An Institutional Perspective on Prehispanic Maya Residential Variation: Settlement and Community at San Estevan, Belize

This article explores implications of a pattern of residential settlement found at the prehispanic Maya community of San Estevan in northern Belize. Although an awareness of the decision-making behavior of domestic groups helped to isolate the pattern, a household approach cannot by itself account for the overall community structure that emerged from the differential distribution of San Estevan's residential forms. Making sense of the organizational forces underlying this distribution requires a more comprehensive set of explanatory tools drawn from conceptualizations of institutions and their powers to shape the spaces of social practice.