outside this ritual center were the structures of lesser nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines: the less sacred and less important structures had a greater degree of privacy. Outside the constantly evolving urban core were the less permanent and more modest homes of the common people. Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great monuments and causeways. In this case, the open public plazas were the gathering places for the people and the focus of the urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. Only in the Late Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic. In the Postclassic in Peten, Guatemala, smaller protected settlements emerged in defensible locations, for example on peninsulas and islands in the Petén Basin. These sites had diminutive plazas, and smaller ceremonials structures, and the canons of architectural design were modified from the previous Classic period, but were recognizable designs shifts from the Classic patterning. Building process All evidence suggests that most stone buildings existed on top of a platform that varied in height from less than a meter to 45 meters depending on importance of the building. A flight of stone steps often split the large platforms on one side, contributing to the common bi-symmetrical appearance of Maya architecture. Depending on the prevalent stylistic tendencies of an area, these platforms most often were built of a stucco and cut stone exterior filled with densely packed gravel. As is the case with many other Maya reliefs, those on the platforms often were related to the intended purpose of the residing structure. Thus, as the sub-structural platforms were completed, the grand residences and temples of the Maya were constructed on the solid foundations of the platforms. As all structures were built, little attention seems to have been given to their utilitarian functionality and much to external aesthetics; however, a certain repeated aspect, the corbelled arch, was often utilized to mimic the appearance and feel of the simple Maya hut. Though not an effective tool to increase interior space, as it required thick stone walls to support the high ceiling, some temples utilized repeated arches, or a corbelled vault, to construct what the Maya referred to as pibnal, or sweatbath, such as those in the Temple of the Cross at