ANCIENT MAYA HINTERLAND SETTLEMENTS EAST OF LA MILPA: HUN TUN, MEDICINAL TRAIL, AND LA MILPA EAST

The hinterland east of La Milpa Center is distinctive of an upland landscape with bajos on its edges, a few formal courtyard groups, monuments, and numerous informal clusters of mounds. Multiple landscape modifications such as terraces, depressions, chultuns, and linear features are present in these eastern hinterland settlements as well. This paper will provide an overview of the excavations into specific hinterland communities: La Milpa East, Hun Tun, and the Medicinal Trail Community. Associated aguadas, or seasonal water holes, and dry depressions are present as well and will be discussed to document variable strategies of ancient Maya economy and water management. Archaeological evidence contributes to an interpretation of the function of these hinterland settlements and the role they played in contributing to the larger, regional influence of the La Milpa polity.