Potential Method for Structure Alignment by the Ancient Maya

Summary

It is well established that the ancient Maya favored certain orientations for the buildings in their major urban centers. In the southern Maya lowlands, an orientation of 14° clockwise from the cardinal directions is particularly common. How did the ancient Maya find this orientation? What was their surveying technique? Lidar from many sites shows that this orientation was not limited to major constructions. The smallest residential structures and patio groups, structures spread throughout the site, also were orientated to specific directions. The method of orientation had to be relatively simple, accessible to all levels of society, workable on all parts of the landscape (not just where the horizon is visible), and, most likely, usable at any time of year (e.g., not just at solstice or equinox). A first step in orientating a construction to a particular direction would be to establish the cardinal directions (separately, constructions also could be orientated to features on the horizon). Two methods to determine the cardinal directions are presented here: the north method and the Gnomon E-W method. With the current lack of knowledge of ancient Maya astronomical instruments, examples from other ancient cultures are considered.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20961