ABSTRACT Excavations in northeastern Belize have generated one of the more detailed regional databases of Middle Preclassic (1000–350 b.c.) settlement in the Maya Lowlands, providing the basis for developmental models of later Maya civilization. Modest Classic period architecture permitted extensive exposures of early occupations at several sites, but contemporaneous settlements at large, later centers remain poorly understood, despite the insights they may offer into emergent social complexity and political hierarchy. We review extant and unpublished data from Lamanai and Altun Ha, two large centers in northeastern Belize during Classic times, to compare aspects of Middle Preclassic settlement, architecture, and burial practices and to evaluate how this evidence relates to existing models of early Maya community development. Comparisons between these sites and among other Middle Preclassic settlements beyond northeastern Belize suggest a more nuanced approach to understanding developing social complexity in the Maya Lowlands, which acknowledges regional similarities and variability, is warranted.

中文翻译：

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水岩石和沉睡的鳄鱼：重新评估伯利兹Altun Ha和Lamanai的中等前古典职业

摘要伯利兹东北部的挖掘工作已产生了玛雅低地中古原始（1000-350 BC）定居点的更详细的区域数据库之一，为后来的玛雅文明的发展模型提供了基础。谦虚的古典时期建筑允许在多个地点大量接触早期职业，但是尽管它们可以提供关于新兴社会复杂性和政治等级制的见解，但在大型同时期的后期定居点仍知之甚少。我们回顾了伯纳利东北部两个大型中心Lamanai和Altun Ha的现存数据和未发表的数据，这些数据是伯利兹东北部的两个主要中心，以比较中古前定居点，建筑和埋葬方式，并评估该证据如何与玛雅早期社区发展的现有模式相关联。