their counterparts in ancient copan had only stone tools.the metates are worked into rough shape here at the quarry to make them easier to transport back to the village for finishing. the transport system is hardly hi-tech, but it is certainly more efficient than what the ancient copan metateros had available. the maya carried everything on their backs because donkeys, horses, oxen and other beasts of burden did not exist here until the spanish brought them in the 16th century. what interests archaeologists most is that these modern metateros are also farmers, so they work at their craft only part-time. the ancient metateros may have done the same. filomeno gabriel mateo has only enough land to feed his family and a few animals. there is not enough to grow surplus produce to trade for other goods. interpreter: there's definitely not enough to sell, but the harvest does provide enough for the chickens and even the donkeys. we go and get firewood, and the donkey must be in good condition. also, we raise pigs. we may sell a pig, and we also bri

at copan, that king was 18 rabbit. the hieroglyphic staircase was built by his successors in a symbolic attempt to assert the status of copan's ruling dynasty. so in fact, we believe the stairway is a beautiful example of political propaganda. they were trying to make up for the fact that they lost the thirteenth king in war by projecting an image of all of the copan kings as glorious and powerful warriors. keach: and so the elaborate inscriptions of the ancient maya were created largely to bolster the power of their rulers. 3,000 years before the maya, and thousands of miles away in ancient mesopotamia, the sumerians used writing for a very different purpose -- the creation of political, religious and literary texts. and the primary use -- economic record-keeping. i think one reason why sumer had such a different orientation with regard to its writing system is that their economic system was very much more complicated. they had a much more urban-based economy with a lot more craft specialization and a lot more trade.

keach: the copan valley lies 100 kilometers north of ceren. archaeologists began a complete survey of the valley on foot. after 10 years of painstaking work, they have discovered the remains of 4,500 structures. más a usted... cinco centímetros. keach: archaeologist william sanders has been leading excavations in the copan valley since 1980. sanders: we decided to do a series of large-scale excavations out in the countryside to get an idea what the farming population was like. what kind of houses did they live in ? what was their lifestyle like ? probably 80% of the population of copan was in that social category. keach: unlike ceren, the ancient houses of copan had been exposed to centuries of erosion. very few artifacts remained intact or in their original location. still the team finds significant clues. in one structure, the team discovers a razed platform of stone, the remnants of a sleeping bench. in another, they find evidence for a kitchen -- shattered obsidian blades that once were knives and broken pieces of pottery that were once us

the copan valley, several miles wide, is watered by the copan river. today the fertile bottom lands near the ancient palaces of the elite lords are owned by a few wealthy families. on the hillsides, peasants try to eek out a living on inferior land. the archaeologists speculate that this same pattern would have existed in ancient times. by surveying the hillsides, they have discovered the homes of the ancient maya commoners. 3 meters and 80 centimeters. let's get it on the map. by mapping each house site, they create a picture of maya settlement. over two-thirds of the population, mostly commoners, lived in the hills far from the acropolis on the compounds of the elite who controlled the best lands. to confirm that the ancient residents of the hillsides were farmers, archaeologists employ new scientific tools. using samples of mud from a hillside swamp, a picture can be taken of agriculture thousands of year ago. each of these microscopic flecks of pollen contains clues to their identity -- a characteristic shape for each variety of plant. the pollen r