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FAMSI © 2005: William M. Ringle |
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The 2001 Field Season of the Labná-Kiuic Archaeological Project
The 2001 Settlement Survey During the first year of our project (2000), mapping had concentrated on the known ceremonial core of the site. It quickly became apparent that the quality of surface remains offered an unparalleled opportunity to create a detailed map of the ancient community of Kiuic. In the great majority of cases, it was possible to determine floor plans and the dimensions of individual rooms. For vaulted structures, the pattern of collapse was often clear, as were details of construction such as the type of doorways, architectural decoration, etc. A number of rooms were in fact still standing; others had collapsed since Maler visited the site, but fortunately had been photographed beforehand (Figure 12, shown above). For these reasons, we have been mapping surface features and topography in high resolution. Mapping was carried out by means of two total stations. A fairly high number of points were necessary to record surface features and to achieve the necessary topographic definition we wanted. To provide an even greater level of detail, and to indicate the surface remains supporting our reconstruction of architectural features, 1:100 scale field drawings were made of every structure. First point plots of our total station data were computer generated, and then these sheets were used to draw in visible features. We made no attempt to record every stone, an impossible task for so large a site, but instead concentrated on those that were in situ or nearly so, as well as major architectural stones such as jambs and lintels, whether in situ or not. With perishable structures, an attempt was made to convey the density of rubble, since in situ stones were often difficult to identify. The final map consists of computer-generated contours, manually modified where necessary, CAD-drawn structure plans, and symbols for metates, chultuns, and other smaller features. Field drawings were then scanned in and cleaned up electronically (we use a program called Canvas, which allows the combination of vector and raster data). Because of the smaller scale of the final map, scanning the cleaned-up pencil drawings proved adequate and we found it unnecessary to ink them beforehand. Each scanned pencil drawing was then scaled and oriented within the master AutoCAD map. Once the AutoCAD map was completed, it could then be imported into GIS programs. The Labná-Kiuic GIS database is built around the ArcView interface, although we have now migrated to ArcGIS as well. We still recommend ArcView for the wide number of free specialty scripts that are available, a number of which were employed in our analyses. The principal goal of the 2001 season was to complete mapping and registration of the architectural core of the site, both its public buildings and their associated domestic and service structures. Our secondary intention was to proceed as far as possible in mapping the area defined by the INAH site boundary markers (mojoneras), an area approximately 500×500 m. Although we completed our first objective, the number of buildings and their high level of preservation prevented us from finishing the second. Nevertheless, much of the northern half of the central 500x500-m-square quadrangle was mapped, giving us a preliminary glimpse of settlement beyond the core. Several additional structures were located and cleared, and awaited mapping during 2002. 3 A total of 123 structures were mapped during our first two field seasons, 76 of them during 2001 (Table 1, shown below, Figure 13 and Figure 14). Of these 123, 101 possessed rooms, the remainder being platforms without superstructures, chich mounds, and the enigmatic ring structures found at many Puuc sites. Interestingly, 54.5% of the structures with rooms were vaulted and three others had walls of masonry (presumably either with a pole-and-thatch roof or under construction). This index of architectural investment rises to 65.6% when the number of rooms is considered (162 of the total of 247 rooms were vaulted). An even higher 72.2% of the rooms were in either vaulted or masonry structures.
Since our sample covers the central section of Kiuic, our sample undoubtedly reflects the greater investment in public architecture as well as the probably higher presence of elite households. When only those structures are considered which fall beyond the immediate site center, 8 were vaulted and 17 perishable foundation braces, so the overall total of vaulted buildings fell to 32%. Nevertheless, vaulted buildings continued to be found at the north, east, and western limits of our survey (the area to the south was not explored this season). Furthermore, it is significant that structure density appears to be higher than any of the quadrants of Sayil, a larger Rank 2 site. Our sample is still too small to hazard any population estimates, but clearly a number of the structures probably were not domestic habitations. A number of buildings or platforms lacked chultuns and/or metates. Examples are the Grupo Nicté, Str. N1100E0920 et al., Str. N1255E1000 et al., and Str. N1090E1220 et al. Despite the large number of rooms in the "palace" groups Chulul and Kuché, these were served by only two or three chultuns. Excavations will ultimately be necessary to formulate more specific hypotheses as to their past use. The majority of vaulted structures mapped to date is either single-room or range structures (that is, structures with only a single row of rooms). Only five possess a "tandem" plan, that is, with multiple rows of rooms, while two others have more complex floor plans (Strs. N1065E1025 and N0920E1040). The popularity of single-room vaulted buildings (38% of vaulted structures) is something of a surprise, since Pollock (1980: 567) argues that this is relatively rare among Puuc sites. Inspection of their distribution shows that the majority are concentrated around the Grupo Yaxché. Since the architecture of this group is early, the preference for single-room structures may be a chronological trend. It is interesting in this respect that several examples having later stonework were clearly built to allow additional rooms to be added at a later date (e.g., N1075E1045); in other words, they were range structures under construction.
A special case is the elongated one-room hall. Examples occur at Kiuic 4 (N1015E1015) (Figure 15, shown above), at Huntichmul, at Labná, and other sites such as Chac. These structures are almost certainly early, since they have slab vaults and simple façades. They are also usually fronted by elaborate staircases, and most have several doors separated by piers (excavation of N1015E1015 indicated several had been walled up at some later point). One-room halls appear to have been a focus of community life, rather than residences, given their scarcity and placement in formal architectural groups we refer to as the Early Puuc Civic Complex. As can be seen from Table 1, range structures with 3 (21.8%) and 2 (14.5%) rooms are the next most popular floor plans at Kiuic. Rarely do vaulted structures occur in isolation. Only one platform has just a single vaulted structure (N1065E1120) on it. Four others are accompanied by perishable foundation braces, and the remainder are paired with at least one other vaulted building, plus accompanying perishable structures. Our sample of foundation braces to date is dominated by one- or two-room buildings (34/43 or 79%). All are rectangular in plan; to date no apsidal structures have been identified. This was also the pattern at Sayil and overwhelmingly our experience at Ek Balam, though a few apsidal structures were encountered there. 5 The presence or absence of 1 or 2 room perishable structures on a platform with vaulted architecture seems in general to distinguish residential groups from public buildings, although there are exceptions. The absence of perishable foundations should be noted for the Grupos Chulul and Kuché, both "palace" groups, as well as the Grupo Yaxché. 6 Of the remainder, four are of a type we have dubbed "eyeglass" or open-fronted structures. We first identified this form at several sites in the Ek Balam region. In these, two small rooms are connected by a longer rear wall. The whole was presumably covered by thatch, but since no trace of a front connecting wall brace is present, they are assumed to have been open. The C-shaped structures are familiar from the literature (e.g., Bey et al. 1998). The argument of the latter paper is that such structures often date to the post-monumental Terminal Classic in northern Yucatán. Excavations will be necessary to determine this for Kiuic, since two examples occur on service platforms of the Grupo Yaxché, suggesting their contemporaneity (N1060E0965, N1100E1040). However, C-shaped Str. N1085E0805 may be a later addition to the Grupo Nicté, since some of its cut stones appear to have been reutilized, perhaps when some of its vaulted buildings were modified. Twenty-two structures bore no evidence of room foundations. One type is the isolated chultun platform (e.g., N1035E0735). Such platforms were evidently constructed to provide a catchment area for rainwater. Plataformas chultuneras may have served more than one neighboring platform, though additional mapping will be necessary to understand their spatial context. This is not a wholly satisfactory answer, however, since we also found catchment basins constructed virtually at ground level (e.g., N1100E1160) while some of our plataformas chultuneras (e.g., N1255E1165) were very large and the chultun seems to have been added almost as an afterthought. A distinct possibility is that the larger plataformas chultuneras were in fact domestic platforms abandoned while under construction. As noted below, this would be in keeping with other evidence for a swift abandonment of the site. The relative isolation of N1255E1165 from other platforms would also support this position. Other miscellaneous structures include several "altars," for lack of a better word, chich (gravel) mounds, and as of 2001, a single annular structure. Annular structures have been reported from several Puuc sites, but their function is still poorly understood (c.f. Sabloff and Tourtellot 1991: 16, Dunning 1991: 24-25). Frequently the stones of the interior betray evidence of burning, suggesting these may have been production ovens of some sort. Ceramic kilns might be one possibility, given the absence of any other evidence for such structures in the north, but we detected no sherd concentrations or "wasters" within or around our example. Other possibilities are charcoal or limestone production, though why this would be done on the service patio of one of the main groups of Kiuic is puzzling. Again, future excavations are called for. Organizational Patterns at Kiuic With the site center now mapped, Kiuic seems a good deal less chaotic than it seemed to some of its earlier visitors. Many of the buildings share a common orientation, about 16-17ºE of true north, within the span of Puuc orientation pattern identified by Aveni and Hartung (1986). The general orientation of Kiuic architecture also exhibits another pattern noted by Pollock: "A strong tendency in the orientation of Puuc architecture is that the buildings in a group of structures face inward toward the center of the group, and that single structures and larger architectural complexes face toward the ceremonial or civic center of the site" (Pollock 1980: 562). At Kiuic, the Grupo Yaxché provides that focus. Although not all structures face toward it (Grupo Nicté; Str. N1255E1000), even the larger and more elaborate Grupo Kuché seems to look toward this group, a link made explicit by Sacbé 1. Another feature sometimes seen at other Puuc sites is that a large open area exists in the very heart of the site, south of the Grupo Yaxché as far as the foot of the cerro south of it, and from the present-day parking area west to the Grupo Chulul. Although possibly used for public assemblies or ceremonies, a close check of this area detected no cultural remains. Instead, Gallareta has suggested that it may have served as an infield garden or orchard, perhaps for elite use. He notes that similar open spaces occur near the Labná Palace. Such an interpretation supports the contention by members of the Sayil project that Puuc cities can often be conceptualized as "garden cities" because of the large tracts of presumably cultivated flats within urban boundaries (Killion et al. 1989; Dunning 1992:119). Classification of Puuc architectural styles stems from Pollock's magnum opus, in which he distinguished the Early Oxkintok, Proto-Puuc, Early Puuc, and Late Puuc styles (Pollock 1980: 584-587). The major contribution in recent years has been that of George Andrews (1986, 1995), who identified Proto-Puuc and Early Puuc stages, and subdivided Pollock's Late Puuc style into the Colonnette, Mosaic, and Late Uxmal styles. A number of questions remain unresolved, however. One is the degree of overlap of these styles. According to Andrews, his last three styles generally follow one another, although he recognized that the Colonnette style persisted alongside the Mosaic style for some unknown duration, and that the Late Uxmal seems to have been highly localized.
We are fortunate in having a range of architectural styles at all three major sites in our survey area which should allow us to test many of these questions. The earliest masonry structures are all largely collapsed, but probably possessed unadorned vertical façades with a simple vertically faced medial molding or perhaps on occasion with a "broken" medial molding. 7 Most importantly, they were roofed with slab vaults, suggesting they preceded Pollock's Early Puuc style. A good example is N1015E1015 (Figure 16), discussed below, but others exist at both Labná and Huntichmul. One other structure, Room 1 of N1000E0865 of the Grupo Chulul (Figure 17, shown above), has a stepped vault and a vertical medial molding, but the remainder of the façade is buried by collapse. This room is adjacent, and at right angles, to three rooms, all with veneer vaults and whose façade in Early Puuc IIb. No seam could be detected in the masonry hearting between Rooms 1 and 2, however, so the antiquity of this example is uncertain.
At least two other variants fall within the Early Puuc style. Both have vaults faced with wedge-shaped veneer stones with beveled faces (tacones). Early Puuc IIa (EP IIa) predominates in the Grupo Yaxché (Figure 18, shown above), although fallen examples may form part of the Grupos Balche and Nicté. These buildings have sloping upper wall zones (sometimes with multiple aprons), columns or square door piers, and on occasion, 3-part upper moldings and/or roof combs. In some cases, such as N1045E1005, the vault stones are quite crude and interior spaces are often limited (many have just a single room). On the other hand, the west wing of N1065E1025 (Figure 19, shown below) demonstrates that mosaic stonework was already in use, although not as yet in mask form. This wing is also interesting because a section of its rear wall is exposed and is clad with veneer, suggesting this "wing" and a similar range along the east side, were originally free standing structures.
The other style, EP IIb, frequently has smooth vertical upper wall zones and simple vertical medial moldings, again "broken" in some examples (N1000E0865, Figure 20, shown above). Doorways are most frequently simple rectangular or slightly trapezoidal openings, although sometimes columns are used. The area within the broken medial molding may be decorated with simple mosaic designs on occasion (e.g., N1025E1160 of the Grupo Balche (Figure 21, shown below), South wing of the Labná Palace). Vaults tend to be better fashioned, and rooms somewhat more ample than EP IIa, although there seems to be a definite trend towards limiting the openness of façades.
The chronological relation between EP IIa and IIb is unclear. In general, IIa structures appear to be more lightly built than IIb buildings. On the one hand, EP IIa looks forward to the succeeding Colonnette style in having 3-part moldings and mosaic decoration, but EP IIb has the vertical upper wall zone, simple doors, and more elaborate vaulting characteristic of later architecture. One indication that the latter postdates IIa is that what might have been an EP IIa structure (N1030E1150), built at ground level with square piers, appears to have been incorporated into a platform on which a EP IIb building rests, suggesting IIb may be later. One intriguing question is why so many Early Puuc structures were left standing and apparently in use. Did their functions change, and did they form part of a commemorative landscape?
The bulk of the vaulted buildings were in the Colonnette style (Figure 22, shown above). The Colonnette style at Kiuic is extremely restrained, with only variations in the arrangements of the colonnettes. Often the upper wall zone is a continuous frieze of colonnettes, in other cases sets of colonnettes are placed in recessed panels. Miniature colonnettes or drums (tamborcillos) are also found supporting the basal plinth and set into the medial and upper moldings on occasion. Only rarely do colonnettes decorate the lower wall zone, and then only at the corners of buildings. Doorways tend to be simple, with jambs usually spanning the entire width of the doorway (though two or three sections may be stacked to form a complete jamb.) Interestingly, at Kiuic we as yet have no good evidence of columns being used after the Early Puuc period, although this clearly was not the case elsewhere. For reasons discussed below, this phase is called the Colonnette I style.
Only a very few structures at Kiuic have evidence of mosaic masks, although more are known from Huntichmul and Labná (Figure 23, shown above). All are associated with civic/public structures in the Grupo Kuché (Strs. N1050E0815 and N1100E0850). Another structure of the Grupo Kuché, Str. N1095E0830, had a façade decorated not only with colonnettes, but also with small, square mosaic diamonds arranged in a checkerboard pattern. This recalls the façades of the Labná Palace wings (Pollock 1980: Figures 17 and 47), Str. 5 of Sabacché (Pollock 1980: 142), and Str. 1A2 of Kabáh (Pollock 1980: Figure 299). These structures are also decorated with mosaic grecas, suggesting their relatively late date. The relative lack of such decoration at Kiuic does not reflect its earlier abandonment or conquest, however, since structures in the Grupo Chulul appear to postdate the Grupo Kuché, and indeed it is the Grupo Chulul, rather than the Grupo Kuché, which appears to have been abandoned while under construction.
The main representative of what we refer to as the Colonnette II style at Kiuic is the famous Diamantes building (N0970E0850, Figure 24, shown above), drawn by Catherwood, photographed by Maler, and now in serious danger of collapse. These Colonnette II-style buildings can be distinguished by their much larger (and better cut) veneer stones, by the height of their vaults, and often by the presence of boot stones and elaborately banded colonnettes and other forms of mosaic decoration in the lower wall zone. Figure 25, below, shows some examples from Huntichmul. Some of these structures were apparently roofed with perishable materials, and their only distinguishing traits are the size of the veneer stones and most notably, the great size of the door jambs and the increased width of the (lintel-less) doorways. A good example is N0875E0880 on the second tier of the Chulul palace.
The dimensions of vaulted rooms do not vary appreciably, except for a general chronological trend for wider and taller rooms. Thus, if the central structures such as the Grupo Chulul were palaces, they did not enjoy larger interior spaces, as Kurjack has noted. Kurjack also argued that vaulted rooms may each be identified with individual nuclear families because in general, rooms do not interconnect. However, we see at both Kiuic and Labná a strong preference for two- or three-room structures following the Early Puuc period. 8 If rooms did belong to related nuclear families, one would expect to see a greater variety in room number. Evidence suggests instead that 2 or 3 room buildings were in general occupied by a single family; this tends to be supported by the association of a single set of food preparation facilities with each vaulted building. Furthermore, there is a fairly close correlation between the number of perishable and vaulted structures on a platform. In Kurjack's scenario, if the former were the houses of support personnel, one would therefore have to assume that they too were co-residential nuclear families, each room serving a room of the vaulted rooms, instead of what seems more likely, another single extended family serving a single family in the vaulted structure. One other piece of evidence is that the upper wall zones of the sides of several masonry buildings were not clad with veneer (i.e., the masonry hearting was left exposed). It seems that commonly a single-room vaulted structure was first constructed and then added onto when the need arose or resources permitted. It should be noted that our only examples of this technique involve single room buildings: the ends of two and three room buildings were always finished, as if that were the intended limits of expansion. As discussed elsewhere in this report, the earliest group of civic architecture at Kiuic apparently is the Grupo Yaxché. This group possesses the largest "pyramid," 9 as well as two other smaller stepped platforms in the Plaza Icim – smaller, yet larger than any other outside of the group (as of 2001). The presence of this mound, together with the long hall N1015E1015, ramps, and other vaulted buildings arranged around a rectangular or frequently subrectangular plaza identifies it as an architectural grouping we call the Early Puuc Civic Complex (EPCC). Such groups can be found at several sites of the region, including Labná, Huntichmul, Chac, and Xcanacruz. All appear to be relatively early in date, although often with later additions. Sometimes more than one are present at sites, such as at Chac and Huntichmul. They would therefore seem to be associated with prominent segments of a site rather than site-wide points of administration and/or worship. At Kiuic, however, there is just one, and its importance is underscored by its being the visual focal point of the center, as noted above. Excavations in that group have now demonstrated that occupation and perhaps civic activities may have had a much longer history than we have realized (see below). The fact that the Grupo Yaxché is connected by a short sacbé to the Grupo Kuché, surveyed in 2001, suggests it remained a point of social memory for some time afterward, largely unmodified. The Grupo Kuché was surveyed in 2001. Some elements of its architecture are discussed in the preceding section and it is clearly later than the Grupo Yaxché. It and its "palace," Str. N1050E0815, also bear a strong resemblance to architectural groups elsewhere in the region, such as the "palaces" of Xcauil (Pollock 1980: Figura 280) and Xkichmook (Thompson 1898). This may indicate a contemporaneity of construction and/or a similarity of political rank. The Xkichmook arrangement is particularly striking in having a long range structure at right angles to the "Palace," as well as other vaulted rooms across from it. The L-shaped arrangement of palace and range structure recalls the "temple assemblage" we have drawn attention to elsewhere in Yucatán as a basic building block of many site centers.
Finally, the Grupo Chulul is a much more ambitious civic complex. Reasons have been given above for suggesting it was the final complex, but the variety of architectural styles employed suggest it was built in several stages over a lengthy time period. One interesting aspect of this palace is that its "footprint" is larger than the Sayil or Labná palaces, although it had fewer rooms (Figure 26, shown above). These differences seem at base related to the different functions of these "palaces," for clearly the large central plaza of the Grupo Chulul seems much more oriented to public assembly and spectacle than is the north palace of Sayil. As mentioned above, several lines of evidence suggest Kiuic was rapidly abandoned in the full flower of its occupation. The partially constructed houses and house platforms mentioned above are partial evidence. The Grupo Chulul is another. Here a broad raised platform had apparently been raised behind the Early Puuc structures around the Plaza Mucuy. Much of the surface of the upper Plaza Colomté consisted of heavy rubble fill, in contrast to the soil and gravel covering of most plazas. The upper wall zone of N0970E0850 (the Diamantes building) lacked any sort of decoration or veneer finish, suggesting it too was unfinished. Finally, the focus of the Grupo Chulul, the complex of rooms at its south end, had apparently undergone several elaborations, including a lower Colonnette I range and a Colonnette II range of perishable-roof rooms on the second story. A third stage was evidently planned, but only a large mound with rough retaining walls was ever built. The top also was surfaced with heavy rubble, and no traces of foundations could be observed. Finally, Gallareta has observed similar indications of interrupted construction in his intersite survey. In some cases, metates seem to have been partially overturned to protect them, evidently with the expectation of return. Our ceramic sample to date suggests this never happened, since less than .2% of our collection belongs to Postclassic groups or wares, and most of these could have come from a single pot or two.
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