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RETHINKING THE GREAT EARTHWORK OF TIKAL: A HYDRAULIC HYPOTHESIS FOR THE CLASSIC MAYA POLITY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Jay E. Silverstein ,
David Webster ,
Horacio Martinez  and
Alvaro Soto
Jay E. Silverstein*
Affiliation:
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and University of Hawaii, 94-314 Akia Place, Mililani Honolulu, HI 96789, USA
David Webster
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Horacio Martinez
Affiliation:
University of San Carlos, Ciudad Universitaria, Zona 12, Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala
Alvaro Soto
Affiliation:
University of San Carlos, Ciudad Universitaria, Zona 12, Ciudad Guatemala, Guatemala
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

The earthworks of Tikal have long been understood as the most extensive example of defensive architecture in the Maya Lowlands, with the ditch and embankment seen as part of a system of defense anchoring the north and south territorial limits of Tikal to impassable bajos on its flanks. New survey and excavation data suggest that the extent and course of the earthworks are not consistent with the demarcation of the north and south limits of the polity, and that the morphology of the feature is not consistent with a well-conceived or finished defensive construction. Here we present a hypothetical model of the earthworks as a limestone filtration trench that could have been used to collect subsurface water to mitigate the effects of canicular drought or to support off-season agriculture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , Spring 2009 , pp. 45 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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