Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico

Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay

Sign for Mayapan. Z.A. is an abbreviation for Zona Arqueologica (Archaeological Zone)

Here a corbelled arch was closed off with a door.

Fossiliferous limestone used in building

View of the doorway

Interior view. The only arching technique used in the New World for large structures was corbelling, in which upper stones stepped inward over lower ones. The method doesn't lend itself easily to spanning wide spaces.

Snakes on a pyramid.

Placard for the Templo Redondo (Round Temple)

Cenotes, or sinkholes, are widespread in Yucatan and frequently were sources of water for Maya cities.

Solution pits in limestone. The Yucatan Peninsula is almost entirely underlain by a Tertiary limestone aquifer.

Typical traditional Yucatan dwellings. Mostly the intent is to keep out the rain, since cold is almost never an issue.

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Created 28 March 2007, Last Update 04 June 2020

	Sign for Mayapan. Z.A. is an abbreviation for Zona Arqueologica (Archaeological Zone)
























	Here a corbelled arch was closed off with a door.
	Fossiliferous limestone used in building
	View of the doorway
	Interior view. The only arching technique used in the New World for large structures was corbelling, in which upper stones stepped inward over lower ones. The method doesn't lend itself easily to spanning wide spaces.






	Snakes on a pyramid.










	Placard for the Templo Redondo (Round Temple)









	Cenotes, or sinkholes, are widespread in Yucatan and frequently were sources of water for Maya cities.



	Solution pits in limestone. The Yucatan Peninsula is almost entirely underlain by a Tertiary limestone aquifer.
	Typical traditional Yucatan dwellings. Mostly the intent is to keep out the rain, since cold is almost never an issue.