THE EMERGENCE of STANDARDIZED SPATIAL PLANS in SOUTHERN MESOAMERICA: CHRONOLOGY and INTERREGIONAL INTERACTIONS VIEWED from CEIBAL, Guatemala

Our investigations at the lowland Maya center of Ceibal have demonstrated that a formal spatial pattern consisting of an E-Group assemblage and large platforms started around 1000 B.C. and gradually expanded over the next several centuries. A re-evaluation of ceramic and radiocarbon data from other lowland Maya sites suggests that the beginning of sedentary life and ceramic use in various parts of the Maya lowlands started roughly simultaneously around 1000 B.C., which may have been triggered by a change in maize productivity. The standardized spatial pattern including the E-Group assemblage probably developed in the Isthmian Interaction Sphere, encompassing the southern Gulf Coast, central Chiapas, the Chiapas-Guatemalan Pacific Coast, and Ceibal, during the transitional period between the decline of San Lorenzo and the rise of La Venta as a major center (1200-800 B.C.). Most of the lowland Maya communities adopted the E-Group assemblage after 800 B.C., but not other elements of the standardized spatial pattern.