HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA IN THE ...

65construction, the movement of material may have been impeded by these elements. Thiswould justify a designation of two separate spaces at that juncture. The first roomextends from Lot CNP2-02-1 to CNP2-07-1. This point was chosen because of a naturalbend in the cave before the next lot. Lot CNP2-08-1 to CNP2-12-1 represents thesecond room, which also accounts for a natural bend in the cave’s layout. The nextroom contains Lots CNP2-13-1 to CNP2-19-1. The sharp bend at the end of the thirdroom was a good starting point for the fourth room, which extends from Lot CNP2-20-1to CNP2-28-1. The final room contains the remaining lots, which include CNP2-27-1 toCNP2-33-1. These rooms may facilitate a better interpretation of the skeletal materialwhen conducting MNI and PNI estimates, than would the operation as a whole.The MNIs and PNIs for Cueva de Río El Duende were calculated on five levels.The MNI estimates at the level of the lot and suboperation produced identical figures,thus both will be considered as one level. The lot/suboperation produced an estimate of74 individuals – 3 adult males, 53 adults of indeterminate age and sex, 6 young adults, 1juvenile, five children, and six additional subadults (Table 4). A pair of complete, robustfemoral shafts represents an adult male from Lot CNP2-07-1. The left femur may haveevidence of bone modification. The other adult male was identified from the distal halfof a left femur found in Lot CNP2-21-1. The proximal half of the same bone wasrecovered from Lot CNP2-08-1, about 150 m away. This indicates that natural and/orhuman agents may have displaced the proximal or the distal portions of this femurconsiderably. This occurrence illustrates that the room divisions may not be an effectivemeans of accounting for the movement of skeletal elements. The final adult male from