Present theory suggests that neighborhoods form through frequent, repeated face-to-face interactions among people in groups of spatially co-located residences. Over time, layered interactions create relational identities (through face-to-face contact) and categorical identities (through perceived similarities). Neighborhood identity, when present, indicates a union of both relational and categorical identities generated through shared social experiences. Unfortunately, we cannot directly ask the deceased about their neighbors; however, we can reconstruct likely zones of frequent, repeated face-to-face interaction and then test those assumptions using archaeological data. This analysis reconstructs neighborhoods at Caracol, Belize through the application of least cost analysis and k-means clustering. This spatial reconstruction relies on interpretations of interactions occurring near residences, in adjacent terraced agricultural fields, at public plazas in districts, and on the way to and from service-providing district architecture. Reconstructed neighborhoods, based on relational identity, are then tested archaeologically with excavated material from contexts related to categorical identity. Inter- and intra-neighborhood comparisons of ritual deposits from cache and burial deposits within 59 excavated residential plazuela housemound groups situated among eight sampled neighborhoods test and validate these reconstructed neighborhoods at Caracol, Belize by demonstrating, with statistical significance, more similarities within than between reconstructed neighborhoods.

目前的理论表明，社区是通过在空间上位于同一地点的住宅群中的人们之间频繁、重复的面对面互动而形成的。随着时间的推移，分层交互创建关系身份（通过面对面接触）和分类身份（通过感知相似性）。邻里身份，如果存在，表示通过共享的社会经验产生的关系身份和类别身份的结合。不幸的是，我们不能直接向死者询问他们的邻居；然而，我们可以重建频繁、重复的面对面互动的可能区域，然后使用考古数据测试这些假设。该分析通过应用最小成本分析和 k 均值聚类重建伯利兹卡拉科尔的社区。这种空间重建依赖于对住宅附近、相邻梯田、地区公共广场以及往返提供服务的地区建筑的路上发生的相互作用的解释。然后，根据关系身份重建社区，然后使用从与类别身份相关的上下文中挖掘出的材料进行考古测试。59 个出土住宅中来自缓存和墓葬的仪式沉积物的邻里间和邻里内比较 然后用与类别身份相关的背景中的挖掘材料进行考古测试。59 个出土住宅中来自缓存和墓葬的仪式沉积物的邻里间和邻里内比较 然后用与类别身份相关的背景中的挖掘材料进行考古测试。59 个出土住宅中来自缓存和墓葬的仪式沉积物的邻里间和邻里内比较位于伯利兹卡拉科尔的八个抽样社区中的plazuela housemound 组通过展示具有统计显着性的重建社区内部比重建社区之间更多的相似性来测试和验证这些重建的社区。