Str. M7-32 was even more
elaborately built than Str. M7-22. Erick Ponciano and Estela Pinto, who excavated this building, revealed a
structure-wide front room by removing thick layers of rubble from the collapsed
vault. This room led to a spacious center room, which was connected with the
north room by a narrow doorway.The
south room was facing sideways to the south.
The bench of the center room was in a C-shape, and had niches under its
northern and southern wings. The
capstone of the northern niche was removed, and an adjacent area of the bench
floor was broken. Dense deposits of
sherds and other artifacts filled this niche without a capstone and the
adjacent hole in the bench. This clearly shows that the bench was
intentionally destroyed before the masonry roofs collapsed. The dense deposits
also covered the entire area in front of the bench. The bench floor, on the other hand, was virtually clean of
artifacts. The nature of these deposits
appears to be similar to those associated with the east front room and the
westernmost room of Str. M7-22. Notable
in the deposit of Str. M7-32 were fragments of human crania and other
bones. These deposits, blocking the
access to the main chamber of the building, do not seem to be middens left by
squatters. In particular, covering the
destroyed parts of the bench with broken objects appears to have been a
symbolic act. |