| The content of Maya classic civilization is very rich | | | | ornamented with intricate roof-combs, flying facades, |
| and can be summarized only in a briefest way. They | | | | and carved and stucco-sculptured decoration. |
| consist of large pyramidal mounds and platforms | | | | The Maya ceremonial centers were constructed and |
| made of earth and rock fill. Many of the Maya | | | | supported by sustaining populations of jungle farmers, |
| buildings are tremendously high and amazingly steep. | | | | but the archaeological record of this people is now |
| As examples, the great temple pyramid of Tikal rise | | | | only beginning to be set down. The ordinary classic |
| tower-like to heights of over 60 meters above the | | | | Maya dwellings were probably much like the wood, |
| plaza floors. | | | | mud, and thatch huts of their historic or modern |
| The buildings which surmount the pyramids and | | | | descendants, and such buildings have left little trace |
| platforms also were constructed of rubble fill and | | | | above ground. Fortunately, many of them were built |
| stone-block masonry. In some, as in the northern | | | | on small platforms of earth or stone, and a number |
| lowlands, the dressed-stone facing were no more | | | | of these “house mounds” have been |
| than a veneer set in stucco. Walls of the buildings | | | | discovered and studied. These studies indicate that |
| were thick and rooms were relatively narrow; roofs | | | | dwellings were not closely packed in and immediately |
| were vaulted with corbelled arches. | | | | around the ceremonial centers. Clusters of mounds |
| Doors were usually small and windows very rare so | | | | have been found close to the main plazas and |
| that the interiors of those structures still intact are | | | | mounds of the centers, but equally large clusters |
| dark and cool. Small buildings, of from one to three | | | | were scattered along the river bottoms or around |
| rooms, placed on the tops of steep pyramids, likely | | | | the edges of lakes and bajos (swamps) several |
| were temples; longer and larger buildings, with many | | | | kilometers removed from the ceremonial centers. |
| rooms and set on lower, broader platforms, probably | | | | There are some debatable exceptions. Some |
| were palaces. | | | | archaeologists claim that Tikal is the Peten was truly |
| The ball court, a Maya Late Classic Period feature, | | | | urban in its proportions, as was Dzibilchaltun in |
| was the other principal building type. The basic plan of | | | | northern Yucatan. But for the most part, the over-all |
| Maya ceremonial centers, particularly in the southern | | | | settlement pattern of the Classic Maya was a |
| lowlands, was a rectangular plaza enclosed on three | | | | scattered hamlet dotting most of the suitable farming |
| or four sides by mounds. These plazas were often | | | | land. Interspersed among these hamlets were minor |
| artificially dressed hilltops, as at Uaxactun, or terraced | | | | ceremonial centers, and somewhat more distant from |
| hillsides, as at Piedras Negras and Palenque. By | | | | one another were the major centers with their |
| successive layers of construction, the plaza unit | | | | elaborate architecture and monuments. Presumably, |
| gradually assumed the aspect of an acropolis, of | | | | several hamlets coordinated their efforts to |
| which the famous “Main Group” at Tikal or | | | | construct and maintain a minor ceremonial center, and |
| the “Acropolis” of Copan is good examples. | | | | in turn, the total populations tributary to such minor |
| Carved stelae and altar stones were set up in the | | | | centers coalesced with other similar groups to |
| plazas, frequently at the feet of pyramid stairways. | | | | support major centers. |
| High above the plazas, the temples and palaces were | | | | |