Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
Although the problem of stonecutting techniques is but one key to understanding the civilizations of the Middle American people, it is through their stonework that they left their greatest mark and in order to fully appreciate the organization and magnitude of their achievements, we must examine this aspect. To this end the author, who is by training and experience a mechanical engineer, attempted to check in various centers in Mexico on the feasibility of estimating the man years required to build various monuments in order to test hypotheses concerning techniques of construction.