Dzibilchaltún, Yucatán, Mexico: Structures 384, 385, and 386: A Preliminary Interpretation

Abstract

AbstractThe excavation of Structures 384, 385, and 386, and their associated platform in Dzibilchaltún, Yucatán, revealed an occupational sequence from late Phase I or early Phase II of the Early period up to and including the early Colonial period. The ceramic material analyzed pertains primarily to the Copo complex and, when combined with the architectural data and with 16th-century descriptions of Maya culture, made it possible to infer or suggest the use and function of each room within each building associated with the group and its lineage associations from its conception to the present. This analysis indicates that, although the primary function of the group was ceremonial during the early stages of occupation, all but one of the structures were later used more for domestic than ceremonial ends, until the vaults collapsed during the late Pure Florescent subperiod. During the later Decadent period, however, one of the earliest buildings was tunneled into and reused for ceremonial functions, possibly even after the 16th-century Spanish open chapel was erected less than 200 m. away in the central plaza of Dzibilchaltún.