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307 The group comprises Str. Q-169 to Q-173a, inclusive. Str. Q-169 (260 S, 385 W), as judged from its size, its superior masonry, and its position less than 100 m from the Temple of Kukulcan, was almost certainly the residence of a chief or priest of outstanding importance; the other buildings in the group appeared possibly to have been dependent on Str. Q-169. The whole, therefore, presented an opportunity of studying the functions of a group of buildings believed to consist of the residence of a leading member of the community and its dependencies. The latter include what we believe to have been the private oratory of the noble or priest; and in that connection the function of the family oratory in Maya life, past and present, is discussed at some length. Str. Q-169 Str. Q-169, the main building of the group and the presumed residence of the most important members of the family, stands on the south side of the court with its main doorway facing northward into the plaza. It is roughly L-shaped with the top of the L to the east, and is divided into four rooms (Figs. 25.1a,e; 25.2a–f). The main room, facing the plaza, has a fourcolumn entrance. A doorway, partly blocked by a bench, gives access to the eastern part of the terrace . No stairway leading to the terrace opposite this doorway could be made out, but the edge of the substructure there is so badly fallen that the former existence of a flight of steps is not excluded. Two doorways in the medial wall lead from the front room to a long rear room, and a third leads to a small rear room to the west of this. Alongendroom,formingthebottomoftheL,faces west with its main entrance divided by a column and a pier. The room could also be entered from the north or from the main room. A doorway in the east wall leads into the small rear room mentioned above. C u r r e n t R e p o r t s Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Archaeology No. 25 August 1955 A Noble’s Residence and Its Dependencies at Ma yapán DonalD E. Thompson anD J. Eric s. Thompson DonalD E. Thompson anD J. Eric s. Thompson 308 The building contains six benches: four in the main room and two in the west room, one of which is L-shaped. The long back room houses a small altar with a very low platform in front. These are on the central axis of the building, almost in line with the center of the four-column doorway and with the middle one of the three doorways in the medial wall. Practically on the same axis but slightly to the west is the tomb discussed later. The terrace on which the building stands is also L-shaped. The front staircase, practically centered on the main axis, is composed of four steps of heavily plastered stone of Puuc style of workmanship, the fifth step being the terrace itself. Square block balustrades stand on either side. The east side of the terrace, and probably the south side as well, had been widened , as earlier construction showed. Against the west terrace wall there are three steps. The purpose of these, whether to give access to the west room or a small shrine, was not determined. The step up to the terrace is rather high, and the top step quite wide. It is, of course, possible that another step had once been present and was subsequently lost. The purpose of the thick wall just north of the steps was not determined. It leads to the terrace of another structure . Likewise the very low retaining walls farther to the north serve no recognizable purpose. Possibly they were terrace walls for small thatched outbuildings, or perhaps for a small kitchen garden, the equivalent of the small fruit and vegetable gardens grown by present-day Maya women. On the northwest corner a fourstep staircase occupies a notch in the terrace. The north side of the stairway is badly fallen, but a balustrade may once have been present. West of this, on the north side, a small pier like block of masonry juts out from the terrace to no apparent purpose. masonry. The terrace wall along the front of the structure is of fairly well-dressed stone. The top course projects 3 to 5 cm to form...

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