Burying the Dead during the Maya Postclassic period: Saxe, Binford and Goldstein’s continued relevance to mortuary analysis

•Maya osteological and mortuary patterns reveal regional social organization.•24 Terminal Classic (AD 800–1000) & 54 Postclassic (AD 1000–1500) period burials.•Osteological metric and non-metric evidence of population continuity.•Mortuary evidence of status differences between two Postclassic period communities.•Cemeteries established for the first time during the Postclassic period.