Mayan buildings lack of advanced technologies; the stones seem to be obtained from local quarries. Most often utilized was structural limestone which was easy enough to be worked with stone tools. Mortars applied both for construction and stucco finishing, consisted of crushed, burnt and mixed limestone with similar properties to the cement. Later on, improvements in quarrying techniques reduced the necessity for this limestone in combination with stucco; stones began to fit very well in structural elements as posts and lintel roofs. In common houses, wooden poles, adobe and thatch were the primary materials, being limestone in the second place, and eventually, bricks. When buildings were completed, the Mayans covered them with stucco (lime plus sand) to smooth any imperfection, on the walls and ceilings that were painted later. Decoration in relief molded in stucco, reached a high degree of perfection in Palenque, where an example of an admirable stucco sculpture, is the god of Death.
God of Death. From http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1123-the-maya-civilization-cities-of-the-maya
In march 2009, it was published the recent archaeological digs up in Guatemala. A monumental set of stucco panels was unearthed. It seems to depict one of the oldest creation myths in human history, the Popol Vuh, the main focus of Mayan religion. The myth precedes the Christian Genesis by several centuries.
“The panels describe how the ancient Mayan gods created the world and then sought to populate it with living creatures including “mud people” and “wooden people.” Their attempts in this direction failed, and they were not satisfied with what they had created. So, finally, the human race was brought into existence, and came to inhabit the region where El Mirador, the place where the digs have been made, now lies. Spanning several hundreds of thousands of acres all around is the Serpent Kingdom.
The scene, according to Richard Hansen, the Idaho State University professor that has detailed the find in an official release, is one that blends early aspects of Mayan beliefs with cosmology, thus making it unique. Until now, all known pieces of information on the Mayan saga have been collected from a single source, but the new pictures seem to date as back as 300 BC, which makes them older, and thus more reliable. The Mayan Late Preclassic period stretches from three centuries before Christ to the first century AD”.
Dr. Hansen was a consultant for actor and director Mel Gibson, for his movie “Apocalypto”.
Regardless Mayans’ constructions technology, mysticism was always involving their architecture. To illustrate it, I am reproducing here Mexican Architect Ignacio Gonzalez’s story ¨Renovación¨ about the preludes to the Mayan Fire Ceremony. Arch González is a former professor of architectural design at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Universidad Anáhuac, also a great essayist and writer, author of the books "Arquitectura y Semiótica", "Análisis de Estructuras arquitectónicas. Resistencia de Materiales", "Guía, proceso y seguimiento de la problemática arquitectónoca. Manual para elaborar Tesis e investigaciones".In ¨Renovación¨, the narrator seems to be a young person who takes care of his offerings, following the directions of the old and experienced Tata (father) Hu Banhum. The ceremony’s ceramic vessels and plates invoking gods will be also used to configure a new floor.
Arch. Gonzalez explained to me that this is a fiction story but based in a real ancient ceremony. And the practice of adding fragments of plates and vessels to the mortars has been pretty common. I have preferred not to translate the story and leave it in the original Spanish, as González has the ability to write in the local dialects.
Structural materials, and religious practices are involved in the ceremony and in the architecture.
Mayan stucco in very good conditions. From http://www.gmcp.net/photo/honduras/honduras-Pages/Image48.html
Mayan stucco panel described by Dr. Hansen. From http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mayan-Stucco-Panels-Dug-Up-in-Guatemala-106722.shtml
Pakal mask, from Farm 4
Mayan stucco relief in the Museum at Palenque. http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/maya.htm
¨Cuando el cielo todavía estaba vacío, la casta sacerdotal Ah kin diseminó la semilla del sabio verdadero; sembró el maíz por todos los rincones, mismos que son purificados siempre que transcurren 4 veces 13 haab tunes o 52 años (que es lo mismo).
Tata Hu Banhum nació dos haab tunes antes de la última ceremonia del fuego nuevo; bueno, así le llaman los altos dignatarios del amurallado, porque nosotros, los que somos gente del pueblo, celebramos nuestro propio renacer o gran purificación.
Dice el tata Hu que casi no se acuerda de dichos festejos, pero como cada 13 hab tunes la tierra quiere dormirse y tenemos que hacerla despertar de nuevo, él es quien nos ha instruido a todos acerca de lo que debemos hacer en esta cuarto ciclo, dice que porque el dador de la vida ya lo instruyó.
En lo personal, yo ya adquirí dos platitos especiales para la ocasión; mientras que ma' Lijnaa ya tiene dispuesta toda la vajilla. Ella también ha recibido consejos, sobre todo de su hermana Joob Lij, ya que trabajó por un buen tiempo para una de las principales Señoras del palacio.
Para las limpias rituales dediqué 2 veces 20 lunas a preparar el temazcal cerquita del ojo de agua; sí, a lo que comúnmente le decimos chultún. Así, de este rincón del cielo al que nos debemos, brotará, como resultado de la molienda espesa y a través de nuestras pieles, un producto líquido como sudor lechoso originado en parte por el "preparado" del alucinante que durante 60 lunas nos es permitido ingerir, 30 antes y 29 después del gran torneo de la pelota.
Los Señores del amurallado son los únicos que pueden degustar esas sustancias inteligentes en cualquier época.
Lo mismo sucede con el estuco: sólo sacerdotes y altos dignatarios lo pueden aplicar en pisos y paredes. Nosotros debemos utilizar a lo mucho arena arcillosa.
Entonces, en las festividades, romperemos toda la vajilla e iremos mezclando todos los pedazos con la masa lodosa del nuevo piso. Por cierto, mis dos recipientes cerámicos invocan, uno a mi dios del viento y el otro, al de la fertilidad.
El rincón del barrio de los almendros se vestirá de místico por unos cuantos días, mientras que en el palacio amurallado se construirá el fuego nuevo que tanto ayudará a nuestras vidas¨.
Here, (left corner below) we see a recurring type of vessel. Sometimes vessels were used for ¨sangrías¨. This picture was sent to me by arch. Ignacio Gonzalez from http://www.planetasapiens.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Dintel15_Yaxchilan.jpg
Tudor Vieru. Mayan Stucco Panels Dug Up in Guatemala. The remains shed new light on the ancient civilization. March 13, 2009
http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/maya.htm
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1123-the-maya-civilization-cities-of-the-maya
Look for arch. Ignacio Gonzalez´s narratives and poems:
http://imagenarro.ning.com/profiles/blogs/renovacion-1
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