Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:46:32.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Technologies of urbanism in Mesoamerica: the pre-Columbian bridges of Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2018

Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 10 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the high degree of technological sophistication visible in other aspects of urban engineering, the archaeology of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica has revealed curiously few examples of bridges or formal, permanent water-crossing structures. The ancient city of Cotzumalhuapa, where at least five such structures have been identified, is a notable exception. The author reviews the archaeological and historical evidence for these bridges, and reflects upon the diversity of engineering technologies that they reveal. Although it remains unclear why bridges are absent at many other contemporaneous sites, these examples offer a fascinating glimpse into the urban planning of structured mobility in Mesoamerica.

Keywords

Guatemalapre-Columbianbridgescausewaysurbanismwater
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 92 , Issue 362 , April 2018 , pp. 456 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnhart, E.L. 2001. The Palenque mapping project, 1998–2000. Final report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Available at: http://www.famsi.org/reports/99101/index.html (accessed 25 October 2017).Google Scholar
Bauer, B.S. 2006. Suspension bridges of the Inca Empire, in Isbell, W.H. & Silverman, H. (ed.) Andean archaeology III: north and south: 468–93. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-28940-2_19CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolles, D. & Folan, W.J.. 2001. An analysis of roads listed in colonial dictionaries and their relevance to pre-Hispanic linear features in the Yucatan peninsula. Ancient Mesoamerica 12: 299–314. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0956536101122029Google Scholar
Braswell, G.E. 2007. Step mountain and the Kingdom of the Avocado: engineering marvels and forgotten hieroglyphs at Pusilha, Belize. Belizean Studies 29 (2): 1–14.Google Scholar
Castañeda Paganini, R. 1948. Las ruinas de Palenque: su descubrimiento y primeras exploraciones en el siglo XVIII. Guatemala City: Tipografía Nacional.Google Scholar
Charnay, D. 1885. Les anciennes villes du Nouveau Monde: voyages d'exploration au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale. Paris: Librairie Hachette et Cie.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 1995. Un puente prehispánico en el area de Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, in Laporte, J.P. & Escobedo, H. (ed.) VIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala: 91–99. Guatemala City: Instituto de Antropología e Historia/Asociación Tikal.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 1996. Settlement patterns and monumental art at a major pre-Columbian polity: Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 1998. El Baúl: un sitio defensivo en la zona nuclear de Cotzumalguapa, in Laporte, J.P. & Escobedo, H. (ed.) XI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1997: 512–22. Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología/Asociación Tikal.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 2006. El Jaguar Iguana. Arqueología Mexicana 81: 82–85.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 2011. Calzadas, acrópolis y plazas: forma y función de los espacios públicos en Cotzumalguapa y Los Cerritos Norte, Escuintla, in Stuardo, R. Liendo & Rock, F. Zalaquett (ed.) Representaciones y espacios públicos en el área Maya: un estudio interdisciplinario: 37–76. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O. 2012. Cotzumalguapa, la ciudad arqueológica: El Baúl-Bilbao-El Castillo. Guatemala City: F&G Editores.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O., Castillo, V., Lipo, C. & Neff, H.. 2008. Las Calzadas de Cotzumalguapa: nuevos datos arqueológicos y geofísicos, in Laporte, J.P., Arroyo, B. & Mejía, H. (ed.) XXI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala: 1017–30. Guatemala City: Instituto de Antropología e Historia/Asociación Tikal.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O., Bove, F.J. & Genovez, J.V.. 2009. La cronología del período Clásico en la costa sur de Guatemala y el fechamiento del estilo escultórico Cotzumalguapa, in Daneels, A. (ed.) Cronología y periodización en Mesoamérica y el norte de México. Quinto coloquio Pedro Bosch Gimpera: 435–71. México City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Google Scholar
Chinchilla Mazariegos, O., Zamora, I., Garay, A., Neff, H. & Daniels, J.T.. 2012. Los puentes y las calzadas de Cotzumalguapa: un patrimonio excepcional que se pierde, in Arroyo, B., Páiz, L. & Mejía, H. (ed.) XXV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala: 379–86. Guatemala City: Instituto de Antropología e Historia/Asociación Tikal.Google Scholar
Cortés, H. 1970. Cartas de relación de la conquista de México. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe S.A.Google Scholar
Cruz Gámez, G. & Chinchilla Mazariegos, O.. 2017. Investigaciones sobre el patrón urbanístico de Cotzumalguapa: la calzada Seler-Sachs y los monumentos 81 y 82 de El Baúl, in Arroyo, B., Méndez, L. & Ajú, G. (ed.) XXX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2016: 627–40. Guatemala City: Museo Nacional Arqueología y Etnología.Google Scholar
Eisen, G. 1888. On some ancient sculptures from the Pacific slope of Guatemala (Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences 2): 9–20. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
French, K.D. 2001. The waters of Lakam Ha: a survey of Palenque's water management. Appendix to E.L. Barnhart's The Palenque Mapping Project, 1998–2000. Final report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Available at: http://www.famsi.org/reports/99101/index.html (accessed 25 October 2017).Google Scholar
French, K.D. 2007. Creating space through water management at the Classic Maya site of Palenque, Chiapas, in Marken, D. (ed.) Palenque: recent investigations at the Classic Maya center. Lanham (MD): Altamira.Google Scholar
Gade, D.W. 1972. Bridge types in the Central Andes. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 62: 94–109.Google Scholar
Hirth, K. 1982. Transportation architecture at Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico. Current Anthropology 23: 322–24. https://doi.org/10.1086/202839Google Scholar
Hope Simpson, R. & Hagel, D.K.. 2006. Mycenaean fortifications, highways, dams, and canals. Sävedalen: Paul Årmstöms.Google Scholar
Jansen, A.G. 2002. A study of the remains of Mycenaean roads and stations of Bronze Age Greece. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen.Google Scholar
Joyce, T.A., Gann, T., Gruning, E.L. & Long, R.C.E.. 1928. Report on the British Museum expedition to British Honduras, 1928. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 58: 323–50. https://doi.org/10.2307/2843627Google Scholar
O'Kon, J. 1983. Bridge to the past. Civil Engineering 65: 62–65.Google Scholar
Parsons, L.A. 1967. Bilbao, Guatemala: an archaeological study of the Pacific Coast Cotzumalhuapa region (Volume 1; Publications in Anthropology 11). Milwaukee: Milwaukee Public Museum.Google Scholar
Parsons, L.A. 1969. Bilbao, Guatemala: an archaeological study of the Pacific Coast Cotzumalhuapa region (Volume 2; Publications in Anthropology 12). Milwaukee (WI): Milwaukee Public Museum.Google Scholar
Sáenz de Santa María, C. (ed.). 1972. Obras históricas de don Francisco Antonio de Fuentes y Guzmán (3 volumes). Madrid: Ediciones Atlas.Google Scholar
Safi, K.N., Chinchilla, O., Lipo, C. & Neff, H.. 2012. The use of ground-penetrating radar to examine spatial organization at the Late Classic Maya Site of El Baúl, Cotzumalhuapa, Guatemala. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 27: 410– 25.Google Scholar
Silva de la Mora, F.G. 2008. Sicix Bäbih, caminos en las Tierras Bajas Noroccidentales. Una propuesta de rutas de comunicación. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia.Google Scholar
Thompson, D.E. & Murra, J.. 1966. The Inca bridges in the Huánuco Region. American Antiquity 31: 632–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/2694488CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J.E.S. 1948. An archaeological reconnaissance in the Cotzumalhuapa Region, Escuintla, Guatemala (Contributions to American Anthropology and History 44, Publication 574). Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Mazariegos et al. supplementary material

Mazariegos et al. supplementary material 1

Download Mazariegos et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.4 MB