Thanks to a series of radiocarbon dates, later run into a statistical model, the project can elaborate a chronological sequence of the site, affirming that the first phase of structure A-20, dating to about 1000 BC, represents the earliest example of E-Group compound in the Maya lowlands. Although other Maya sites have yielded such early dates for their first occupation, the Ceibal ceremonial complex predates other known examples of E-Groups in the Maya lowlands by two-three centuries, since the oldest known examples, the Mundo Perdido complex at Tikal and the E-Group at Cival date to the late 9th -8th century BC.
At Ceibal, Inomata and colleagues conclude that this ceremonial pattern was probably a stage for communal ritual since it is documented during a period when marked social inequality is absent and only in successive phases these platforms grew into pyramid complexes where spatial segregation was more emphasized.
