ON THE ISSUE OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE ANCIENT MAYAN SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHEASTERN PETÉN (GUATEMALA), 7 <sup>th</sup> - 9 <sup>th</sup> centuries AD
The paper deals with the problem of settlement structure in southeastern Petén, Guatemala, the ancient Maya Classical period (the 7 th - 9 th centuries AD). In our attention there will be a small area of several hundred square kilometers, combining the basin of the Poshte River, the upper stream of the Mopan River and the area to the east of the upper stream of the San Juan River. The choice of this region is conditioned due to two principal factors: the extent of its research and high concentration of settlement units of different rank and status. According to the author, the model which explains the settlement structure, its internal hierarchy and the changes occurred during the classical period of Maya history was suggested by a famous Guatemalan archaeologist H. la Porte, is not quite relevant and requires some conceptual criticism and comments, and that is the aim of this work. Hopefully, in the future they will allow coming to a fundamentally new understanding of the aforesaid problem.