Reconstructing and testing neighborhoods at the Maya city of Caracol, Belize

Abstract

Present theory suggests that neighborhoods form through frequent, repeated face-to-face interactions among people in groups of spatially co-located residences. Over time, layered interactions create relational identities (through face-to-face contact) and categorical identities (through perceived similarities). Neighborhood identity, when present, indicates a union of both relational and categorical identities generated through shared social experiences. Unfortunately, we cannot directly ask the deceased about their neighbors; however, we can reconstruct likely zones of frequent, repeated face-to-face interaction and then test those assumptions using archaeological data. This analysis reconstructs neighborhoods at Caracol, Belize through the application of least cost analysis and k-means clustering. This spatial reconstruction relies on interpretations of interactions occurring near residences, in adjacent terraced agricultural fields, at public plazas in districts, and on the way to and from service-providing district architecture. Reconstructed neighborhoods, based on relational identity, are then tested archaeologically with excavated material from contexts related to categorical identity. Inter- and intra-neighborhood comparisons of ritual deposits from cache and burial deposits within 59 excavated residential plazuela housemound groups situated among eight sampled neighborhoods test and validate these reconstructed neighborhoods at Caracol, Belize by demonstrating, with statistical significance, more similarities within than between reconstructed neighborhoods.