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217 Str. Q-208, situated some 80 m south of the apparent southern edge of the ceremonial center at Mayapán (390 S, 335 W), was chosen for excavation because the surface remains, principally the arrangement of the rooms and the fine masonry, suggested that the building probably had been the residence of some family of consequence, for certain of the Relaciones de Yucatán inform us that important chiefs lived in stone houses. Str. Q-208 was not completely excavated. The center and the eastern half of the front room, the center and east back rooms, and the floor area of the east room were cleared; minor excavations established details of the platform on which the building stood and of the stairway which gave access to it (Fig. 19.1). Excavation below the floor brought to light part of an earlier residence, named Q-208-sub. The adjacent structures, Q-208a, Q-207, and Q-209, were examined in view of their contiguity to see if any functional relationship between any of these and Str. Q-208 could be established. Structure Q-208 A single long room, with an open front in which are set four columns and flanking sections of wall, forms the front of the house. Doorways in the back wall of this room lead to three small and narrow rear rooms. At the east end of the structure is a fifth room, added later, without direct communication with the other rooms. Masonry. The drums of the columns, like most of those at Mayapán, were poorly shaped, so that the illfitting drums seemed like large-scale reproductions of gladioli corms placed one above the other. Presumably, all irregularities in the drums were hidden beneath heavy coats of stucco, as observed in some cases, but of this there was no evidence in Str. Q-208, although stucco was general on walls and bench faces. Well-dressed stone of Puuc style of workmanship was largely used to face the walls and benches. C u r r e n t R e p o r t s Carnegie Institution of Washington Department of Archaeology No. 19 December 1954 A Presumed Residence of the Nobility at Ma yapán J. Eric s. ThoMpson J. Eric s. ThoMpson 218 Many of these stones were of excellent quality and appeared to have been carefully chosen for re-use in this building. Generally, they were set upright in the walls, and that was particularly evident in the faces of the benches and in the parts of the walls visible behind benches. Doorjamb stones were commonly of considerable size (average 60 cm high, 50 cm wide); in one case the butt pierced the floor and rested on a bed of heavy stones and mortar 39 cm below. Walls in no place stood to a height of more than 1.10 m (Fig. 19.2a–d). cEiling. Debris on the floor was 50–55 cm thick in the center of the front room, where accumulation from falling wall should have been minimal. Save for a top layer of about 15 cm, representing humus mixed with rock and mortar, and some wall stones, the debris comprised mortar, some small rocks and pebbles, and large quantities of charcoal and ash. For the most part, the mortar was pulverized but in places it lay in solid masses, up to 25 cm thick, just as it had fallen. A number of sherds were scattered through the mortar. Some of these were deeply embedded in hard mortar, and there is no doubt that they were mixed in it by the masons. In this way it would be perfectly plausible for early sherds to be found above the floor of a late building. Many pieces of charcoal retained the original form of the wood. Sections of pole, about 7 cm in diameter, could be recognized, although it was difficult to remove them intact; large masses of pulverized charcoal suggested beams of considerably greater diameter. The positions in which the charcoal lay gave no sure indication of the original arrangement of the wood, for the beams and poles had fallen in various directions. The typical flat roof of Tulum had transversal beams (four in the room described by Stephens) 15 cm in diameter, above which poles, 5–7 cm in diameter, were laid at right angles. The whole was surmounted by a rubble cap 30 cm or 19.1. Plans and Sections: Strs. Q-207, Q-208, Q-208a, and Q-209...

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