This monograph reports the results of the QuiriguA Project Site Periphery Program, five seasons (1975-1979) of archaeological survey and excavation in the 96 km2 immediately adjoining the classic Maya site of QuiriguA. Ashmore identifies and helps us understand where and how the people of QuiriguA lived. She presents detailed material evidence in two data catalogues, for the floodplain settlement adjoining QuiriguA and for sites in the wider periphery.

The work situates QuiriguA settlement firmly in a regional context, benefiting from the extraordinary abundance of information amassed in southeastern Mesoamerica since 1979. It sheds new light on the political, economic, and social dynamics of the region including the sometimes-fractious interactions between QuiriguA, its overlords at Copan, and people elsewhere in the Lower Motagua Valley and beyond.