[Aztlan] Classic Maya Unit of Length

[Amapohuani at aol.com]

Estimados Listeros:

"Mecates": plural of hispanized mecate. From Nahuatl "Mecatl. cordel, o soga, 
o açote de cordeles" (fray Alonso de Molina, VOCABULARIO [etc.], 2004 edition 
of the 1571 edition,   Editorial Porrúa, Mexico, from 55r on the 
Nahuatl-to-Spanish side. Other derivations from the same page: "Mecania. nino. ahorcarse" 
[literally, 'to apply a rope to oneself/to use a rope on onseelf'] and 
"Mecania. nite. ahorcar a otro" [literally, 'to apply a rope to someone; to use a 
rope on someone else']. It can be found elsewhere in the VOCAB as well.

Ye ixquich.
Barry


In a message dated 11/29/07 7:18:58 AM, chunchucmil at yahoo.com writes:


> Thanks, Jules!!
> 
> I had guessed that the Mecate was likely a Nahuatl
> loan word (since the "ate" endings are often
> hispanicized "atl" endings).  But hadn't ever come
> across that reference.  Thanks a bunch.
> 
> The Mecate (as a 20 x 20 meter unit of area) is still
> being used by Maya farmers throughout the northern
> Maya lowlands.  In fact, we adopted this unit of
> measurement for mapping the ancient Maya city of
> Chunchucmil.  Much of the land around the ancient city
> had previously been measured by the henequen hacienda
> owners, and mojoneras (stone markers) were still erect
> at the corner of each mecate.
> 
> As surveyors, all we needed to do was to re-erect
> those that had fallen and apply grid numbers to them,
> then map all ancient structures within each mecate.
> When a milpa did not have any mojoneras, I worked with
> Maya farmers to establish a mecate grid (occasionally
> using the pole technique you mentioned).
> 
> Eventually the maps of each plantel were stitched
> together using high resolution GPS data and remote
> sensing image processing software in order to correct
> for variations of the grids.
> 
> Thought you might get a kick out of the merging of
> centuries-old technology with the latest remote
> sensing technology to map over 9 km2 of ancient
> settlement.
> 
> -Dave
> 
> 
>       
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