ARCHEOLOGY. 



367 



The eastern end of the long mound on the southern side of this same 

 pkza was also cleared; this mound proved to be a terraced substruc- 

 ture. Instead of the regular terracing usually found in Maya archi- 

 tecture, the terraces varied in width, with the walls between differing in 

 heights to an even greater extent. The masonry was not the fine 

 stonework of northern Yucatan, but simply irregular stones, laid in 

 very uneven courses and smoothed over with liberal applications of 



Fig. 2. — Map and cross-section of principal group of mounds and plazas at ancient Itza capital 

 of Tayasal. The section shown was probably the civic and religious center of the city. 



mortar and mud. Only the lowest wall was composed of dressed stone. 

 The floors, on the other hand, were very fine indeed, presenting a sur- 

 face nearly as smooth as a cement floor, with a foundation of broken 

 Ktone several inches thick. On one terrace, at the outer edge, the floor 

 had been raised about 2 centimeters, just enough to prevent the water 

 from a torrential rain running over the side of the terrace and to guide 

 it to a probable outlet. The floors ran underneath the walls, showing 

 clearly that the walls were built after the floors were laid. No trace 

 of a building could be found on the top, unless a few scattered fiat 

 stones were the remains of a foundation for a house of wattle and daub. 

 In one section of this uppermost floor there was a distinct depression, 

 where the floor appeared to have sagged because of some heavy weight, 

 such as a wall, resting upon it. 



