Settlement Organization and Interaction in the Upper Belize River Valley: The View from Ek Tzul

Decades of settlement survey in the upper Belize River Valley of western Belize have revealed a multi-tier site hierarchy of ruling elites, intermediate elites, and commoners of varying status. The large temples at the polity capitals have drawn archaeological attention since the early 20th century resulting in a wealth of knowledge on how the ruling elites of ancient Maya society lived. Yet comparatively little work has examined how intermediate elites, those who occupy the middle zone between the rulers and the commoners, functioned and the strategies they employed to retain favor with both their overlords and supporters. Excavations and survey over the last four years at the previously unrecorded secondary center of Ek Tzul attempt to answer these questions. The result is a better understanding of how the ancient Maya of the upper Belize Valley interacted at both the local and regional level and how the intermediate elites of Ek Tzul mediated these interactions.