almost al1orientedslightly south of east.
However, the sitesof the Maya Mountains, arnong them Ek Xux, are unique in that they

are orienîednorth of east, which makes little sense if they were building their sites with
respect to sunrise'. Peter Dunham notes that the reason for the odd orientationrnay be
that the Maya in this region were orienting their sites accordingto alternativecriteria,
perhaps to thewest. An explmation for the westward orientation is that the Maya
Mountains are littered with caves-in fact, some of the most extensive cavern systerns in
the world. The Maya regarded caves as the entrances to the underworld and so it would
seem possible that west, the direction to the underworld, would be part of this region's
ideology, forcingthe orientation of the sitesto follow suit.
Ek Xux Settlement
The settlement of Ek Xux spanstwo d e y s , narnely the Ek Xux valley and the
AC valley. The Ek Xux settlement, like the structuresof the site core, consists of
platforms, what we will often refer to as mounds or structures. Platfoxms are the
foundations upon which were placed the actual dwellings; afler abandonment, collapse,
decay, and vegetational regrowth combined to transfomi abandoned platforms into
='moundS".
Dwellingsof the pst, like the Maya houses today, were wattle-and-daub
structureswith thatch roofs. A typical wattle-and-daub structurewas constructedby fmt
erecting the corner and subsidiaryposts that would support the roof. The roof was made
out of huano leaves(Sabalmexicana). Thewalls were then built with thimer posts (ca
Quiriguain southeastemGuatemaiaais0 displays such an orientation, which may or may not suggest a
comectionbetweenit and the Maya Mountain sites.

2-5 cm. in diameter). To this wail of "wattle," a clay-like mud was daubed onto the sticks
until a thickcoating resulted. Lime was often then applied to create a white surface.
Evidenceof daub is not uncornmon on someof the rnoundsancl iii archaeological
deposits in general.
The mounds as they appear today are formed of river cobbles, clayey soil, and
sometimescut limestone. The cut limestonewas used in the construction of platform
faces; it is primarily a feature of the sitecore and seen little at the surrounding settlement.
Platfonns consisted originallyof a core of clayey soil and were faced, depending on the
sophisticationof the structure, with river cobblesor cut stone. Based on what we know
about the architecture in the Maya Mountains drainagein StannCreek,a core of clayey
soil is retained by an unfinished face of rivercobbles, which in tum is faced by cut stone
(Graham 1994,pp. 79-80).In the Ek Xux zone, evidence suggeststhat cut stone was
used for platfonn facesonly within the sitecore.
What we cd1now mounds were actually well defined platform structures in the
past. However, withthe trees growing in and aroundthe structuresas well as the Iayer of
mulch and dirtthat has accurnulated on and around the structures, al1that rernains of the
platforms in some instances are great indefinablerockpiles. Collapse is comaon, and
stones fromthe upperrnost featureson the top of the structureofien roll off and reside at
the base of the structure. Rather than having straight sides, mounds arecharacteristically
sloped. The structuresin the site core can be as high as 4 to 5 meters. The structures in
the settlement usually are anywhere nom about 20 centimeters to about 3 meters in

height. Al1structuresare roughly rectangular in ground plan. The structures that make
up the surrounding settlement number about 280 and span two valleys, the Ek Xux valley
and the AC valley.
of EkVallev Settl-
The settlementaround the Ek Xux sitecorecontinues the southwest-northeast
pattern (Figure 4). To the north it extendsin a line p s t the stela plaza, where it would
continue farther if it had not been for a bluff, which forces the line of settlementto veer
slightlyto the west. The setîlement continuesto the west, stoppingjust before the Ek
Xux streambed, then continueson the other sideof the Stream until it hits the east cliff
face of the valley. The rest of the settlernent surrounds the core in a fairly uniform
pattern of distinct patio groups. We can see this clearlyon the map, which contains al1 the
settlementwithin a radius of about 300 meters of the site core. The rest of the Ek Xux
settlementbeyond 300 meters of the site corehas not yet been mapped, only sketched.
A unique trend that should also be noted, as was pointed out by Andy Kindon, a
graduatestudentat UCLA, is that the settlementas a whole tends to be oriented toward
the sitecore. In otherwords, open plaza groupssuch as those that consistof three
structuresoften have the open side of theirpatio group facing the Ek Xux site core. This
is only seen at Copan and at 0 t h siteson the southem fillige of the Maya realm
implying a possible connection between the Maya of the Maya Mountainsand the
southernMaya
Otherdistinguishing features that constitutethe cultural material in die Ek Xux

valley are terraces. Though the Ek Xux pocket is relatively flat, there is still a gradua1
declining slope fiom the north to the south, which is the direction in which the river runs.
A half kilometer north of the sitecore,terrace faces nui along an est-west line,
presumably to retain the topsoil m o f f from the north to the south. One such tenace is
about 107meters long, hHelve meten wide, and standsover a meter high on its south
side.
The topsoil runoff was most likely caused by extensive cleming for agriculture.
Here the vegetation is drasticallydifferent h m rest of the valley. The bush is low, thick,
and dry. The incline intensifies the farthernorth one gets, and in fact the number of
mounds decreases in this direction as well. This could have to do with the fact that it is
increashgly harder to prevent erosion From occurring in thisnorthem section. This north
end of the valley must have been the least agriculturally viable area. The northeast
portion of the valley, on the other hand, contains the highest density of mounds. The
north central portion and the northwestem portion of the valley, on both sides oftheEk
Xux tributary appear to be very unlikely areas foragriculture, because these areas are
much too steep. The lack of terracing and lack of mounds add support to this assumption.
Below and on eithersideof the site core, senlementintensifies but tapers off the
farthersouth one moves, except alongthe Ek Xux tributary, which is lined with mounds
nearly al1the way down to the Bladen Branch. The slope in this southem part ofthe
valley is not so apparent, and the lack of terracing supports the conclusion that this area
had Iess of a problem with erosion. The vegetation is lush and high and it appearsthat

this region was highly suitable for cultivation. Close to the Bladen the drop off increases
and evidence of erosion once again is apparent. The fact that this part of the valley was
not cultivated is confirmedby the absenceof settlementaltogether.
TheAC pocket to the West is a narrow valley, which also sustained a relatively
hi& population. The AC pocket's most rnarked feature is the river terrace, which
parallelsthe modem river on the eastemsideof the valley. It is a very narrow tenace,
perhaps 200 meters at its widest. The valley flooris flooded most of the year. Upon this
temice sits almost al1of the settlementthat was observed in the valley. Sorne very
extensivepatio groups were found here, one consisting ofsix structuresin a tightly
organized formation. Some structuresare as high as three meters. Themost promising
cultural feature,though, is what appearsto be an administrative center. It consists of two
range structures aligned dong a northwest-southeast ais. Two long structures extend to
the northeast on either side of the northemmostrange stnicture, and a smaller structure
extendsnortheast fkom the southernmostrange structure. The shape of this
organizationalcenter takes the form of a giant "E. Interestingly enough, the double
plaza group's open ends face the direction of Ek X w in the very next vailey. Iust to the
north of this small center is a large, extensiveand well-organized five-structureplaza
group, which may have serveda residential purpose. The fact that this E-group lies close
to the mal1pass leadingto the Ek Xux valley and is onented toward Ek Xux suggeststo
me that it is part of a subordinatesite -a hamlet under the dominationof Ek Xw. It rnay

have served the function of adrninistenngthe settiement in this valley for Ek Xux. In
most cases, satellitesites of a dominating site have ail the featuresof a large center
(Dunham 1990). The E-group, however, has nothing more than two range structures with
no other featureof a typical satellitecenter. Such characteristicsdemonsirate that the
settlement in both valleys likely developed contemporaneously, and that the settlement in
the two vdleys probably acted under one central authority, Ek Xux. The two valleys
most likely operated sideby side: those living in the Ek X w valley cultivated crops in the
Ek Xux valley, those living in the AC valley sustained themselves through the available
agricu1tura.i land in the AC valley.
Four Types of HousernoundalEmugs
The settlementsurroundingEk Xux is of four types: clusters,patio (plaza) groups,
aligned mounds,and lone mounds.
The clusters are roughly circula-shaped groups consistingof anywhere fkom five
to ninestructures in close proximity. Seven structures in a group, however, did not occur.
More often than not these clusters were not inany patio group formation, which is
unusud. The higherthe number of structuresper group, the more likely it was to find an
agglomerated ratherthan patiosriented pattern. In otherwords, domestic u ~ t shave the
tendency to agglomeraterather than form organized patio groups as nurnbers of structures
increase.
Thisc m be shown by creatingan 8 x 2 contingency table where the two columns
are classified as less organizedand more organized, respectively, and the rows from top

to bottom are the decreasing number of structuresin the domestic unit. The data are in
the form of frequency of structuresthat were mapped within 300 meters of the Ek Xux
site core. The way agglomeratedgroupsand organized patio groupswere differentiated
by me was the orientation of the structures. Structuresorganized in patio groups are
orientedeither parallel or perpendicularto each other. Agglomerated groups have one or
more structuresthat are skewed f?om the majority of structures in the unit. Using the
Fisher test on the contingency table, the p-value was show to be 0.0069. This implies
that we may reject the nul1 hypothesis, which suggests independencebetween the number
of structures in the domestic unit and the manner in which they were built. In essence,
we may accept the alternative hypothesis that there exists an associationbetween the
building of stnictures in organized or disorganized groupings, and the number of
structures in the domestic unit. Interestingly,the units that were classified as
disorganizedhad only one or two structuresthat were skewed. The rest of the structures
of the largerdomestic unitswere aligned regularly.
The patio groups norrnally consistof four to wostructures, however, some patio
groupswere observed with sixsûuctures. A patio or plaza group is defined by structures
organizedaround a cornmon patio or plaza space, much like the way the site cores of
ancient Maya centersare organized. In four structureplaza groups, the east or north
structuresoftencontain a household shrinewhere the memben of the household placed
offeringsto the ancestors (Ashmore 1986). This,however, is not alwaysthe case. Four-
structureand three-structureplaza groups cm be easily identified; two-structure plaza

groups, less so. Two-structure patio groups are identifiedby the L-shape that is formed
when the two structuresareperpendicular to each other. When the structures lie parallel
to one anotheron opposite sides of the plaza, the group is harder to detect, especially
when the moud density is high. Aligned mounds,or structuresaligned end-to-end, are a
unique settlement pattern at Ek Xux. O h the chah of structuresnumbee anywhere
kom two to four. These alignrnents can also be hard to detect when moud densitiesare
high. Lone mounds are those with no particular affiliation to any other patio groups.
Lone moundsare relatively distant fiom al1other groupsand comprisemost of the mound
formationsat Ek Xux.
Chronology at Ek Xux
A rough chronology for Ek Xux can be establishedbased on two main sources:
artifacts fkomcaves within a few kilometers of Ek Xux, and through excavations carried
out at Ek Xux.
Caves in Vicmty of Ek X uS . .
The main massifof the Maya Mountains is composed of igneous material;
however, most of the surface fatures, especially dong the Banks, are karstic (Wright et
al., 1959). Because of the abundance of limestone in the Maya Mountains, someof the
largest underground caverns in the world are found here. Caves were special places to
the Maya becausethey were regarded as the entrancesto the underworldor Xibalba
(Sharer 1994,p. 524). For this reason, the ancient Maya deposited offenngs in caves and

rock shelters, while other Maya buried their dead in them.
Because the MMAP for the first four years concentrated on surface
recomaissance (locatingand mapping sitesand caves), much of what we know about the
ancient Maya in the Ek Xux area cornes fromcaves. The artifacts discovered in caves
date from the Late Classic(650 - 850 A.D.) to the Post Classic(900 - c. 1500A.D.)
Period,
I was in charge of the cave reconnaissance in 1996,and 1was involved in
sweying for caves the previous two seasons. This allowed me the opportunity to
observe first-hand what a tmly importantplace the Maya Mountains were to the ancient
Maya. In 19941encountered a cavethat contained a globular olla, an um,and a censer.
Theglobular olla, shaped in the f m of a turkey, was of Mixtec ongin. Whether it was a
vesse1 fkomOaxacanearly 500 kilometers to the west or whether it was made in Mixtec
styleby a local, tells us that perhaps long-distancetrade or at lest communication with
the Mktec zonecharacterizedMaya Mountainscommunities well into the Post Classic.
Thissame part of the mountains may haveacted as amajor pilgrimage stop, for in
1996I located Tusbil Pek, a large cave that is connectedwith an extensiveunderground
river systern. About 50 meterspast the entrante, a 3meter high and 30 meter long
artificially built stone wall obstmctsthe main passage. In fiont ofthe wall was a large
stone-builtaltar littered with broken and intact vessels. Scattered about the floorwere
broken ceramics both in fiont of and behind this great wall. Behind thewall is a hard
clayey slope, made to look like apyramid. Cut into the dope are tenaces and a staircase.

Past this is a doorway into the next chambercontaining severaiother small rock walls.
Tusbil Pek was no doubt an important pilgrimage center attracting hundreds of people
and is so far the only one of its kind southeastof the Maya Mountain divide.
Several othercave finds add to this data pool and to what we know of the Maya in
this region. What they do not tell us, though, is whether the people that were depositing
their relics inthese caveswere actuallyinhabitants of the Maya Mountains or whether
they were pilgrims fkom distant lowland centers. What these findsdo tell us, however, is
that evidnice of occupation in the Ek Xux area before the Late Classic has not been
encountered. Thisfact will help us in formulatinga chronological sequence for Ek Xwr.
Through excavationsat Ek Xux we recovered evidence that somestructures went
througha few constructionphases. In 1996,ritual Structure 15, located in the northern
end of the stela plaza, was excavated. Thecore was primarily composed of river cobbles,
and evidence indicated it was built in a singlephase, which may indicate that it was a
recent addition to the Ek Xux site core. In 1998four structureswere excavated. Ody
Structure23 was of multi-phase coostruction. Structure23 is an elite residential structure
located in the east group. Approxhnatety 1meter into the core of Structure 23 we
encountered evidence for a termination cacheor ritual. Mixedwith a burned layer of soil,
many vessels were discovered at this depth, fomiinga ceramic concentration of
approximately2.5 x 3.5 squaredmeters. Termination ntuals are associated with new
constructionphases. Structure 114,in a residential patio group northwest of Structure23,

revealed no more than oneconstructionphase. Nor did Structures22 and 131, in a plaza
southwestofthe stelaplaza, reveal more than one constmction phase. Commonly, most
sites haveseveral of these constructionphasesbecause they normally occur every few
decades. We have evidence of only a few constructionphases at one structure, thus fa,
which suggestsa very shortoccupation. Similarly,noneof the ceramics recovered are of
the Early Classic or for that matterthe Post Classic. From thisinformation we gather that
Ek Xw:was in active occupationsometimebetween 650 A.D. and 850 A.D., the time
interval for the Late Classic.

Identification of the Household
Ikkh&Qu
Ethnographie and ethnohistoricdata show that the fundamentalbuilding block of
ancient Maya society was considerd to be the household (Ashmoreand Wilk 1988). The
ancient Maya were known to have lived in both nuclear and extended family settings.
Descent in these family groups was primarily patrilineal,though at Palenque there is
epigraphic evidenceto suggest that rnatrilinealityin conjunctionwith patrilineality was
known to have existed in the ruling fmly's lineage(Scheleand Freidel 1990). Farnily
groups, elite or non-elite, were the buildingblocks of society and were essential to the
swivai of the communityor state. If these familygroups struggled then the cornmunity
as a whole struggled.
Ashmore and Wilk (1988) definethe household as a small group of people that
share in activities, which contribute to the group's social growth within the cornrnunity.
The household may or may not consist of people sharingthe sarne residenceor dwelling-
-the members may be spatially separateci. The coresidential group is a group of people
who live in the sameresidence or dwelling but who may not sharein those activitiesthat
d e h e a household. The dweilingis the structureor areawhere residential activities took
place.

Ashrnore suggests that the group of people defined as a household must share in
one or more of the following activities: production, consumption,pooling of resources,
reproduction, coresidence, and shared ownership.
Although al1members of a household may not be directiy involved in food
production, 1assume that al1members of the household are supported by food production
cmied out within the community, and inwhich one or more household members are
involved. There must be enough food to feed the members of the household in order to
maintainthe socio-culturalsystem that serves to integratethe community. Therefore,
whoever in the household is involved directly with food production mut make sure that
enough food is availableto feed everyone in the household. Occasionally,the household
is scattered spatiallythroughout a site (Wiik 1988). 1haveoften seen ihis among the
Kekchi villagesof southernBelize. Though in most instancesextended households live
closetogether, in some instances extended household members are farapart, though in
most cases still within the samevillage. Whether living underthe same roof'or not, often
these members get together and share in the twice-a-year corn harvests. If they do get
together, the tractsof land used in cultivahg corn are proportionately larger because
there aremore people to support. If they do not get together, the tracts of land are
considerablysmailer, orj*xstexugh to feed a single household, though in recent years a
surplus is often grown so that somecm be sold on the market.
If we were studyingthe household on the individual level and how it produces
food, we would have to concern ourselveswith being able to locate the members of a

household in a given vinage. However, if we look at the villageor community in its
entirety,we need only assume that the household is the basic production unit. We do not
need to distinguish the role of rnembers of the household. In the case of Ek Xux we are
looking at the site as a whole and the members of the community as a single cooperative
unit. We are interested in the net effect of the al1the people that lived and worked the
land at a given time. The hinctioningof individual domestic units is difflcult to how
until more data are available. For the purposes of thispaper 1define the ancient
community of Ek Xux as a singlecomponent of a much Iarger socio-cultural system that
includes several other sites, and not as its own systern in which the individual domestic
households are the components.
b
Sincewe are dealing with al1of the people of Ek Xux at particular times
throughoutthe cornmunity's history, we must look at several implications of the
sealement patterns. The organization of structuresas interpreted fkom their layout could
represent four phenornena: 1) The greater the number of dwellings in a group, the iarger
the household. 2) The greater thenumber ofdwellings, thewealthierthe household or
the higher status the household. 3)The greater the number of dwellings, the greater the
number of fhctions represented by them. 4) Thegreater the number of dwellings, the
more t h e the household had to evolve into a well organized domestic unit.
For our purposes the fourth implication isthe most satisfyingofthe implications
for it naturally includes implications 1) and 3).

The more time a household has been around the more tirne it had to reproduce.
Thus, the more structureswould be needed to accommodatethe new membersof the
howhold. Similarly, the more time a household has been around, the more
nonresidential structures were probably needed to account for the increasingrnemben
(Le.more kitchens, more bathrooms). Kitchens are known to be small subsidiary
structuresof penshable materials,and are rarely even identified. They are not
represented in the structures 1have mapped. Shrines and non-residentialbuildings are
alrnostcertainlyrepresented and ultimately 1will be able to identiS them when M e r
excavationsare carrieciout,
Grcaternumberof dwellingscould reflect status rather than tirne. Until I know
more about domestic unit functioning at Ek Xux, however, particularlyelite residential
units, 1cannot adequatelyaccount for thisfactor.
Immigrantsto Ek Xux areassumedto have an extended household whetherthey
constnict one large or several smallerstructuresto accommodate the household. Their
dwellings are interpreted in the same way as householdswho have evolved in situ. M e r
the immigration, the number of residents in a domestic unit will grow steadily according
to natural birth and death rates.
The DevelopmentalCycle
e Develo
The concept of the developmental cycle has been applied in social anthropology

since the late 1950s(Fortes 1969 [1958]). It nas been utilized more recently in
archaeology in the work of Tourtellot (1988), Weeks (1988), and Haviland (1988). The
developmental cycle is a pattern of farnily growth, which repeats itself every generation
in a given society.
The first to utilize the developmental cycle model was Jack Goody (1969 [1958]).
Goody uses the model to explain the dynamics of domesticgroupsof the peoples of the
Gold Coast. Goody concentrateson two agricultural peoples in particular, the LoDagaba
and the LoWiilli. He notices that the units of production between these two peoples are
significantlydifferent. The sizesof the fanning groups(the average count of males that
canwork the fields in a &en household), or what he defines as the strengths of the
groups, are markedly different. Goody maintainsthat strength of the LoWiili famllng
groupis greater that that of the LoDagaba because fission occun earlier in the
developmental cycle of the LoDagabathan it does with the LoWiili. Here, fission is the
process by which the eldest sons leave the household of their parents to begin a new
household. The fact that fissionoccurs earlier in the LoDagaba household would result in
the lower strengthsof LoDagabahouseholds. The main reason for this earlier fission is
the differencebetween the LoDagabaand the LoWiili kin structure and thus the
differences in systemsof property relations. Among the LoDagaba, the eldest sons are
encouraged to move out of the house earlier, because when the father dies, the eldest sons
inhent nothing. This is because inheritance is matrilinealand oniy a rnember of the
father's matriclancan inherit his property. Among the LoWiili inheritance is patrilineal

and thus the sons are not as rnotivated to leave the household. This clearlyexplains the
numerical differences in households between the LoDagaba, and the LoWiili. These
differenceswill continue for they are closely linked with a cultural pattern, which repeats
itself every generationin a cyclical manner.
A similarsituationoccurswith the ban of Bomeo as J. D. Freeman (1969 [1958])
attests. There are two ways that fission occurswith the ban domestic unit. The first is
partition, whereby a new domestic unit is created and residence lies neither in the
husband's nor the wife's natal houschold. The second way fissionoccurs is to leave
one's own farnily or bilek to start one's own family by out-marriage. This is
accomplished by taking up residence with one's spouse's family. In partitionone can
still inherit goods fkom the natal bilek when the head of the family estate dies. When one
out-manies,however, one loses filiation with one's natal bilek,and doesnot inherit.
What Freemannoticesis that large familiestend to marry out into other families more
fkquently thanthey undergo partition. The reason behind this is that inhentance is
divided equallyamongal1of the siblings in an Iban bilek. Therefore, it is more
worthwhileforone with many siblingsto choose out-rnanying rather than partitioning
because through out-marryingto a small bilek it is possibleto inherit the estate of the
spouse's natal bilek. For the one who has only one or two other siblings it remains
worthwhileto remain affiliateciwith one's natal bilek, thereby staying entitled to a large
portion of the inhentance.
in Goody's and Freeman's ethnographies,a cultural phenornenon was explained

using the concept of the developmentalcycle. Meyer Fortes notes that the developmental
cycle among the hanhas three main phases. The first is the phase that lasts fiom the
marriageof two individuals until the completion of their family. The second phase
begins with the marriageofthe eldest child and continuesuntil al1the children are
marrieci. The finalphase begins when the youngest child remains on the family estate
and endswith the deathof the parents. Thcse cycles often overlap. The phases are no
doubt different among diffeientpeoples; however, the concept ofthe developmental cycle
is applicableto anyculture, including that of the ancient Maya. Fortes (1969 [19581) also
suggests that, '%esidence patterns are the crystallization, at any aven time, of the
developrnental process." It is this corollarythat allows archaeologiststo drawcertain
inferences fkom the settlementpatterns of ancient civilizations. Coupled with
ethnographie and ethnohistoric data, the developmentalcycle can be utilized to infer
temporal trends in settlement.
. .
e Develu- PrewousA r c w c a l -
Weeks (1988)describes a historical rnissionary document fkom the eariy Spanish
seventeenthcentury. It consistsof a census nom 1615offive Maya comrnunities in
present day Campeche, Mexico. Weeks is ableto estimate the compositionof the census
and in so doingnotices five different residence groups. Solitary groups most commonly
refer to single individuals or widowers, and nonfarnilyresidence groups refer to
coresidentswith no identifiablenuclear family stnicture. The singlefamily residence
group refers to couples, coupleswith children, or widowed persons with children. The

extended family residence group refers to a single family with one or more relativesother
than children(i.e. grandparents). A multiple farnily residence group refen to two or more
family groups that areconnected by consanguinalor affina1 relationships. In al1 five
villages, single-farnily residence groups make up approximately 40% of the a11groups,
extended family groups, only 5.8%, and multiple-family residence groups, 5 1.1%. The
rest ofthe composition is ma& up of solitq and nonfamilyresidential groups. The
trend then is large clustersof multiple family residence groups. The low percentage of
extended family groups suggeststhzt many were ernbedded in the multiple-family
residence groups.
There are two ways to view multi-family residence groupsarnong the Maya.
They could represent the typical patrifocal view of the family clusters in and around the
patriarch of the household, who is usually the eldest member in the family. Or they may
represent a simple case of lateralextension of family gmupings around each otherwith no
specific focal point in muid. Eitherway the tendency in this ethnohistoricexampleof
seventeenthcenturyMaya is that we see families that arerelated living in close
proximity. However, conditions of the seventeenth century were obviouslysuspect
because the Maya had been missionized. Therefore, the most usehl data conceming
settlementpatterns of Precolumbian Maya would be the census data, which were
collectedby the very first missionaries. Evidence of this exists in the recordings of early
Spanishmissionaries. When themissionaries fint came into Campeche in 1604,they
obsemed Indians living in what the Spaniardscalled rancherias or what we cal1

residential groups, clusten or plaza groups.
Weeks believes that each residential group had its own specificgrowth cycle, and
1believe this is the case, especially in this instance, because the Maya were going through
a drarnatictransition phase under missionaq influence. 1would argue, however, that
there are limitedways that the familygrowth cycle manifestsitself and that a completely
different cycledoes not exist foreach household. The number of different ways a
household develops is limited, and becomes more limited the farther back in time we go,
especially in the Classic period. Evidenceof a hi& level of uniforrnity in ancient Maya
settiementpatterns is visible inthe work of GairTourtellot (1988) and William A.
Haviland (1988) on the developmentalcycle of households in the Classic penod. We will
use Tourtellot's and Haviland's diachronie studies and supplement them with Weekys
data (essentially synchronie) on Maya households so that we obtaina clearerpicture of
the dynamics of family growth during the Late Classic Period.
Haviland (1988) has noticed strong evidencefor the developmentalcycle at Tikal.
He studîed one domestic group in particular, called Group 2G-1. He suggests that the
five structuresof this patio group were constnicted at an average of about a generation
apart after the initial construction. The initial structureis larger than the rest of the
structures,which implies that it was the residence for the founding member of the
household. This is also evidencedby the age of the structure in cornpaison with other
younger structures. He also hypothesizesthat the residents were a patrilocal extended
family. According to this hypothesis, Haviland then genealogicallytraces the burials

within the household. Though he believes, along with Wilk (1988), that there is no
normative household focal pattern for the entire Maya area, he sees ample evidence for a
patrilocal household at Group 2G-1.
Tourtellot (1988) distinguished a trend among the domestic units at Seibal that
may be a trend at other sites as well, which is that the nurnber of structures in a given
patio group are related to tirne. As the nurnberof structuresincreases, so does the
crystallization of the family developmentalprocess. He notes that if this is mie then the
settlementat Seibalshould pass nine tests, which demonstratewhether the developmental
cycle is at work. The first test is to see if the numberof dwellingswithin domestic units
increasewith tirne. The second is that domestic uûts occupied for longer times should
have more dwellings than uni& occupied for shortertimes. The third is that those new
domestic nitswith few dwellingsshould be in the minority, whereas those with many
dwellings, in the majonty. The fourth is that al1other dwelluigsof a residentialgroup
should be approximatelythe sarne size (not including the largest structure). The f i f i test
is that the largea dwelling in a domestic unit belongs to the founder of the domestic unit.
The sixth test is that these largest structures should then be the eariiest structures in the
domestic mit. Theseventh test is that there should not be more than one largestructure
per domestic unit. The eighth test is that the later units should have fewer burials in
them. And the ninth test is that the largerdomestic units should incorporate the features
of the smallerunits, because the largerones grew nom unitssirnilarto the remaining
smaller ones.

d C w Seibal With
The developmental cycle is a key process at work at Ek X w and is supportedby
the similarityof settlementpatterns between Ek Xux and Seibal.
The first test is the framework forthe developmental cycle. The fact that the
numberof structures in a dornesticunit increaseswith time is an elementary observation
noted archaeologicallyat many sites and one which, 1hypothesize, is taking place at Ek
Xux. If Ek Xux is an exampleof the developmentalcycle, we would expect that larger
nine-stmcture clusters are older than eight-structure clusters, and which in tum are older
than seven-structure clusters, al1the way d o m to the single youngest lone mouds. The
time interval between the consûuctionofeach succeeding structure in a domestic unit is
called a cycle. Oftenthis cycle represents a generation or a twenty-year increment.
The second test, which is that older domesticunits have more structuresthan
younger domesticunits, goes hand inhand with the first test and needs no M e r
explanation.
The third test is that new domestic units with fewer structures should be in the
rninority, whereas domesticunitswith several structuresshould be in the majonty.
Tourtellotreasons that this would be an adequatetest with only Seibal in mind. Seibal's
Late Classic Period, the period that he is focusing on, spans 280 years, surely enough
time for family Iife at Seibalto develop hlly. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that
more patio groups and fewer lone structures are what should be seen at Seibal, and, in

fact, this is what is observed. It should also be noted that Seibal had a strong Early
Classic cornponentand that surely many of the family lineages established in Early
Classic times continued through to the Late Clwic. In other words, the entire Late
Classic population at Seibal did not consist of only new mivals -this was not the
beginning of Seibal's history but rather a stage in its development. However, at Ek Xux
we achially do have the formationof a communitysometimeearly in the Late Classic.
An increasing influx of people fiom that point on began moving into the Ek Xux valley.
In fact, the most people are mivingwhen the collapseoccurs. Therefore, what we would
expect, based on the evidence so tàr, is that lone mounds would be the most abundant
form of domestic unit, because most of the domestic units in the valley had not yet
reached the "crystallization"of family growth. This is precisely what we see at Ek Xux,
the completeoppositeof what occurred at Seibal. At Ek Xux, the majority of a11
domesticunits have fewer structures and are newer, whereas the minority are well
developed ana are older.
The fourth test is that al1dwellingsshould be approximately the same size
excluding the foundingstructure. Dwelhgs at Ek Xwc have not been extensively
excavated, so that dwelhg size is difficuit to ascertain at this time. However, in accord
with Rice's and Culbert's figures (1990), 1believe we may be able to weed out most of
the residential structures from structuresserving otherpurposes by selectingseventy
percent as the best approximation for structuresseMng residential purposes. hdeed if
we sarnple, in order of basal area, the 132structureswithin 300 meters of the site core we

obtain the seventy percent of the structuresto be over approximately37 squared meters,
with thirty percent, under. Using Naroll's (1962) relation, 37 squared meters is
approximatelyequal to a structurethat harbors close to four individuals, the minimum
number of individuals in a nuclear farnily(Santley 1990). Since larger structuresare
more conduciveto residence than to mcillary purposes, the majority of the structures in
the seventiethpercentile no doubt servedresidential purposes, whereas the majority of the
structuresin the thirtieth percentile no doubt functioned as household shrines, kitchens, or
as other ancillary units. The maximum in this data set is 135squared meters, or
equivalent to about 13.5 individuals, very reasonable for an upper lirnit on the number of
individualsper dwelling, according to ethnographiedata Therefore, though the
differenceberneen 37 squaredmeters and 135squaredmeters seemsto vary greatly, it is
only equivalent to the differenceof the living space occupied by 10individuals, still well
within ethnographicspecificationsfor family sizes.
For the fifthand sixthtests, the larger structure should represent residence of the
founderof the domesticunit and thus the eariiest structure in the unit. We definitely see
this at Ek Xux. Within most plam groups thereis a structurethat is drastically larger in
basal area than the other stniciures in thedornesticunit. In fact, when we remove the
larger structuresof the domesticunits fkom ourdatapool we see that the range for
residential structuresdrasticallydecreases. The maximumbasal area in the sample, which
excludesthe largest structureof each domestic unit, is lowered to 86 meten squared (with
the exception of an outlier at 108squared meters)or about 8.5 individuals per dwelling.

This makes our residential structuresrange between family sizes of 4 to 8.5 individuals,
excluding the founding structureof the domestic units. Nearly al1 of the largest structures
of the domestic units are above 37 rneters squared (-4 individuals), which is what we
would expect of large extended family migrations into the Ek Xux valley.
The exceptionscould have been causedby various factors, among them social
standing. This agrees well with what was said earlier about social standing being related
to the time elapsed in one place. Lone mouds represent domestic units that had not had
tirne to crystallize. This is most likelywhy the largest structuresof the larger domestic
units (3and up) are in many cases largerthan the [onestructures. By the time lone
structureswere built, many people had alreadysettied the valley and had established
themselves in the community. The more people there are, the more difficult it is to
compete for social standing. So by the time the lone units were built, society was less
flexiblewith less upward mobility than in the original settlementpenod. Exceptions
might include those immigratingto the valley with widely known Iineages. An example
may be StructuresE and F. These would be good prospects for a test of this exception to
the nile in this hypothesis. Whether the largest structure represents the foundingor oldest
structureremains to be seen in m e r excavations. However, since we see evidence for
this phenomenon at other sites, among them Seîbal and Tikal, we should expect it at Ek
Xux, especiallysince there appearsto be one considerably larger structurein most
domesticwiits at Ek XKX.
Sincethe seventh test intuitively follows from what was discussed, no m e r

explmation is needed. The eighth test suggests that there would be relatively fewer
buriaIs in the newer domestic units with fewer structures than there would be in the older
domestic units with more structures. This stands to reason; however, sincea thorough
excavation has not yet been conducted on many of the stnictures, we cannot hypoihesize
on this point. The ninth test states that if older domestic units began much as did the
newer domestic units, then we should expeci that the olderdomesticunits should have
many of the sarne f e u e s that the newer domestic units have. At Ek Xw,the only
features that were noticedamong the domesticunits mapped were stairs, bridges between
structures, evidenceofpaved plazas, and lines of stones definingraised plaza floors.
Only a few of these featuresthat were visible were shared among domestic units of
different sizes and thus stages of development. Another exarnpleof a feature that
Tourtellot expects to be common amongst most domestic units is that the largest structure
is rarely located in the east, because this is usually the place for the household shrine.
This is not applicable at Ek Xux because the orientationof Ek Xux is far kom the nom.
Ek Xux is not onented accordingto the cardinaldirectionsbut rather along a northeast-
southwest axisas mentioned earlier. Excavations revealedthat the shrine is not always in
the east. And the largest feature of a domestic unit is sometimeson the east. Structure
108for instance, the largest structureof its patio gmup and the one most likely to be the
founding structure, is in the northwestcorner of the group. This is highly unlikely for a
residential dwelling, even if it was built forthe head of the family, because the northem
side of the plaza group is not comrnonly used for raidences. Therefore, the steadfast

rules that have to do with orientationof settlementat most lowland centers do not apply
as strictly here in the Maya Mountains. If we look at the largest structureof the lined-
structure residential groups, which are unique at Ek Xux, and compare it with the other
structures in the group, we see no particular order. Sometimes the largest structure is in
the middle; sometimes it is at the end. Not onlydoes the configurationchange but the
orientationof the line similarly changes. Sometimes the Iined group follows a northwest-
southeast orientation; sometimes it follows a northeast-southwest orientation. Because of
this unique feature involvingorientation,1do not believe that Ek Xux can be entirely
tested using the ninth test.
It is obvious that Ek Xux and the other sites in the Maya Mountains have an
orientation of theirown. Whether this is due to their own unique cosmological view, or
due to a Lack of attention to rigid urban plaxing, is unknown at this time. However,
what is knownis that Ek Xux followed many of the trends that the larger lowland centers
followed, amongthm, the developmental cycle. This is supportedby what is obtained
through the survey of the Ek Xux settlementas well as through what we know of the
settlementpatterns of the ancient Maya and what we know fiom ethnographie sources
and the archaeologicalwork done at other sites. From the informationthat we cm infer
about Ek Xux, 1believe that there is enoughobserved to support a hypothesis. That is,
that the developmental cycle at Ek Xux was a process that govemed the way people built
the structures of their domestic units.
In my desire to constnict a demographicmode1at Ek Xux, 1adopt an assumption

that isnot a characteristicof the developmentalcycle used by Tourtellot but rather a
qualification that 1use solely forthe purposes of being systematic. Thisassumption is
that [urgerstructures are older than smaller structum. In other words, not only is the
largest structureof a domestic unit the oldest, but the second largest structure is the
second oldest, etc. Thoughthis is not necessarilyhue7this method is used to createa
rough model of the developrnentof Ek Xux. By doing tlus it should also be known that
the enorproduced by doing this isquite insignificant, because structure areas do not
differdrastically fiom eachotheronce the first structureof the unit is built. Similarly,
this has no effect on the final count at the time of collapse, which is the most critical point
in the model.

ter 4 -C a r r y w a c i t v
Introduction to Carrying Capacity
For decadesspecialistsin the sciences have used the concept of carrying capacity
to descnberelationshipsbetween phenomena and the arnount of support needed to sustain
them (Ellen 1982). Over the years anthropologistshave begun adapting the notion of
canying capacityto describehuman behavior (Rappaport 1984). In archaeology,
carrying capacity, or support capacity, is the measurement of an environment's potential
for ssutaining a hurnan population (Culbert 1995).
. . .LimitationshavePrev-ed Accwate
Given the limitationsof the archaeologicalrecord, the utilization of carrying
capacity has long fiusûated archaeologistsbecause of its methodological complications.
Often we cannotaccurately measure the energetic potential of a paleoenvironment to
sustain an ancient community. In the faceof this difficulty, simply ascertaining the
relationshipbetween community sizeand the supporting agriculturalarea will allow us to
gain valuab!e insights into how communitiesoperate at the subsistencelevel and whether
or not there are general trendsthat can be defined. Understanding this relationship will
allow us to estimate agricultural area if sitesize is known or site size if agricultural area is
known.

Previousattemptsat determining carryingcapacity in the Maya area and
elsewherehave fallen short because of the difficulty in defining the boundaries of
sustainingareas in the archaeologicalrecord. The Maya lowlands have few topographie
barriers that would facilitatedelimitingsustainingareas.Fomuiately, in the Maya
Mountainsof southemBelize, Late Classic Maya sites oscurwithin alluvial pocketsthat
are clearlydcfïnedby topographk barriers, and that lend themselvesto agriculture.In this
study, the Maya Mountains site of Ek Xux will be measured andcompared with its
ideally ckcumscnbedsubsistence area, the Ek Xux valley. A proportionalityconstant
relatingthesetwo variables -site size and sustaining ara -will result.Eventually, this
hialratio or carryingcapacity coefficient(CCC) may then be comparedwith the CCCs of
othersites in the Maya Mountainsto generatea commoncoefficient that will
approxirnatethe energyrequiredto have sustainedthe associatedpopulations. The
conceptof CCCwili be usedto illuminatethe dynamicnatureofMayasubsistence.
PreviousStudies of CarryingCapacity
to Previous.shidies
The previous studiespertainingto carrying capacity sought away in which the
archaeologistcould put intoperspective the amount ofsutenanceor land neededto
support apopulation. Thoughthey may differslightly in theirmethods,they al1havea
comrnonobjectivein aîtemptingto reconstnictthe past inorderto arriveat their
variables. Two variablesin particdarareessential in determinhg my versionofcarrying

capacity, and they are sitesizeand sustainingarea. It is these variables and the methods
used to approximatethem that the readershould keep in rnind when assessingthe
previous studies, reviewed below.
Dickson
Dickson(1980)was one of the firstMaya archaeologiststo begin utilking the
term canying capacity to refer to a measmementof the productivity of a place and a
people. Hedefhed productivity in terms of nutritional mergy.There are three steps to his
approach. First, onemust deduce the yield of a givencrop through a subsistence strategy.
Seconci, one must know how much of this cropwas consumed by the averageperson.
And third, onemust calculatethe energy content of that which was metabolized by the
averageperson. In theoryonecan then deduce the nuiritional energypresent for human
wnsumptionon a given agriculturalplot of land. Unfortunately, to obtaina figure for
step one would be difficult Not only did the Maya grow more thana singlecrop, but they
also cultivated theircrops usinga variety of agrïculhiral techniques: slashand bu.,
raiseci fields, temcing, and irrigation. Thesecond and third steps assume that we know
the quantity consumedand rnetabolizedby aprehistorichuman being.For an archaeo
population, these are not observable numbers. Without solid figures, the estimable error
codd be quitehighif Dickson's method was used.Theonly observable figuresthat
would be of any value to archaeologists are the structures left by the ancient
population.

Mkl
A study of the relationshipbetweensurface area and population size was
conducted by Yellen (1977) on !Kmg Bushmen.Though not using the term canying
capacity, he is in essence attempting to establisha correlationbetween the !Kunglsliving
areaand the !Kung'ssocial unit size. Thisis pertinent to CCC sincesustainingarea and
site core sizewill be related. Yellen uses the limit of nuclearscatter, or the main
concentrationof artifacts associated within a living space, to estimatethe boundaries of
the areainwhich the nuclear family lived. A major factor, unfominateiy,affects the
applicationof Yellen's studyto the ancient Maya in the Maya Mountains. We have no
observationaldata on the population sizes of ancient Maya comrnunities as we do with
the !&mg Bushmen. Of previous studiesof wrying capacity, Yellen'smethods best
approximatemine with one exception. Yellen dealswith a mobile band level society,
whereas 1deal with a stationarystatelevel society. Still, limit of nuclear scatterrnightbe
appropriate if we had conducted large-scale excavationat Ek Xux. As it stands,we must
use a difEerent concretevariable for sitesizethat withstands the decaying effectsof time
and one which is applicableto state level sites.
te Cat-
Site catchmenttheory is anothertechniquethat is relevant when discussing
carrying capacity. In fact, it has fiequently been applied in archaealogy.It estimates
exploitation tenitory using one variable, the approximatedistanceprehistaric humans can
travel at standardpedestrianspeed, in a standard amountof time (usually a halfday), in

orderto sustain themselves. Sustainingarea is therefore expressed by an encapsulating
concentriccircle with the center being the site core and the radius being the distance its
inhabitantsare willing or ableto travel for daily sustenance(Hodderand Orton 1978).
Site catchment theory hascertain drawbacksthat discourage its utilization within
the Maya Mountains of southemBelize.Sincesite catchment is based on the premise that
the area of exploitationof a settlement is a hction of the distance a human can walk in a
half day (the other half of the day is used for rehiming), it neglects the size of the
settlement. It assumesthat al1communitiesof peoples in a culture have the sarne
exploitationarea. It would appearto be more usefil for hunter-gatherersocietiesthan
state level societies, which depend on agxicultural ara being in close proximity to the
settlement. Nevertheless, it still maybe a useful technique to estimateexploitation
territory for centers like Lubaantun.The centersdeep within the Maya Mountains,
however, are different.
Sitecatchment analysis ignoresciifferencesin the geography.Theoretically,site
catchent would be most useful on flat lands, but deep in the Maya Mountainsthe
landscape is too mgged for this method to be appliedto accurately describe sustaining
area. In a directionwherethere are more hills and strearnsto cross,the distance traveled
will be less than in a directionwhere there are fewerhiils and strearnsto cross, but the
mode1does not accommodate this. Thus, the exploitationtemtory would have a different
radial distancewaiked by humans ineach direction. A concentric circle for exploitation
temtory is, therefore, a much too simplistic way at amving at an estimateof sustaining

area of settlements, especiallyin suchrugged terrain as the Maya Mountains.
In the Maya Mountains however, we havethe ideal situation for approximating
sustainhgareas. Sites like Ek Xux are situated in alluvial pockets that are circumscnbed
by high ctiffs. These delimitingnahual boundaries act far more accurately as limits for
sustainhg area then does site catchment theory.
Factors Which InfluenceCarrying Capacity
Chisholm (1968) consideredhow resource distributionconditions settlement
potential at a location. It does so by shaphg carryingcapacity. We can think ofcarrying
capacity as a dependent variable and 1) natural circumstances, 2) technological
improvements, and 3) area as independent factors. To provide a fullerpicture, some
background surroundirigthese factorswill be discussed.
N a W circumsfancesincludesoils,water, weather, and agricultural techniques.
Technologicalimprovementscon& mainly of Maya waterstoragetechnology or land
preparation techniques. Agricultural area is the factor that will be related to site size in
order to estimate carrying capacity.
Snil
Soi1is the b t important factorthat influencesthe carryhgcapacity of a
settlement.We know settlements aresituatednearcultivablesoils and are, therefore,

dependenton them because the yields received from the land must be greater than the
work put into the entireharvestingprocess. Thisprocess includes,most importantly,the
transportation to the agriculturaiplot of land, and if this distance is too lengthy, then the
sustainingbenefits are not worth the workput into cultivationand harvesting. The effort
put into the harvestingprocess isalso variable according to the richness of the soil, for
the energyinvested in cultivating poorer soils is more than that invested for richersoils.
Thus, the amount of time spentcommutingto cultivate crops and the qualityof soil
dictate settlementproductivity or canyingcapacity.
Soils mustbe nch enough to supportthe Maya staple crops such as corn, beans, or
squash.Otherimportantcrops to the Maya were manioc, ramon (Brosimum alicusîmm),
and cacao (Theobromacacao).Tropicalmin forest soils, however, are typically difficult
to cultivate due to pests and weeds (Nye and Greenland 1965). A select area for growing
cropshas always been dong rivers and streamswhere nuirient accumulationis high
(Chisholm 1968).TheMaya took full advantageofwhat the riverineterrain had to offer.
They commonly cultivated floodplains and alluvialpockets. And within the Maya
Mountainsof southernBelize, alluvial pockets arethe primaryregions where agriculture
is possible. Secondaryregionsarethin hillside slopes,which were sometimesterraced.
ter &Water St- T-
For an agriculturalpeople iike the Maya,good soilsare of little use if water is not
plentifid in the area. The availabilityof water at a given site is a factor that is vital to the
conceptof carryingcapacity. Theamount of water available at any settlementCO-

the numberof people. Water is a seasonairesource and is managed in a variety of ways.
Inhabitantsof a settlement need water forconsumption, technology,and agriculture. As a
result, the shortageof water in a settledarea diminishesthe carrying capacity. The longer
the time taken to commute kom a siteto awater source,the greater effect it will have on
diminishingthe carrying capacityof the settiement.
The Maya Mountains of southern Belize receive up to 200 inches of rainfall a
year. Rainwater may have bem collected for use in small-scalecultivation, such as
kitchengardens,but such collectionmore likely satisfieddrinking, cooking, and cleaning
purposes. It is essential that rainwater be stored in some fom of receptacle. Roof runoff
was collected in pottery containers;large-scaie storagewas effectedby means of
reservoirsand chultuns.Reservoirsare large-scalewater storagedevicesthat collected
rainwater for entirecommunitiesduring the &y season. Thiswas intended to 1stthe
communitythroughout thedry seasonand thereby increased thecarryingcapacityof the
settlement. Clrulfunswere sub-surfacestoragepits that serveda similarpurpose as
reservoirs,oniy on a much smaller level, and probably supplied one farnily or a few
families. Like reservoirs,they were linedwith a baked clay layer which was
impermeable and which containedwaterquitewell (Sharer 1994).
Seasonalityaffectsthe carryingcapacityof settlementsdirectly by af5ectingyields
fkom cultivationand harvesting. Inthe Maya lowlandsthe rainy season lasts fkom about
the beginningof June to December and the dry seasonruns h m January to June. The

Maya depended on the regularityof rainy and dry season intervals. Fluctuationsin this
regularity could have serious repercussions regarding crop yields and thereby affect
carrying capacity. The fact that there is a five-month dry season limits agricultural
harvats to the rainy season,except where irrigation is used. A long rainy season could
delay the preparation of fields forthe next crop. As a result, this could delay the
harvestingdate. A long dry season, on the other hand, would affect planting, germination
and ultimately harvesting. Fluctuationseither way would affect carryingcapacity.
There are four main agricu1hu;il techniquesthat the ClassicMaya used to for
cultivation.Thesetechniques are important factors that influencecarryuig capacity. They
are swidden, raisecl fields,irrigation, and tenacing(Sharer 1994). Different methods of
agricultureyield different resultswhich in tum affect the carryingcapacity of settlements.
Somemethods aremore efficient in certain areas and will produce more food for the
settlement. The carrying capacityof this settlementwill then be rnuch higher than if a
less productive method was utilized. Each method is advantageousdependhg on the
environment. Humanswill often resort to the method that produces the highest yields for
their settlementor to a combinationof methods that produces the highest yield.
The swiddenmethod of agriculture, also known as shifting cultivation, is a
method that was thought to have been the most commonlyutiiized strategy by the ancient
Maya. Swidden agriculture involves the cuttingdown of the forestwithin the selected
plot of land that will be cultivateci. The organic debnsthat was felled is burned, which

retums plant nutnents to the soii. This cultivation continues for several years on the same
plot before nutrients are depleted and the productivity of the plot diminishes. The next
plot will be located at somedistance Grom the first to allow the originalplot to recover
(Nye and Greenland 1965).
Sincethe region that is needed for s!ash and b u m agiculture isquite extensive, it
oftenbut not always necessitates the movement of settlement to accommodateplanting.
For instance, in regions of high population densitiessuch as the Maya lowlands, the
cuhivationof rnaize, or milpa cultivation,was one of the principal methods used by the
ancient Maya Many believe, however, that swidden agricultureproduces less food per
unit areathanotheragriculturaltechniquesknownto the ancient Maya; thus use of
swiddenalonewould diminishthe carrying capacity of the settlernent(Culbert 1995).
The highpopulation densities forthe ancient Maya that have been documentedsuggest
highercarrying capacities and, thus, more intensivetechniques of agriculture were likely
to have supplementedmilpa f e g .
A more intensive agriculturalstrategyutilized by the ancientMaya was the raised
fieldsmethod. Raised fields occurnearslow-rnovingrivers and Stream upon alluvial
flatlandsthat are flooded duringthe miny season. These regionsnot only contain
sufncient water for intensive agriculturebut they also are replenishedwith nutrients and
rninerals h m seasonal flooding. The riversusually provide adequatedrainage but
sometimescanals must be dug to speed up the drainageprocess. The seeds are planted
whilethe land isstill moist and the crops arecultivated and thenharvestedbefore the next

rainy season. Siemens(1972) was the first to have discovered evidenceof this
agriculturaltechnique in Guatemala and along the Rio Hondo in northem Belize (1972).
Ground and air reconnaissance along rivers revealed more evidencefor raised fields.
Puleston (1977) reconstructed the procedure and experirnentallyapplied it to the
swarnplands in northem Belize. Combinhg what he knew archaeologicallyof raised
fields and a sirnilarmethod that is used today in the lake region south of Mexico City, he
determined it to be a more effectiveagriculturaltechniquethan the swiddenmethod.
Irrigation is the next method that the ancient Maya may have used in intensive
agriculture. Irrigationis a process thaiinvolves the digging of canals fiom a fresh water
source(mostcommonlya stream orriver) to the plot of land that was to be cultivated.
Controllingthe water in the canalsallowed the fields to be flooded when needed. Itjust
as quickly allowed water to stop flowingto the fields. Evidenceof canals (imgationor a
drainage system) has been uncovered in Cerros, Belize. Bridges and dams that controlled
the flux of water through the canals have also been uncovered. Canals were used in
conjunctionwith raised fields because raised fields had to be artificiallydrained using
canals. During the dry season, insteadof using canals for drainage, they could have been
used to supply a field withwater.
Terracingis the last intensive agiculturalmethod that the Maya utilized.
Terracesretainwater, soils, and runoff duringthe rainy season. Terraced fields were
most cornmon in the Maya highlandsof Guatemalaand in the West ofMexico (Sharer
1994), but many have also been discovered along smail hillsides in the lowlands

includuigthe Maya Mountainsnear Ek Xux.
The main factor influencingcarrying capacity is availability of agricultural land.
The area available for agriculturedelimits the population that can be supported. Al1other
factorsbeing equal a larger sustainingareashould support a larger population, a smaller
sustainingareashould supporta smallerpopulation. If the otherconditionsand
techniquesthat affect carryingcapacity remain constant, as they would across a single
zone such as the Maya Mountains, then the site sizebecomes a huictionof the sustaining
area Hence, size and sustainhgarea are both variables in a continuouslyinteracting
system defined as canyingcapacity.
SusteinhgArea and Site Sue: Variables that Describe Carrying Capacity at Ek
Xux
Two variables definethe carryingcapacity of Ek Xw. They are sustainùigarea
and site size, which is indicativeofpopulation. Oncethe carryingcapacity was
calculated for Ek Xux, only thenwas it possible to define a measurement for reliability
and ulthately mode1the development of Ek Xux through time.
Determining the boundaries for sustainingarea is essential forestimating the
carrying capacity of a site. TheMaya Mountainsare advantageous in this respect because
the sustainingareasof sites are defined by surroundingcliffs. A delimited sustainingarea

is necessary for detenniningcarrying capacity because sustainingarea is the independent
variable in the CCC formula. The dependent variable is settlementarea, which grows
through tirne util an outside force acts upon it. in order to determinethe CCC it is
necessaryto have a welldefined sustaining area so that an accurate ratio may be
estimatedbetween it and the settlementarea.
Ek Xux, like most sites in the Maya Mountainsof southemBelize, is located in
areas of alluviurn.Thesealluvialpockets are circumscnbedby high cliffs. The area of
agriculhualdluviumavailableio the ancient inhabitants of Ek Xux is then easily
estimated fiom two prime sources, topographie maps and aerial photographs. The
methods involvedin calculatingthe agricultural area of Ek X w will be more thoroughly
discussed in Chapter 6.
SitmzG
A measurementfor sitesize, the other variable in the carrying capacity
coefficienî, has changed throughout the history of archaeology. Somearchaeologists
have usedthe height of structures, the numberof stelaeat a site, and somehave utilized
severaiof these factors together. Previously1have used the energy of the site core or the
work involved in transporthgbuilding materials fkom their sources to their eventual
destinations (Abramiuk 1996). The transport work of a site can even be appliedto such
cornplexsitecores as Copan, where muchwork is put into detailing architecture. 1have
found that the transport work of a sitecore acts as a sort of gauge, whichmeasures the

cooperativeeffort involved in erecting the buildings of a center.
In this paper, however, we use the basal area of the structuresof domestic units at
Ek Xux as the measurement for site size. The reason for using settlement area is to stay
consistentwith the unit of our othervariable, agriculturalarea, so that we may produce a
ratio of site size and sustainingarea. Another reason for doing this is to stay consistent
with definingthe componentreliability for Ek Xw,which involves the interaction of
human living Wace with the environment. This will be discussedin the next chapter.
For C-ty C o e m
Thecarryingcapacity coefficient for a site then is the simpleratio:
CCC =L(a)/A Eq.1
Here, a is the set of basal areasof settlementa =(al, a2, a3, ...,aN)and Z(a) is
simply the sum of thesebasal areas. A representsthe agiiculturalatea for the site. At Ek
Xux A is the area of the Ek X w and AC alluvialpockets.
Archaeodemography
eodempOrapby
To explore the concept of carryîng capacity M e r , it becomes necessaryto know
how manypeople lived at a settlement at a specific point in the. Archaeodemographyis
the study of estimahg past populations in a region, site, or associatedwith a structureat
oneor more points in tirne (Santley 1990). The systematicprocess forestimating ancient
populations consistsof three distinctsteps. First, through excavation, the phases that are

representedby the recovered ceramics are detemined. Second, the number of platforms,
roorns, or household activityareas are counted. Third, the count is muftipIied by a modal
population per entity in each phase so that a phase specificpopulation cm bededuced
(Santley 1990).
There are severalproblems, however, in eslimating past populations (Rice and
Culbert 1990). Rice and Culbert (1990) suggestthat hidden structures, nonresidential
structures, and issuesof contemporaneity, disuse, and household size are factors that must
be accounted forwhen estirnahgpopulations.
In certaincircumstancait camot be necessarilyassumed that the Maya had
always built a platformas a foundation for their dwellings. In the Preclassic, for instance,
thereis evidmce that the Mayabuilt their dwellingson the ground without a substructure
(Cliff 1988). Thishowever, changes in the Classicperiod when we see dwellings
elevatedoffthe ground. Cliffs work at Cmos (Cliff 1988) shows this developmental
trend in increased use of substnictures through tirne. Nonetheless, we cannot exclude the
possibility, howeverunlikely, that some structuresin the Late Classic did not have
substructuresand hence werenot detected in the count of structures at Ek Xux during the
reconnaissanceof the valley. As is often the case as well, structuresthrough time have a
way of disappearing. Low mounds of earthcore and cobblethat were built for the
purpose of acting as foundationsareofien destroyedas tree roots and other disturbances

affectthem. O b thisresults in elevated ground levels, but hawig no other features
such as cornersthat define them as structures,they may unintentionallybe disrnissed as
natural features andnot comtecias structures,
Thoughpopulation figuresare not utiiized in this paper directly,any of the
problemsthat exist in archaeodernographyalso exist at Ek Xux. For instance, it is always
probable that astructurewas missed inthearchaeologicalsurvey, or a struchae dismissed
because of insufficient grouadsfor identifjmgit as a structure. I believe, however, that
the probability is small comparedto most other sites forone major reason: we know the
realrn ofEk Xux. Most structures are not consideredstructuresbecause they are not
believed to have been underthe dominationof the site in question. At Ek Xux we know
the precise boundaries sumu11dingthe community. Also, because Ek Xux occupies such
a mal1 area, it isreasonable to expect to fhd nearly dl of the stnictures. It should be
noted, though, that those fewstructuresthat may have been overlookedwould causethe
actuaicountto be an underestimation.
Thefact that settlernentstructuresoutsidethesite core are automaticallybelieved
to be residentiai stn~chnesis another assurnptionthat could lead to emr in estirnating
pastpopulations. According to thepnnc@Ie of abundance(Willey and Builard l965),
manyarchaeologistsearly in the historyof archaeodemographysuggestedthat since the
sitecore isconsidered nothingmore than a ceremonial center, then the numerous
structures on the peripheryof the site coremust be residential structures. We h w now

that thisisnot necessarilybue. As excavationscontinued,it was discovered that someof
thestructuresofplazagroups in the peripheral regionsserved different purposes, such as
kitcheos andshtines. Rice and Culbert(1990) believe that ancillarystructures make up
between five and 30% ofthe total structures at most sites. Thisfigure can be adjustedto
fit more closely with the evidence.
The fact that nonresidentialbuildingsmake up alargeportionofthe structures
countedshould simiiarlynot be dismisseci easily. At Ek Xux, we facethe same dilemma
as with al1sites concerningthepercentageofstructures that were nonresidential. For Ek
Xwr 1will usethe maximum percentage thatcouldhave been used for nonresidential
purposes,which is 30% (RiceandCulbert 1990). 1use this to err on the side of an
underestimationof the actual canyingcapacity.
Another issuethat is pressing inarchaeodemographyisdating. Often the ceramic
phasesat sitesare not fine-grainedenoughto date alife span. Dimitri Shilnkin(1973)
estimatesthe average life expectancyat birth to be well underahalfof acentury. A
ceramicphase muiimallyspansbetween 100 and200years. Thisis not nearly short
enough to depictpopulationsaccurately. As muchas fourgenerations may have been
bom andpassed away in the spanofaphase. Therefore, muchof the emr in
reeonstructingpopulation estimatescornes fkomthe fact that we often do not have fine-
grainedenoughdating techniques to use to recreateareliable demographic profile ofthe
site throughthne. Thereare exceptions,Copanbeing one, where obsidianhydrationis

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