One of the biggest problems in Maya archaeology is the difficulty of ascertaining the function of structures. The inability to correlate architecture with function has impeded our understanding of the behavior and domestic activities of the Late Classic Maya. Exhibiting considerable architectural variation within a single compound, Group 10L-2, Copan, Honduras, presented an unusual opportunity to investigate this problem Group 10L-2, the residential compound of Yax Pasah, the sixteenth king in the Copan dynasty, comprises three functionally distinct architectural complexes. Plaza A is understood to be largely an elite ceremonial complex; Plaza B as consisting principally of elite living and sleeping buildings; and the adjacent area of simple platforms as the houses or work areas of low-status retainers The analysis of artifacts from each of these three complexes, and the intensive analysis of use-wear on the abundant obsidian and chert artifacts, allowed a comprehensive understanding of functional differences in the use of space during the Middle Coner phase, when Group 10L-2 is argued to have been the royal residential compound. The same procedures also illuminated how these differences were no longer maintained during the Late Coner phase, as space at Group 10L-2 was conflated to reflect the growing poverty of the royal inhabitants in the troubled decades before the collapse This multifaceted investigation allowed an opportunity for the identification of correlations between categories of architecture and artifacts that improve our understanding of the behavior and domestic activities of the Late Classic Maya
