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chapter 11 Structure 10: Feasting and Village Festivals Linda A. Brown and Andrea I. Gerstle Structure 10 is located only 5 m west of Household 1 and 5 m east of Structure 12 (Fig. 1.1). Architectural components and the artifact assemblage suggest that Structure 10 was a special-use building which served a nonresidential function. Speci fically, Structure 10 was utilized for production of community festivals and the storage of festival paraphernalia. In the following section, a general description of the Structure 10 architecture is presented, followed by more detailed descriptions of its four main areas and associated features and artifacts. The descriptive data, except where otherwise noted, are based on preliminary excavation reports (Gerstle 1992a, 1993), ceramic analyses by Beaudry-Corbett (1992, 1993), and lithic analyses by Sheets (1992b, 1993a). Architecture Structure 10 is a thatched-roof, wattle-and-daub (bajareque ) building constructed on a square platform and oriented approximately 23° east of magnetic north (Fig. 11.1). The superstructure has two rooms: an east (front) room and a west (back) room. A wall, constructed outside of this superstructure, encloses the east and north sides of the building, forming two corridors. The only entrance into the structure is at the west end of the north walled corridor. The superstructure was constructed on a square 3.7 m clay platform. Four solid clay columns, noticeably larger than those used in the construction of domestic buildings, and bajareque walls were built directly on this platform. The eastern side of the superstructure was primarily left open, with only a 95 cm long wall at its southern end. A low clay floor and walls were constructed along the north and east sides of the superstructure, thereby enclosing the building on two sides. All full-height sections of the exterior side of the corridor walls—the horizontal pole internal support system for the bajareque—were left exposed, while the interior wall surfaces were finished with clay.We do not know whether this exposed bajareque was used as a special building technique or whether residents were in the process of resurfacing the exterior corridor walls and were interrupted by the eruption. Interestingly, the wall section situated between the middle and north columns was quite low, with a height of only 69–70 cm (Fig. 11.2). The only access to Structure 10 was through a pole door located at the western end of the north corridor. Those entering, once inside the building, had to wind their way around to the east, then to the south, to enter the front room of the superstructure . From there, the west back room was accessed by passing through the doorway in an interior dividing wall. The west room floor is not level and is higher (30 cm) than the east room floor. A low bench (30 cm high) is located along the north wall. The unusually low height of this bench, as well as the overall higher elevation of the west room floor level, suggests that at some point prior to the eruption the west room floor was raised, burying most of the bench. All walled areas of Structure 10 were roofed using grass thatch. Intermittent linear depressions, apparently a drip line, suggest the total roofed area was 53 m2. 98 brown and gerstle figure 11.1. Structure 10 ground plan. figure 11.2. Artist’s reconstruction of Structure 10, looking southwest. Illustration by Karen Kievet. the north corridor The north corridor is long and quite narrow, measuring 4.55 × 1.75 m. Artifacts and features indicate that this area was used for food preparation. Two hearths, three large utilitarian Guazapa open bowls, an unusually large Guazapa jar, a mano fragment , a metate, and a worked stone were found in use or storage contexts in the north corridor. Additionally, several discarded items, including an obsidian macroblade and several sherds, were partially embedded in the floor in this area. Hearth 1 was immediately outside the doorway on the lower paved area, while Hearth 2 was inside the corridor. Both hearths were made from four large, unmodified river cobbles. A large jar was found in situ directly on top of Hearth 1, and several shelled corncobs had been discarded nearby. Hearth 2 was along the north wall near a metate mounted on forked wooden supports. The east end of the metate was 16 cm higher than the west end; hence we infer that the user faced west toward Household 1 while grinding, standing in a very limited space (30...

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