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329 The round temple investigated in 1954 at Mayapán (Shook 1954) proved to be in too ruinous condition to warrant repair. Therefore, in order to have one example of this type of structure available for students , another such temple, Str. Q-126, was selected for excavation and solidification. Early in 1955, the writer performed the excavations and Strömsvik repaired the unit. Str. Q-126 lies 150 m east of the Castillo (Jones 1952, map, 260 S, 85 W), somewhat beyond the area of heaviest concentration of ceremonial structures. Like the other round temple, Str. Q-214, it is more closely associated with a minor, outlying court group than with the principal courts immediately surrounding the Castillo. Str. Q-126 occupies the north, and a colonnaded hall, Str. Q-129, the south edge of what apparently had been the principal eastern avenue of approach to the heart of the city. These structures are on the east side of a vaulted portal, Str. Q-127 (Strömsvik 1953) the most elaborate and formal entrance to the ceremonial center of Mayapán. Though freestanding, the portal with its portico is similar in plan to the major gateways in Mayapán’s encompassing Great Wall (Shook 1952) hence its primary purpose as an entrance way seems certain. The presence of a small temple, Str. Q-127a (Strömsvik 1953), against the north façade of the portal and the near-by round temple further imply the importance of this gateway. Str. Q-126 had been studied briefly by Andrews in 1942, although no report of his work was published . Evidence of his probing to establish the temple plan was encountered in the center of the south room (Fig. 27.1) and several of the sculptured stelae associated with the unit had been moved for photography . No further recent disturbance was noticed during our investigations. Before excavation, all the substructure was obscured under debris from collapsed masonry except a short section of the west C u r r e n t R e p o r t s Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Archaeology No. 27 September 1955 Another Round T emple at Ma yapán, Yucatán Edwin M. Shook Edwin M. Shook 330 wall (Figs. 27.3a; 27.4a). More could be discerned of the temple’s exterior because exposed walls stood in places to a height of 2 m (Fig. 27.4b). The orientation of the temple, its doorway, and its interior plan, however , were not distinguishable before excavation. The 1955 dig began along the best exposed walls of the building and substructure. These were cleared to their bases and followed until the entire temple and the west and south sides of the substructure lay bare (Fig. 27.3c,e), Except for minor exploration to locate the northeast corner, the east and north sides of the substructure were left untouched (Fig. 27.3a,b). Once the plan of the unit had been ascertained , several shortest trenches were dug on the building’s north-south axis. These trenches exposed the various phases of the round temple, the remains of a structure buried beneath the front terrace, and three early plaza floors (Figs. 27.1; 27.2a). The floors came to light in a trench at the base of the stairway (Figs. 27.2a; 27.4e). They may all pertain to different phases of the buried unit, although it is quite possible that a still earlier construction exists. Our excavations through the terrace of the round temple did not penetrate below the floor level of the buried structure. Floor 1, the oldest plaza floor (Fig. 27.2a) of lime concrete, had been laid over a grouting of smallcrushed rock which in turn capped a fill of dry rock. This fill covered the purposely cleaned surface of limestone bedrock; i.e., the soil, loose stone, and humus had been removed before construction. The extent of Floor 1 was not obtained. It may have joined the platform supporting the buried unit (Fig. 27.2a,1) or have served a still earlier structure. Pottery recovered in the sealed fill below the oldest floor (Lot C110 ) consisted of almost 100 percent Mayapán period types. The vessel Forms represented were those predominant in the early half of the major occupation of the site. The next floor, Floor 2, built like the first, raised the court level another 20 cm, and Floor 3, apparently a minor renovation, simply covered the second one. These two floors were...

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