Site 128

Site 128, lying ca. 5km north of La Sierra and 150m southwest of the Rio San Bartolo, is a moderately large center containing 28 surface-visible platforms of which eight are at least 1.5m high. These buildings are organized around four adjoining patios generally oriented northeast-southwest. The monumental edifices define the southern and eastern patios, which are, in turn, paired with clusters of humbler buildings comprising the western and northern patios. Six additional buildings are scattered southwest of the southern and western patios, lacking a clear organizational focus. Immediately northwest of the northern and western patios is a massive basin-shaped depression covering 32x45m and currently (1996) dipping down to a maximum depth of 1.2m. A single, apparently isolated, structure occupies the declivity's northern margin. With the exception of the aforementioned depression, the terrain occupied by Site 128 is generally flat, rising very gradually from southeast to northwest towards the Rio San Bartolo.

Site 128 has suffered significant destruction over the years. A road cut through the southern patio runs through Str. 128-7's approximate center and shears off the northwestern margin of Str. 128-4. Structure 128-10 may have been truncated on the southeast by this dirt thoroughfare. The eastern patio, still intact as of 1977, was virtually obliterated by the time excavations were initiated in 1996, resulting in the loss of Strs. 128-1, 2, and 22. Construction of residences to house the town of Cofradia's burgeoning population was the primary cause of the latter destruction (Site 128 is on Cofradia's southern margin). All told, about 21% of the buildings recorded at Site 128 had been seriously damaged prior to the beginning of systematic study.

Excavations conducted at Site 128 from January-May, 1996 resulted in the clearing of roughly 936m2 on and around Strs. 128-3, 4, 7 (southern patio), 23, 24, 25 (northern patio), 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (western patio), 12, 13 (southwestern dispersed buildings), and 26 (the nothern isolate). Also included in that figure are 28 test pits dug within, and on the margins of, the northwestern depression. Digging was overseen by B. Beacom, J. Bell, B. Carter, V. Chagnon, A. Dietz, A. McCoy, A. Mishelloff, A. Moser, H. Osborn, B. Robbins, B. Shade and M. Stockett; interpretations of these efforts provided by A. Althoff, F. Black, A. Dietz, N. Handel, L. Keiner, A. Moser, B. Robbins, O. Steffans, and M. Stockett provide the basis for this report.

Contained within the space delimited by U.1-4 is a fill (U.5) composed of fine-textured, soft-compacted, ash in which numerous artifacts, especially ceramic vessel fragments, and scattered rocks are found. Two casually built walls (U.6 and 7), 0.42-0.52m high by 0.35m (minimally) to 0.5m across, were found embedded within U.5 ca.0.5m below the putative summit floor. The rocks comprising U.6 and 7 are set in the U.5 ash and do not have the coherence or integrity to have been free-standing constructions nor are they associated with anything resembling a living surface. Their architectural significance, therefore, defies easy interpretation--too shallow to be fill-retaining units (the bases of U.6 and 7 are 1.1-1.13m above those of the adjoining facings [U.2 and 4]) and too insubstantial to have served as foundations incorporated within a superstructure. Units 6 and 7 may have been pens built to consolidate the U.5 ash where it underlay the summit floor. The superstructure apparently consisted of a single, earthen-floored room covering 3.27x6m and lacking clearly defined built-in furniture. Tops of the northeastern and southwestern facings seem to have doubled as foundations for the superstructure's upper, presumably perishable, walls. On the northwest, U. 14, a 0.51m wide footing, rises 0.49m above U.1's southeastern margin and apparently defined this side of the superstructure. Approximately 0.25m of U.5 was piled up against U.14's southeastern flank, suggesting that the foundation stood only 0.24m above the summit floor on this side. The superstructure's southeastern margin is marked by a 0.59m wide upward extension of U.4's northeastern flank (U.4B). Unit 4B's final height is not known, due to the extensive destruction visited on this entity following the building's abandonment. Unlike U.14, however, U.4B is clearly integrated with the remainder of the basal facing.

Units 16 and 17 are two poorly preserved walls running northeast/southwest off Str. 128-3-1st's southwestern flank (U.15). Unit 16 extends 1.83m from its abutment with U.15 and stands 0.3-0.42m above S.3. As noted earlier (TS.1), S.2 slopes up from southwest to northeast and U.16's base conforms to this ascent. Unit 17, a 0.2-0.25m high (above S.3) wall that corfoms to the same general orientation as U.16, was traced for 1.58m southwest from its junction with that wall (U. 17's southwestern end was not identified). Unit 17 measures 0.56m across whereas the advanced state of decay suffered by U.16 precluded assessing its width, alignment, and precise relationship with U.17. These two constructions appear to have been parts of either a single, extensive surface-level edifice or two neigboring constructions built directly on ground level. A similar building (Str. 128-Sub9-1st) was erected 0.41m northwest of Str. 128-3-1st (U.10). This entity is represented by an 0.11m high by 0.49m wide stone footing (U.13) that was followed for 0.5m southwest from its apparent northeastern terminus. Unit 13's full dimensions are not known nor can we tell the nature of the construction into which it was incorporated. The element's stratigraphic position, embedded in S.4 below the uncovered base of the nearest Str. 128-3-1st component (U.10) may indicate that Str. 128-Sub9-1st was fashioned prior to the raising of its southeastern neighbor. The lack of clear occupation levels in this area make it impossible to discern whether U.13 was built on ground surface sloping down and away to the northwest from U.10 or on a ground level predating that construction. All that can be said at present is that U.13, 16, and 17 are parts of surface-level architecture that was raised around Str. 128-3-1st during some portion of TS.2.

A 0.02-0.03m thick lens of burnt earth (F.2) covering 0.15x0.3m lies 0.3m off, and at the base, of Str. 128-3-1st's northeastern flank (U.11). Feature 2 is suspended in S.4 and consists of a fine-textured, hard-compacted, soil colored bright orange as a consequence of intense heat.

Structure 128-3-1st is a 1.72-2.26m high stone-faced platform that measures 9.7x12.16m and is aligned roughly 41 degrees. The platform's basal walls rise above terraces measuring 0.45-0.66m high by 0.89-1.08m across on all sides save the northwest where four terraces or steps 0.38-0.62m high and 0.76-2.02m across ascend to the summit. The penultimate member of this series supports a construction, possibly a buttress or room divider, that stands 0.25m tall, is at least 0.45m wide, and extends 0.43m northwest-southeast. A 0.44m high by 0.92m wide terrace might have been built well up within the southeastern facing (ca. 0.9m above U.4's intersection with the basal terrace that fronts it). Based on the available evidence, therefore, Str. 128-3-1st's summit was apparently reached by ascending the northwestern terraces/steps.

The superstructure consists of a single, ample room that covers 19.6m2 and lacks obvious built-in furniture (though the tops of U.2 and 3 that define the summit's southwestern and northeastern margins are sufficiently broad that they could have served as benches as well as footings for perishable upper walls. The enclosure's floor is the top of the artifact-rich ash fill that extends from summit to the original ground surface underlying the platform. Two 0.42-0.52m high by 0.35-0.5m wide walls were found embedded within this softly compacted ash 0.5m below the putative summit floor. These entities may define the northwest and northeast sides of a pen designed to solidify fill directly beneath the superstructure (U.2 and 3 form the pen's southwestern and southeastern boundaries). We did not determine whether this system of shallow fill retaining constructions extends beneath the entire summit.

Traces of surface-level constructions were found off Str. 128-3-1st's northwestern and southwestern flanks. Structure 128-Sub9-1st, 0.41m northwest of Str. 128-3-1st, is represented by an 0.11m high by 0.49m wide foundation that runs at least 0.5m on an azimuth of ca. 40 degrees. This surface-level building may antedate Str. 128-3-1st's construction, though this temporal relation was not verified. Two poorly preserved walls built on sloping terrain form a line roughly 3.41m long and oriented ca. 28 degrees extending southwestward from Str. 128-3-1st's southwestern flank. These constructions are 0.2-0.42m high and the best preserved component is 0.56m wide. The architectural significance of the above walls is uncertain, though they may well be remnants of one or more surface-level edifices appended to Str. 128-3-1st relatively late in the occupation sequence. A 0.02-0.03m thick lense of burnt earth lying 0.3m northeast of Str. 128-3-1st is yet another piece of evidence that suggests the existence of activities conducted on ancient ground surface in the platform's immediate environs.

All Str. 128-3-1st components and those of the surrounding surface-level constructions are built almost exclusively of unmodified river cobbles set in a brown earth mortar. Several schist slabs were recorded in U.4 and 15 and one cut block was noted in the U.10 tread. Horizontal coursing of the larger rocks is most clearly marked on Str. 128-3-1st's basal walls (U.1-4). The naturally flatter aspects of the rocks making up the basal walls are directed outwards on U.2 and 3, the northwestern and southeastern facings exhibiting much less care in the choice, and placement, of their constituent rocks. The remaining walls generally show little evidence of coursing nor was there a consistent effort made to direct the flatter faces of their constituent rocks outwards. The most casually fashioned elements are those that delimit possible surface-level buildings surrounding Str. 128-3-1st (U.13, 16, and 17) as well as the two putative fill-retaining walls unearthed beneath the platform's summit (U.6 and 7). Stone sizes range from 0.03x0.05m up to 0.27x0.52m, with most concentrated towards the middle of that continuum.

Structure 128-4-2nd is an earthen platform that rises 1.89m via five variably tall and broad sloping terraces that lead up to a summit that was at least partially floored with unmodified river cobbles. There was not enough left of the building's walls to reconstruct its orientation.

The southwestern flank has a very different form, very little of which was revealed in the southwestern axial probe that unearthed U.1, 2, and 12. Excavations conducted on either side of this trench identified a series of three low terraces mounting towards the summit. The basal element in the sequence, U.16, is preserved to 0.51m high and may have run across Str. 128-4-1st's entire southwestern face. The next ascending element, U.4, is ca. 0.42m high and extends 11.1m from its southern and western corners. Fully 0.36m separates U.16 and 4. Northwest of the axial trench, a 0.17m high by 0.24m wide terrace (U.3) intervenes between U.16 and 4. Unit 3 is 0.12m northeast of U.16 and extends at least 1.1m past (northwest of) U.4's western corner (U.3 may have intersected with a terrace on Str. 128-4-1st's northwestern flank, though the truncation of the latter precludes making any asertions on this point). Presumably, additional, unexcavated units continued the progression to the summit. Overall, the U.16, 3, and 4 terrace sequence consists of elements that are much lower and narrower than those noted on the northeast and southeast. It may well be, therefore, that the southwestern flank was mounted by a series of steps the lower elements of which were uncovered in our excavations. Projecting 1.4m southwest from its abuttment with U.16 is a 0.45m high wall (U.9). Beginning 0.45m southwest of U.16, U.9 is sealed behind (southeast of) U.10, a comparably tall construction that continues 0.85m southwest of U.9. Together, U.9 and 10 comprise a 2.25m long by roughly 0.5m wide wall with a 0.4m wide outset starting 0.45m out from Str. 128-4-1st's basal terrace (U.16). Only the northwestern flank of this complex was uncovered and, though it extends southeastward beyond excavation limits, U.9 and 10 did not reappear in the axial trench 1.45m distant. Units 9 and 10, therefore, might have been an outset platform or stairs raised near the platform's center-line that was either relatively narrow (1.95m, or less, across) or never completed on the southeast.

This last conjecture returns us to the question of why all of the uncovered southwestern constructions failed to turn up in the axial trench. Str. 128-4-2nd's terraces (U.2) are covered by a 0.09-0.41m thick level of moderately coarse-textured, moderately hard-compacted, brown soil containing some scattered rocks. This level may represent fill (U.14) designed to support terraces that were never built. The large mass of jumbled stone (F.1) found resting on and protruding 0.33m into U.2's basal terrace might, in this scenario, represent stones that were in the process of being accumulated when work on Str. 128-4-1st's southwestern facade ended. Feature 1 covers 2.28m northeast-southwest, beginning 0.88m southwest of U.1, and is 0.37-0.65m thick. The above interpretation is tentative, but does have the virtue of accounting for the absence of any extant southwestern terraces leading up to the ultimate platform summit, a summit clearly marked by the U.13 pavement and yet well above the highest preserved U.2 riser (0.72m separates the tops of U.12 and 13).

Structure 128-4-1st is an earthen-filled, stone-faced platform standing 1.94-2.61m high, measuring 9.5x13.1m (based on the distribution of extant architecture, not including U.9 and 10), and oriented roughly 133 degrees. The platform is ascended on the northeast and southeast by two substantial terraces the risers of which are 0.61-1.33m high and whose treads are 1.34 and 1.4m wide. Outsets protrude 0.11-0.15m out from the bases of the bottom-most terraces on the northeast and southeast. The southwest was apparently mounted by a terrace series, the three lowest elements of which were uncovered. The southwestern terraces are more modest constructions than their southeastern and northeastern counterparts, standing 0.17-0.51m tall by 0.24-0.36m across. So low are these elements are these entities that they, along with unexcavated components further upslope might have served as steps providing access to the summit. A 2.25m long stone-face projection by 0.45m high located near the center of the southwestern flank may have been part of this staircase. Curiously, outside of 0.09-0.41m of earth fill laid over the top pf Str. 128-4-2nd's terraces, the axial trench unearthed no signs of final-phase architecture on the building's southwest side. This absence tentatively suggests that this flank of Str. 128-4-1st was not finished prior to the building's abandonment. A large pile of rocks located in the immediate area might represent building materials that were intended, but never used, for construction of the southwestern terraces/steps. The interior of Str. 128-4-1st's superstructure encompasses at least 23m2, all of which may have been included in a single room. Said enclosure is at least partially surfaced with stone and lacks any obvious built-in furniture, such as benches and shelves. The room's eastern corner is curved; whether the remaining wall intersections are handled in this manner remains unknown.

All components of Str. 128-4-1st are fashioned using unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Stone sizes range from 0.02x0.04m to 0.42x0.47m, with most clustering towards the center of that continuum. The larger rocks tend to be placed in horizontal courses, most evident in the tall northeastern and southeastern terrace risers, non-extant in U.9 and 10. Chinking pebbles are used to fill in the spaces between these sizable cobbles. A brown mud mortar is used as a binding agent in all walls and the summit floor.

Unit 9, is a particularly robust construction, measuring 0.81m across and rising 0.92m above its revealed base on the northeast (but only 0.66m on the southwest). This construction stands 0.67m above the U.2 terrace tread, posing a significant obstacle to those seeking access to the summit rooms. Undoubtedly, a door provided access to these compartments and, just as clearly, we did not locate it. Immediately southwest of U.9 is an L-shaped, earthen-floored enclosure (Room 1) delimited by U.9, 11, 12, and 13. Units 11 and 12 are 0.38m high by 0.29m across (U.12 alone was sufficiently exposed to determine its width) foundations that bound the chamber's northwestern and southeastern sides. Unit 13 is a ca. 0.35m high by 0.85-1m wide construction that projects 1.55m southwest of U.12's southeastern end. This entity defines the northwestern margin of the enclosure's southwestern extension and is sufficiently ample to have served as a bench or shelf. Overall, Room 1 measures 1.07m across between U.9 and 12 and runs for at least 2.2m southeast of U.11 (the chamber's southeastern wall was not uncovered). The southwestern leg of Room 1 is 1.9m northeast-southwest by, minimally, 0.7m northwest-southeast. Room 2 lies northwest of U.13, bounded on the northeast by U.12 and on the southwest by Str. 128-7-1st's southwestern facing (U.5). This earthen-floored enclosure measures 2.53m across northeast-southwest and at least 1.95m northwest-southeast (the northwestern perimeter of the compartment was not encountered). A 1.1m wide gap between U.5 and 13 might well have been a portal linking the two chambers. The fill underlying the summit consists almost exclusively of earth, varying somewhat from northeast to southwest and with depth below the superstructure floor. Located 0.3m beneath Room 1, U.18 is a fine-textured, hard to moderately hard-compacted, gray brown to tan soil containing scattered bajareque fragments. Unit 18 was uncovered to a maximum depth of 0.55m, its base lying beyond excavation limits. Lying between U.18 and the summit floor is U.19, a fine-textured, hard-compacted red-brown soil with a slightly higher density of included bajareque fragments than U.18. Southwest of U.12 the fill shifts to a moderately fine-textured, moderately hard compacted tan soil virtually indistinguishable from S.1 (U.21).

The northwestern and southeastern basal walls (U.4 and 3) were revealed over only small segments. They probably rose directly to the summit, though this contention was not definitely established. Unit 17, a low stone facing, extends 1.7m northwest from the northern corner of the northeastern terrace (junction of U.6 and 7), linking Str. 128-7-1st with what was probably a surface-level edifice that went undetected during survey (Str. 128-Sub10-1st). Structure 128-Sub10-1st's eastern corner was revealed during excavation, consisting of the intersection of two stone footings (U.22 and 24). Relatively late in the construction sequence, the building was enlarged by 0.4m on the southeast, U.22, the previous foundation on this side, being sealed behind U.23. It was after this renovation that U.17 was added. Unit 24, the northeastern perimeter wall, lines up tolerably well with U.9 exposed during the excavation of Str. 128-21, 2.3m to the northwest. If these elements comprise part of Str. 128-Sub10-1st, then the edifice covers at least 1.5x3.35m along its exterior margins.

Unit 16, a low, 0.3m wide wall, extends 0.85m southwest from the platform's western corner. The architectural significance of this entity is not clear; it may be part of a surface-level construction raised against Str. 128-7-1st's southwestern facing (U.5).

An earthen-floored room was also appended to Str. 128-7-1st's northeastern flank. This enclosure is defined by the platform's northeastern basal terrace (U. 6) on the southwest and U.14 and 15 on the northeast and southeast, respectively. The former is a 0.27m high, measures 0.85-1.12m across construction, and widens to the northwest (though its terminus in this direction was not located). Unit 15 is a 0.2m high, 0.4-0.45m wide footing that extends 1.33m northeast from its abutment with the terrace's eastern corner (junction of U.6 and 8). The 0.7m wide gap between U.15 and 16 may have served as an entryway into the surface-level room. Said enclosure covers 1.43-2m across northeast-southwest and measures at least 2.75m northwest-southeast.

Structure 128-7-1st is a stone-faced platform rising 0.65-1.38m on the southwest and northeast, respectively. This marked disjunction is partly accounted for by the aforementioned northeast-to-southwest upward slope of the land over which the platform was built. Structure 128-7-1st measures 9.4x12.8m, is oriented roughly 131 degrees, and has an earthen fill containing variable quantities of cultural material. The northeastern face is mounted by two substantial terraces 0.79m and 0.26m high, 1.44m and 2.53m wide (basal and second ascending terrace, respectively). The second member of the series might have been divided into two rooms by the still-visible top of a foundation that was largely covered by fill at TS.3's conclusion. The fully exposed southeastern chamber encompasses 4m2 and has a 0.98m wide doorway in its northern corner. Earlier in the occupation sequence, the area taken up by the exposed portion of the second terrace was a room the floor of which seems to have been roughly equivalent to the level of the basal terrace tread. This enclosure also covered 4m2 and was entered through a 0.98m wide portal in its northern corner. Portions of two summit enclosures were uncovered. The southeastern of the two adjoining compartments, Room 1, is L-shaped and covers at least 3.7m2. A 0.35m high, 0.85m wide, 1.55m long stone-faced bench or shelf separates this enclosure from a second compartment lying immediately to the northwest. The latter (Room 2) encompasses minimally 4.9m2. Both chambers have earthen floors and are defined by foundations standing 0.38m high by 0.29m across. A 1.1m wide portal links Rooms 1 and 2 on the southwest.

An earthen-floored, surface-level room is situated off Str. 128-7-1st's northeastern flank near the platform's eastern corner. The enclosure measures at least 4.7m2 and is delimited by Str. 128-7-1st's basal facing along with two substantial footings on the northeast and southeast (the northwestern foundation was not unearthed). The last two elements are 0.2-0.27m high and 0.4-1.12m wide. A 0.7m wide door in the enclosure's eastern corner provide access to the interior. Remnants of what might have been another surface-level construction lie adjacent to the platform's southwestern side, near its western corner (U.16). Not enough of this entity were revealed, however, to determine the nature, form, and dimensions of the building of which U.16 was a part. Structure 128-Sub10-1st is another apparent ground-level edifice that, during its final occupation phase, may have covered at least 1.5x3.35m (measured along its exterior perimeter) and was oriented very approximately 329 degrees. The 1.7m separating Strs. 128-7-1st and 128-Sub10-1st were bridged late in TS.3 by a low stone wall that could have sealed off the southern patio's western corner.

All TS. 3 architecture consists primarily of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Some schist was incorporated into U.14, where it is a minority component of the building material, and no faced masonry was recorded. The larger rocks that make up Str. 128-7-1st's northeastern terrace facings are placed in clear horizontal courses. Other units do not exhibit this feature as obviously, though some coursing is discernible in U.10 and 11. The stones comprising U.14 are a mix of cobbles and schist slabs set horizontally and on end, the latter concentrated along the footing's northeastern face and the northeast side of the doorway. The portal's southwestern margin is also marked by a cobbles placed vertically at the northeastern terminus of U.15. A tan mud mortar is used as a binding agent in all units and chinking stones are packed around the larger rocks in the exposed foundations and facings.

Artifacts retrieved from S.2 where it lies beneath architecture indicate a human presence in the immediate area while this soil was being introduced.

The summit was accessed by means of a ca. 1.35m wide stone staircase (U.9) that projects 1.1m northeast from the approximate center of the northeast basal wall (U.2). Three stone-faced and -surfaced risers, each roughly 0.15m high by 0.35-0.43m wide, make up U.9. The earthen-floored summit remains poorly understood. On the northeast, U.8 is tentatively inferred to have been the southwestern facing for a 0.49m high stone-faced but earth-surfaced bench that measures 2.24m across northeast-southwest. A tan soil comprises the bench's hearting (F.2), bajareque fragments becoming more prevalent with increasing depth (especially noticeable 0.2-0.25m below the putative top of the construction). This fill is designated as a feature because we are uncertain whether U.8 is a bench facing or a foundation dividing rooms within Str. 128-12-1st's superstructure. If the latter is the case, then the area intervening between U.5 and 8 would have been open, not filled with earth as required by the "bench model." Further to the southwest, the situation is even murkier. Here, a poorly preserved wall (U.6) was revealed in the northwest section of the axial trench. This construction is estimated to have stood 0.26m above the summit floor and run 1.74m northeast-southwest, stopping 0.79m shy of U.8 and 0.67m short of U.3. Unit 6 may be a footing that marked a room boundary on the platform's summit, the aforementioned gaps signifying passageways among the enclosures. A 0.32m wide wall (U.7) that barely protrudes above the summit floor intersects U.6 and extends for at least 0.65m to the southeast. This entity is so low (only 0.02m high) that it may pertain to an earlier version of the summit. The same can be said for F.1, an irregular line of rocks revealed in the northwestern axial section that begins 0.13m southwest of U.8 and runs for 0.8m further in that direction. most of the F.1 stones would not have appeared above Str. 128-12-1st's summit floor and the entity appears to be overlapped by U.7's northeastern end. If F.1 contains the remains of a bona fide construction, then it is evidence for Str. 128-12-1st having reached its ultimate height through accretion.

Unit 10, lying 0.44m southwest of Str. 128-12-1 (U.3), is a casually fashioned block of stone measuring 0.98m across by ca. 0.35m high that extends for at least 1.1m northwest-southeast roughly parallel to U.3 (U.10's northwestern margin was not found). Determining U.10's dimensions was hampered by its rather haphazard architecture, which made it difficult to separate from debris that fell off the neighboring platform. Unit 10 appears to have been part of a surface-level edifice raised adjacent to Str. 128-12-1st near the end of TS.2.

Unit 1, 0.3-0.35m northeast of Str. 128-12-1st (U.5), consists of two joined arcs running northwest-southeast defined by stone lines, the concave faces of which are directed to the northeast. Earth burned to bright orange was found at U.11's base within the arcs and extending 0.16-0.39m northeast of the stones. Unit 11 measures 2.76m northwest-southeast and abuts the northern corner of the U.9 steps. The southeastern arc is 1.4m across the interior at its wides point while its northwestern counterpart was not completely cleared, measuring 0.94m over its widest exposed segment. By-and-large, U.11's stone walls are very low, though they may have originally stood as much as 0.6m high along their northeastern margin (based on the recovery of a fallen stack of U.11 rocks the elements of which retained their original relations). Unit 11's walls are 0.14-0.5m wide, achieving their greatest dimensions at the junction of the two arcs.

Structure 128-12-1st, by the end of TS.2, was a platform standing 0.63m high, encompassing 6.25x9.05m, and oriented roughly 160 degrees. A 1.35m wide staircase projects 1.1m northeast on the building's approximate axis, its three stone steps providing access to the summit. Very little is known concerning the organization of space atop the platform. A 0.49m high bench measuring 2.24m northeast-southwest seems to have occupied the northeastern portion of the superstructure, possibly facing into a room on the southwest bordered by a 0.26m high stone foundation on the northwest. Fragments of a southwestern facing and what might have been a foundation pertaining to earlier versions of Str. 128-12-1st indicate that the building achieved its observed dimensions and form through a protracted series of renovations. A surface-level construction was apparently raised adjacent to Str. 128-12-1st on the southwest while off the northeastern platform flank, two joined stone arcs delimited an area of intense burning on their concave, northeast-facing sides. All facings and foundations on Str. 128-12-1st were made of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatters aspects of which are placed facing outwards. Even in U.11, the vertical faces on the component stones face northeastward, into the area of burnt earth circumscribed by the arcs. The basal walls exhibit clear horizontal coursing of their larger component rocks, chinking stones being packed in and around these cobbles. Superstructure architecture is not characterized by such care in stone placement, in part because the walls tend to be so low that coursing is difficult to recognize. There is no sign of coursing in the two uncovered remnants of surface-level construction, U.10 and 11. A tan mud mortar is used as a binding agent in all Str. 128-12-1st architecture.

Features 5 and 6 were eventually filled with a very fine-textured, very soft-compacted, brown ashy soil (S.3) that was identified wherever digging was pursued to sufficient depths southwest, southeast, northwest, northeast, and beneath Str. 128-13. Though exposed in discontinuous segments, it appears that S.3 gradually rises 0.37m across 8.3m southwest-to-northeast. Large quantities of artifacts, particularly pottery fragments, are embedded in S.3, their numbers being especially marked off Str. 128-13-1st's northeastern flank. There is some evidence that S.3's deposition was a protracted process with numerous breaks. One indication of these hiatuses comes in the form of 0.01-0.02m thick lenses of fine-textured, hard-compacted, bright red-orange burnt earth found scattered throughout S.3 (F.1-3). In one case, two of these patches (F.1 and 2) are arranged in a vertical sequence separated by 0.1-0.13m of S.3. Remnants of a stone construction, possibly a wall (U.18) were also found within S.3, 1.52m northeast of Str.128-13-1st. Unit 18 is 0.16m high by 0.21m across and its base is 0.2m below that of Str. 128-13-1st's northeastern basal wall (U.4). Running northwest-southeast for 0.7m, U.18 was likely part of a relatively insubstantial surface-level construction raised on the gradually accumulating surface of S.3. Rocks comprising U.18 average 0.1x0.12m. This element may have been a footing that supported a perishable windbreak shielding fires lit to the southwest (such as the one that produced F.2) from the prevailing breezes. Unit 18's stratigraphic position implies that it predates creation of F.1, 1.04m southeast and 0.07m above the wall's top, but may have been contemporary with F.2, 1.1m distant in the same direction. Feature 2's top is 0.04m below that of U.18.

Stratum 4, a moderately fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted tan soil mottled orange from the numerous bajareque flecks it contains, overlies S.3 by 0.21-0.39m southwest of Str. 128-13-1st. This layer may also cover S.3 beneath the building's southeastern flank, though the orange mottling was not recorded here. Stratum 4 was not identified elsewhere around and beneath Str. 128-13-1st.

From what we can discern at present, it seems that clay deposits were being mined during TS.1, the pits created by this activity gradually filling in with trash. During what was probably a long process of infilling there were periodic breaks in which fires were built/occurred on temporary ground surfaces formed within the trash deposit and at least one ephemeral construction was raised in the course of this span. Stratum 4 may have been introduced as part of the midden formation, an interpretation suggested by the artifacts it contained, or might have been the outcome of other events transpiring on the southwest and southeast of Str. 128-13-1st's eventual building site. It seems fairly clear that Strs. 128-13-2nd and 128-13-1st were raised in an area that had seen intensive use, primarily as a clay source and area of midden accumulation, over a long time period.

By the end of TS.3, Str. 128-13-1st was a platform rising 0.22-0.31m above ground surface, covering 3.9x4.66m, and aligned roughly 33 degrees. The building was erected over a 0.5m southeast-to-northwest ascent, its southeastern side fronted by a narrow, earthen-floored compartment (Room 1) measuring 3.8m2. The general openness of this "room" suggests that it served more as a terrace than a distinct enclosure. Immediately to the southwest are Rooms 2 and 3, their floors an estimated 0.4m and 0.3m above that of Room 1, respectively. Room 2 has an earthen-floored interior covering ca. 3m2 and was probably entered through a 1m wide doorway on the southwest. Room 3 to the northeast encompasses 1.5m2 and seems to have been accessible from both the northeast and southeast. A stone pavement covering 0.6m2 surfaces most of the enclosure's southeastern half. Unlike Rooms 1 and 2 that are raised on the U.20 earth-and-stone fill, Room 3 seems to have been set directly on ground surface (S.2). All units that make up Str. 128-13-1st are fashioned from unmodified river cobbles, the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Average rock sizes range from 0.12x0.16m to 0.3x0.4m. A brown mud mortar was used a a binding agent in all TS.3 constructions.

Unit 13, a ca. 0.2m high terrace, was appended to Str. 128-13-1st's northeastern facing relatively late in the occupation sequence. This construction extends 0.5m northeast from U.4 and runs 1.9m northwest from the platform's western corner. The doorway in Room 1's eastern corner may have been designed to ease passage between the U.13 terrace and the enclosure. Another addition made along the platform's margin, this time on the northwest, is delimited by U.14 and 15. The latter is a 0.32m high wall that protrudes 0.8m northwest from its abutment with U.5 to its intersection with U.14. The latter was preserved to only ca. 0.1m tall and defines an arch gradually curving southwestward from it junction with U.15 to a point 0.2m short of U.5. Unit 14 may have originally intersected U.5, the relevant stone having fallen out. Nevertheless, the southwestern-most rock in U.14 appears to run up against a particularly large U.1 cobble and it is possible that the original builders simply took advantage of a portion of U.1 still protruding above ground surface during TS.4 to link their construction to U.5 Overall, U.14 and 15 define an area measuring 1x1.95m (along their greatest, exterior dimensions) with a northern corner that is inset 0.2x0.3m. The construction's earthen-floored interior seems too small to have been a room; U.14 and 15 may delimit a storage cubicle or a low terrace/bench set on Str. 128-13-1st's northwestern perimeter.

Lying 0.68-1m northeast of U.4 and 0.4m in the same direction from U.13 is a complex of relatively insubstantial surface-level constructions (U.16, 17, and 19) built on and intruded into the S.3 ash. Together, they define a figure that runs more-or-less parallel to Str. 128-13-1st, is completely open on the northwest, and has an apsidal southeastern interior terminus. Unit 16, the most substantial of these elements, is fashioned of stones set on end and stands 0.13-0.16m high above S.3. This element extends as much as 0.08m into the underlying ash and is 0.8m across at its widest known point on the southwest. Unit 17, which marks the figure's northeastern boundary, is 0.21m wide wall that barely protrudes above S.3 and runs in a straight-line for 1.8m northwest from its junction with U.16's northeast side. Unit 19 roughly parallels U.17, but lies 0.1-0.21m inside (southwest of) the latter. Surviving in two discontinuous segments separated by 1.8m, U.19 covers 2.1m northwest-southeast, overlapping U.17 by 1m and extending 1.1m northwest beyond the last recorded point of its northeastern neighbor. Unit19 rises 0.1m above S.3, is 0.16m wide, and rests 0.11m above U.17 (derived from comparing the relative depths of their bases). It may be that the former wall replaced the latter as the northeastern perimeter of this surface-level construction, though U.19 does not junction with U.16, the two elements being separated by 1.4m.

Renovation of Str. 128-13-1st created a 0.2-0.53m high platform measuring 4.3x4.66m (not including the U.13 and 14/15 terraces or the U.11 step) that retained its earlier orientation of roughly 33 degrees. The structure is highest on those sides overlooking descents to the southeast and, to a lesser extent, the northeast. Discrepancies in the elevations of the summit room floors decline during TS.4, the living surfaces of Rooms 1 and 2 being separated now by only 0.13m. Room 1 on the southeast now covers 5.8m2 and was bounded by foundations on all sides save the southeast where it seems to have been completely open. A 0.2m high by 1.2m long step projects 0.38m from the approximate center-line of the platform's southeastern facing and provides access to Room 1. A 0.6m wide door in the enclosure's eastern corner may have also facilitated passage between the room and a newly built 0.2m high terrace appended to Str. 128-13-1st's northeastern facing. The 0.3m high wall (U.6) delimiting Room 1's northeastern flank continues northwest-ward across the platform sealing Room 3's northeastern side and creating a 0.2-0.5m wide terrace intervening between the 0.21m high basal facing (U.4) and the summit. Room 3 itself seems to have been transformed into a bench that rises 0.2m above, and faces into, Room 2. This construction 1.34m wide by 1.7m long and takes up all of Room 2's northeastern wall. The latter compartment was not otherwise modified during TS.4 and still contains ca. 3m2 of open space. A 0.1-0.32m high by 1.9m long (maximum) addition made to Str. 128-13-1st's northwestern facing may have been a bench or earthen-floored storage cubicle.

The surface-level construction (U.16, 17, and 19) raised on the S.3 ash 0.68-1m northeast of Str. 128-13-1st has an apsidal southeastern interior margin and seems to have been open on the northwest and over most of its southwestern flank. Delimited by stone walls that survive to heights of no more than 0.16m and generally average 0.2m wide, this complex encompasses 1.77x3.8m (maximally). The relatively insubstantial nature of most of its components implies that the units comprising this entity were meant to support ephemeral upper walls that were not intended to endure for long periods. It may be that U.16, 17, and 19 acted, in part, as footings for windbreaks, though why such a construiction would have a curved, southeastern interior is not known.

All units raised in TS.4 are made, primarily, of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Units 14 and 15, comprising the northwestern bench/cubicle, and U. 16, 17, and 19, the components of the surface-level construction lying northeast of Str. 128-13-1st, are more casually fashioned than other TS.4 architecture. Less care was taken in choosing rocks with flat faces and placement of the rocks seems to be haphazard. Unit16, the southeastern, curved element in the surface-leve complex, is made of cobbles that were probably laid in vertically rather than horizontally as is the case with the stones in other Str. 128-13-1st units. When discovered, the U.16 rocks were consistently leaning to the northeast, possibly having slumped in this direction over the years since the area was abandoned. A single cut block was recorded in U.14; no other signs of faced masonry were noted on and around the platform. A brown mud mortar was used as a binding agent in all units.

Feature 1 is a line of stones uncovered at the base of excavation 1.9-2.1m north of U.1. These rocks were traced for 1.05m east-west, disappearing beneath U.2 on the west and just plain disappearing on the east. Most likely, F.1 contains the remains of another building roughly contemporary with Str. 128-17-2nd that was largely dismantled prior to being partially covered by TS.4 architecture.

Room 2 adjoins Room 1 on the north and is delimited by U.2, 6, 7, and 9. The earthen floored interior covers 1.74x4.15m and contains a 0.2m high by 0.36m wide stone-faced and -surfaced shelf (U12). Unit 12 extends for 2.7m west from Room 2's southeast corner along the southern footing (U.9, separating Rooms 1 and 2). No clear doorways mark points of access into this compartment; possibly a door was set atop one of the low foundations within the perishable wall surmounting one of the surrounding foundations.

A formal entryway made up of U.17, 18, 19, and 21 fronts Room 1 on the west. This corridor is bounded on the west by a 0.32m high stone-faced step-up (U.19) that gives way to a 0.8x2.22-2.45m earthen-floored corridor delimited by footings on the north and south (U.17 and 21). Unit 18, a 0.68m wide by 0.07m high wall, may signify the entryway's eastern margin, though why it stops 0.14-0.65m short of Room 1's doorway is not known. Room 4, bounded by U.7, 17, 29 and a northward continuation of U.19, borders the entryway and Room 2 on the north and west, respectively. This earthen-floored compartment encompasses 2.2x2.3m, its interior easily reached though a 1.9m gap between U.19 and 20. South of the putative entry corridor is a complex of enclosures of which two (Rooms 5 and 6) were unearthed. Room 5 is bounded by U.16, 21, 23, 24, and 25, covering approximately 3.1m2. Almost completely open on the south where it faces Room 6, this enclosure has a 0.3x0.45m niche built into its western wall. A 0.3m wide wall (U.22) projects 0.85m into Room 5 from the latter's northern footing (U.21). This 0.31m high construction is one of the latest elements making up Room 5, as it abuts, and runs over and on to, U.21. The addition of U.22 may have created a 0.55x0.85m cubicle on Room 5's east side. Room 6's presence is indicated by two walls (0.24m and 0.3m tall, U.25 and 26) that are 0.5m and, minimally, 0.6m wide and project 0.5m and 0.6m east from U.24. The 1.9m separating U.25 and 26 may signify Room 6's width, though excavations east of these walls did not turn up evidence of a crosswall marking the enclosure's eastern limit. Unit 24, that closes off the western flanks of Rooms 5 and 6, extends for a total distance of at least 8.35m north-south, taking it 4.6m south of the southernmost uncovered element in Room 6 (U.26). This substantial wall, 0.37m high by 0.45m across, possibly marks the western patio's western limits, the significant quantities of debris found immediately west of U.26 being trash jettisoned outside the patio's boundary. Additional rooms may have been raised against U.26 south of our excavation limits, a warren of small enclosures ranged along the western patio margins.

Room 3 is bordered by Rooms 1 and 5 on the north and west. This enclosure, covering 1.25x2m, is delimited by U.4, 5, 1, 13, and 16. The 1.6m long segment of U.1 left standing after TS.3 bounds the south side of a 0.7m wide eastern doorway into Room 3 (U.4 is the northern margin of the passage). Unit 13 overlaps U.1's southern face by 1m and extends an additional 1.1m to the west where it ends 1m short of U.14. The gap between U.13 and 14 appears to be yet another doorway into Room 3. Units 8, 14, 15, and 16 on Room 3's west side define a ca. 0.35m high stone-faced, L-shaped bench the main north-south axis of which is 0.8m wide by 1.8m long. A 1.4m wide (north-south) element projects 1.1m west from the bench's north end. A 0.4x0.7m cubicle open to the south lies immediately west of Room 3, south of and adjoining the aforementioned bench.

Lying 2.11m east of Str. 128-17-1st's eastern margin (U.2) are two seemingly unrelated footings for an equal number of surface level constructions. The westernmost of these entities, U.28, measures 0.32m across and stands a preserved 0.15m high. Unit 28 runs 1.8m northwest-southeast and peters out, rathern than ending definitively, on its northwestern and southeastern margins. Unit 27, 0.3m to the east, is 0.21m high by ca. 0.15m across and was traced for 0.63m northeast-southwest. Units 27 and 28 do not appear to be part of the same construction; instead, they are probably components of two separate, relatively insubstantial buildings that fill in the narrow expanse between Strs.128-17-1st and 128-18-1st (see Str. 128-18-1st, U.26 for another possible element of this supposed complex).

By TS.4's conclusion, Str. 128-17-1st was a rambling surface-level edifice that contained at least six rooms spread out over an area of roughly 8.2m on a side and aligned 72-75 degrees. The central enclosure (Room 1) is partially surfaced with stone, covers ca. 7m2, and has a 0.22m high bench built into its eastern wall. The latter is 1.33m wide by 1.9m long and faces westward towards the 1.1m wide doorway the breaches the western foundation. A 0.26m high by 0.32m wide stone-faced and -surfaced shelf runs for 2.25m along Room 1's northern footing. Immediately north of Room 1 is an earthen-floored enclosure (Room 2) that has an interior measuring 7.2m2. Room 2 also has a stone-faced and -surfaced shelf, this example standing 0.2m high and with a width of 0.36m stretches for 2.7m along the compartment's southern foundation. An 0.8m wide earthen-floored entry corridor stretches 2.22-2.45m west of Room 1's door, and may have funneled traffic towards that portal. North of this construction is Room 4 whose unpaved interior covers 5.1m2 and was easily reached through a 1.9m wide gap in much of the compartment's western and northern perimeter. Room 5, south of the entry corridor, emcompasses 3.1m2 and has a 0.3x0.45m niche built into its western wall. Addition of a low wall (U.22) to Room 3's interior late in this time span may have created a 0.55x0.85m compartment on the enclosure's eastern margin. Room 5 is open to the south where it apparently gives way to Room 6. The latter enclosure is poorly understood, but may have been no more than a 1.9m wide compartment open to the east and north towards Room 5. Room 3, immediately east of Room 5, encompasses 2.5m2 and was entered through 0.7m and 1m wide portals on the east and south. An L-shaped, 0.35m high stone-faced bench is built against the enclosure's western wall. This element's main segment runs north-south and is 0.8m wide by 1.8m long. A 1.4m wide stone-faced block projects 1.1m west from the bench's northern end to create the base of the "L." A 0.4x0.7m cubicle is built into the bench's southern face and is completely open to the south. All of these rooms have earth floors. Remnants of at least two relatively insubstantial surface-level edifices appear east of Str. 128-17-1st while a long wall (U.24) running south from the western entryway may have marked the western patio's western margin.

All units comprising Str. 128-17-1st and constructions in its immediate environs were built of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. A few schist slabs are scattered across the preserved top of U.9 but no cut blocks were recorded. Chinking stones are packed around the larger rocks, the latter appearing in horizontal courses in several walls, especially U.2, 5, 6, and 9. The most haphazardly built walls are U.27 and 28, both having very few chinking pebbles and exhibiting an apparent lack of care in the placement of their constituent cobbles. A tan mud mortar is used as a binding agent in all foundations and the single stone floor (U.11).

Structure 128-18 (Figures **-**) [2 sections, 1 plan; D96-83 and D96-1]

Originally mapped as a single building, Str. 128-18 was revealed by excavation to be two closely spaced edifices that may have been linked across their northern faces during the final occupation span. Removal of ca. 68.5m2 in Subop. 128F, L, Q, and AC completely revealed the western member of the dyad, though its eastern neighbor was largely untouched. Investigations also uncovered the remnants of a building that went undetected on ground surface (Str. 128-Sub1) 2.2m north, and downslope from, Str. 128-18. Digging was carried down to a maximum depth of 1m below modern ground surface outside construction and into construction fill, unearthing evidence of two buillding phases pertaining to Str. 128-18. All work was directed by B. Beacom from January 29-March 19, 1996.

Time Span 1

Time Span 2

Only three fragments of Str. 128-18-1st summit architecture were exposed in the course of our investigations. Units 1 and 2 are portions of the southern and eastern foundations of a superstructure that surmounted an early version of Str. 128-18-1st. These elements are 0.09-0.13m high, 0.2-0.28m wide, and are aligned approximately 341 degrees. A 0.76m wide gap in the eastern footing (U.2) may signify a doorway into an earthen-floored room that measures at least 1.1x1.22m (the northern and western foundations were not uncovered). No built-in furniture was identified within this enclosure. Unit 3 is a 0.12m high by 0.19m wide wall lying 0.41m south of U.1. Unit 3's base and top are 0.02m and 0.04m above that of U.1 and both foundations run parallel to each other and face south. The close spacing of these entities, the slight discrepancies in their elevations, and their common southern orientation suggest that they were not part of a single construction. Instead, U.3 was probably U.1's successor, built as part of an effort to enlarge the superstructure. Unit 3 was traced for only 0.9m east-west at which point it runs beneath later architecture on the west (U.8 and 19) and simply stops on the east. no other construction related to U.3 was found.

Lacking Str. 128-18-2nd's basal platform, we can only surmise that this building stood 0.24m high and was topped by a superstructure containing at least one earthen-floored room entered from the east. The building was aligned ca. 341 degrees and may have undergone at least one renovation during which the summit was raised 0.02m and the summit building expanded ca. 0.6m to the south. All three uncovered foundations consist of unmodified river cobbles arranged in a single course, their naturally flatter faces directed outwards. A brown mud mortar was used as a binding agent in each case.

Another hint of surface-level buildings raised off Str. 128-18-1st's south side is provided by U.26, a 0.33m high by 0.21m wide stone foundation that projects 0.7m south from the platform's southwest corner. Unit 26 may be part of a surface-level building the rest of which lies to the west towards Str. 128-17-1st (1.8m separates the former from a scatter of low footings fronting Str. 128-17-1st on the east). How the pieces might have fit together to make a cherent building, if they ever did, is far from certain.

Structure 128-18-1st's summit is divisible into two major sections. The southern element has a tripartite structure consisting of a long, relatively narrow enclosure (Room 1) bounded on the east and west by two larger compartments (Rooms 2 and 3). Room 1 covers 1.9x3m and opens on the south onto U.5. Units 8 and 15, foundations 0.22-0.39m high and measuring 0.4-0.5m across, define the enclosure's western and eastern limits, the former built directly over U.1 (see TS.2). A fill composed of rocks set in a brown earth matrix (U.27) covers the interior of Str. 128-18-2nd's superstructure and supports U.8 and 15. A 0.16m high by 0.2m wide shelf runs for 1.4m along Room 1's western foundation (U.8). A 0.35m wide gap between U.8 and 5 on the south may have facilitated passage between Rooms 1 and 3 at some point in TS.3, though this narrow passage was eventually closed by a southward extension of U.8. Room 2 is a featureless enclosure defined by footings ca. 0.25m high by 0.4-0.5m wide (U.14-16) save on the east where the top of the basal facing, U.13, likely supported the perishable superstructure wall. Room 2's interior measures 1.5x2.25m and may have been entered from the east where U.13 drops 0.14m in height over a distance of 2.3m stretching northward southeast corner with U.14. Room 3, on the west, covers 1.5x2.9m and is open to the south over U.5. A 0.29m high by 0.22m wide shelf runs for 1.65m along the enclosure's eastern footing (U.8). Units 8 and 17 are the 0.39-0.45m high by 0.4-0.5m wide foundations that delimit Room 3 on the east and north, the western flank bounded by the top of the basal facing, U.6.

A 0.07m high stone-faced step-up (U.9) on Room 1's northern margin provides passage to Room 4. Defined by 0.34-0.38m high by 0.2-0.4m wide foundations on the east and west (U.11 and 12), most of this compartment's ca. 9m2 is taken up by a 0.22m high stone-faced and -surfaced L-shaped bench (U.10). The bench's principal axis runs east-west and is 3.2m long by 1.32m across. An 0.85m wide segment of U.10 projects 0.65m southward from the bench's eastern end. Fully 1.1-1.25m of open space separates U.9 and 10 on the south while 0.7m intervenes between the bench and the northern facing (U.7). Unit 10's northern wall is 0.52m tall, reaching a point 0.1m below the base of U.7. Such substantial construction appears out of place for a bench and it may be that U.10 originally defined Str. 128-18-1st's northern margin, eventually replaced by U.7. An earth-and-stone fill (U.27) intervenes between U.10 and 7. Immediately west of Room 4 is an area covering 1.3x2.7m and bounded on the south and east by U.17 and 12. Excavations were not pursued east of Room 4 so we can not say what lies in this direction. Structure 128-18-1st's northern basal facing (U.7) continues for an undetermined distance east of U.11, possibly linking the western platform with its immediate neighbor (no comparable connection is indicated on the south). Room 4 may have originally extended further eastward, U.11 abutting both U.7 and 16 on the north and south and resting on U.10's eastern edge. The addition of Room 4's eastern foundation (U.11), therefore, might well be part of an effort to formally separate activities conducted in Str. 128-18-1st from those pursued a few meters to the east (a similar intent may have inspired the raising of U.24 and 25 on U.5's eastern margin, see above).

Unit 20 is a 0.22m high stone construction that extends 0.45m south of, and out from under, U.7 and 1.2m west of, and out from under, U.11. This construction sits well up withithin the U.27 fill between U.7 and 10, its base 0.3m and 0.2 above that of U.10 and 7 (U.7's southern flank rides on and over U.20 while its northern side continues well below the latter). Clearly, U.20's construction predates that of U.7 and it may be an architectural fragment that survives from a period antecedent to Room 4's creation. This interpretation implies that U.10 was set ca. 0.3m into S.2 to enhance its stability on the side of the platform overlooking the northern drop. Such an interpretation gains credence from the distribution of fallen architectural debris lying immediately north of U.7 (part of F.1). These dislodged stones have come to rest at at depth within S.2 roughly equivalent to the base of U.20, the level of the presumed ground surface into which U.10's foundation was sunk. Accepting the above interpretation leads to the conclusion that there were at least three building episodes on Str. 128-18-1st's northern flank; U.20 succeeded by U.10, followed, in turn, by U.7 (all, possibly, contained within TS.3). Unit 20's architectural significance, however, remains eminently obscure. Its relatively small size (not protruding beyond U.7 and 11) would seem to preclude its use as a footing and it is far too short to have served as a basal facing. Unit 20,therefore, remains an enigma whose stratigraphic position hints at a fairly complex construction sequence on Str. 128-18-1st's north side.

Structure 128-Sub1-1st is represented by a ca. 0.3m high wall fragment (U.28) that protrudes 0.98m south from the northern excavation margins. Unit 28 is 2.5m north of, and downslope from, Str. 128-18-1st (U.7), its base resting 0.23m below that of the platform's northern facing (U.7). Though difficult to be certain, it looks as though ground surface may have dropped 0.3m over 2.5m during the period when Strs. 128-18-1st and 128-Sub1-1st were occupied (based on the distribution of architectural debris fallen from Str. 128-18-1st [part of F.1]). Unit 28 appears to be the southwest corner of a 0.3m high platform the basal dimensions of which were not ascertained.

Structure 128-18-1st is a stone-faced, earth-and-stone filled platform that rises 0.38-0.4m high in a single ascent on all sides, encompasses 6.58x8.05m, and is aligned roughly 76 degrees. A 1.35-1.75m wide roughly paved segment of the summit facing the patio is left open, lacking any evidence of rooms save for two low foundations on its eastern margin. These footings may have supported walls that screened the southern summit from view. The superstructure backing the aforementioned open area on the north is divided into four rooms each of which is delimited by stone foundations standing 0.2-0.45m tall and measuring 0.2-0.5m across (the vast majority are 0.4-0.5m wide). On the south, there is a tripartite spatial division with a central enclosure (Room 1, 5.7m2) bordered by two enclosures on the east and west covering 3.4m2 (Room 2) and 4.4m2 (Room 3). All three compartments are virtually featureless save for the low stone-faced shelves built agains the western and eastern footings of Rooms 1 and 3, respectively. These constructions are 0.16-0.29m high, 0.2-0.22m wide, and 1.4-1.65m long. A 0.07m high stone-faced step-up marks the transition from Rooms 1 to 4, the latter encompassing 9m2. An ample 0.22m high stone-faced and -surfaced L-shaped bench takes up slightly more than half of Room 4's space, covering ca. 4.8m2. West of Room 4 is a portion of the summit open on the north and west and covering 3.5m2. Construction may have extended east of this enclosure, tying Str. 128-18-1st with another unexcavated building (originally mapped as part of Str. 128-18), though this point was not established. All summit rooms have earth floors. How passage among superstructure compartments was negotiated is not immediately apparent. Room 1 leads directly to Room 4 but, by TS.3's conclusion, there do not seem to have been clearly marked doors linking the other enclosures with each other. Possibly, portals were built into the perishable upper walls supported by the foundations delimiting rooms, the relatively low footings acting as thresholds that had to be ascended in moving from one enclosure to another. Nevertheless, the very essay passage from patio to Room 1 and on to Room 4 implies that most traffic was channeled along this course, the side compartments (Rooms 2 and 3) being entered through from other locations than Room 1.

At least one earthen-floored, surface-level room was erected immediately adjacent to Str. 128-18-1st's southern flank on the edifice's center-line. This cubicle, bounded by low stone foundations as well as an indentation in the platform's southern flank, has interior dimensions of 1.4m2 and was accessed through a 0.55m door in its northwest corner. At leasr one other surface-level building may have bordered Str. 128-18-1st's southwest corner, though its measurements are not known. No built-in furniture was encountered in either of these compartments.

Structure 128-Sub1-1st appears to have been a 0.3m high stone-faced platform lying 2.5m north of, and roughly 0.3m downslope from, Str. 128-18-1st. Oriented approximately 341 degrees, this building's basal dimensions and summit form were not ascertained.

All exposed TS.3 architecture is fashioned of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Average rock sizes range from 0.15x0.15m to 0.25x0.35m, with most examples falling towards the middle of that continuum. There was a tendency to place the larger rocks in horizontal courses, packed round with chinking stones and all set in a brown mud mortar. Unit 21 stands out among Str. 128-18-1st architectural components for its general dearth of chinking stones and generally haphazard construction.

Time Span 1

Contained within these bordering walls is Room 4 which covers 3.24x6.2m. The compartment's earthen floor could not be clearly discerned, though a reasonable estimate places it ca.1.2m below the tops of the surrounding foundations. This would make U.2, 3, 5, and 6 the largest free-standing footings recorded in Naco, so tall that they may not have supported perishable upper constructions but comprised the room walls themselves. That such might not have been the case is hinted at by a subtle construction shift noted roughly 0.6m below the tops of U.5 and 6. A change from a preponderance of relatively small (below) to larger cobbles (above) at about this point opens the door to the possibility that the heights of U.2, 3, 5 and 6 were augmented during TS.3, raised an additional ca. 0.6m during that interval. Such an interpretation reduces U.2, 3, 5 and 6, during TS.2, to approximately 0.6m tall, a figure more in line with their putative role as foundations. A 0.49m high by 0.42-0.76m wide, U-shaped, stone-faced, and -surfaced bench takes up the entirety of Room 4's southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern walls (U.7, 8, and 11). The bench's southwestern component (U.8), at 0.76m across, is the broadest, the remaining sides being somewhat narrower (0.42m wide). The stratigraphic position of the bench, its base resting a scant 0.12m above those of the surrounding walls, strongly suggests that the area bounded by U.1-3 and 5 was not filled in to create a platform but was left open. Str. 128-19-2nd's core, therefore, seems to have been a surface-level building consisting of a single large room equipped with an ample bench. We are at a loss to specify how the compartment's interior was accessed; possibly through a doorway in one of the massive foundations later sealed and obsured by TS.3 architecture.

Unit 1, a stone-surfaced terrace elevated ca. 0.8m above ancient ground surface, was apparently added on to U.6, the northwestern foundation. Though possibly occuring at any time following U.6's erection, U.1's construction is placed in TS.2 because its base rests only 0.12m above that of U.6. Further, U.1 was also extended southwestward to form the northwestern foundation of Room 2, an entity also included in TS.2.

Adjoining the aforementioned construction on the southwest are three earthen-floored enclosures arranged in a northwest-southeast line. All components of this triad are fronted on the southwest by U.4, a 0.47m high wall measuring 0.59m across that intersects, on the northwest and southeast, with extensions of U.1 and 3. The central element (Room 1) covers 1x2.38m and is delimited by ca. 0.7m high by 0.35m wide walls on the northwest and southeast (U.14 and 15). The northwestern wall (U.14) runs the full distance from U.4 to 5, sealing off Room 1 from Room 2. Unit 15, however, stops 0.55m shy of U.4, provide a passageway linking Rooms 1 and 3. Room 2, lying northwest of Room 1, encompasses 2.5x2.8m and was entered through a 0.51m wide doorway set into U.4 and bordered on the southeast by a 0.28m tall, 0.3m wide stone wall (U.10) that projects 1m from U.4 into Room 2. Room 3, the southeasternmost member of the trio, is nearly the same size as Room 2, encompassing 2.5x2.9m. No built-in furniture was recorded in any of the southwestern compartments, though excavation was not carried sufficiently far in Room 3 to be certain that its floor had been encountered.

A jumbled pile of rocks (F.1) underlying TS.3 construction (U.21) by 0.15m was noted 1.04m southwest of U.4 on the building's approximate center-line. The river cobbles making up F.1 do not appear to be remnants of an in situ construction but, more likely, are debris fallen from architecture predating TS.3. Feature 1 does not seem to derive from the relatively well-preserved U.4, though it may pertain to construction lying beneath U.21 that did not come to light during the 1996 field season. Unit 21 is built directly on F.1.

Structure 128-19-2nd, therefore, is a surface-level building that probably began as a single enclosure (Room 4) bounded by substantial stone foundations that rose at least 0.6m above the compartment's earthen floor. This building measures 5.02x7.73m and is aligned roughly 329 degrees. Room 4, itself, encompasses 20.1m2 and contains a U-shaped bench that rises 0.49m above the floor. This stone-faced and -surfaced construction is 0.42-0.76m wide and takes up the entirety of the compartment's southwestern, southeastern, and northeastern walls. No doorway was recorded in Room 4's perimeter walls, though said passage may have been obscured by TS.3 construction. Added some time during this interval is U.1, an 0.8m high by 1.3-1.5m wide stone-floored terrace. This entity runs the full length of the building's northwestern flank. Rooms 1-3 may well have been raised against the southwestern side of the original TS.2 edifice at about this time. Unit 1, along with the building's initial southeastern foundation, U.3, were extended southwestward to junction with the footing that borders Rooms 1-3 on the southwest while U.5, Room 4's southwestern foundation, bounds these enclosures for most of their northwest-southeast extent. The tripartite division of space on the southwest is symmetrically arranged around a central, narrow compartment measuring 2.38m2 flanked by two enclosures of nearly equal size on the northwest (7m2) and southeast (7.3m2). The former was accessed through a 0.51m wide doorway in its southwestern foundation. Said passage is bounded by a wall that extends 1m into the room's interior. The remaining compartments were probably entered by stepping on and over the 0.47m high southwestern foundation. Movement between the central and southeastern enclosures (Rooms 1 and 3) was through a 0.55m wide doorway in the latter's eastern corner; no similar passageway was identified linking the northwestern and central rooms. Additional built-in elements were not recorded in the southwestern compartments. By TS.2's conclusion, Str. 128-19-2nd covered 8x9m, contained four variably-sized rooms, and was oriented ca. 329 degrees. The enclosures were organized into a row of three compartments on the southwest, all three seemingly accessible from that side, backed on the northwest by a large room outfitted with one of the largest known benches unearthed in Naco and with no apparent means of entry. All foundations and surfaces are made of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter faces of which are directed outwards. The rocks tend to be arranged in horizontal courses, numerous chinking stones being employed to fill in the gaps among the larger stones. In some cases, these small pebbles comprise entire sections of footings, being used in place of more sizable rocks. Stone sizes range from 0.04x0.05m up to 0.14x0.2m. A light brown mud mortar is used as a binding agent in all units.

The tripartite spatial organization of Str. 128-19-1st's southwestern face was unchanged from TS.2, though the floors of Rooms 1-3 were raised by the addition of ca. 0.3-0.4m of earth-and-stone fill (included under U.26). The earthen living surfaces associated with these enclosures make identification of such a change problematic. The shift is most clearly marked by the setting of U.25, a flat-laid, fractured cut stone block, in Room 1's approximate center on U.26 fill roughly 0.4m above the enclosure's earlier floor. Comparable masonry blocks have been identified as entry markers in other Naco contexts, usually located on the a building's center-line. Recovery of such a stone on Str. 128-19-1st's centerline suggests that U.25 served a similar purpose here. The dearth of cut blocks in extant Str. 128-19-1st architecture and the flat-laid disposition of the stone in question, suggests that it had not fallen from its former place in one of the surrounding units but was intentionally placed where it was found. Similarly, U.9, a 0.27m high by 0.2m wide wall projecting 1.1m southeastward from U.5 into Room 3, also appears to be set in U.26 fill ca. 0.15m above that compartment's putative TS.2 floor. Together, this evidence suggests that U.4 was converted into a retaining wall for a 0.47m high terrace backed by a stone-and-earth fill and supporting the newly elevated floors of Rooms 1-3. The dimensions of these enclosures did not change. The doorway into Room 2 was sealed by construction of U.21 (see below) and it is unclear whether the wall bordering that passage (U.10) still protruded above the floor. Room 1, the central, narrow cubicle, may now have functioned as an entry corridor, though there still would have been 0.65m of U.5 to surmount at the passageway's northeast end before reaching the summit. Room 3, on the southeast, is now partially subdivided into two segments by the introduction of the aforementioned U.9 (see above). There is still a gap of 1.4m separating U.9 and 4, however, so the division is far from complete. The 0.55m wide doorway joining Rooms 1 and 3 remained open during TS. 3 as well.

Unit 4's lower portion was covered by a slightly lower terrace facing (U.21) at some point during TS.3. This ca. 0.3m high construction is 0.6-1.05m wide, stepping back (northeast) 0.15m, 1.25m southeast of its western corner. Unit 21 projects 0.35m northwest of the U.1/4 western corner and junctions with another, comparably late terrace (U.20) on the southeast. Unit 20 is 0.33m high by 0.65-0.9m wide and fronts U.3 along its entire length. The irregular line of U.20's exterior (southeastern) face may reflect its piecemeal construction, different pieces being added on throughout this interval. Some architectural disjunctions noted in U.20, especially 2m northeast of the southern corner, suggest this interpretation, though the evidence is not definitive. Unit 20, in turn, junctions with U.19, a 0.15m high terrace measuring 0.4-0.6m wide terrace that extends 2.95m from its corner with U.20 along U.2. Roughly 1.4m separates U.19 and 18, the latter being a 0.53m high, 3m long construction projecting 0.65m northeast from the approximate center of U.2. Unit 18's southeastern is not well-preserved, so the above length is an estimate based on where the southern terminus seemed to be in the field. Unlike the southwestern and southeastern sides, Str. 128-19-1st's northeastern flank seems to have been faced by two discontinuous terrace segments.

Units 22-25 are variably sized, casually built stone steps concentrated on Str. 128-19-1sts's southwestern flank and southern corner; U.22-24 abut U.21 whereas U.25 is set against the southwest end of U.20. Units 24 and 25 are the smallest of the group, measuring 0.35x0.4m and 0.35x0.35m on a side. Unit 23, 0.3m southeast of U.22, is somewhat larger, covering 0.7x1.1m and standing 0.17m high. Lying 2.5m to the southeast is U.22, 1.9m long riser ascending 0.17m above ancient ground level and projecting 0.3m southwest of U.21. Interestingly, none of these steps provide direct access to the putative central entry corridor (Room 1); U.22 and 23 facilitate passage into Room 2 while U.24 and, possibly, 25 provide access to Room 3. No other steps were noted on Str. 128-19-1st. indicating that the building was entered from the southwest.

Unit 27 is a low, 0.35m wide wall that extends 0.55m onto U.1 from U.6. This entity may have been added to create a room, open to the northwest, atop U.1, the other sides defined by U.6 and the steep drop off into Room 2. Said enclosure is 4.05m long northeast-southwest.

Structure 128-19-1st now encompasses 9x9.78m (not including the U.22-25 steps or U.18 and 19), stands 1.4-1.6m high, and generally retains its earlier orientation of ca. 329 degrees. The summit is bi-level, a 0.7m high southwestern segment supporting an apparent entry corridor (Room 1) bordered by two enclosures of nearly identical size (Rooms 2 and 3, covering 7 and 7.3m2, respectively). Structure 128-19-1st's southwestern flank is ascended via a 0.3m high, 0.6-1.05m wide terrace that runs the entire length of this side. Casually built steps provide access into Rooms 2 and 3 while a cut block set on Str. 128-19-1st's approximate center, within Room 1, apparently marks the primary means of access to the higher portion of the summit on the northeast. How the 0.7m separating the southwestern and northeastern summit segments was negotiated is unclear. The northeastern summit is divided into two compartments (Rooms 4a and 4b) by the construction of a 1.39m wide wall running northeast-southwest. This entity may have been initiated near the end of TS.2 when Str. 128-19-2nd was still a surface-level building, but was raised approximately 0.6m along with the surrounding walls during the edifice's transformation into a platform. Rooms 4a and 4b, encompassing 7.7m2 and 8.3m2, respectively, lack anything resembling the U-shaped bench of their predecessor, now buried under earth-and-stone fill. Instead, the wall dividing these compartments (U.16) may have functioned as a bench. A sixth enclosure, measuring 0.55x4.05m, seems to have been created atop the stone-paved terrace (U.1) bordering Room 4a on the northwest. This compartment is open to the northwest and lacks built-in furniture. A 0.33m high by 0.65-0.9m wide terrace was appended to Str. 128-19-2nd's southeastern side during TS.3, this side now faced by two low (0.33 and 0.38m high) risers leading to the 0.21m high southeastern Room 4b foundation (U.12; this footing might have been higher originally). The northeastern flank lacks the continuous terraces seen on the southwest and southeast, though two, discontinuous stone risers were noted here at the building's eastern corner and center-line. The former junctions with the southeastern terrace, is 0.15m high, 0.4-0.6m wide, and extends 2.95m northward from the eastern corner. The construction on Str. 128-19-1st's axis is 0.53m high by 3m long and extends 0.65m northeast from the building's northeastern basal wall. The U.1 terrace on Str. 128-19-1st's northwestern flank continued relatively unchanged during TS.3, though it now supported the aforementioned room. By the conclusion of this interval, therefore, Str. 128-19-1st was ascended by variably high terraces on all sides save the northeast where two, roughly 3m long blocks are appended to the basal facing, separated by approximately 1.4m.

All facings and foundations making up Str. 128-19-1st consist of unmodified cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are oriented outwards. A few schist slabs were recorded in Str. 128-19-1st architecture, the only cut block noted being the putative entry marker in Room 1 (U.25). Rock sizes range from 0.06x0.16m to 0.4x0.6m, with most of the larger cobbles found in the terraces added around Str. 128-19-1st's perimeter (U.18-21). Chinking stones fill the gaps among the more sizable stones, being most prevalent in the summit foundations and less common in the flanking terraces, especially those added late in the construction sequence (U.19-21). In general, the larger rocks are arranged in horizontal courses and a tan mud mortar appears as a binding agent in all units.

Time Span 1

Stratum 1, a fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted brown soil mottled orange, was exposed underlying architecture assigned to TS.2 and 4. Because deposition of this earth continued through TS.3, we did not encounter the stratum's base, and the layer contained no distinct living surfaces, we can not say how much of S.1 was laid down during TS.1. Recovery of cultural material from throughout S.1 does imply, however, a human presence in the area prior to erection of the first known architecture (Str. 128-Sub4-1st). We can not rule out the possibility, however, that some or all of the artifacts retrieved from the lowest investigated depths of S.1 percolated down to their eventual find-spots from later deposits.

Time Span 2

Structure 128-Sub4-1st is represented by two intersecting cobble lines (U.1 and 2) that stand 0.11m high and measure 0.18-0.4m across. The tops of U.1 and 2 are at approximately the same elevation as the base of Str. 128-20-1st's southwestern facing (U.6), 0.32m to the northeast. Units 1 and 2 are foundations that may delimit rooms within a surface-level building the perimeter walls of which were not encountered. The orientation of this building is, very roughly, 356 degrees. Unmodified river cobbles, set in a brown mud mortar and with their naturally flatter aspects directed outwards (on both sides of each footing), were used in the fashioning of those portions of U.1 and 2 unearthed in our excavations. Rock sizes average between 0.25x0.3m (U.2) and 0.2x0.4m (U.1).

Time Span 3

Following Str. 128-Sub4-1st's abandonment, deposition of S.1 resumed, eventually covering U.1 and 2 by 0.04-0.06m.

Another possible step (U.27), is appended to the southwestern basal wall (U.6) immediately northwest of the platform's inset southern corner. Unit 27 is 0.38m tall, covers 1.35m northwest-southeast along U.6, and projects 0.55m to the southwest at its widest point. This construction steps back (northeast) 0.15m, 0.7m northwest of its southeastern margin. The building's formal entryway, however, is on the southeast where two steps running for ca. 2.7m long are set axially into the basal wall (U.3). The bottomost step (included in, and continuing the line of, U.3) is 0.28m high, its 0.29m wide tread giving way to U.7, a 0.2m high riser that provides access to an entry corridor (Room 1). The U.3 and 7 treads are paved with a mixture of cobbles and schist slabs, the latter stones extending back ca. 0.8m from the front of U.7 into the aforementioned corridor (included in U.7).

Room 1 is a commodious, L-shaped enclosure that covers ca. 11m2 and stretches from the U.7 step northwest to another set of risers (U.17 and 18) that lead to Rooms 3-5. The compartment is bounded by stone foundations 0.2-0.3m high by 0.2-0.5m across (U.12, 14, and 15). Units 9 and 10, ultimately comprise a single wall defining Room 1's northwestern margin that, at 0.4m tall, is roughly the same height as the other footings but measures 0.6-1.15m across. A stone-faced bench (U.13) is built against the enclosure's southwestern footing and rises 0.24m above the floor. Unit 13 measures 0.8x1.75m and its summit is paved with a mixture of cobbles and schist slabs (included in U.13). Room 2 lies immediately northeast of Room 1, separated from the latter by the U.15 footing and bounded on the northeast and northwest by U.31 and 8, respectively. The exposed segment of this earthen-floored compartment encompasses 1.3x2.4m, Room 2's southeastern boundary lying beyond excavation limits. Unit 16 is a stone wall that extends across the southeastern excavation limits in Room 2, running 0.85m northeast from its junction with U.15. Both U.15 and 16 extend at least 0.4m below the floors of Rooms 1 and 2, deeper than other foundations delimiting these compartments (the bases of U.15 and 16 were not identified). Most likely, these two entities are part of an earlier version of Str. 128-20-1st that was significantly modified during TS.4, leaving only the tops of U.15 and 16 still visible. We guess that the renovation in question was a southeastward expansion of the platform towards Str. 128-4, U.15 and 16 having previously served as parts of Str. 128-20-1st's southeastern basal facing. This surmise has not been established, however. It does appear, however, that Str. 128-20-1st reached its final form and dimensions after a protracted interval in which the building underwent at least one major renovation.

Together, U.8-10 comprise a 0.3-0.4m high, 0.6-1.1m wide, by 4.9m long wall that separates the relatively large and open southeastern summit rooms from their far smaller and more secluded counterparts on the northwest. Unit 10 appears to be a 0.5-0.7m wide addition to U.9's northwestern face built, in turn, over a still older wall that was exposed to a height of 0.21m (U.33, its base was not reached). Unit 33's depth is comparable to the lowest uncovered portions of U.15 and 16, other pre-final phase architecture located to the southeast, and is probably an element in the same construction of which they were a part. Remaining superstructure components are not as deep as U. 15, 16, and 33. Unit 8 is 0.1m lower than, and located off the northeastern edge of, U.9 and 10. The order of construction among these elements, outside of U.33's clear temporal priority, is difficult to ascertain. Because U.8 lines up with U.10's northwestern face and is shorter than U.9, we are inclined to see U.9 as the first member of the triad to be built, followed by U.10 and, then, U.8. Given its substantial dimensions, the U.8/10 complex may have served as a bench at its widest point, a 3.1m long segment where U.10 is appended onto U.9. This portion of the complex, surfaced with a mixture of schist slabs and cobbles (U.32), may have provided sitting and sleeping space. Units 17 and 18, steps built against U.9 on Room 1's northwestern margin, facilitated and channeled passage over the U.8/10 complex. These risers ascend in increments of roughly 0.1m and are 0.45-0.5m wide. The basal step (U.17) extends only 1m northeast-southwest whereas the second riser (U.18) runs an additional 1m to the southwest for a total length of 2m.

Rooms 3-5 are arranged in a northeast-southwest line northwest of U.8/10. The earthen floors of these enclosures are ca. 0.15m higher than those of Rooms 1 and 2. Rooms 3-5 are defined by footings 0.25-0.35m high by 0.2-0.6m across (U.19-24). Room 3, on the northeast, covers 1.05x1.6m and has a 0.3m wide gap in its eastern corner. This narrow breach issues on to a 0.5-0.85m wide terrace backing U.4 and 5 and wrapping around the northern corner of the summit. The gap seems too small to have been a door and may have provided ventilation. Room 4, the central compartment in the northwestern sequence, encompasses 1.55m on a side. A 0.3m gap between U.5 and 22 in Room 4's northern corner links this compartment with Room 3. Once again, the portal is too narrow to permit the movement of people, but may have facilitated the passage of air. Room 5, on the southwest end of the line of enclosures, measures 0.7x0.7m and is tied to Room 4 through a 0.2m gap between U.19 and 23 in the enclosure's eastern corner. Overall, the small breaches in the Room 3-5 walls define a sinuous course across the northwestern superstructure. A 0.5-2.15m wide terrace runs the length of Str. 128-20-1st's southwestern summit, reaching its widest points on its northwestern and southeastern margins where it borders Rooms 5 and 1.

Structure 128-20-1st's hearting consists of stones and bajareque chunks set in a very hard compacted, fine-textured, brown clay matrix (U.26).

Unit 25 is a 0.12m high by 0.33m wide wall that was traced for 1.6m southeast towards Str. 128-4 from Str. 128-20-1st's eastern basal corner. This construction may well have linked the two buildings or, at least, restricted access to Str. 128-20-1st's formal southeastern entryway from the northeast.

Structure 128-20-1st, by the TS.4's conclusion, encompassed 7.5x7.9m (not including U.27, 29, and 30), stood 0.4-0.57m high, and was aligned roughly 315 degrees. All basal corners are direct save for the southern example, which is inset 0.3x0.4m. A 0.23m high by 0.5-0.75m long terrace runs for 5.65m along most, but not all, of the platform's northeastern face, though by the end of this interval much of it was obscured by an 0.18m high by 0.7m wide wall that projects 0.85m northeast of the terrace and a 1.4m long staircase that projects 1.3m out from the northeastern basal facing. The latter contains two risers that are 0.14m and 0.29m high by 0.31m and 1.48m wide (the basal and second ascending step, respectively). A 0.38m high step was also raised against the building's southwestern basal wall near the southern inset corner. The primary means of reaching the summit, however, was a 2.7m long staircase set into and even with the front of the platform's southeastern facing. Here, the risers are 0.28 and 0.2m high whereas the basal tread measures 0.29m across. This tread and an 0.8m wide landing backing the uppermost riser are surfaced with a mixture of cobbles and schist slabs. Such care in the paving of an access feature supports the notion that these steps mark the formal entryway into Str. 128-20-1st's superstructure. The latter contains five rooms delimited by stone footings that survive 0.2-0.35m high and measure 0.2-0.6m across. A 0.3-0.4m high by 0.6-1.1m high wall (U.8/10) running northeast-southwest divides the superstructure into two components: a relatively ample, southeastern portion (Rooms 1 and 2) and a smaller, less accessible northwestern portion (Rooms 3-5). Room 1, the largest of these enclosures, is an L-shaped compartment facing over the southeastern stairs that covers ca. 11m2. A 0.24m high stone-faced and -surfaced bench covering 0.8x1.75m is built against the enclosure's southwestern wall. Room 2 lies adjacent to Room 1 on the northeast and encompasses at least 3.1m2. Evidence of earlier construction found along Room 2's southeastern and southwestern boundaries, along with a wall directly underlying U.10 (see below) tentatively suggests that Str. 128-20-1st reached its final size and form after at least one major renovation in which the platform was expanded southeastward. A 2m long staircase composed of two risers, each ca. 0.1m high by 0.45-0.5m wide, set against Room 1's northwestern margin facilitated passage between the southeastern and northwestern superstructure portions. These steps lead to the summit of the most substantial Str. 128-20-1st foundation, the U.8/10 wall complex. A 0.4m high, 3.1m long, by 1.1m wide segment of this construction, the summit of which is surfaced with cobbles and schist slabs, may have been a bench facing into both Rooms 1 and 4. Rooms 3-5 northwest of U.8/10 are approximately 0.15m higher than their southeastern counterparts. Arranged in a northeast-southwest line, each earthen-floored cubicle linked to its neighbor by a 0.2-0.3m wide gap. These diminuitive portals may have been designed to promote the movement of air through the enclosures as they are too narrow to permit the flow of people and goods. Room 3, on the northeast, covers 1.7m2; Room 4, in the center, encompasses 2.4m2, while Room 5, on the southwest, measures 0.5m2. The superstructure is bounded on the north and all along its southwestern flank by a 0.5-2.15m wide area of open space.

A 0.12m high by 0.33m wide wall extends for at least 1.6m southeast from Str. 128-20-1st's eastern corner towards Str.128-4. This entity may have eventually linked the two buildings, though extensive destruction of Str. 128-4's southwestern flank by modern construction precludes evaluating that proposition.

All units comprising Str. 128-20-1st are built primarily of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Chinking stones are packed around the larger rocks, the latter being organized into rough horiozontal courses on some of the more substantial constructions (especially the basal facings). Schist slabs are employed, along with cobbles, to create the U.3 tread, U.7 landing, and the surfaces of the U.13 and 8/10 benches. No cut blocks were noted in any Str. 128-20-1st construction. Rock sizes average between 0.04x0.08m to 0.35x0.6m. A tan mud mortar was used as a binding agent in all facings, foundations, and floors.

The 1.95m from U.30 to Str. 128-21-1st's northern corner was filled in with a late addition (U.18). Unit 18 is poorly preserved, standing an estimated 0.3m tall and extending 0.7m northwest of the U.1/16 corner. The architectural significance of U.18 is uncertain; it may be a small terrace added on to Str. 128-21-1st's northwestern stairs.

On the southwestern flank, a 0.29m high terrace (U.22) fronts U.2 over an undetermined extent. Unit 22 is 1.61m wide and is backed by a fill composed of densley packed rocks set in a brown soil matrix (U.27). Only 0.75m of U.22's northwest-southeast length was uncovered. Another low terrace borders Str. 128-21-1st's southeastern side (U.21). Unit 21 is 0.16m high and extends 0.6m southeast from U.3. The junction between U.3 and 21 is 0.25m northeast of the platform's southern corner and we can not what the northeast-southwest length of the latter construction was (U.21 was traced northeastward for 1.8m). On the northeast, two low walls (U.23 and 24) run parallel to and lie 0.35m and 0.75m northeast of U.4 (measured from the exterior [northeast] faces of the three elements). Both were preserved to heights of approximately 0.2m but run for very limited distances northwest-southeast; U.23, the closest to U.4, is 0.95m long while U.24 could be discerned for 1.15m. Units 23 and 24 overlap for roughly 0.3m of their total extents, the former projecting northwest of the latter. Neither element ends formally and how they were integrated into Str. 128-21-1st is unknown. Based on an examination of U.24 in section, it appears to have originally stood as tall as the platform's northeastern basal facing (U.4). Units 23 and 24, therefore, may be all that remains of two successive, late expansions of Str. 128-21-1st to the northeast; U.23 concealing U.4 only to be covered by U.24 near TS.1's end.

Unit 4 is backed by a stone pavement on the southwest (included in U.4) that fills the 1.52m stretching from U.4's northeastern face to U.6 (see below). Unit 20, a stone wall that rises to a maximum height of 0.47m above the U.4 pavement, extends 0.88m northeast from its abutment with U.6. This construction may be a foundation delimiting a room built atop the U.4 surface or a buttress designed to shore up U.6. Since only the southeast side of U.20 was uncovered, we can not determine which, if either, of these interpretations is correct.

The summit is dominated by a large, L-shaped stone-faced and -surfaced bench that faces northwest over the stairs and appears to have been fashioned in at least two stages. It is virtually impossible at this time to reconstruct the sequence in which the elements were added. Units 5 and 6 are the northwestern and northeastern arms of the largest bench segments and so stand the best chance of having been raised as free-standing constructions. They rise approximately 0.58m above the earthen-floored summit, U.6 ascending 0.9m from the U.4 pavement on the platform's northeastern flank (see above; U.6 may have doubled as a wall blocking access to the superstructure on this side). Units 5 and 6 are 0.95-1.05m wide, the former running 3.8m northeast-southwest and the latter projecting at least 2.4m southeast from U.5's northeastern end (U.6's southeastern margin was not definitively located). A 1.5m long segment of U.5 on its southwestern terminus is ca. 0.3m higher than the rest of the construction whereas a 1.6m long construction continues U.5's line southwest of the bench and is considerably lower than the remainder of the U.5 (included in U.5 but not in the figures given for the bench). What function(s) this entity served remains unknown. Units 8 and 9, stone walls standing ca. 0.3m high and measuring 0.25-0.3m across, project 1.7m and 1.5m northwest towards the staircase from U.5. The northeastern-most member of the pair, U.8, abuts U.5 while its southwestern analogue overlaps the low southwestern U.5 segment by 0.6m. A total of 3.2m separates U.8 and 9, most of it surfaced with dirt equivalent to that seen across Str. 128-21-1st's summit. A ca. 0.3m high stone-faced and surfaced step-up (U.7) extends 0.35-0.45m northwest of U.5, restricted to the area between U.8 and 9. Unit 7 may have been a riser facilitating access to U.5.

Units 10 and 11 are substantial stone walls that lie 0.18-0.5m southeast and southwest of, and run parallel to, U.5 and 6. Rising 0.52-0.62m above the earthen summit floor, U.10 and 11 are equivalent in height to U.5 and 6, though they are somewhat narrower than their northern counterparts (0.59-0.79m wide). The short distance separating U.5/6 from U.10/11 is filled with a mixture of stones and brown soil (included in U.27). The close juxtaposition of these very similar L-shaped constructions strongly suggests that they are part of the same architectural entity, together creating a bench measuring 1.8-2.25m wide. Unit 12, a 0.47m high by 0.4m wide wall, projects 1.94m southeast from its abutment with U.10. Units 10-12 define the boundaries of a room that is completely open to the southeast. The enclosure's interior measures 1.32x1.5m (since U.12 extends 0.44m further southeast than U.11 the above figures are based on the dimensions of the shorter side wall). A fine-textured, hard-compacted, red-brown clay (F.2) was preserved within the enclosure where it lips up against U.10. Comparable soils were not encountered elsewhere on and around Str. 128-21-1st and we presume, therefore, that F.2 is what remains of a prepared earthen floor. Adjoining U.12's southeastern margin is a restricted area of stone paving (F.1). Feature 1 covers 0.58x1.1m and has successfully eluded interpretation. The area southwest of U.12 may have been another compartment, bounded by that wall and U.10 on the northeast and northwest, but open on the remaining sides. Measuring 1.9m northwest-southeast, said enclosure apparently extends 1.73m southwest from U.12 to U.13. The latter is a very poorly preserved wall segment that may be all that is left of a riser that ascends 0.4m above the surface backing the southwestern facing (U.2). Unit 13 is backed by a fill composed of fine-textured, moderately soft-compacted, brown soil containing numerous flecks of bajareque (included in U.27). The Str.128-21-1st summit is remarkable among Late Classic Naco platforms for both its size, encompassing 3.37x7.2m, and the paucity of obvious foundations marking the superstructure's borders and internal divisions. Most effort in raising the superstructure apparently centered on fashioning its large bench and the three enclosures built off that element. It should also be noted that surface idications hint at the existence of a southeastern staircase, raising the possibility that Str. 128-21-1st was ascended from the northwest and southeast, the bench facing over both access features. The southeastern stair's existence was not confirmed by excavation.

Remnants of surface-level constructions were found off the platform's northeastern (U.26), northwestern (U.19), and southwestern flanks (U.29). All of these elements seem to be portions of stone foundations 0.2-0.32m high by 0.2-0.9m across. Unit 26 and 29 are footing segments traced for 1m and 0.5m long, respectively, that are probably components of edifices distinct from Str. 128-21-1st. Unit 26 is 1.57m northeast of the platform's northeastern basal facing (U.4) and runs at a markedly different alignment from Str. 128-21-1st (24 and 56 degrees, respectively). Unit 29, in turn, more-or-less parallels the platform's southwestern basal wall (U.2) but its base rests at least 0.29m above the lowest exposed point on U.2. Rather than being part of Str. 128-21-1st, U.29 may well be a component of late construction lying immediately northwest of Str. 128-7-1st, 2.9m to the southeast. Unit 19, in contrast, is built up against a late addition to Str. 128-21-1st (U.18) and seems to have closed off the northwest side of the building's northern inset corner. Unit 19 is an L-shaped footing that projects 0.5m northwest of U.18 and runs at least 1.5m to the northeast; its northeastern terminus could not be identified with assuredness as the element disintegrated in an area numerous disrupted stones. Based on what little evidence we have, U.19's builders seem to have taken advantage of standing Str. 128-18-1st architecture (U.16-18 in particular) to construct a surface-level edifice off the platform's northern corner.

Structure 128-21-1st is a 1.09-1.3m high platform that encompasses 9.8x10.6m (not including U.23 and 24) and is aligned roughly 146 degrees. The northern corner is inset 0.55x0.6m while the other two exposed basal junctions (western and southern) are direct. The building is lowest on the northwest where a staircase made up of three extant risers ascends in increments of 0.19-0.34m to the earthen-floored summit. There was probably a fourth step, estimated to have been 0.27m high, located between the last surviving riser and the summit. A stone pavement may have fronted the staircase over most of its extent, beginning 1.3m southwest of the step's northern corner and extending to the junction between the staircase and the southwestern basal wall. A 0.22m high by 0.19-0.35m wide by 0.8m long block of stone set near the axis of the staircase on the bottom-most step is aligned with a single cut block located on the summit, these two elements possibly calling attention to the importance of the northwestern stairs as the primary entryway to the superstructure. The latter is notable for its extensive open space (encompassing 24.3m2) very little of which is subdivided into rooms. At the building's center is a massive (by Late Classic Naco standards) stone-faced and -surfaced L-shaped bench. Rising 0.58m high, this construction ultimately measured 1.8-2.25m across. The main portion of the entity is 3.8m long northeast-southwest an element projecting 2.4m southeast from the bench's northeastern end giving the construction its "L" shape. The only rooms identified on the summit are built adjoining the bench. The northern example covers 4.8m2, its entire southeastern margin taken up by a 0.3m high by 0.35-0.45m wide stone-faced and -surfaced step-up to the bench. Immediately south of the bench are two compartments set in a northeast-southwest line; the northeastern-most example covers 2m2 and has a distinctive red-brown clay floor whereas its southwestern neighbor encompasses 3.3m2 and shows no sign of a preserved floor. All of these compartments were easily accessed; the northwestern example has no obstruction to entry from the northwestern steps while its southeastern counterparts are open in that direction. The southwestern enclosure also lacks a foundation on the southwest. Overall, the bench and its associated rooms face out towards the western and eastern patios and were easily reached over formal staircases issuing from the former and, perhaps, the latter areas. All but a very small portion of the summit has an earthen floor; a diminutive pavement (covering 0.6m2) just southeast of the two southeastern rooms is the only clear evidence of stone floor atop Str. 128-21-1st.

The southwest and southeastern platform flanks are ascended by terraces 0.29m and 0.16m high by 1.61m and 0.6m wide, respectively. On the northeast the wall gives way to a 1.52m wide stone-paved surface that ends in the 0.9m high ascent of the bench's northeastern facing. A cobble wall resting on this floor and extending northeast 0.88m from the bench facing may signal the presence of another room on this terrace. Equivocal evidence hints at Str. 128-21-1st's expansion northeastward for 0.75m in two building stages initiated late in Str. 128-21-1st's occupancy. The northwestern steps end 1.95m short of the platform's northern corner, and this area was eventually filled with a 0.3m high by 0.7m wide terrace. Signs of three surface-level constructions were found off all sides of Str. 128-21-1st save the southeast (where excavation was very limited). Two of these buildings were apparently distinct entities while on the northwest Str. 128-21-1st may have been incorporated in the construction.

Almost all units associated with Str. 128-21-1st were built of unmodified river cobbles whose naturally flatter aspects are directed outwards. the one exception is U.25, the apparent entry feature that consist of one masonry block set into the summit floor. Average stone sizes range from 0.06x0.08m to 0.26x0.8m, with most falling towards the middle of that range. Chinking stones fill in the gaps around the larger rocks, a brown mud mortar being used as a binding agent in all constructions. The setting of rocks into horizontal courses is not much in evidence.

The superstructure, itself, contains three very small cubicles bordered on the northeast and southeast by an ample L-shaped bench (U.6) and on the northwest by a complex of footings (U.4 and 10). Unit 6 stands 0.19-0.21m high, its principal component running 2.65m northeast-southwest, measuring 0.95m across, and surfaced with stones. A 1.2m wide element projects 1.6m northwest from the latter's northeastern terminus, giving the bench its L shape. Unit 6's northwestern segment is surfaced with earth save over an area covering 0.6x0.85m on the northwestern margin which is paved with stones. The superstructure's northwestern flank is delimited by U.4, a ca. 0.2m high by 0.35-0.6m wide footing that adjoins U.6, and U.10, a complex of footings 0.15-0.25m high that seems to have reached its final form through a sequence of small renovations. Unit 10A, the first of these entities to be built, measures 0.65x1.2m, its main axis running northwest-southeast. Appended to this entity is an L-shaped footing (U.10C) that extends 0.45m southwest of U.10A and then runs 0.6m to the southeast where it marks one side of a 0.75m wide doorway into the superstructure; the southeastern flank of the portal is defined by U.6. Unit 10B overlies U.10A's northeastern flank, extending 0.25m northwest of the latter element and linking U.10 and 4. All of these additions ultimately came to form an irregularly shaped construction whose maximum contiguous dimensions (1.1m on a side) suggest that it might have functioned as a small shelf in the superstructure's western corner. Unit 9, a 0.14m high by 0.2m wide footing, in turn, runs 1.3m northwest-southeast, beginning atop U.10C and extending to a point 0.5m shy of the U.6 bench on the southeast. That gap lines up with the superstructure's door and may have been another, even smaller, portal leading into more secluded portions of the building. A 0.5m-wide stone threshold (U.7) set into the earthen summit floor fronts the interior doorway and U.9. Unit 8, a 0.16m high by 0.25m wide wall runs the 0.5m between U.6 and 9, effectively dividing the area fronting the northeastern element of the summit bench into two diminutive cubicles. By the conclusion of TS.2, therefore, Str. 128-23-1st's superstructure was accessed from the southwest by passing over a relatively broad expanse of open terrace and through a 0.75m wide door set into the building's southern corner. The compartment lying just inside the portal covers 0.8x1.35m (including the U.7 threshold) and is flanked on the northwest and southeast by a shelf and bench, respectively. Moving over a stone threshold and through a 0.5m wide door leads into an enclosure that covers 0.5x0.8m in the crux formed by the junction of the bench's southeastern and northeastern segments. A comparably small chamber, measuring 0.5x0.7m, lies immediately to the northwest, bounded by the bench and a stone footing (U.4) on the northeast.

Relatively late in the occupation sequence, a 0.12m high terrace (U.11) was added to the platform's southwestern facing. Unit 11 is 0.74m wide and extends from Str. 128-23-1st's southern corner for 4.25m to the northwest. Unit 1, the original southwestern basal wall, Continued to protrude 0.2m above the newly added terrace and was completely exposed over the 0.6m intervening between the building's western facing and U.11's northwestern margin. One consequence of U.11's construction was creation of an inset basal corner encompassing 0.6x0.74m. A 0.28m high by 0.6m wide stone wall (U.12) projects 0.85-0.94m northeast from its abuttment with the platform's northeastern basal facing (U.3). Unit 12, like U.11, seems to have been a late addition to Str. 128-23-1st.

A 0.21m high wall (U.17) located 2.96m northeast of U.3, and unconnected to that facing, seems to have been a terrace built to slow erosion down the slope bordering the platform on this side. Unit 17 was exposed over only 0.75m of its northwest-southeast length, so we can not reconstruct its full dimensions. Large quantities of artifacts, especially pottery sherds, were found embedded in S.1 immediately northeast of U.17. The disposition of these items suggests that they represent debris tossed from upslope, over this construction, landing on a fairly precipitous incline northeast of U.17 (see TS.1). The higher up in the stratigraphic sequence, the more horizontally laid the artifacts appear. This shift tentatively implies that, over time, the angle of descent northeast of U.17 gradually declined as more material accumulated here. Whether the inferred topographic change was intended by Site 128's occupants or an inadvertant consequence of prolonged trash deposition in one area is not known.

Appended to Str. 128-23-1st's eastern corner is a surface-level edifice the perimeters of which are marked by footings 0.28-0.33m high by 0.4-0.7m across (U.13, 15, and 16). The earthen floored room contained by these entities is completely open on the northwest and a 0.5m gap between U.13 and 15 may have provided access to the interior through the edifice's southern corner. Contained within this enclosure is a construction (U.14) consisting of a curved line of stones defining an oval that is open in the middle. Unit 14 measures an oberseved 0.8x1m on its exterior and 0.4x0.7m across its interior dimensions. Unit 14's stratigraphic position suggests that it was built before the surrounding footings (it is partially buried on the southwest by U.13); U.14 is sufficiently deep, in fact, that it might predate Str. 128-23-1st (U.14's base is 0.17m and 0.08m below the bottoms of Str. 128-23-1st's northeastern (U.3) and southeastern (U.2) facings, respectively). Whether or not these figures indicate temporal priority, U.14 protrudes 0.08m above U.13's base and may have continued in use after this and U.15 and 16 were built. All-in-all, a room encompassing 1.4x1.7m was raised directly on ground surface off Str. 128-23-1st's eastern corner. This compartment was open on the northwest and may have also been reached through a 0.5m-wide portal in its southern corner. A good proportion of the room's interior was taken up by an oval construction that might have been built before the surrounding foundations but continued in use after they were erected. It is of some interest that the builders did not simply take advantage of a basal platform wall to define one side of their construction, as was often the case when surface-level rooms were raised adjoining a platform. Instead, they went through the trouble of building U.13 against the U.2/3 corner, thereby adding to the thickness of these facings and extending U.3, 0.7m to the southeast. why this decision was made we can not say.

Structure 128-23-1st is a 0.3-0.64m high stone-faced, earth-filled platform that covers 4.85x5.75m (including U.11) and is aligned ca. 50 degrees. A 0.12m high by 0.74m wide terrace fronts the platform's southwestern, patio-facing side for 4.25m, stopping 0.6m short of Str. 128-23-1st's western facing. The resulting inset corner, measuring 0.6x0.74m, is the only deviation from direct corner junctions noted for the building. The superstructure is defined, and its interior is subdivided into three earthen-floored cubicles by, footings that stand 0.14-0.32m high and measure 0.2-0.6m across. Areas of open summit 0.8-1.35m wide border the superstructure on all sides except the northeast where the building is set against the basal facing (U.3). A 0.75m wide door in its southern corner issues directly onto the widest summit segment and overlooks the southwestern terrace. This portal gives access to the largest room, encompassing 1.1m2. Passage through a 0.5m wide door aligned with the first entryway and fronted by a 0.5m wide stone threshold leads to the next two compartments which are arranged in a northwest-southeast line. These diminutive chambers each cover ca. 0.4m2. A large, L-shaped bench stands ca. 0.2m high, covers 4.4m2, and wraps around the superstructure's southeastern and northeastern flanks. A shelf measuring roughly 1.1m on a side occupies the building's western corner.

Raised off Str. 128-23-1st's eastern corner is a surface-level edifice bounded by foundations standing 0.28-0.33m high and covering 0.4-0.7m across. The earthen floored enclosure delimited by these footings measures 2.4m2 and is completely open on the northwest. A 0.5m wide gap in the southern corner may have been another means by which the enclosures was accessed. The single construction found within the room is an oval-shaped stone element the exterior and interior dimensions of which are 0.8x1m and 0.4x0.7m, respectively. Though possibly built prior to the room that contains it, the oval construction seems to have continued in use after the bordering walls were raised. A 0.28m high by 0.6m wide wall that projects 0.85-0.94m northeast of Str. 128-23-1st's basal northeastern facing lies 1.3m northwest of the surface-level room. The latter element may have partially closed off the enclosure's northwestern side, though it is far from clear that these elements comprised part of the same construction. Fully 2.96m northeast of Str. 128-23-1st is a 0.21m high stone terrace that may have served to retard erosion down the descent above which the platform was raised on this side. Recovery of sizable artifact quantities northeast of the putative terrace suggests that this was a favored location for jettisoning trash. So much cultural debris and soil eventually collected in this area that the original slope angle was modified to a more gradual drop.

All architecture unearthed in and around Str. 128-23-1st was built primarily of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Schist slabs were found scattered among U.2, 10, and 11, a few tuff masnory blocks also being found in the last wall. Schist and cut blocks never comprise more than a minority component of construction material. Care in the fashioning of architecture varies considerably. In general, Str. 128-23-1st's basal facings are characterized by horizontal coursing of the larger rocks, chinking stones being used to fill the interstices among their larger counterparts. Superstructure footings are generally too low to evince coursing, though the U.6 bench may exhibit this trait. Foundations defining the surface-level room and the northeastern terrace are among the most casual constructions, lacking clear coursing. A tan mud mortar was used as a binding agent in all units.

Time Span 3

Following abandonment, Str. 128-23-1st was partially covered by continued deposition of S.2. This layer was ultimately capped by 0.05-0.15m of S.3, a moderately fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted, brown soil containing a high density of small roots. Embedded within S.2 and 3 is a moderate to light concentration of stones dislodged from final-phase architecture (F.1). Feature 1 is spread over all of Str. 128-23-1st's summit and extends for up to 1.8m from its flanks.

Time Span 1

The first activity recognized in our excavations was the natural deposition of S.1. This very fine-textured, very hard-compacted, tan clay was exposed to a maximum thickness of 0.12m (its base was not found) in a deep probe situated 2.52m north and downslope from Str. 128-24-1st. Stratum 1 maintained an even upper surface over the 0.95m north-south it was exposed at the base of this pit. Stratum 2, a very fine-textured, hard-compacted brown clay containing a few pebbles less than 0.01m in diameter, covers S.1 by as much as 0.48m. This earth layer drops percipitously from south to north, declining 0.48m over 1.06m in this direction. Stratum 2's northern exposed margin intersects S.1. No earlier or later strata exhibit this south-to-north slope, an incline that runs dramatically counter to the general, and more gradual, north-to-south dip of the land. we are inclined, therefore, to interpret this anomaly as the result of human intervention, specifically the excavation of a pit into S.2 clay (F.1). Feature 1 is at least 0.48m deep and measures more than 1.06m across north-south, the southern portion remaining unexcavated. A fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted dark brown clay incorporating numerous ceramic fragments and small stones (S.3) fills the exposed segment of F.1. Stratum 3 may represent trash deposited in F.1 after the latter no longer served the purpose for which it was dug (unless, of course, it was created to be a trash receptacle). Stratum 4, a fine-textured, soft-compacted, tan soil mottled gray with ash, lies immediately upslope from F.1 and runs beneath TS.2 architecture (U.3). This soil level contains many large pottery sherds along with bajareque fragments, some charcoal flecks, and a few rocks. Stratum 4 was uncovered to a maximum thickness of 0.42m (its base lying beyond excavation limits) and descends 0.25m over 1.73m from south to north. Once again, we seem to have encountered midden matterials jettisoned into the northwestern depression prior to Str. 128-24-1st's construction, though this time not contained within a discrete pit sunk into that declivity. The relationship between S.2-4 was not established, though the scant 0.55m separating S.3 and 4 suggest that the latter might be a slightly lighter hued version of the former, both representing debris that initially filled, and then overflowed, F.1.

Digging was not pursued to comparable depths south of Str. 128-24-1st, though even here activities pertaining to TS.1 were identified. Stratum 5, a fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted, red-brown soil underlies construction and was exposed to thicknesses as great as 0.2m (the base was not identified). Cultural remains yielded by S.5 include artifacts along with the outlines of two small basins dug into a ground surface formed during the earth layer's deposition (F.2 and 3). Features 2 and 3 are oval-shaped depressions distinguished by intense burning that extends 0.04m into the surrounding soil. These basins measure 0.4m on their longest exposed dimension and 0.29m across (only F.3 was fully exposed, yielding the latter figure). Their sides generally slope down towards the more-or-less flat interiors, reaching a depth of 0.08m. Feature 2 is 0.11m northwest of F.3 and 1.8m southeast of Str. 128-24-1st.

The lower portions of S.6, a moderately fine-textured, moderately hard-compacted, tan soil, cover S.3-5 and underlie TS.2 construction. Continued deposition of this soil following abandonment of the three investigated edifices revealed in excavations here, coupled with the lack of clearly defined living surfaces, precludes definitive statements concerning how much of S.6 was laid down during TS.1. A fairly reliable estimate of S.6's thickness in TS.1 can be made on the northwest where digging was carried deeper than elsewhere and the distribution of abundant tumbled architectural debris (part of F.4) provides a good approximation of where ground surface was by the end of Str. 128-24-1st's occupation. Here, maximally 0.17m of S.6 seems to have been in place before Str. 128-24-1st was built, though it may have been restricted to a wedge-shaped segment overriding S.4 and sloping down from the platform's northern facing (U.3) 0.23m to the where it pinches out 1.38m to the northwest.

Strata 1 and 2 north of Str. 128-24-1st appear to be naturally deposited clays that were mined over a protracted span (see Northwest Depression, below). Feature 1 is one result of these extractive efforts, though the entire northwest depression testifies to the diligence and endurance of Site 128's excavators. The northwest depression in general, and F.1 in particular, were recycled as trash containers after digging within them ceased, the considerable midden represented by S.3 and 4 implying that this area was a favored location for jettisoning debris. The ash incorporated within S.4 suggests that some of the activities predating Str. 128-24-1st's construction involved intense burning, possibly associated with the burnt-earth basins lying southeast of that building site (F.2 and 3). This intense period of digging, burning, and trash disposal seemingly came to an end in Str. 128-24-1st's immediate environs prior to erection of that platform. It is during this span that deposition of S.6 began.

By TS.2's conclusion, Str. 128-24-1st consisted of a core platform standing 0.49-0.79m high, measuring 3.28x3.95m, and aligned roughly 67 degrees. The single summit room encompasses 4.7m2 and contains a 0.28m high bench that is 2.6m long and 1.35m wide. Access to the summit seems to have been achieved by ascending a 2.1m wide staircase that projects 1.65m southeast from slightly off the building's center-line. An extensive, 0.26m high stone-faced terrace extends 1.2m southwest and 1.72-2m southeast of the platform and covers a reconstructed area of 7.8m2. Structure 128-24-1st's general form now is an L, the main axis of which runs northeast-southwest and includes the core platform anmd southwestern terrace. Thesoutheastern terrace makes up the leg of the figure.

All components of Str. 128-24-1st are made of unmodified river cobbles the flatter faces of which are oriented outwards. The core platform facings (U.1-4) exhibit clear horizontal coursing of the larger rocks, chinking pebbles used to fill in the gaps among these sizable stones. Terrace facings (U.9 and 10) are too low to demonstrate obvious coursing and U.6, 7, and 33 seem to lack this feature. A tan mud mortar was used as a binding agent in all facings.

Roughly contemporary developments on the northeast resulted in a very different construction. Here, U.11 and 12, walls standing 0.5-0.6m high, extend U.1 and 3 a total of 1.2m and 1.1m northeastward. Rather than augmenting the summit's dimensions, however, U.11 and 12 define the northwestern and southeastern sides of an enclosure (Room2), bounded by the platform's northeastern facing (U.2) on the southwest and open to the northeast. Room 2 is faced on the latter side by a 0.17m high stone-faced step-up (U.13), thereby raising its floor above surrounding ground surface. Unit 13 is a complex construction that seems to have grown by accretion. It may have begun as a 0.45-0.55m wide wall that sealed the northeast side of a summit addition bordered by U.11 and 12 on the southeast and northwest. This interpretation makes U.13 architecturally analagous to U.15 on the southwest. Subsequently, U.13 was torn down to its foundation, being converted from retaining wall to a step-up into the newly created Room 2. Later still, this element was expanded 0.25-0.3m to the northeast beginning 0.55m southeast of its junction with U.12 and extending 2.15m to where U.11 was extended northeastward to meet it. This enhancement of U.11 involved the addition of 0.25m to that wall, the appendage rising only 0.17m high. Ultimately, therefore, Room 2 came to measure 1.1x2.25m, had a 0.25-0.3m wide stone-faced and -surfaced projection extending along most of its northeast face, and had a floor partially surfaced in stone (on the northeast where U.13 was exposed) and dirt (on the southwest against U.2).

The terrace that originally faced Str. 128-24-1st on the southwest and southeast persisted, though its dimensions were modified. As noted above, the raising of U.14-16 buried most of the southwestern terrace, though the southeastern terrace component (fronted by U.9) was not affected by these events. Units 18 and 19, 0.18-0.24m high terrace facings, were added at this time to expand the southeastern terrace and recreate a much diminished version of its southwestern analogue. The latter, faced by U.19, measures 0.3-0.35m across and extends 5.7m southeastward from its northwestern terminus to its junction with U.18. Construction of U.18, which stands 0.25m high, added 0.37m to the southeastern terrace's northwest-southeast dimension. This element runs 1.85m northeast from its intersection with U.19 before stepping back to the still-exposed segment of U.9. A 0.7m long section of U.9, curving back from its original eastern corner northwest to join U.33, may have been added now as well. The southeastern terrace now covers 2.25x2.3m (including the outset created with the addition of U.18)

Structure 128-24-1st's core platform now measures 3.28x5.05m, still stands 0.49-0.79m high, and retains its orientation of approximately 67 degrees. Room 1 may now cover as much as 7.6m2 if U.4 was superseded by U.15 as the enclosure's southwestern boundary. On the northeast a 1.1m addition to the summit seems to have been remodelled into a room set 0.17m above ancient ground surface and open to the northeast. This compartment encompasses 2.5m2 and is surfaced on the northeast with stones, on the southwest with dirt. A 0.18m high by 0.3-0.35m high terrace runs the full length of Str. 128-24-1st's southwestern flank and gives way on the southeast to a 0.25m high terrace the earthen summit of which encompasses 5.2m2. The latter construction is bounded on the northeast by the putative U.6, 7, and 33 stairs. Structure 128-24-1st, therefore, retains its general L-shape from TS.2, though more of the figure is now made up by the core platform.

All facings and floors are made of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which face outwards. Horizontal coursing of the larger rocks is less marked in all of the walls than was the case for TS.2 architecture, though chinking stones are still employed to fill the interstices among sizable stones. A tan mud mortar appears in all TS.3 constructions.

The above additions did not significantly alter Str. 128-24-1st's appearance or its overall size. The platform now covered 3.28x5.35-5.4m, remained 0.49-0.79m high, kept its alignment of 67 degrees, and retained its overall L-shaped appearance. All architecture dating to this span has a very haphazard appearance, composed of moderately large stones not arrayed in horizontal courses and with few chinking stones. A brown mud continued to serve as a mortar in all units dated to this span.

Structure 128-Sub2-1st is a construction raised off Str. 128-24-1st's southeastern side. it is difficult to ascertain when, within the latter's construction sequence, this edifice was raised. Structure 128-Sub2-1st was certainly in use during TS.4, at which point it was linked to its northwestern neighbor by a 0.3m high by 0.2-0.34m wide wall (U.27). Unit 27 extends southeast from U.11 for 0.6m before turning to run almost due east to, and for an undetermined distance beyond, Str.128-Sub2-1st's northern corner. Structure 128-Sub2-1st's western corner does intersect the eastern corner of the putative stairs, tentatively suggesting that it was built after the latter was already in place. We have, therefore, assigned this building's erection and renovation totally within TS.4 with the understanding that work on this edifice may have begun anytime after Str. 128-24-1st's southeastern steps were established.

Structure 128-Sub2-1st apparently began as a surface-level edifice delimited on all sides by foundations standing an extant 0.29-0.48m high and measuring 0.39-0.48m across (U.22-25). A doorway in the northwestern foundation (U.22) stretches 1m from the building's northern corner and provided access to a seemingly featureless, earthen-floored interior that covers 1.9x2.3m. A second entryway may have been located 0.38m southeast of the western corner, in the southwestern footing (U.23). This passage, marked, like the U.22 example, by a construction change, is 0.5m wide.

Subsequently, both doors were sealed by construction. In the case of the U.22 portal, a 0.3m wide extension of U.22, set flush with the exterior face of that footing, was inserted while on the southwest a very rough wall segment, composed of rocks tilted into the opening from northwest and southeast, obscured the door. Once enclosed, the interior was filled with dirt (U.34) and capped with a stone pavement (U.26). It is not clear that Str. 128-Sub2-1st's featureless summit supported a room; it's paved surface may well have been open on all sides.

Structure 128-Sub2-1st did not undergo significant changes in its basal dimensions or alignment during its transformation from surface-level building to platform. Throughout this span it measured 3x3.35m and was oriented approximately 53 degrees. The first recognized version of Str. 128-Sub2-1st contained an earthen floor compartment that encompassed 4.4m2 and was accessible through doors that breached its northwestern and southwestern footings. Later, these passages were sealed, the room filled with earth, and Str. 128-Sub2-1st was converted into a 0.29-0.48m high platform topped with a stone-paved summit. There is no strong evidence for a superstructure, suggesting that the summit was left open. The 1-1.5m separating Strs. 128-24-1st and 128-Sub2-1st may have been bridged by construction roughly the same height as the latter edifice and bounded by U.6 and 27 on the southwest and northeast, respectively. This interpretation is based on the presumption that the northeastern facing of the Str. 128-24-1st steps doubled as a fill retaining wall and the enigmatic U.27 fulfilled this role as well. Unfortunately, the considerable disturbance visited on this area, largely resulting from the insinuation of tree roots in and among walls, renders all interpretations of architecture here problemmatic.

All units comprising Str. 128-Sub2-1st are made of unmodified river cobbles set in a tan mud mortar. Units 22 and 23, the northwest and southwest footings/facings, are fashioned almost exclusively of medium-size and large rocks while their northeastern and southeastern counterparts are made from a combination of medium-size and small river-rounded stones. Horizontal coursing is not exhibited by any of these elements

Structure 128-Sub3-!st is represented by two 0.25m high, 0.38-0.48m wide walls (U.29 and 30) that intersect to form the southeast corner of a building located 1-1.2m southwest of Str. 128-24-1st. This edifice, like its northeastern neighbor, occupies the rim of the northwestern depression. Structure 128-Sub3-1st measures 3.1m north-south by at least 2.25m east-west (the edifice's western margin was not uncovered) and is oriented roughly 255 degrees, 30 minutes. The eastern perimeter wall (U.29) steps back (west) 0.25m ca. 1.85m north of the southeast corner. It is unclear whether U.29 and 30 are foundations for a surface-level edifice or a platform's basal walls. Recovery of stones falling into Str. 128-Sub3-1st's center implies that this area was left open, very teantatively supporting an argument for the building having been a surface-level construction. Both U.29 and 30 were fashioned from unmodified river cobbles set in a tan mud mortar.

By the end of TS.4, Str. 128-24-1st had become the center for a complex of buildings spreading out to the southeast and southwest.

Time Span 1

Structure 128-25-1st contains four rooms, a large enclosure on the northwest (Room 1) fronted by three smaller compartments (Rooms 2-4) arranged in a northeast-southwest running line on the southeast. Rooms 2-4 are set 0.45-0.65m back (northwest) from U.4's edge. Room 4, the central of the southeastern triad, is bounded by foundations ca. 0.65m high by 0.3-0.5m across on the southwest and northeast (U.7 and 10). This earthen-floored enclosure covers 1.25x1.95m and is completely open on the southeast, overlooking U.4, and northwest, where it issues into Room 1. Most likely, this compartment served as a corridor channeling traffic from outside the building into what, based on size, was the edifice's principal compartment. Unit 13, a 0.33m high by 0.4m wide wall, projects 0.4m southwest from U.10 into the passageway. Though far from certain, U.13 seems to have been a late addition designed to reduce the doorway's width from 1.25m to 0.85m. Room 2 flanks the entryway on the southwest and is bounded on all sides except the southeast by foundations 0.45-0.75m high by 0.35-0.65m wide (U.5, 7, and 8). The southeastern flank is completely open where it overlooks U.4. This compartment could also be easily reached from Room 4 through a 1.05m gap between the compartment's northeastern footing, U.7, and U.4. Room 2's earthen interior encompasses 1.45x1.55m. Room 3, on the northeastern end of the line, is completely surrounded by footings that are 0.3-0.6m high by 0.3-0.5m wide (U.6, 9, 10, and 11). The interior covers 1.2x1.5m and is paved with cobbles (U.12). Room 3 might have been entered through a door set into the perishable wall capping the lowest (southeastern) footing (U.11). No clear entryways were identified, however, and Room 3 is apparently less accessible than its southwestern neighbors. Room 1 on the northwest is an earthen floored compartment that measures 1.2x3.9m and is bounded by foundations standing 0.44-0.7m high by 0.5-0.83m across (U.1, 2, 3, 8, and 9). A 1.25m wide doorway pierces the approximate center of the compartment's southeast side while a 0.9m wide portal once breached the northwestern footing (U.2) 0.6m southwest of the building's northern corner. By TS.2's conclusion, however, this door had been sealed by construction of U.18, a 0.44m high by 0.35m wide wall that spans the aforementioned gap. None of the enclosures contains built-in furniture.

Structure 128-25-1st is a ground-level edifice whose northeastern and southeastern flanks are raised 0.6m and 0.55m above downsloping terrain. The building covers 4.8x6.2m, has symmetrical outsets on its northeastern and southwestern perimeter walls, and is aligned roughly 25 degrees. Structure 128-25-1st contains four rooms bounded by foundations standing 0.3-0.75m high and measuring 0.3-0.83m across. Rooms 2-4 are organized into a northeast-southwest line on the southeast backed by Room 1 on the northwest. Rooms 2 and 3 flank a central corridor (Room 4) that covers 2.4m2 and channeled traffic from the southeast into Room 1. The entryway's width was narrowed from 1.25m to 0.85m at some point in the occupation sequence by construction of a 0.33m high wall that intrudes into the compartment from about the midpoint of the northeastern footing. Room 2 on the southwest encompasses 2.3m2 and is easily accessible from the southeast, where no construction seals off this flank, and through a 1.05m wide door linking it with Room 4. Room 3, the only Str. 128-25-1st compartment to have a stone floor, is completely surrounded by foundations and measures 1.8m2. No obvious doorways provide access to this enclosure's interior and we can only presume that a portal was set into the perishable walls that topped at least one of the bordering footings (probably the lower, southeastern, foundation). Room 1 on the northwest encompasses ca. 4.7m2 and was entered through the southeastern corridor (Room 4) and a 0.9m door set into its northern corner. The latter was sealed at some point in the occupation sequence, restricting access to the southeastern portal. These rooms yielded no built-in furniture, such as benches.

Surrounding Str. 128-25-1st are the remains of at least for surface-level constructions. Most of these buildings are represented by isolated footings that stand 0.09m, 0.17m, and 0.13m high (U.19, 21, and 20 from Str. 128-Sub6-1st, 128-Sub8-1st, and 128-Sub7-1st). These entities are generally no more than a single line of stones 0.27m, 0.12m, and 0.52m wide. Unit 19 was traced for 0.35m, U.20 for 0.4m, and U.21 for 0.55m; none are long enough to provide reliable measures of their alignments.

A ca. 0.25m high wall (U.17) abuts U.22 on Str. 128-25-1st's southwest flank and runs for 1.15m to the northwest. Unit 17's base is 0.19m above that of U.3 and 22, this stratigraphic relation suggesting that the first wall was built late in the construction sequence. Unit 17 measures about 0.5m across (its full width was not ascertained). Recovery of U.17 points to the existence of a surface-level building attached to, and lying southwest of, Str. 128-25-1st. No sign of this entity was identified in excavations close-by to the southwest around Str. 128-19.

Structure 128-Sub5-1st consists of three constructions relations among which are not clear. Units 14 and 15 may define the northeast and southeast sides of a surface-level edifice whose northwestern flank is marked by Str. 128-25-1st's southeastern basal facing (U.4). The putative room delimited by these elements is open to the southwest. Only U.15's northwestern face was exposed, revealing a wall 0.76m tall, at least 0.5m wide, and 1.75m long. Unit 14, on the northwest, rises 0.62m, is 0.85m across and runs 1.3m northwest-southeast. Units 14 and 15 are separated by 0.5m, while 0.45m intervenes between U.4 and 14. The latter wall is unusually broad for a foundation, a discrepancy that may be accounted for by its use as a shelf. Unit 14 also flanks Str. 128-25-1st's entryway on the southeast, the wall's unusual girth possibly having something to do with its role in marking this passage. The latter interpretation is tentatively supported by U.16, an 0.18m high stone riser that was traced over a northeast-southwest distance of 1.1m and lies 0.5m southeast of U.14. Unit 16's northeastern margin extended beyond our excavations whereas on the southwest the entity faded without resolution. Its location on a slope leading towards, and in line with, Str. 128-25-1st's entry corridor (Room 4) hints at U.16's use as a step issuing into a surface-level foyer bounded by U.14 on the southwest. No sign of an analogue to U.14 was located on the "foyer's" northeastern flank.

Sizable quantities of artifacts were recovered in the area circumscribed by U.4, 14, and 15. If these entities define a room, then that chamber might well have been abandoned during TS.2, its interior recycled as a trash receptacle. Alternatively, the above elements may not have defined a room but were parts of three distinct buildings off the edges of which a midden was accumulating by TS.2's conclusion. All that can be safely claimed at present is that the concentration of cultural material in the area bordered by U.4, 14, and 15 suggests that if there had been a room here, it was no longer functioning late in the occupation sequence.

Structure 128-Sub5-1st, therefore, seems to have been a surface-level building delimited by Str. 128-25-1st's southeastern basal wall (U.4) and substantial foundations standing 0.62-0.76m high. The edifice covers 2.2m (minimally) by 3.05m, contains a single, earth-floored room encompassing 1.7x2.2m (3.7m2), and oriented between 21-32 degrees. The northeastern footing may have doubled as a shelf and also defined the southwest side of an entry feature that channeled traffic into Str. 128-25-1st's entry corridor (Room 4). An 0.18m high stone step situated 0.5m southeast of the putative shelf is aligned with Room 4 and possibly functioned to direct and ease passage from this direction towards Str. 128-25-1st. Recovery of a trash deposit within the putative room implies that this enclosure had become a garbage dump by the end of TS.2 or what we are tentatively identifying as a room was actually an open space around which buildings clustered and in which trash collected.

Structure 128-25-1st, therefore, is a moderately large building surrounded by ephemeral constructions that stand apart from, but in some cases are connected to, this edifice. All units uncovered in Subops. 128C, O, and AB are fashioned primarily of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. The more substantial constructions, the perimeter foundations and facings of Strs. 128-25-1st and 128-Sub5-1st exhibit clear horizontal coursing of the larger rocks. Chinking stones are packed around their larger counterparts and all are set in a tan mud mortar. Units 13 and 18 are the most hphazardly built of all Str. 128-25-1st architecture. Lacking clear coursing, their stones appear to have been placed with relatively little care. Unit 18, sealing Room 1's northern door, is certainly a relatively late construction and U.13, in the Room 4 entry corridor, may also have been added near the occupation sequence's end. Units 19-21 are are single lines of cobbles for which issues of coursing are irrelevant. A single cut block was noted at the corner of U.7 and 8; this is the only piece of masonry found in Str. 128-25-1st or its immediately surrounding constructions.

Structure 128-26 is a seemingly isolated building on the northern flank of the northwest depression ca. 48m north of, and across the declivity from, Str. 128-24. The terrain surrounding Str. 128-26 rises gradually from south to north towards the basin, ascending 0.18m across 9.9m in that direction. Roughly 12m separates this building from the depression's rim. Clearing of approximately 26m2 within Subops. 128 AO, AU, and AT resulted in the exposure of ca. 75% of the edifice. Digging was pursued to maximum depths of 0.69m and 0.83m below modern ground surface into architectural fill and outside construction, respectively. A single building phase was revealed in the course of this work, which was conducted from April 24-May 15, 1998 under the direction of B.Carter.

Later in TS.2 a terrace was added on the south. This augmentation most likely took place in several stages the vestiges of which are preserved in the final version. Unit 1, a ca. 0.4m high facing, seems to have been the original southern terrace facing. This wall was traced for 1.5m east-west, exiting our excavations on the east and disappearing without resolution on the west. The westernmost observed 0.95m of U.1 was apparently dismantled down to the level of the final terrace floor, the construction retaining something close to its original height over only its easternmost portion. At least some U.1 stones, therefore, were probably recycled into final-phase construction. If the above interpretation is correct, this initial terrace would have extended 1.75m south from the platform's facing on this side (U.7). How U.1 articulated with the platform's eastern basal wall (U.4) is not clear as the former extends east of the point where the two should have joined (based on extrapolating the line of U.4 from the small portion of it exposed near the platform's northeast corner). Most of U.4 was not uncovered, however, and so this issue can not be resolved based on current evidence. The fill retained behind (north of) U.1 is a soft-compacted light gray soil (U.16).

Unit 1 was eventually succeeded by U.6, a 0.34m high facing the addition of which gave the southern terrace a north-south dimension of 2.55m. Unit 2 may have been the original western facing of the newly expanded terrace but was completely buried behind (east of) U.14 during a construction episode that expanded the terrace 0.2m to the west. Both U.2 and 14 abut U.7's southwest corner and most likely articulate with U.6, though the latter junction was not established. Unit 6 continues ca. 1.2m beyond the point where we would have anticipated it to corner with U.4, strongly hinting, as was the case with U.1, at more complex architectural forms on Str. 128-26-1st's east side than we expected or our excavations revealed. A 0.2m high construction (U.15) measuring 0.84m long projects 0.35m south from U.6. Unit 15 is situated slightly east of the building's center-line and may have been a step facilitating and channeling passage up and onto the southern terrace. Intriguingly, U.15 is built over by U.6, indicating the former's temporal priority vis a vis the latter. The so-called step, therefore, may have begun its use-life serving in another capacity and was transformed into a riser only with the encroachment of the southern terrace. The east side of the terrace summit is bounded by a 0.22m high by 0.25m wide foundation (U.13) that begins 0.35m north of U.6 and runs 1.25m to the north, overlapping U.1 in the process. A 0.3m long segment of U.13 extends northeast from the wall's northern end, hinting at the existence of another room in this direction (surviving portions of U.1, east of U.13, might have closed off the southern side of the putative compartment). Not enough of this segment of the terrace was cleared to test this possibility. Unit 11 may have continued U.13's line over the 0.95m separating the latter from U.7 on the north. Unfortunately, this wall was so poorly preserved that it was not possible to verify its existence and relate it to surrounding architecture. A 0.5m wide stone block (U.10) projects 0.7m west from U.13 just south of that footing's intersection with U.11. Unit 10 is overlain by U.13 and so likely predates the latter. Unit 12, a 0.38m high construction by 0.4m wide construction that projects 0.35m south of U.7, may create a small enclosure in the northeastern terrace quadrant with U.10. Unit 12 is abutted by U.7 on the east and west, indicating that the former may well be part of a construction predating even the earliest known version of Str. 128-26-1st. Given that U.12's base is 0.26m above that of U.7, it seems more likely that the two are contemporary, U.7 being added in two increments, broken by the raising of U.12. The space bounded by U.7, 10, 11, and 12 covers 0.9x1.6m and could have been entered through the 1.2m separating U.10 and 12.

A triangular-shaped pavement (U.17) is located in the southeast interior corner of the terrace. Unit 17 intersects U.2, 0.8m south of that facings junction with U.7 and encounters U.6, 4m west of its easternmost point.

By the conclusion of TS.2, Str. 128-26-1st was a platform standing 0.6-0.65m high, fronted by a 0.34m high terrace on the south, the whole building encompassing an estimated 5.1x5.7m and aligned 269-274 degrees. The platform's summit seems to have been taken up by a single earthen-floored room that covers ca. 7.2m2, its eastern foundation doubling as a 0.37m high by 1.5m wide stone-faced, L-shaped bench. The bench measures 2.05m on its longest dimension (north-south), a 0.6m wide element projecting 0.5m west from the construction's southwest corner giving the bench its "L" shape. The latter segment was added at some point after the principal, north-south running bench segment had been built. The southern terrace was added in stages, beginning with a 0.4m high earth-filled, stone-faced construction that extends 1.75m south from the platform. Portions of the southern terrace facing were seemingly dismantled prior to the next construction stage that extended the terrace southward. The most recent version is 0.34m high by 2.55m across. Eventually, the terrace fronted the entire southern platform flank, continuing for roughly 1.2m beyond the edifice's original eastern line. A 0.2m high by 0.84m long stone step extends 0.35m south from the terrace's southern facing and probably served to channel and facilitate movement onto this elevated surface. This riser may well have been part of an earlier construction the remainder of which was submerged during Str. 128-26-1st's southern expansion. All but the southwestern corner of the terrace is surfaced with earth. The latter area is covered by a stone pavement that assumes a triangular shape the legs of which are 1.45m (on the west) and 1.8m long (on the south). The terrace apparently supported an earthen-floored room in its northeastern interior corner. This enclosure covers 1.4m2, its interior accessible through a 1.2m wide gap in the southwestern corner. A second compartment might have been raised atop the eastern terrace margin. The few remnants of foundations recovered here hint at the existence of a cubicle measuring 0.7m north-south by, very approximately, 1.3m east-west (0.9m2). Footings delimiting rooms atop Str. 128-26-1st are 0.22-0.38m high by 0.25-0.56m across.

All components of Str. 128-26-1st are built of unmodified river cobbles the naturally flatter aspects of which are directed outwards. Chinking stones are used to fill in the gaps around the larger rocks in all units save U.13 where these smaller stone were not identified. This observation conforms to the general impression that U.13 is a late, relatively haphazard construction, the placement of its constituent rocks exhibiting less care than in other Str. 128-26-1st entities. No cut stone blocks were noted nor were any schist slabs recorded within uncovered portions of walls, floors, and foundations. One of the latter rocks was recovered among tumbled architectural debris (F.1) south of the structure. A brown mud mortar was used as a binding agent in all units.

We presume that S.1 represents the clay deposit that Site 128's occupants were searching for when they dug the Northwest Depression. The general basin shape defined by S.1, in this scenario, results from ancient clay mining activities. Recovery of gravel within surviving portions of the stratum may indicate that the exploitation of this resource ceased when pure clay deposits were no longer being located. Unfortunately, not enough of S.1 was uncovered to determine the original dimensions of the excavation sunk into this deposit, though it was at least 1.43m deep on the southeast. When the pit was dug is difficult to infer. We currently favor placement of this activity during the Late Classic II/III transition, in large part because the pit is filled with debris assignable to later intervals (Late Classic III/II, III, Early and Late Postclassic, see TS.3). A Late Classic II/III date for the excavation allows sufficient time for the depression to be filled by riverine sediments (TS.2) and continue use as a trash receptacle during Late Classic III/II following these inundations.

The only potential activity area revealed in excavations conducted in and around the Northwest Depression is a collection of irregularly shaped patches of burnt moderately fine-textured earth (F.1) located on the northwestern rim of the declivity 0.22-0.38m below modern ground surface at the S.4/5 interface. Some of the S.4 gravel protrudes into the fired soil but, overall, it appears that a thin level of S.5 was in place atop S.4 before the burning occurred. Feature 1 covers an exposed area of 0.96x1.36m and contains patches of ashy soil (10YR 6/3 and 3/4) surrounded by areas of fire-altered earth (7.5YR 6/8, 5YR 5/8). The behaviors that might have generated the above pattern are far from clear. Though similar soil discolorations have rarely been identified in Naco excavations, there is no sign that F.1 was the outcome of natural processes (e.g., burning of a tree root or recent intense firing of the soil above the burned area). few sherds were found in the area, none coming from beneath F.1, and there was no evidence that a structure once surrounded or was located in the immediate vicinity of this entity. Feature 1, therefore, appears to be the remains of an activity(ies) involving intense burning conducted away from standing architecture.

There is little evidence of clear soil development associated with the interval post-dating Site 128's abandonment. Stratum 4 continued to accumulate throughout the centuries, artifacts eroding out of deposits surrounding the depression (especially from around the structures on the southeast) gradually being incorporated within the upper segments of this layer. That the depression was still clearly visible in 1996, despite a protracted period of infilling, suggests that it was originally both deep and extensive.

In general, therefore, we hypothesize that excavations designed, in part, to extract S.1 clay were initiated late in TS.1 and were responsible for creating the observed depression. Possibly because of a declining quality of the clay encountered at deeper levels, most likely for other reasons as well, digging ceased by the beginning of TS.2 and the basin began to fill in. Initially, sand and, later, gravel were introduced, probably as a consequence of floods by the neighboring Rio San Bartolo. After this episode of hydraulic activity, the still very visible depression was used during early TS.3 as a dumping ground for garbage jettisoned by Site 128's occupants. At some point in this interval, activities involving open-air burning occurred on the declivity's northwestern margin. Following Site 128's abandonment, the depression continued to fill in with relatively fine-textured soils mixed with artifacts washing out from on and around the neighboring settlement. The latter process, which takes up most of TS.3, was apparently a gradual one undisturbed by the evidence of the significant flooding seen in TS.2.

The next phase represented in our collections is Late Classic I. Ceramics datable to this period are found in non-fill contexts around Strs. 128-3, 4, 7, 12, 13, 17, 21, 24, and 25. As was the case with Middle Preclassic remains, Late Classic I items are generally minority components of collection units dominated by later materials. No architecture or deposits can be assigned with any confidence to Late Classic I. The considerable overlap between Middle Preclassic and Late Classic I find-spots implies that there was some continuity in those areas within Site 128 favored for early occupation, though the considerable temporal gap separating the two periods does not argue for persistence of population over the intervening centuries. Once again, though the distribution of Late Classic I materials is widespread, the number of people involved may have been fairly small. The same conclusion is implied by the numbers and spatial disposition of Late Classic II diagnostics (recovered from excavations pursued in the immediate environs of Strs. 128-3, 4, 7, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 24, and 25). A single remnant of an ephemeral construction (U.18, found near Str. 128-13) is the only sign of construction that might fall within this interval. Several pits, found beneath Str. 128-13, may also have been dug during Late Classic II. These declivities were apparently dug in an effort to extract clay from this area. Sizable quantities of Late Classic II materials were also recovered from the ashy fill of Str. 128-3-1st, tentatively suggesting that a significant proportion of remains dating to this span was recycled into later architecture, thus masking the settlement's original size. Overall. Late Classic II may mark an increase in the size of Site 128's population and the range and intensity of activities pursued at the settlement.

The earliest substantial constructions recognized at the settlement were seemingly raised during the Late Classic II/III transition. Structures 128-4-3rd, 128-7-2nd, 128-13-2nd, 128-17-2nd, 128-18-2nd, the first known version of Str. 128-24-1st, and Str. 128-Sub4-1st may all have been built during this interval. The above edifices are uniformly modest buildings, consisting of relatively low stone-faced platforms and surface-level constructions. If our inferences are correct, however, considerable effort may have been devoted during Late Classic II into activities that lowered the landscape (excavation of the Northwestern Depression) rather than raised buildings above it. Excavation of the Northwestern Depression seemingly marks an expansion and intensification of digging activities, possibly integral to clay mining, that began during Late Classic II in the environs of Str. 128-13.

The pace and scale of construction picked up during Late Classic II/III and continued into Late Classic III. It was at this time that all of the investigated surface-visible buildings reached their final forms and nine of the ten sub-structures identified during excavations were built. There is no evidence that pits were dug during this span, though considerable amounts of trash accumulated within the Northwestern Depression and continued to collect northeast of Str. 128-13-1st. Monumental buildings were raised for the first time now, two of the largest studied examples being Strs. 128-4-1st and 128-3-1st. A significant renovation of the former was apparently interrupted and never resumed towards the end of Site 128's principal occupation (probably during Late Classic III). Early Postclassic debris was found in scant quantities throughout the settlement, every investigated edifice and the Northwestern Depression yielding diagnostics of this period. There is no basis for assigning any construction to the Early Postclassic, though we can not rule out the possibility that some renovations were conducted on extant buildings at this time. Use of Site 128 dwindled further during the succeeding Late Postclassic, small amounts of relevant material being found on and around Str. 128-3, 4, 13, 20, and among the debris settling out within the Northwestern Depression. Late Postclassic activities were seemingly concentrated around the monumental eastern plaza, and Str. 128-13 remains a popular locus of ancient behaviors as it had since the Middle Preclassic. A sizable Late Postclassic center (Site 144) lies within **m south-southeast of Site 128 and artifact scatters suggestive of late prehistoric middens are within **m of Str. 128-3 on the southeast. Most likely, Site 128 was incorporated within Site 144's settlement just prior to the Spanish Conquest, though it is not clear whether people actually lived at the earlier center or simply used it for other purposes. No Late Postclassic architecture or pure deposits dating to this episode were found.