The Long Silence (2) E-Book

Stephan Merk

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 449

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

In The Long Silence, first published 2011, Stephan Merk described the standing Maya Puuc architecture of a 100 square kilometer wide area in Northern Campeche, México. The Long Silence (2) presents the results of the architectural survey of an equally large and almost untouched region immediately south, and compares the results of both projects. With additional contributions by Nicholas Dunning and Eric Weaver, Daniel Graña-Behrens, Guido Krempel, and Karl Herbert Mayer.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Stephan Merk

Introduction

Nicholas P. Dunning and Eric Weaver

The Physical and Ancient Cultural Geography of the Itzimte Area: a Transitional Zone within the Elevated Interior Region of the Yucatan Peninsula

Stephan Merk

The Catalog of Ruins

General Remarks

Chakanmul

Chunpich

Itzimte

Kilometer 93

Kilometer 126.5

Multutzelbeh

San Antonio

Suukte

Tantah

Tunkuyi

Vena

Xkom Chakan I

Xkom Chakan II

Xtokbil

Statistics

Daniel Graña-Behrens

The Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Itzimte-Bolonchen, Campeche, Mexico: Rulers and Political Affairs from Burned Stones

Karl Herbert Mayer

Inscribed Stone Monuments from Tunkuyi, Campeche

Guido Krempel

Some Comments on the Imagery and Inscriptions of the Carved Columns and Capitals of Tunkuyi, Campeche, Mexico

Stephan Merk

Summary

Appendix

Stephan Merk

Hacienda San Antonio

Bibliography

List of Illustrations

1.) Figures

Cover Tunkuyi: TUN-3, building with double-broken molding

Introduction

Fig. 1 View of the Bolonchen district

Fig. 2 Harvesting Maya farmer

Fig. 3 Sarteneja

Fig. 4 Savana Chakanmul

Fig. 5 Hidden structure

Fig. 6 Elevation of a typical Early Puuc building

Fig. 7 Elevation of a typical Classic Puuc Colonnette building

The Physical and Ancient Cultural Geography of the Itzimte Area: a Transitional Zone within the Elevated Interior Region of the Yucatan Peninsula

Fig. 8 Hillshade map of the Itzimte region

Fig. 9 Idealized cross-section of a cone karst hill and adjacent solution basin

Fig. 10 Mean monthly rainfall at Bolonchen de Rejon

Fig. 11 Idealized catena slope soil sequence extending from a low hill into a typical basin

The Catalog of Ruins

Fig. 12 Chakanmul: View of the Main Group

Fig. 13 Chakanmul: Pyramids A and B, Main Group

Fig. 14 Chakanmul: Plan of Main Group, CAM-1

Fig. 15 Chakanmul: Back wall, CAM-2

Fig. 16 Chakanmul: Altar, CAM-3

Fig. 17 Chakanmul: Back wall, CAM-4

Fig. 18 Chakanmul: Central room in CAM-5

Fig. 19 Chunpich: Room 3, CPI-1

Fig. 20 Chunpich: Plan of Chunpich

Fig. 21 Chunpich: Room 2, CPI-1

Fig. 22 Chunpich: Back wall, CPI-1

Fig. 23 Chunpich: Dry aguada in between Chunpich and Tantah

Fig. 24 Itzimte: Overview of the Main Group

Fig. 25 Itzimte: Plan of central part of ruins

Fig. 26 Itzimte: Main aguada in western part of the site

Fig. 27 Itzimte: Plan of ITZ-1

Fig. 28 Itzimte: The long Room 10, ITZ-1

Fig. 29 Itzimte: Facade decoration, Room 14, ITZ-1

Fig. 30 Itzimte: Decorated stone, Room 14, ITZ-1

Fig. 31 Itzimte: Wooden lintels, Room 13, ITZ-1

Fig. 32 Itzimte: Room 15 under flying stairway, ITZ-1

Fig. 33 Itzimte: Decorated capstone, Room 15, ITZ-1

Fig. 34 Itzimte: Facade decoration, ITZ-2

Fig. 35 Itzimte: Teobert Maler's photo of the arch in ITZ-3

Fig. 36 Itzimte: Part of glyphic band and red hand print in ITZ-4

Fig. 37 Itzimte: Wall with painting, ITZ-4

Fig. 38 Itzimte: Front facade, ITZ-6

Fig. 39 Itzimte: Plan of ITZ-7

Fig. 40 Itzimte: Central room, ITZ-7, seen from outside and inside

Fig. 41 Itzimte: Banded doorway column, central room, ITZ-7

Fig. 42 Itzimte: Room filled with debris, ITZ-19-1

Fig. 43 Itzimte: Puuc altar in front of ITZ-35

Fig. 44 Itzimte: Various adorned facade stones from ITZ-37

Fig. 45 Itzimte: Teobert Maler's photo of ITZ-58

Fig. 46 Itzimte: Fallen mask pieces in front of central room, ITZ-58

Fig. 47 Itzimte: Fallen mask element, ITZ-58

Fig. 48 Itzimte: ITZ-44, ITZ-45, and ITZ-46, seen from the east

Fig. 49 Itzimte: Southwest corner, ITZ-45; northwest corner, ITZ-44

Fig. 50 Itzimte: Western front room, ITZ-50

Fig. 51 Itzimte: One of the rooms in ITZ-63-1

Fig. 52 Itzimte: Plan of ITZ-63

Fig. 53 Itzimte: Back side of ITZ-63-4

Fig. 54 Itzimte. Northeastern corner of ITZ-63-4

Fig. 55 Itzimte: Unusual altar on terrace in front of ITZ-63-4

Fig. 56 Itzimte: Northern back wall, ITZ-64

Fig. 57 Itzimte: Eastern side wall, ITZ-101

Fig. 58 Kilometer 93: Back wall of K93-1-1

Fig. 59 Kilometer 93: Plan of K93-2

Fig. 60 Kilometer 93: Inside and outside view of K93-3

Fig. 61 Kilometer 126.5: Structure covered with corn plants

Fig. 62 Multutzelbeh: Destroyed group close to the unpaved road

Fig. 63 Multutzelbeh: Pileta, MTB-2

Fig. 64 Suukte: Facade of Room 1, SKT-1-1

Fig. 65 Suukte: Plan of SKT-1

Fig. 66 Suukte: Back wall in SKT-1-1

Fig. 67 Suukte: Plan of SKT-2

Fig. 68 Suukte: Preserved room under the stairway, SKT-2

Fig. 69 Suukte: Decorated facade stones in rubble, SKT-2

Fig. 70 Suukte: Plan of SKT-3

Fig. 71 Suukte: Fallen frontside of SKT-3-1, probably a popol nah

Fig. 72 Tantah: Western wing, TAT-1-1

Fig. 73 Tantah: TAT-1-1, western wing, Rooms 1 to 3

Fig. 74 Tantah: Room 1, TAT-1-1

Fig. 75 Tantah: Plan of TAT-1

Fig. 76 Tantah: Northwest corner, Room 1, TAT-1-1

Fig. 77 Tantah: Back wall, Room 1, TAT-1-1

Fig. 78 Tantah: Plan of TAT-2

Fig. 79 Tantah: Room 6, TAT-2-2

Fig. 80 Tantah: Built-over doorway, Room 6, TAT-2-2

Fig. 81 Tantah: Room 3, TAT-3

Fig. 82 Tantah: Plan of TAT-3

Fig. 83 Tantah: Front side, west wing, Rooms 6 and 7, TAT-3

Fig. 84 Tantah: Stone with C-design in front of Room 6, TAT-3

Fig. 85 Tunkuyi: Facade with double broken molding, Room 2, TUN-3

Fig. 86 Tunkuyi: Possible floor plan TUN-2 and remains of front rooms

Fig. 87: Tunkuyi: Drawing of Column 2

Fig. 88 Tunkuyi:Column from a corner or an entrance, TUN-2

Fig. 89 Tunkuyi: Reconstruction drawing, TUN-3

Fig. 90 Tunkuyi: Central Room 2, TUN-3

Fig. 91 Tunkuyi: Decorated facade stones, TUN-4

Fig. 92 Vena: Decorated stones, VEN-1

Fig. 93 Vena: Hanns J. Prem's plan of the Palace, VEN-1

Fig. 94 Vena: Partly standing room in VEN-1

Fig. 95 Vena: Room 6 on Prem's plan, VEN-1

Fig. 96 Vena: Platform VEN-1-3

Fig. 97 Vena: Back wall, VEN-2-1

Fig. 98 Vena: Facade decor, VEN-3

Fig. 99 Xkom Chakan I: Back wall, XKO-1

Fig. 100 Xkom Chakan I: Room 1, XKO-1

Fig. 101 Xkom Chakan I: Room 2, XKO-1

Fig. 102 Xkom Chakan II: Back wall, XII-1

Fig. 103 Xkom Chakan II: West side wall, XII-1

Fig. 104 Xkom Chakan II: Back wall, fallen in one piece, XII-1

Fig. 105 Xtokbil: Back wall, XKL-3

Fig. 106 Xtokbil: Plan of Xtokbil

Fig. 107 Xtokbil: Ceramic from chultun, XKL-3

Fig. 108 Xtokbil: Section of chultun, XKL-3

Fig. 109 Xtokbil: Possible stucco figure on chultun wall, XKL-3

Fig. 110 Xtokbil: Plan of XKL-1

Fig. 111 Xtokbil: Stones on top of XKL-1-1

Fig. 112 Xtokbil: Plan of XKL-4

Fig. 113: Xtokbil: Double T-design

Fig. 114 Xtokbil: Back wall of Room 6, XKL-4-1

The Hieroglyphic Inscriptions of Itzimte-Bolonchen, Campeche, Mexico: Rulers and Political Affairs from Burned Stones

Fig. 115 Itzimte: Schematic representation of the Stela Platform

Fig. 116 Itzimte: Drawing of Lintel 1

Fig. 117 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 7

Fig. 118 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 4, Block A-B, A1-F1

Fig. 119 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 11

Fig. 120 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 3

Fig. 121 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 12

Fig. 122 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 9, Block A1-G2

Fig. 123 Itzimte: Drawing of Lintel 2, Block A1-A3

Fig. 124 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 5, Block A-B, C1-E4

Fig. 125 Itzimte: Drawing of Stela 6, Block A1-C7

Fig. 126 Itzimte: Drawing of Emblem Glyph, Stela 4, Block C1c

Fig. 127 Itzimte: Drawing of Emblem Glyph, Lintel 2, Block A3

Fig. 128 Calakmul: Drawing of glyphs from a plate from Calakmul

Fig. 129 Bonampak: Drawing of a presumable Emblem Glyph

Fig. 130 Yaxchilan: Drawing of a presumable Emblem Glyph

Fig. 131 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 1

Fig. 132 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 3

Fig. 133 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 5

Fig. 134 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 6

Fig. 135 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 7

Fig. 136 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 10

Fig. 137 Itzimte: Photograph of Stela 12

Inscribed Stone Monuments from Tunkuyi, Campeche

Fig. 138 Tunkuyi: Photograph of Column 1

Fig. 139 Tunkuyi: Two photographs of Column 2

Some Comments on the Imagery and Inscriptions of the Carved Columns and Capitals of Tunkuyi, Campeche, Mexico

Fig. 140 Tunkuyi: Column 2 and Capital 2

Fig. 141 Tunkuyi: Column 1 and Capital 1

Fig. 142 Tunkuyi: Reconstruction drawing of the columns and capitals

Fig. 143 Monument types depicting dancing protagonists with “Waterlily-Snake” costumes

Fig. 144 Late Classic terracotta figurines from the greater Campeche region

Fig. 145 Examples of armed warriors- and hunting- imagery

Fig. 146 Some examples of different regional renderings of “Feathered Rattlesnake” imagery

Fig. 147 Some glyphic examples from other Puuc sites

Summary

Fig. 148 Entrance to a chultun in Vena

Fig. 149 Typical ceramic for the Itzimte area

Fig. 150 Ceramic from the chultun in Xtokbil

Appendix

Fig. 151 Hacienda San Antonio: Arch of the cuartel

Fig. 152 Hacienda San Antonio: Shoulder of an arch

Fig. 153 Hacienda San Antonio: Colonial capital

Fig. 154 Hacienda San Antonio: Plan of the main building

Fig. 155 Hacienda San Antonio: Stone inscription

Fig. 156 Hacienda San Antonio: Plan of the church

Fig. 157 Hacienda San Antonio: Platform on the east side of the church

Fig. 158 Hacienda San Antonio: Decorated wall

2.) Tables

Table 1 Inscriptions of Itzimte-Bolonchen

Table 2 Inscriptions of Itzimte-Bolonchen

Table 3 Inscriptions of Itzimte-Bolonchen

Table 4 Inscriptionsof Itzimte-Bolonchen

Table 5 Inscriptionsof Itzimte-Bolonchen

Table 6 Building and Rooms

Table 7 Architectural Styles

Table 8 Complete Site Table

Table 9 Site Ranking for the Itzimte area

Table 10 Ranks and their subcategories

Table 11 A comparison between the Itzimte and the Chunhuaymil areas

3.) Plates

Plate 1 The Itzimte Area

Plate 2 The Itzimte Area and the Chunhuaymil Area

Plate 3 The Itzimte Area and the Region Around

Plate 4 Topographic Map of the Chunhuaymil and Itzimte Areas

Acknowledgements

Many people helped me and supported me during the development of this project over the years. First of all, I have to thank my co-authors Nicholas Dunning, Daniel Graña-Behrens, Guido Krempel, Karl Herbert Mayer, and Eric Weaver who enriched this book with their contributions about certain special aspects of the investigated area.

I am much obliged to my Maya guides who have showed me various ruins within the researched region, namely Manuel Bonilla Caamal, Geronimo Caamal Kuk, Santos May Cauich, Sixto May Cauich, Nemias May Dzul, Guadalupe Medina, Pedro Pacheco Dzul, Daniel Pech, Euluterio Tec Medina, Antonio Uc, Lucio Uc, and Francisco “Pancho” Uc Uc. Among them, Manuel Bonilla Caamal and Pedro Pacheco Dzul proved over the years to be most valuable guides and friends.

Several people, almost all of them Maya enthusiasts, accompanied and assisted me in my search for standing Maya architecture. My long-time friend Günther Breitmoser enjoyed with me the hidden beauty of the Itzimte ruin already in 1985. Since the early 1990s I am delighted by the possibility to travel and explore with my friends Karl Herbert Mayer and Lee Jones almost annually the Yucatan peninsula. More than a decade long I enjoyed the hospitality and closeness of Annette Nay and Edgar Portillo in Santa Elena, Yucatan, which was the base of my explorations. The support of another couple, Roberta Graham and Alfonso Escobedo from Merida, not only was very helpful in terms of logistics but also developed into a true friendship.

For my work of investigating and for the process of writing this book I again had the time-consuming support of my wife, Alma Durán-Merk. Her help by translating, her fresh and inspiring ideas, and her practical way of handling problems were of immense importance.

The late Hanns J. Prem generously shared his knowledge and notes about the ruins of Vena with me. Likewise, I am indebted to Nikolai Grube und David Bolles for their translation of Yucatecan place names, to my brother, Thomas A. Merk, who assisted me in all my computer related issues, and especially to my friend Susan Craig, who, as a native speaker, devoted herself to the long but significant task of proof reading.

I express my sincere gratitude to the President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, for allowing the usage of two important drawings of Stelae 3 and 7 from Itzimte. Balta Castro and Eduardo González Arce provided me with some of their photographs, which I gratefully incorporated into this book.

I also want to thank Nubia Balam, Inés de Castro, Andreas Fuls, Peggy Goede Montalván, Dorothea Graf, Dan Griffin, Antje Grothe, and Ken Jones, as well as Lupita Worbis Aguilar and Fernando Worbis Puerto for their support. However, most of the burden of long exhaustive walks, boring systematical search, and assistance in the field were taken by my appreciated “brothers in arms”, Eduardo González Arce and Rudi Kleiber.

This book is dedicated to

Eduardo González Arce

Rudi Kleiber

Humberto and Manuel Bonilla Caamal

Plate 1: The Itzimte Area

Stephan Merk

Introduction

Fig. 1: An area under investigation: The Bolonchen district in the Puuc, with its typical cone-shaped hills, is the setting of this project.

In 2011 the first volume of The Long Silence was published. It deals with the results of my Chunhuaymil Project, a one-man survey to search for still standing Puuc architecture of the ancient Maya within a 100 square kilometer area around the tiny modern settlement of Chunhuaymil, in the northeastern part of the Mexican state of Campeche (see Plate 2).

While writing the book it became clear to me that the chosen area in some ways was too small to come to significant conclusions. Back then I decided to later survey another neighboring region of the same size, which would also allow me to compare the results from both projects. My first idea was to take up the proposal I had made in The Long Silence, that is to investigate the promising corridor towards the east of the old grid, between the ruins of Sabana Piletas and Huntichmul I. This would have connected the Chunhuaymil Project with the Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project —directed by Tomás Gallareta Negrón, George Bey III, and Bill Ringle— which was initiated in 2000 and includes the sites of Labna, Huntichmul I, Escalera al Cielo, and Kiuik.

For various reasons the idea unfortunately did not work out and I oriented myself towards the south. This area showed as promising because it is known as the southernmost part of the archaeological Puuc region. Only a few kilometers more in this direction starts what George F. Andrews called the Chenes-Puuc Transitional Zone, a narrow corridor separating the southern border of the Puuc from the northern border of the archaeological Chenes region (Andrews 1997), with sites presenting architectural elements from both styles.

This second volume of my study presents the outcome of the so-called Itzimte Project: the search for standing architecture, and the description and evaluation of the data collected at 14 ancient Maya Puuc sites within another 100 square kilometer area in northeastern Campeche. The original goal of my first project had been to investigate what was thought at that time to be a rural area, the presumed “backyard” of big sites like Sayil, or Labna. But during the exploration it became clear that what I had found was the repetition of a pattern with dominant and dependent polities already known from the area immediately to the north: a heavily settled region with three cities and 16 different large settlements.

Therefore, the leading question for the new project was established: Would the addressed pattern continue towards the south? Furthermore, besides an inventory of standing architecture, I planned to establish a chronology of the region’s development, as I had tried for the Chunhuaymil Project. This is how The Long Silence (2) was born.

Again some scholars, to my delight, accepted my invitation and contributed with individual articles about specific aspects of the project. After this introduction Nicholas P. Dunning and Eric Weaver explore the physical and ancient cultural geography of the Itzimte area, followed by my catalog of findings and its statistical evaluation. After that Daniel Graña Behrens gives a new interpretation of Itzimte’s stelae and Karl Herbert Mayer analyzes the carved Puuc doorway columns from Tunkuyi. This is followed by Guido Krempel’s comments on the imagery and the inscriptions of these columns and their corresponding capitals. Subsequently, in the Summary, the totality of the architectural evidence is outlined, interpreted, and compared to the data collected for the Chunhuaymil Project. Before the bibliography completes this volume, an Appendix is presented; it introduces the remains of the abandoned colonial Hacienda San Antonio, a ghost town in the southeastern part of the investigated area.

The selected zone for The Long Silence (2) is a southern mirror image of the Chunhuaymil area, with a length of 12.5 kilometers in an east-west direction and eight kilometers from north to south. The Itzimte Project’s border in the west is roughly defined by Federal Highway 261 that runs north-south from Merida, Yucatan, to Hopelchen to then turn west towards the city of Campeche. The limit to the north is the southern periphery of the Chunhuaymil Project; boundaries in south and east were drawn artificially to create the requested rectangular 100 square kilometer zone. The area is located between 20°00.090’N and 20°04.450’N and between 89°36.940’W and 89°44.150’W. The only permanent settlement connected to this new grid is the town of Bolonchen de Rejon, directly southwest outside the investigated zone (Plate 1).

The region south, east, and west of the project area is archaeologically not well explored. It looks like the site density drops significantly towards the south, maybe because of the existence of bajos, a kind of swampy areas, which are less appropriate for settlement. Important ancient Maya ruin places surrounding the 100 square kilometers researched for this book are Dolores in the north, Xuccha in the east-southeast, Pixoy, already 15 kilometers to the south, and Tzum in the southwest (Plate 3).

The Puuc and its Culture

This book is not meant to be an introduction either into the ancient Maya culture, or into the Puuc culture. I have to assume that the reader is already somewhat familiar with this subject. Therefore only a few necessary and brief notes about the Puuc zone will be given here. Additionally following the advice of some of the readers of the first volume of The Long Silence, I will later in this chapter sketch an overview of the architectural Puuc styles.

The term Puuc is used today mainly in two ways. On the one hand it describes a geographical region, and on the other hand it is assigned to a clearly definable architectural style that dominates within this Maya area. In cultural-geographical terms, we distinguish between the mostly early constructions found in the west of the Puuc from the mostly later occupied eastern part. The division line is set slightly east of the 90° longitude. The Itzimte area belongs to the eastern Puuc.

Geographically, the Puuc area is a region whose form more or less resembles a triangle, roughly defined by the towns of Maxcanu in the north, Tzucacab in the southeast, and the city of Campeche in the southwest. This core zone equals 6800 square kilometers. But together with its extensions, that reaches even beyond Chichen Itza “we can assert that the settlements with Puuc architecture are widely distributed.(...) Generally speaking they have been found in an area averaging 16,2000 square kilometers” (Benavides 2011). The “border” from Maxcanu to Tekax is composed of the only contiguous chain of high hills in the peninsula (the Yucatecan word Puuc means low ridge), which separates the zone from the northern plains. This region is situated in the Mexican states of Yucatan and Campeche, and it is still scarcely populated. The whole region has two distinct physiographic zones. South of the Sierrita de Ticul, also called the Puuc hills, are the Santa Elena plains, a triangular area of low relief and deep rich soils, known as the bread basket. The three largest Puuc sites (Uxmal, Kabah, Nohpat) can be found here and could have commanded food production for the region in ancient times (Barrera Rubio 1987). South of the Santa Elena district is the Bolonchen district, characterized by dome shaped hills reaching up to 70 meters in height, interspersed with flat-bottomed valleys and savannas (Dunning 1992: 14-16; Wilson 1980). The investigated area is part of the Bolonchen district. The ancient Maya who settled here were most likely attracted by the rich agricultural soils—for centuries the Puuc has been one of the foremost production areas (see Fig. 2). The region’s climate is humid tropical; it is of the Tropical/Dry Winter type. Due to the fact that in most of the eastern Puuc accessible permanent groundwater is virtually nonexistent (Carmean et al. 2004) agriculture heavily depended on somewhat unreliable rainfall during the wet season from May to October.

Fig. 2: Old Maya farmer harvesting corn in his milpa, 2011.

Primary natural sources of water in the Puuc region are the shallow, partially clay-filled sinkholes, the aguadas, as well as caves, supplemented by sartenejas, bowl-like solution hollows explained further on (Fig. 3). Probably some —or many— of the aguadas were in part artificial: for example the ancient Maya increased their depth by excavation. Only three deep cave systems with access to the permanent water table are known in the eastern Puuc (Gruta Chac, Gruta Xkoch, and Gruta Xtacumbilxunan; the latter just south outside of the studied area); the many other and shallower caves hold only seasonal water pools and small amounts of drip water. Sartenejas which develop in exposed cap-rock and in which rainwater collects, can reach several meters in both depth and width. However, their small size and their tendency to dry up quickly in the dry season limited their significance (Dunning 2003: 269). Most important of all as sources of water in ancient times were the innumerable man- made underground cisterns known as chultun (plural chultuno’ob) (Pollock 1980: 4): the Maya punctured the cap of rock outcrops and excavated water-storing cisterns in the soft sahcab layer below, in order to insure a lasting water supply (see Dunning 2003: 269; McAnany 1990, among others).

Fig. 3: Sarteneja on the way to Chakanmul, 2011. Some sartenejas can hold rainwater during the whole year.

Sahcab in Yucatecan Maya means white earth; it is a relatively soft mineral material, which was also used as a kind of mortar for building construction. Only the creation of those water tanks, which could reach a capacity of several tens of thousands of liters, allowed larger and permanent settlements in this zone and thus a cultivation of its rich soils. Therefore, the selection of suitable outcrops was of critical importance for the location of settlements.

Social and Political Organization

According to Carmean and Sabloff (1997) Puuc Maya society was feudal in nature, with economic and social power relatively decentralized and shared among the members of a wealthy, land-owning class. This can be seen by the architectural investment, which concentrated in elite residential clusters in the central zones of larger sites, and later also in outlying residential groups and in satellites (Dunning 2003: 288).

The first permanent settlements in the eastern Puuc were founded in the vicinity of aguadas and flat areas of rich soils; almost all major sites are situated adjacent to the largest tracts of prime agricultural lands (Dunning and Kowalski 1994: 76; Dunning 2003: 278). Wealth was most likely based on ownership and management of land and agricultural production (Simms et al. 2012). In many cases those stayed over generations in the hands of the first families that once had established a settlement in the Puuc. Land tenure was based on ancestral derivation (McAnany 1995).

Dunning explains that contemporary Yucatec Maya communities contain abundant open space, mostly in the form of solares, back yards. In these spatially delimited areas many household activities take place, including the intensive cultivation of back yard gardens and infields where care-intensive fruits and vegetables are grown, but where as much of 25% of a family’s maize may also be produced (2003: 278). I believe the pattern in ancient Maya times was similar: many of the spread-out sites, like Sayil, show wide vacant open areas between groups of buildings, which most likely were used for food production; those settlements are called garden cities. I assume that this highly important crop growing was supervised by the elite and was not to be left to private initiative. To settle dependent farmers near their fields was a form of socioeconomic control, developed by the elite to keep their agriculture-based wealth—even outside their domiciles, by founding new settlements in the form of politically dependent satellites (see also McAnany 1995).

An explicit increase in population, also partly because of refugees from the perishing cities in the southern and central Maya lowlands, led during the Late Puuc Classic (which belongs to the Terminal Classic period Maya wide) to an excessive exploitation of the natural environment and increased pressure on the ruling class. The assumed struggle for economic resources may have caused more and more armed conflicts. These factors, together with possible droughts which additionally affected cultivation, added to other reasons most likely led to the so-called Collapse of the Puuc region in the 10th century.

Almost all of the vaulted stone architecture found in the Maya world was commissioned by the elite; commoners lived in huts made out of perishable materials. To order those building activities and to supervise them required social and political organization. Although some evidence for shared rule has been found in the Puuc, in most cases single paramount rulers, or kings, governed the cities, while secondary or third-class settlements were led by subordinate ranks, like a sahal. The kings used titles or even emblem glyphs, as was the case in the central and southern Maya lowlands during classic times, and not only ruled over their immediate city, but over dependent satellites too (Graña-Behrens 2006; Grube 2003; Pallan 2009). Most likely those city states were allied to other selected centers. The eastern Puuc appears to have been ruled in a fragmented fashion by a large number of more-or-less equal major sites (Dunning and Kowalski 1994: 76). It is commonly believed that around the start of the 10th century the city of Uxmal for a short time became a hegemonic power in the Puuc, and that the collapse of this dominant position accompanied the end of classic Puuc culture and the abandonment of wide parts of the region (Carmean et. al 2004).

Presenting the Research Area

When I first visited this specific zone, many years ago, it was almost completely covered with the typical Puuc dry forest of thorny secondary growth, which is hard to penetrate. Since then in the northwestern part of the investigated are, a huge mecanisado has developed (locally known as Sabana Mirador, named after a now abandoned ranch close by) and more space for milpas (maize fields, see Fig. 2) was laid out in various parts around Itzimte. In recent times drivable dirt roads started to penetrate the area, but until today it is still not possible to cross the selected zone from north to south, or from east to west, in a four-wheel car. Two old wagon roads, in use since at minimum the 19th century, are still the main connections for anyone traversing this region either by foot or by horse. The first one runs from Bolonchen de Rejon eastwards to the town of Yaxhachen in the state of Yucatan, and the second one from Bolonchen in a northeastern direction reaching the former Rancho Chimai (in the vicinity of the modern settlement of Chunhuaymil). Therefore, it was only possible to make one’s way by truck into the investigated area from Highway 261 eastwards, or from Yaxhachen towards the west.

No actual settlement or ranch can be found in the selected area. This, together with the very dense vegetation with heavy undergrowth, and a lack of paths, made it a challenge to crisscross the region in search of vestiges of the ancient Maya.

The network of local guides and informants that I had set up since the 1980s was unfortunately not able to help me as I had wanted. The reason behind it is most likely the border between the states of Campeche and Yucatan, which cuts through the area, and which obviously so far prevents road construction. Because of that there is restricted contact among Bolonchen in the west and Yaxhachen in the east; therefore, local people do not know much about the unpopulated area between the two towns. Hence I had to question people on both sides.

Until today, the Puuc —which in classic times was heavily populated— is sparsely settled and widely covered with a vegetation in transition between Deciduous Seasonal Forest and Semi-Evergreen Seasonal Forest (Wilson 1980). Both forest types occur mainly as secondary regrowth and reach up to 20 meters in height. Many species of trees and shrubs lose their leaves in the dry season. In the southern regions of the Puuc, in the state of Campeche “the forest or bush is often interrupted by large stretches of flat savanna” (Pollock 1980: 5). I had learned from my investigations in the Chunhuaymil region that all of its ancient settlements were connected to those savannas or plains (Fig. 4). Lundell (1934: 307) proposed “that the grassy sabanas (...) may be the result of soil exhaustion from excessive milpa cultivation”, the latter being one of the arguments for the decline of the classic Puuc culture around the turn to the second millennium. My above mentioned experience turned out to be useful for the new grid too. On Google Earth —a very helpful instrument not available when I started my first project— I searched for open areas in the zone and asked local farmers or beekeepers about how to reach those locations, a system which brought a few surprising results. Summing up, hints about the selected unpopulated area came from the following sources: reports from scientists and early explorers, from local informants, and were also generated by exploration skills I was able to develop in the years during which I investigated in the Chunhuaymil area. Among the latter is a kind of feeling for the distribution of Puuc sites, for example. A real systematical search for standing architecture was not possible to conduct in a one-man project, given the hindrances described ahead. Therefore it is most likely that some buildings or even sites have escaped my attention.

Fig. 4: Typical savanna, surrounded by hills, 2011.

Fig. 5: Many structures are hidden behind dense vegetation in the bush, 2009.

Several ancient sites in the selected area had already been known and registered by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) —Itzimte, Tantah, Vena, Tunkuyi— although they had not been adequately explored. As a first step I tried to relocate all structures mentioned already in the literature; this worked out in almost all cases. I reverted also to my notes of previous visits to that area. As a second step I used and tried to extend my network of informants. And, finally, I located on the ground promising spots that I had discovered by a careful search on Google Earth and on INEGHI maps. All these methods together produced the results of the Itzimte Project: a pattern of an area with many small ancient settlements which was dominated by only one or two major sites.

My procedure when reaching a site is standardized: given the briefness of time, merely a superficial examination of the architecture is possible. Structures are cleaned (Fig. 5) only as much as necessary to take rough measurements and photos. Additionally, I draw sketches, determine the alignment of the building in terms of the cardinal points, and take GPS data but —of course— I never dig. Lack of time prohibited systematical search for the ancient underground water reservoirs, the chultuno'ob, for ceramics and for simple house platforms—the latter formerly carried buildings mostly made out of perishable materials.

Previous Research and Publications

Because of its proximity to the town of Bolonchen, several explorers and scholars visited the Itzimte ruins and wrote about them. Much less interest was paid to the remote sites of Tantah and Vena; and until the 1970s the Maya ruins of Tunkuyi had escaped scientific attention.

The first report of a Maya ruin in the investigated area comes from the North American traveller and explorer John Lloyd Stephens (1963: 93-94), who in 1842 had been guided to Itzimte. The earliest visual images from ancient sites in the region were published in 1902 in the German magazine Globus, where the German-Austrian explorer Teobert Maler wrote about his visits to Itzimte and Tantah, ruins he had photographed in 1887 and 1889 respectively. More detailed descriptions and photos —also about the ancient site of Vena — can be found in his manuscript Península Yucatán, which was edited and publicized by Hanns J. Prem in 1997, 80 years after Maler’s death in Merida.

Karin Hissink published her study Masken als Fassadenschmuck in 1934, analyzing in detail the Serpent Head Mask from Itzimte that Maler had described first. Mostly in the 1930s Harry Pollock did his architectural survey, which resulted in his opus magnum The Puuc, published 1980. Therein he described several buildings in Itzimte; he also mentioned Tantah briefly but only referring to Maler.

Alberto Ruz Lhuillier in his book Campeche en la Arqueología Maya from 1945 leaned on Stephens and Malers reports when he described Itzimte and Tantah. Both sites are also mentioned 1960 by Florencia Müller in the Atlas Arqueológico de la República Mexicana for Campeche.

The next important contribution to the knowledge about Itzimte after Stephens, Maler, and Pollock came from Eric von Euw who was the first to report about the existence of 12 stelae at the site. In his publications 1974 and 1977 he also released the first —and until today only— map of Itzimte. Karl Herbert Mayer in several of his books (1984, 1987, 1995) presented short texts photos and drawings of Tunkuyi’s two sculptured doorway columns and their capitals. In his article about Maya wall paintings in the Puuc region (1990) a photo of the hieroglyphic band on an inner wall in Structure 4 at Itzimte’s Main Group is to be found. For the IMS Explorer Mayer wrote a brief contribution about Tantah (2009).

Nicholas Dunning gives a short description of Itzimte in his book Lords of the Hills (1992: 240) and briefly mentions Vena (1992: 270) by referring to Maler and to Prem, who had investigated the latter site in the 1980s. Prem’s notes were also the main source for George F. Andrews’ records about Vena, written down in 1989. Andrews visited Itzimte on different occasions and reported about several of its structures. His notes about this ruin as well as about Vena and Kilometer 93 are now available in the Internet; much of the data he collected at Itzimte since 1974 has been incorporated into various publications. Andrews (1985 with Paul Gendrop and Juan Antonio Siller; 1986 and 1995), as well as Paul Gendrop (1983) also rendered outstanding services to the development of our understanding of the architectural Puuc styles. Joyce Kelly in two of her guidebooks (1982 and 1993) wrote in very short form about the two main structures in Itzimte, referring to Stephens, Maler, and von Euw.

I myself paid early visits to Itzimte (1985) and Tantah (1991). Many years later I reported in short articles for the German magazine Mexicon about the existence of the ruins of Chunpich (2010), Chakanmul (2012a), and Suukte (2012b); furthermore I wrote in the IMS Explorer about Vena (2012) and about the relocation of Maler’s “lost” Second Palace of Tantah (2013), as well as about a newly discovered building in Tunkuyi (2014).

For more detailed information about the site’s history and publications see the corresponding ruin descriptions in the catalog.

Some Notes about Puuc Style Architecture

As mentioned, Puuc is also a cultural designation that refers to the distinctive architectural style of the region. Particularly Harry E. D. Pollock (1980) and George F. Andrews (1986 and 1995) have carved out its different branches and timelines. We know about a considerable occupation in the northern lowlands in the Preclassic (Anderson 2011; Stanton and Ardren 2005). Nevertheless, in the Puuc heartlands only the early site of Xocnaceh has been extensively worked on (Gallareta Negrón and May Ciau 2007), as well as Xkipche, a Rank 3 site south of Uxmal, whose roots also go back to the Preclassic. It is possible that in the area investigated for this study there is very early architecture in the ruins of Xtokbil, but only excavation could prove this assumption.

For the present catalog of ruins the different architectural styles prevailing in the Puuc are estimated as follows:

Early Oxkintok (AD 400? - AD 550)

Megalithic style (AD 450? - AD 550)

Proto-Puuc (AD 550 - AD 650)

Early Puuc (AD 650/670 - AD 750/770)

Classic Puuc (AD 750/775 - AD 925/950 AD. Other authors give AD 750 - AD 1000.)

- Classic Puuc Colonnette (AD 750/775 - after AD 850)

- Classic Puuc Mosaic (AD 830/850 - AD 925/950)

Late Uxmal (AD 900 - AD 950)

Please keep in mind that the timeline given here should be seen as rough approximation and I am sure that there were overlaps.

Early Oxkintok and Late Uxmal do not occur in the area investigated for this study, and only a few Proto Puuc buildings were seen. Almost all of the structures were erected in Early Puuc and in Classic Puuc times. These are characterized by finely fitted veneer masonry that covers a self-supporting structural fill held together by lime-based concrete and —in the case of Classic Puuc structures— by buildings which typically show plain lower zones and decorated upper ones (Sharer 1994: 368). Those styles belong to the Terminal Classic period of the Maya culture in general (AD 600 - AD 950), an era marked by a florescence in the northern part of the peninsula that ended with a widespread demographic collapse, a tragedy that had happened in the southern Maya lowlands (Chiapas, Guatemala, Belice) several decades earlier.

It is still under debate if the Classic Puuc Mosaic style replaced the Classic Puuc Colonnette style, or if both existed in parallel for some decades. Also highly controversial is the question of when the Puuc culture came to its end. Together with Carmean and Sabloff (1996) and Carmean, Dunning and Kowalski (2004), among others, I doubt that —with the exception of Uxmal— Puuc style buildings were erected after 925 AD. The Xkipche Project, led by the University of Bonn, Germany, presented clear evidence of restricted later building activities at that site, that is, mostly carrying out modifications instead of beginning new construction.

Given that this book is devoted to still standing architecture in the Puuc archaeological region, and for the sake of a better understanding, I will give a brief introduction into the various Puuc styles, as they were defined by the US-American architect George F. Andrews (1986, 1995].

Early Oxkintok and Proto-Puuc styles. The major differences when compared against the later styles are that buildings were constructed with block walls and that rooms were covered over with true corbeled vaults.

Early Puuc style (Fig. 6). Andrews calls it a transitional period. The system of concrete walls faced with small, squarish blocks and concrete vaults faced with wedge-shaped stones tenoned into the concrete behind is developed. Base moldings normally consist of single projecting members. Doorways are mostly narrow; entrances divided by round columns with square capitals make their first appearance. Lower walls are plain. Protruding medial moldings are single-membered, but a few have two members. Upper wall zones are generally plain but there are several examples with repetitive patterns of small recesses; many buildings have projecting stones, which probably supported stucco sculptures. Sometimes upper walls with considerable inward slope can be found. Those upper facades are coated with stucco and painted. Upper moldings, if they exist, consist of a protruding single member. An Early Puuc speciality are the “broken moldings” where the upper molding rises above doorways (see Tunkuyi Structure 3]. High roof combs over front or medial walls are fairly common. Vaults are low and more rounded when compared to Classic Puuc examples. Among the decorative elements are doorjambs, lintels and doorway columns carved in low relief; motifs include human figures and short hieroglyphic inscriptions (see Tunkuyi].

Fig. 6: Elevation of a typical Maya stone building, executed in the Early Puuc style.

Classic Puuc Colonnette style (Fig. 7). Andrews had coined the term Colonnette style for appropriately describing those buildings whose exterior decoration is confined solely to the use of several varieties of half-round columnar forms. Those colonnettes, or columns, have tenons in their backs to connect them to the concrete hearting behind. There are two basic varieties of columnar forms: plain and banded. Shorter versions of those facade columns, the colonnettes, are used as center elements in moldings. These base, medial, or upper moldings generally consist of three members, but there are exceptions with more members. Lower walls are plain, but sometimes have inset groups of columns, both plain and banded. Many examples of three-quarter round inset corner columns have been registered. Walls are constructed with concrete core faced with dressed veneer-type stone blocks which are coated with a thin layer of stucco. Facing stones are larger than in earlier styles. Doorways are wider and higher than before, and jambs formed with large slabs full thickness of the wall are typical, although in the investigated area there are several examples of masoned jambs. Multiple doorways with round columns are rare; when those columns appear they are almost always slimmer than in earlier times. Upper walls are filled with a continuous row of vertical set half-round columns, both plain and banded, or with groups of columns, alternating with plain sections. Sometimes upper walls are sloped and lack true medial moldings. Roof combs are rare and low. Vaults are higher than in earlier styles; all have offsets at the spring line, below capstones and at ends of rooms. Normally vaults have curved soffits. Numerous projecting stones shaped in various forms, mostly feet, stick out of inner walls and vaults. The latter are constructed with concrete cores faced with specialized stones dressed on exposed face; profiles of vault facing stones vary from wedge shape to occasional examples of booth shapes.

Fig. 7: Elevation of a typical Maya stone building, executed in the Classic Puuc Colonnette style.

Classic Puuc Mosaic style. This sub-style shares most of the construction details with the Colonnette style. Main differences mostly show up in wall decoration. Moldings include as central member also step-and-fret, zig-zag dentate or other geometric designs. Lower walls are mostly plain, but could present groups of inset columns or panels with geometric designs. Upper wall zones are decorated with a variety of geometric designs and masks.

Intermediate style. Few buildings belong to this style. It includes edifices with sloping upper walls that project out without a medial molding, but also structures with multiple member moldings and plain, vertical, upper wall zones, which lack any form of integral decoration.

Megalithic style occurs very rarely. It is characterized by the use of large slabs for construction. This style is not placed in time yet, but is thought to be early.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations of the sites follow the three-letter code proposed by Ian Graham (1975) and Berthold Riese (2004), as well as the lists given in the Internet by Peter Mathews, and by CMHI (Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions). The ruins’ names are in this study shortened as follows:

CAM

Chakanmul

CPI

Chunpich

ITZ

Itzimte-Bolonchen

K93

Kilometer 93

K126.5

Kilometer 126.5

MTB

Multuzelbeh

SAN

San Antonio

SKT

Suukte

TAT

Tantah

TUN

Tunkuyi

VEN

Vena

XKL

Xtokbil

XKO

Xkom Chakan I

XII

Xkom Chakan II

Nicholas P. Dunning and Eric Weaver

The Physical and Ancient Cultural Geography of the Itzimte Area: a Transitional Zone within the Elevated Interior Region of the Yucatan Peninsula

Fig. 8: Hillshade map of the Itzimte region highlighting the physiographic landscape of rugged karst uplands and basins with Quaternary sediments and the location of ancient settlements. Elevation data obtained from: National Elevation Dataset http://ned.usgs.gov/ (last accessed 6 May 2014).

Graphic: Eric Weaver.

The Itzimte area is part of the Bolonchen Hills physiographic district, a part of the Puuc region which forms the northernmost part of the Elevated Interior Region (EIR) that lies at the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula (Dunning et al. 2012). The EIR is an uplifted portion of the carbonate Yucatan Platform that has weathered into a complex landscape of rugged karst hills and depressions. One notable characteristic of the region is a lack of surface water and a considerable depth to permanent groundwater (ranging from a few tens to more than 200 meters below the surface), though more accessible perched aquifers exist in a few places. Given the highly seasonal nature of rainfall in the Maya Lowlands, the lack of available water in the EIR posed significant challenges to ancient occupation. The Itzimte area is situated along a transitional zone within the EIR where the densely packed cone karst landscape of the Bolonchen Hills begins to give way to a zone of broad basins with deep Quaternary sediments; small clusters of hills and broader upland ridges are irregularly dispersed across the landscape. In this chapter we review the geologic, physiographic, hydrologic, climatic, and edaphic characteristics of the Itzimte region (Fig. 8). These aspects of the regional environment provided opportunities as well as constraints for ancient Maya settlers who sought to wrest a living from the land. The adaptations made to both survive and even thrive in ancient times are reflected in the distribution and nature of Maya communities in the landscape.

Geology, Physiography, and Hydrology

The Yucatan Peninsula is a partially emerged carbonate platform that separates the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Bedrock exposed at the surface is oldest in the south and youngest in the north. Strata exposed in the Bolonchen Hills are chiefly thin- to medium-bedded white, yellow, and gray limestone and sandy limestone, some of which contain conglomerates and breccia—a few of which include chert (Isphording 1975). Exposed rock is of late Miocene age (ca. 5.3-11.6 million years ago). Strata have been folded into small synclines with dips typically between 10 and 15 degrees. These synclines help define generally flat-bottomed structural valleys or basins framed by chains or clusters of cone karst (kegelkarst) hills—the weathered remnants of uplifted strata. Local relief is typically between 40 and 60 meters, but can approach 100 meters in a few places.

The uppermost rock layer across much of the northern Maya Lowlands is actually the byproduct of weathering of native limestone in the regional wet-dry climate (Dunning 1992; Isphording and Wilson 1973). The cap-rock layer is formed beneath the soil mantle by the precipitation of low-Magnesium limestone as a petrocalcic horizon during the dry season when drying conditions favor the capillary rise and deposition of soluble minerals in subsurface soil pore spaces. Beneath the cap-rock is a variably thick layer of sascab or sahcab (“white earth”) also created by weathering: a residual, relatively soft material composed of high-Magnesium carbonates. The juxtaposition of these two layers was of vital importance to the settlement of the Puuc region because it facilitated the construction of water cisterns (see below).

The cone karst hills of the Bolonchen typically have very thick knobs of cap-rock on their crests, sometimes extending some distance down slope, though often fractured into a karst hill form known as a steep-even slope (Fig. 9). Other hill slopes are composed of exposed beds of native limestone creating “staircase slopes”. Many lower hill slopes are partly composed of rocky scree weathered off of the higher slopes.

Fig. 9: Idealized cross-section of a cone karst hill and adjacent solution basin typical of the Itzimte region.

Drawing: Nicholas Dunning.

Basins are the product of folding, faulting (that sometimes defines basin margins where dissolution is concentrated), and general dissolution of underlying limestone. These basins vary in shape and size (ranging from a few hundred meters to several kilometers across). Most basins have partially infilled with accumulating sediment of Quaternary age (2.5 million years or younger). The Itzimte area is a zone of transition between the northern part of the Bolonchen Hills where basins tend to be smaller and the density of cone karst hills is much greater and the southern part of the region where the basins become the dominant physiographic feature and the uplands more muted (Fig. 8). Most of the larger Maya sites in the Itzimte area are located adjacent to one or more fairly large basins—a spatial relationship that suggests the ancient Maya occupants of these cities were exploiting the agricultural potential of valley soils.

Although not common, a few sinkholes occur in the Bolonchen Hills. The large majority of these are small, shallow, and filled with clayey sediments (many of which retain water for part of the year as aguadas). Other sinkholes contain karst swallow holes (xuch in Yukatek Maya) with their entrances found in fractures near the base of cone karst hills or within sinkholes. The famous deep cave system at Xtacumbilxunan just southwest of Bolonchen de Rejon is entered via an opening in the wall of a sinkhole. This remarkable cave system includes a large vertical cavern from the base of which radiate seven descending narrow passages each of which leads to a permanent pool of groundwater (Stephens 1843). Depth below ground surface of permanent water in this area is about 130 meters. In some parts of the Bolonchen Hills, including under the town of Bolonchen de Rejón, seasonal shallow aquifers occur. The eponymous wells (Bolonchen means “nine wells”) typically dry up about midway through the dry season leaving residents to find alternative sources of water (historically Xtacumbilxunan Cave).

Development of sinkholes and caves in the Puuc is guided by fracturing of underlying limestone concentrating dissolution processes in the broken bedrock zones. In the Preclassic period, Maya populations in the Puuc region modified some sinkholes to enhance their water-holding capacity and these aguadas became the focal points of urban centers such as Xcoch and Yaxhom in the northern part of the Puuc (Dunning et al. 2014; Ringle 2011).

Although poorly understood, Preclassic settlement in the southern Puuc (Bolochen Hills) appears to have been much less extensive. The widespread settlement of the Puuc region in the Classic period was facilitated by the construction of thousands of water-hold cisterns (chultuns or chultuno’ob). This system of rainwater catchment and storage exploited the particular nature of the weathered limestone crust: narrow holes were punched through the hard cap-rock and large chambers excavated in the soft, underlying sascab, then lined with plaster to be made impervious (Dunning 1992). By including chultuns in the large majority of residential groups, Puuc Maya society was able to flourish in the seasonally arid EIR.

Climate

For the Maya Lowlands region, the key synoptic scale climate drivers are the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and subtropical high pressures, tropical storms (hurricanes), and occasional temperate cyclonic and anticyclonic incursions. Rainfall is highly seasonal, linked to the annual north-south migration of the ITCZ, with about 80% falling from late May/June through November. Modern records in Bolonchen de Rejon indicate average annual precipitation of 999 mm (Climate-data.org, 2014), though longer term averages for the Puuc region as a whole indicate annual precipitation of about 1,100 mm (Dunning 1992). In Bolonchen, September is typically the wettest month with about 200 mm of rain, whereas February is often the driest with about 20 mm (Fig. 9). The size, frequency, and track of tropical storms and temperate incursions (nortes) can create significant interannual variation in precipitation. Nortes are responsible for most of what little precipitation arrives in the dry season; tropical storms can greatly skew rainfall distribution in the wet season.

Fig. 10: Mean monthly rainfall at Bolonchen de Rejon (Precipitation and temperature data for graph obtained at: NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Monthly Climatological Summary, GHCND:MX000004001-Bolochen.Mexico.http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/. last accessed 6 May 2014). Graphic: Eric Weaver.

Mesoscale drivers of climate in the region are tropical waves and convective complexes, and other local factors that include complex interactions between land use/vegetation and climate. The driving factors of climate are only deterministic for a period of time, but large scale changes in ocean-atmospheric interactions, receipt of solar radiation, and stochastic patterns induce change, which occur at many time scales. Such shifts can lead to the failure of the ITCZ to effectively push northward leading to periods of increased aridity that at times plague the Maya Lowlands.