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157 The following report describes the investigations, during the 1953 field season, of several ancient structures within the central group of religious and civic buildings at Mayapán. There are approximately 100 of these units tightly clustered around the central and dominant architectural feature of the site, the Temple of Kukulcan, or Castillo (Str. Q-162). The ones reported here are among the cluster forming the northern ring around the Castillo: Strs. Q-58 to -60 about 100 m north, and Q-82 and Q-95 roughly 75 and 125 m northeast of the Castillo (Jones 1952, map). Str. Q-58 (125 S, 300 W) (FigS. 14.1, 14.2, 14.5, 14.6) Prior to investigation this structure appeared as a huge, pyramid-shaped, steep-sided pile of rock. Closer examination, however, disclosed short sections of terrace and temple walls, evidence of doorway columns, and a single stairway on the east side. Also, a gaping hole in the center of the temple floor exposed the artificially constructed walls of a deep, bottle-shaped shaft. The presence of a shaft penetrating the pyramid from the floor of the temple spurred us to further investigation, because a similarly placed shaft in a temple at Chichén Itzá had been discovered and excavated many years ago by E. H. Thompson (1938). He encountered a series of graves within the shaft and for that reason named the structure the Osario, or High Priest’s Grave. There the burial shaft was associated with a temple and pyramid architecturally and stylistically belonging to the Toltec period of that site, whereas at Mayapán the same feature appeared in a temple and pyramid of the typical Mayapán style of architecture. The study of Str. Q-58, therefore, presented possibilities of demonstrating the degree of cultural continuity or change from the earlier Toltec phase at Chichén Itzá to the later stage of Yucatán history as depicted at Mayapán. C u r r e n t R e p o r t s Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Archaeology No. 14 June 1954 Three T emples and Their Associated Structures at Ma yapán Edwin M. Shook Edwin M. Shook 158 of the function of this temple, was the slender bottleshaped shaft penetrating the core of the pyramid (Fig. 14.2a). The shaft; was constructed at the same time as the primary structure because its casement 14.1. Plan of Strs. Q-58 to -60. The excavations of Str. Q-58 were restricted to those features not observable by surface examination but necessary to establish reasonably complete data on the architecture, pottery, and function of the unit. Digging took place at the southeast base corner of the pyramid, the front and north side of the stairway, the northeast and northwest corners of the upper terraces, the superstructure , and the remains within the shaft. There were two major rebuildings of the unit, and at least five minor additions or renovations. The earliest construction identified consisted of a thin, lime concrete floor overlying a shallow fill of brown earth and stones which rested on bedrock. This floor (Fig. 14.2a,1) sloped eastward and ended a few meters beyond Str. Q-58 where it merged with bedrock. It may have served to level an area in preparation for building the primary structure, or as a plaza floor associated with structures other than Q-58. A small pottery sample (Lot C-18), re-covered below this earliest floor, contained mostly early Mayapán period ceramic types. The first major structure consisted of a terraced pyramid width, we believe, a single stairway on the east side and a temple-type superstructure. The stairway and the superstructure had been torn down in ancient times when the second rebuilding of the unit took place. We encountered only the bottom step of the primary stairway (Fig. 14.2a,2) and the plaster turn-up to the superstructure on the top terrace of the-pyramid (Fig. 14.2a,3). This early pyramid rose in four narrow terraces to the summit platform, its plain battered terrace walls lacking embellishment in either stone or stucco (Figs. 14.2; 14.5a–c). These walls were built of roughly trimmed blocks laid without coursing in a weak mortar of lime, earth, and gravel. Leveling and chinking were achieved by frequent use of small stone fragments (Fig. 14.5a). Generally, larger blocks formed the terrace corners, each trimmed in a small arc on the outer face...

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