Iconic Architecture – The Architecture of the Mayan Civilization
On our quest for knowledge, we are digging deep to learn more about Mayan Architecture and its trademark styles and symbols. All in an effort to allow for the culture and genius to be expressed once again in countries like present day Belize, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Unfortunately one of the most informative videos we came across only gave information from a european standpoint and not a majority view point of those people living on the land near or around the Mayan ancestral grounds. Again, we are on a search for knowledge so we are sure this will occur.
We note the european standpoint because in the narrators mentioning the location of the ruins they referred to Mayan ancestral grounds being located in the jungle multiple times. Anyone with any respect would know that the ancestors considered that area their home and to call it a jungle would be an insult. Not to mention backwards european ideology used the term "jungle" in a negative sense when speaking about melanin-efficient people worldwide as a way to disrespect their home.
Just the same we will focus on the architecture, but with hopes that you will realize that whatever you read on Mayan architecture - that is that persons perspective only. And the same goes for us in our research and presentation.
We will not give dates because the current timeline used in this world currently is based on christianity and is not accurate in relation to the Mayans only towards those upholding a european ideology. We found it odd that most of the commentators on Mayan architecture were western professors and none from Belize or Guatemala only Mexico, very perplexing. That is akin to visiting Minnesota and asking people from Nevada all about the winters in Minnesota and its history.
Also note the worship of the sun and the known belief that those huemans with melanin benefit greatly from it. That along with other factors drove the openness of the architecture created by the Mayans. Let us make mention that to us columbus as a period in time i.e. "Pre-Colombian" is disrespectful to all of our ancestors that he slaughtered.
MAYAN EMPIRE
LOCATION
Present Day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Yucatan Peninsula
Sub-Tropic Environment in the Central American Rainforest
TOPOGRAPHY
Subtropic
Yikin Chan Kawiil the great architect
FOUNDER/ARCHITECT/GENIUS/INNOVATOR
Yikin Chan Kawiil - Introduced the first stepped pyramid in the west (just like Amehotep in the east in Egypt, Afrika)
Temple of the giant jaguar was the first temple pyramid at a height of 150'-0" in Tikal (in current day Belize)
The Kingdom of Tikal had the highest temple at 210'-0"
Beautiful Nubian Mayan Murals (Nubian = Melanin-Efficient)
FACTS IN RELATION TO MAYAN ARCHITECTURE, CULTURAL IDEOLOGIES, AND INNOVATION
More Hueman labor = More Value
Temples were used to house the royal dead and host community functions
Commoners buried their love ones beneath or in the back of their houses
Huemans and gods were created by a powerful woman who held the title "The First Mother"
Used the golden ratio throughout the design, floor plan, elevations, and roof plan
Mayan Inscriptions
Inscriptions were made throughout the structures to immortalize culture and history
Coated sacred areas of crypts in the temple pyramids with a red substance called "Cinn-O-Bar" which was poisonous to the touch. This was to prevent desecration of the temples through theft
Temple Pyramids mimic those pyramids in Egypt, Afrika (Read "They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America" or Watch Video)
Mayan and African Architecture Relation
Discovered proportions (square root of a rectangle) and the golden mean (a natural occurring proportion that can be seen in animals, nature and the hueman body as 1:1.618)
Developed the concept of zero
Beautiful Chichen Itza on the Yucutan Pennisula
Building location was aligned with the celestial bodies or stars and the solstices (winter, summer) particularly the astrological observatory in the Yucutan Pennisula at Chichen Itza; the focus was on the present day planets called Venus and the Moon
At the Chichen Itza there are 52 panels on each side which equals the 52 year cycle and 9 terraced levels which equals the 18 month haab (nine on each side)
CONCEPT OF TIME
Astrology, Religion, and Time drove the architectural design
Mayans had interlocking calendars
The Detailed, Accurate, and Beautifully crafted Mayan Calendar
Tzolkin = 260-day religious calendar
Haab = 365-day astronomical calendar (18 months, each month having 20 days, and final 5-day month to complete 365)
When the serpents shadow appeared that meant the rainy season was beginning (Our history is so rich)
Temple Axis aligned so that specific shadows cast symbolic shapes twice a year which signified the changing of a season
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Stepped pyramids were constructed of Limestone and strengthed using organic stucco locally harvested called luk' or sas
Luk'
Organic adhesive extracted from the cortex of a local tree named Holol, mixed with burned limestone, and Sascab, a natural occurring mineral that does not need to be burned
Art
Beautiful and Colorful Mayan Mural
For mural paintings, this mixture was the inner layer and the outer layer had a finer cooked Limestone mix with Barita, also a natural mineral that is finer that the sascab
Stormwater Drainage
Used subterranean aqueducts which were lined with limestones to divert excess rainfall (rains daily) to one central location
Mayan Aqueduct
Created water pressure by narrowing the aqueducts which were then used to supply baths, sweat baths, and pools
STRUCTURAL
Employed the corbeled vault
Since the corbeled vault limited interior space and light this caused the walls to be wider
Corbeled vault used structurally in the temples
Used the corbeled method in groups creating a honeycomb effect which allowed for more interior space
Utilized round columns with a square capital and base which was filled with rubble
Flat roof tops were achieved using stucco and wood
Roofs
Open to above (framed sky) which allowed for direct worship to the Sun god and other gods found in nature
Roofs were flat and made with cedar beams overlaid with mortar
Gable Roofs
Site
Buildings were usually aligned on a east-west alignment or orientation
Buildings were aligned East to West with the rise and setting of the sun
Temples often formed a perfect isosceles triangle (a triangle with (at least) two equal sides)
Site Access
- City site plan layout
Maya cities were built by being divided into quarters by two avenues which cross-cut each other at right angles
Typical road section between kingdoms in Mayan territories
Developed roads thirty feet wide that were filled with unfinished stones and then smoothed out with stucco
The walls on each side of the road were 8 feet in height and perfectly straight and allowed for easy trade between the north and the south
Acoustics
Depressions in the stone walls serve as amplifiers of the voice which are broadcast in all directions to allow sound transmission of great distances
Incorporated a voice transmission system by having a hole penetrate from the top of the temple to the crypt where people could speak with the spirit of the deceased royalty beneath the temple
Used sound engineering to replicate the sound of a highly revered bird (see video)
Another example is the famous ballcourt at Chichen itza, that he had a closer look at. There he found the echo of clapping to be resembling the sound of a Jaguar, another holy animal for the Maya – and especially interesting in the symbolism of a ballgame.
Building Re-Use
Frequently new temples were built over existing structures.
Pib' Nah (sweat baths or modern day sauna)
Sweat baths had stone walls and ceilings
The interior rooms had low ceilings, a small doorway and a hearth for holding the heated stones
Water was poured onto the hot stones to create steam
A small hole in the roof provided escape for the smoke and steam
Temperatures reached up to over 200 degrees
In-Between Commoners and Royalty
Houses were made of stone with wooden roofs, to house the upper and middle classes of society.
Nah or commoners residence
SITE PLAN
Typical Nah or Commoner Residential Site Plan Layout
Groups of four facing one another
FLOOR PLAN
Typical Nah House Layout
stucco patio in front
round or square building footprint
gabled hay roof
clay covered or stucco exterior and interior walls
two rooms minimum
interior floor finish was stucco
the deceased were buried under the house or in the backyard
The backyard was where rubbish was placed and used as fertilizer
Interior
decorated with murals over plaster or stucco
a hueman made hole, with its walls covered with stucco is where residents placed precious objects and food
Architectural Order
The higher up you were in the order the closer you lived to the temples and the better constructed your house was
(High) Priests, prophets, warriors, public servants
(Middle) Artists, architects, artisans, and traders
(Lower) Farmers, masons, loggers
Art
Mayan Pottery
in several colours and with writing depicting events in ones daily life
masters of pottery, we layered consecutive rings of clay, one on top of another and then smoothed the surfaces by hand
Use of stelae just like their brothers the africans (after pharoahs conquered a place they left a stelae procaliming their victory over a town)
art was intimately connected to religion
Recreation
Open plaza, ball court, collonades, temples, market places. these areas were used to celebrate coming seasons (such as athe rainy season)
Pi'itz or Ball Court Field
- Great Ballcourt minimum dimensions
The Great Ballcourt of Chichén Itzá is 545 feet long and 225 feet wide
Great Ball Court lengthwise
"I" or "T" Shaped Court where Pi'itz took place
ball courts had sloping walls, with flat markers in the playing area and observations areas
Mayan Architectural Resources
http://thisishonduras.com/The_Maya.htm
http://www.mayafiles.com/en/gen/index.html
http://tcmam.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/maya-were-architectural-sound-designer/
http://library.thinkquest.org/10098/mayan.htm
http://www.authenticmaya.com/arquitectura_maya.htm
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IsoscelesTriangle.html
http://nikkitanprojects.blogspot.com/2011/04/hstarc-2-on-american-architecture.html
http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/mayan/BallCourt.html
