Abstract

Archaeological remains of ancient complex societies have traditionally been defined on the basis of visible architectural features, and those of the Maya region are no exception. Even the burgeoning field of household archaeology, considered in the Maya area to be a counterpoint to the excavation of large elite or civic structures, is usually contextualized by reference to the excavation of visibly mounded remains. An expanded spatial methodology - termed as the 'houselot approach' - is employed in this paper to broaden the subsurface data collection capacity of household archaeology. Such an expanded scope is intended to allow more meaningful comparisons between spatially patterned archaeological material and ancient domestic behaviour.