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FORTRESS MAYAPAN: DEFENSIVE FEATURES AND SECONDARY FUNCTIONS OF A POSTCLASSIC MAYA FORTIFICATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2014

Bradley W. Russell
Bradley W. Russell*
Affiliation:
College of Saint Rose, 432 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12203
*
Email correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

One of the most distinctive features of the Postclassic capital of Mayapan is the immense wall that encloses large portions of the site's settlement zone. This 9.1 km-long feature is the largest example of a walled enclosure known in Mesoamerica. Based on ethnohistoric references, it seems that the construction was well known to Postclassic and Colonial period residents of the Northern lowlands. The most common assertion regarding the enclosures is that the wall had primarily defensive functions. Unfortunately, little solid archaeological evidence or cross-cultural comparison has been offered to support this interpretation. In this paper, I correlate the form of the gates with cross-culturally derived and unambiguously defensive features, finding that the design of the gates strongly suggests that they are indeed defensive. Possible secondary functions of the wall are also explored, such as the control of people and goods entering the city, as ritual barrier, the control of internal populations and its symbolism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , Fall 2013 , pp. 275 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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