THE MAVW CIVILIZATION 71 



the method of construction. It is apparent that the 

 mound was enlarged and old walls and floors buried. 



Mayan buildings are of two principal kinds. One is 

 a temple pure and simple and the other has been called 

 a palace. The temple is a rectangular structure 1 crown- 

 ing a rather high pyramid that rises in several steps or 

 terraces. As a rule the temple has a single front with 

 one or more doorways and is approached by a broad 

 stairway. The pyramid is ordinarily a solid mass of 

 rubble and earth faced with cement or cut stone and 

 rarely contains compartments. Some temples have 

 but a single chamber while others have two or more 

 chambers, the central or innermost one being specially 

 developed into a sanctuary. The so-called palaces are 

 clusters of rooms on low and often irregular platforms. 

 These palaces may have been habitations of the priests 

 and nobility. The common people doubtless lived in 

 palm-thatched huts similar to those used today in the 

 same region. 



The typical Mayan construction is a faced concrete. 

 The limestone, which abounds in nearly all parts of the 

 Mayan area, was burned into lime. This was then 

 slaked to make mortar and applied to a mass of broken 

 limestone. The facing stones were smoothed on the 

 outside and left rough hewn and pointed on the inside. 

 It is likely that these facing stones were held in place 

 between forms and the lime, mortar and rubble filled in 

 between. The resulting wall was essentially mono- 

 lithic. The looms of Mayan buildings are characteris- 

 tically vaulted but the roof is not a true arch with a 

 k<y<tone. The vault, like the walls, is a solid mass of 

 concrete that grips the cut stone veneer and that musl 

 have been held in place by a false work form while it was 

 hardening. The so-called corbelled arch of overstepping 

 stones was doubtless known to the Mayan builders but 



