ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the nature of political and economic relations between that region and the Valley of Guatemala during the Middle and Late Preclassic. During the Late Preclassic Verbena and Arenal phases, Kaminaljuyu emerged as the vibrant core of one of the most important polities of the southern Maya area. The chapter considers whether archaeological evidence supports the establishment by Kaminaljuyu of outposts in the Kaqchikel region during the Late Preclassic, a period during which most researchers consider Kaminaljuyu to have been organized as a complex chiefdom. It describes evidence documenting the earliest occupation of the region during the Archaic, Early Preclassic, and Middle Preclassic periods, growth and expansion during the first part of the Late Preclassic period, and large-scale, but not universal, demographic collapse during the second half of the Late Preclassic period. The chapter discusses Preclassic settlement and interaction, with a focus on relations between the Valley of Guatemala and the eastern Kaqchikel highlands.
