ABSTRACT
By at least the Early Classic (c. A.D . 300-600), and possibly by the Protoclassic (c. A.D . 1-300), Las Higueras almost certainly was dominated by El Pital, 32 kilometers distant. It was probably one of several modest centers in an intensively cultivated area of canal systems located on estuary and lagoon margins. During the Late Classic, it would have been in the political orbit of Aparicio, a forti fied El Taj in-related center about 9 kilometers away.
