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Excavations beneath the Copan Acropolis provide the most complete record known for the origins and development of an Early Classic Maya royal complex (ca. a.d. 420–650). Beginning at the time of the historically identified dynastic founder, the earliest levels include the first royal compound, centered on a small talud-tablero platform, a vaulted tomb that may be that of the founder, and an adjacent tomb that may be that of the founder's wife and dynastic matriarch. The timing and development of architecture provide evidence of the founding and growth of Copan as the capital of a Classic-period polity during the reigns of the first seven kings (a.d. 426–544). By the reigns of Rulers 8–11 (a.d. 544–628), the Early Classic Acropolis covered about the same area as its final version in the Late Classic. Documentation of specific Acropolis buildings provides evidence of the external connections that reinforced the authority of Copan's Early Classic kings. Building sequences reflect the perpetuation of political power by using important locations as symbolic links to the sacred past. The Early Classic Acropolis also provides new evidence for the beginnings of palace architecture that have important implications for the origins of Maya state-level organizations. Overall, the findings from the Early Classic Copan Acropolis promise to significantly advance our understanding of the origins and development of Maya state systems.

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Interpreting the social meaning of polity center architecture opens a window onto the organization and history of the society responsible for its construction. Our research is designed to examine the form, function, and organization of Copan's Acropolis architecture. Through a unique program of tunneling, surface excavation, and architectural recording, more than 400 years of monumental architecture (c. A.D. 400-800) are being documented and analyzed to comprehend the evolution of the Acropolis and its role in the Copan polity. The dramatic erosion cut through the eastern Acropolis edge allows ready access to all major construction levels and presents a rare opportunity for extensive exposure of superimposed architectural plans. Our tunneling excavation methods provide a more complete, less destructive, and more efficient means of such documentation. Exposed architecture is being recorded by a computer-assisted mapping program, its first application to the sequential development of Classic Maya architecture, and its first use in tunnel excavations. As a result, our research is documenting the architectural transformation of the Acropolis during the time of Copan's increasing sociopolitical complexity and is doing so at a level of detail impossible to achieve by most projects using traditional archaeological techniques. The correspondence between architectural data and data sets from epigraphy, iconography, and settlement survey is being evaluated in light of current discussion on the political and economic trajectory of Copan in particular, and in general, the architectural expression of political power and integration in complex societies. 145