This paper explores elite practice at a Late Classic to Early Postclassic (700-1050 AD) Maya center, Lower Dover, in western Belize. Archaeologists studying the Maya have spent considerable time and effort attempting to understand the material culture and activities preserved at sites throughout Belize and other parts of the ancient Maya world. Following its discovery in 2010, Lower Dover offers new opportunities and challenges for research attempting to add to our understanding of ancient elite practices in the Belize River Valley. In 2012, excavations in Lower Dover’s Plaza Group F recovered a large artifact deposit on both the adjacent patio floor and face of a collapsed elite residential platform. Coming from an elite living space, the deposit offers an intriguing record of the intersection of elite Maya social, political, and religious life. Considering Lower Dover’s position in a larger geopolitical setting, I try to determine the functional and ritual significance of the artifacts deposited. Results of my analysis suggest that at Lower Dover’s Plaza Group F, elite persons engaged in food processing, craft goods production, and ceremonial observance. As members of an elite social group, these people had a diverse array of occupations and mental and material pursuits to which they devoted their time. Further, the artifacts’ context indicates that elites ritually terminated their residential platform before leaving Plaza Group F in the Late Classic to Early Postclassic transition. By studying the relationships between the practices observed here, I develop a multidimensional account of daily activities in an elite residence at Lower Dover and the elite residents’ potential interactions with others in the greater Belize Valley political and economic settings.
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机译：本文探讨了伯利兹西部下多佛（Lower Dover）的玛雅中心（从后经典到后经典早期（公元700-1050年））的精英实践。研究玛雅人的考古学家花费了大量时间和精力，试图了解在整个伯利兹和古代玛雅人世界其他地方保存的物质文化和活动。下多佛（Lower Dover）在2010年被发现后，为试图加深我们对伯利兹河谷地区古代精英习俗的理解提供了新的机遇和挑战。 2012年，Lower Dover Plaza F小组的发掘工作在相邻的露台地板和坍塌的精英住宅平台的表面上回收了大块文物。来自精英生活空间，该矿藏提供了玛雅精英社会，政治和宗教生活交汇的有趣记录。考虑到下多佛在较大的地缘政治环境中的位置，我尝试确定所沉积文物的功能和仪式意义。我的分析结果表明，在下多佛的Plaza F小组中，从事食品加工，手工艺品生产和礼仪活动的精英人士。作为精英社会团体的成员，这些人奉献了自己的时间，从事着各种各样的职业，心理和物质追求。此外，文物的背景还表明，精英人士在古典后期到后古典早期的过渡中离开F广场集团之前，按照惯例终止了他们的居住平台。通过研究这里观察到的实践之间的关系，我对下多佛精英住宅的日常活动以及精英居民在更大的伯利兹山谷政治和经济环境中与他人的潜在互动进行了多维描述。
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