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249 IntroductIon Edwin M. Shook The work of Carnegie Institution in the prehistoric political capital of Mayapán has among its broad objectives the study of each type of architectural unit occurring within the confines and immediate environs of the ancient walled city. One major phase of the undertaking required the close scrutiny of several thousand remains of houses and their associated structures enclosed by the city wall, and the excavation of typical examples of these dwellings. A collateral investigation involved the survey of other kinds of architectural remains at the site and the excavation of a representative number of these, which includes the city and property walls, gateways , roads, platforms, and secular and religious buildings. The interpretation of the function of a particular architectural unit is determined normally by the unit’s position in the city or group, its association with other structures, its plan, style, decoration, and the type of remains associated with it. Some buildings in all probability were intended, when erected, to serve dual purposes, whereas the function of others changed in the course of time. One type of structure in Mayapán, the long colonnaded hall, presents an outstanding example of the problem involved in interpreting the use of a building. Colonnaded halls are more prevalent in the Main Group of Mayapán than any other major type of structure. There are at least 23 among approximately 130 architectural units of diverse types which tightly cluster around the central feature of the city, the Temple of Kukulcan or Castillo, Str. Q-162. Though common in the Main Group, only three colonnaded halls occur elsewhere at the site, and these form an integral part of a small ceremonial center at Cenote Itzmal Ch’en (Jones 1952, map, Square H). Therefore, the distribution of such units links them C u r r e n t R e p o r t s Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Archaeology No. 22 January 1955 Colonnaded Buildings at Ma yapán Edwin M. Shook and williaM n. irving Edwin M. Shook and williaM n. irving 250 with the civic and ceremonial architecture of the city rather than with the domestic. Landa describes city or town planning in Yucatán prior to the arrival of the Spaniards (Tozzer 1941:62–64): “. . . in the middle of the town were their temples with beautiful plazas, and all around the temples stood the houses of the lords and the priests, and then (those of) the most important people. Thus came the houses of the richest and of those who were held in the highest estimation nearest to these, and at the outskirts of the town were the houses of the lower class.” Further along (Tozzer 1941:124) Landa speaks of “a large house, whitened with lime, open on all sides” where young men lived until they were married. These Men’s or Bachelors’ Houses provided comparative isolation of young men from their elders and married people. It has been considered a possibility that the Mayapán colonnaded halls served as residences either for the lords or nobles, or as Men’s Houses. These structures at Mayapán vary in size, plan, and details, but characteristically they are long buildings on low substructures, normally composed of two parallel galleries running the length of the structure, the front and medial supports being of columns and the rear a wall of masonry. Typically, a bench runs along the rear and end walls, and in the majority of colonnaded halls an altar or shrine occurs at the center against the back wall. Occasionally a shrine is present in the center of the substructure stairway. The unit may consist of only the two long galleries, or there may be a transverse room at one or each end. There are several examples in which a third gallery parallels the masonry wall on the side opposite the principal galleries. None of the colonnaded halls in Mayapán were vaulted. Most of them had flat beam-and-mortar roofs; [some] undoubtedly had gabled thatch roofs. Investigation of colonnaded halls at Mayapán was first undertaken by R. T. Patton (Morley 1938: 141, 142); but the full results of his field studies have not been published, nor have those made four years later by E. W. Andrews (1943:261), who partly excavated several colonnaded structures. During the 1953 and 1954 field seasons 22 of the 23 units in the Main Group were studied. The plans of the majority were recovered by surface...

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