Saturday, May 02, 2015
Good work, poor assumptions
Archeologists, like linguists, are excellent and thorough observers but sloppy assumers. Archeologists have been digging up a Mayan city in Guatemala, active around 500 BC.
From the mapping and excavations, Pugh can tell that the city's main ceremonial route runs in an east-west line only 3 degrees off of true east. "You get about 15 buildings in an exact straight line — that's the main ceremonial area," he said. These 15 buildings included flat-topped pyramids that would have risen up to almost 100 feet high.Why ceremonial route? Why not just Main Street or High Street, arranged for convenience and commerce?
While the city was a sight to behold, its people might not have been happy with it, Pugh said. "Most Mayan cities are nicely spread out. They have roads just like this, but they're not gridded," said Pugh, noting that in other Mayan cities, "the space is more open and less controlled." Cities in early Renaissance Europe that adopted rigid designs were often unpleasant places for their residents to live, Pugh said. It's "very possible" that the residents of this early Mayan city "didn't really enjoy living in such a controlled environment," Pugh said.Why is a grid "controlled"? Why is spread out "nice"? Why does easy walking make people unhappy? Why the analogy to Renaissance Europe? The Mayans weren't French or German. In modern North America, highly connected grids are easier for walking and "nicely spread" suburbs are easier for driving. Did Mayans have cars? A more interesting theoretical question would be: Is there something about the Western side of the Atlantic that favors compass-oriented or sun-oriented grids? ¶ 1:32 AM
