TYPES OF CONSTRUCTIONS

CEREMONIAL PLATFORMS. Normally short (four meters maximum), the platforms had carved figures on the sides. A setting for public ceremonies, in the upper part they had altars, incense burners, flags and sometimes a tzompantli, a line of sticks with skulls at the top.

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Uxmal, Mexico

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Chichen Itza, Mexico

TEMPLES. The rituals for the gods were performed here. The temples sat atop pyramids and had plenty of external decorative designs. They had internal chambers and a sanctuary, which served as an altar. In some cases, the temples had murals and panels carved in stone.

Palenque, Mexico	Tankah, Mexico
. Tulum, Mexico	. Chichen Itza, Mexico

PALACES. They were situated—alone or in groups—over platforms, inside of the ceremonial centers. They had flat walls, which were decorated with friezes. Their many internal chambers served as habitats for the governing class.

Uaxactun, Guatemala

Kabah, Mexico

. Uxmal, Mexico

TOWERS. These stone monuments have mainly been found in Campeche, Mexico. Their towers had astronomical functions, serving as calendar markers that used the Sun and Venus. Some of them were also observatories.

Xlabpak, Mexico

Nocuchich, Mexico

. Palenque, Mexico

. Puerto Rico, Mexico

. Chanchen, Mexico

PYRAMIDS. The Maya only enlarged their buildings on predetermined dates. When this was done, the new structures were simply built on top of existing buildings, which left the previous pyramid intact underneath the newer one.

    The pyramids were composed of step-like foundations (usually nine), and one central staircase that communicates with a temple on the topmost platform.

Coba, Mexico

. El Mirador, Guatemala

. Uxmal, Mexico

BALL GAMES. A game of cosmic significance. The field is located at the center; at the sides there are lateral slopes that end in walls, on which there are rings for the ball to pass through. Above the walls were platforms for the public and ceremonial temples.

Copan, Honduras

. Zaculeu, Guatemala

OBSERVATORIES. Observatories did not hold special stargazing equipment, but were constructions used as fixed points for star observation. Sometimes, they also served as astronomical markers, in which case they would be aligned with other markers.

Uaxactun, Guatemala

. Chichen Itza, Mexico

. Dzibilchaltun, Mexico

OTHER TYPES OF CONSTRUCTIONS. They Maya often built chultunes, underground cisterns used to catch rainwater for drinking. They also built and maintained steam baths for ritual purification rites and medicinal use. A mathematically-advanced culture, the Maya designed and built sewer systems, as well as the well-traced sacbes (white roads)—which were sometimes elevated to avoid flood planes—and which the common people also used as worship trails. Through the Post-Classic Period (A.D. 900-1500) murals and stalwarts were built, as well as walls that were used to delineate private lots.

    Funerary constructions varied from simple burial sites to very elaborate tombs for the ruling class.