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FAMSI © 2005: Carlos Rudy Larios Villalta |
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Architectural Restoration Criteria in the Maya Area Reintegration, or Anastylosis Reintegration or anastylosis is the process through which we have the possibility to reintegrate or restore original parts that are falling or have fallen. The liberation works usually encounter sections with such characteristics. In traditional archaeology the ashlar stones are removed as a part of the rubble, considering that nothing can be done; however, the possibility of salvage and reintegration of such dislocated or fallen portions may be considerable, through the timely application of anastylosis. Its effective application has to do with the following basic steps: Prior to initiating the archaeological investigation, it is indispensable to count on one topographic system of a one single point of origin; this will allow to monitor each and everyone of the structural elements and even the artifacts found during the liberation of the monument. At the same time, this system will be the coordination link between archaeology and restoration. This system will allow to create a data bank that will tie all cultural traits by means of three coordinates, and facilitate further actions of handling, interpretation, and reintegration. To facilitate this task, it is convenient to establish a reticule formed by squares measuring two per two meters, named after their topographic position. This means that each localized element will have its distance from the point of origin, both in latitude, longitude, and height above sea level. This is useful not only for recording archaeological data but also to facilitate the task of architectural surveys, with absolute accuracy. Once the reticule has been established, a detailed record of data will be carried out, describing the present state of the monument with words, abundant photographs, and clear and accurate drawings; all this must be tied to the topographic system. As to the fallen elements or elements in the process of falling down that are deemed restorable, it will be necessary in addition to place them in a plan drawing illustrating its distribution within the rubble, as this will largely determine the possibility to reintegrate the ashlar stones of walls or the mosaic sculpture. It is also advisable to record the damages or deterioration processes in accurate plan drawings and elevations of all façades, both external and internal, from the entire entity. Whenever in the rubble we identify ashlar stone courses and/or stones of mosaic sculpture, no doubt we are in front of a fallen wall; it is necessary to maintain them precisely where they were found. That is, each stone must remain in the precise place where it fell, and they will be further marked, avoiding to do so on the main face; this is better done on the rear side, so when they are reintegrated, the mark will not be erased but will remain hidden to the eye of the observer. The sculpted blocks should further be immediately catalogued; it is always convenient to coordinate the work from the moment of its finding with the iconography expert, and to count at least with the help of one mason and to assistants. If we were in front of a heavily inclined wall in the process of falling down, describing a curve on its transversal section (Figure 1 y Photo 51), and if diagnosis of the expert in Maya architecture determined a technical impossibility for it to be to be pushed or pulled, then it should be treated with anastylosis, by adequately documenting and marking the stone courses at the same place where they were found. This will give us the chance to monitor the relative position of each dislocated element, to further pick them up and recompose them in the correct place of origin or in an adjacent location. This is the process known as anastylosis or reintegration.. The alignments or horizontal stone courses will be marked with letters, while the ashlar stones may be marked with numbers, as shown in the hypothetical drawing (Figure 2). It should be noted that this drawing is an example of the numerating order; in practice, the face of ashlar stones is not to be marked with painting, as they would look bad. In any case, if marking the face of the important stones is deemed indispensable, it is to be done with plaster or some other marker that may be easily removed. It is preferable, however, to use an indelible marker and mark the back of each stone, to avoid unintentional mistakes by the masons or ourselves at the time of doing the reintegration, and if the mark is strong and the agglutinants are reversible, we shall have the chance to make corrections without loosing the original marks. Conclusions about Reintegration It is advisable to be assisted by an expert fit to advice or to conduct works such as these, to fulfill an accurate work and a fine presentation. We call this work reintegration or anastylosis. It consists of integrating once more the existing, original elements, badly collapsed or fallen. This has nothing to do with picking up the disarranged blocks of rubble to use them at random in partial reconstructions or complementations. It is indispensable that the stones picked up show a true relationship between each other, and that we may prove its order and structural provenience. In most parts where buildings from the Maya area in Guatemala, Belize and the Southern Yucatán Peninsula are found, construction stones are extremely feable limes, so whenever they collapse and portions of the construction fall down, they are usually destroyed to such a degree that it is not possible to carry out any reintegration work; however, we have seen this rule broken in the past. At El Pilar, for instance, a site from the El Cayo district in Belize, we were able to find several sculpted stones that were a part of the frieze of a collapsed structure. In my view, what has probably happened is that the methodology of excavation applied in sites with very soft stones, has not been delicate enough to spot this kind of element which has usually broken into several pieces. In fact, if we are specially careful when removing stones from the rubble, we may also find fractions of the sculpture. Copán Copán was the most fruitful place as far as anastylosis is concerned. The ruin in this city was so severe that not a single roof was found in place, and numerous bearing walls were collapsed in over a 50%. I do not mean to say that only here we find the ideal conditions for the reintegration of ashlar stones or mosaic sculpture, but instead, that prior to Copán we never run multidisciplinary projects comprising the need to combine archaeology and restoration with a multidisciplinary team that included archaeology, epigraphy, architecture, iconography, topography, etc.
During my work as restoration director to PAAC II, in 1981, Elliot Abrams and David Webster (Pennsylvania State University), as an exceptional case, recorded several lots of cut stone found in the rubble of Structure 9N-82. They placed each sculpted stone on a map that covered the entire area excavated by them with squares measuring 2 × 2 meters, at the front and inside the building. The portions of wall that had not fallen were short in height and collapsed in manners impossible to correct, because even while tufa is a stable and tough stone, the original agglutinant was a sandy clay with abundant roots, cracks, and organic soil. We reintegrated the remains found in situ. Among them we found the foundations of two sculpture motifs of which some stones were missing (Photo 1). There I met William Fash and his wife Barbara, with whom I shared my wish to carry out a joint work that included archaeology and conservation. They proved particularly interested in the reintegration of the sculpture recovered by Abrams. Then, with the help of experts in epigraphy, iconography, and my assistance regarding Maya architecture and restoration, total success was achieved. After careful study and several lab trials, the stones were transported to the site for a structural test. Fortunately, the main stones fitted in just like when we slide a drawer into its original place, evidencing as well that before the collapse took place, the building had been burnt with a very intense fire which indelibly marked the stones. The pink stains produced by burning also fitted with great precision, providing additional proof of its correct placement (Photo 2 and Photo 3, shown below).
As a consequence of this success, William Fash invited me to jointly work with him in the rear part of the Palace of the Scribe, as we called it. The results were amazing: the rubble analysis allowed us to understand nearly 100% of the collapsed architecture, and to undertake, at least in a drawing, an ideal reconstruction of its façades. I say at least in a drawing, because even when the sculptural records of the lower portions of the main façade were reintegrated to the building, it was not possible to do so with the individuals of the upper portion because some intermediary elements were missing. Such an accomplishment was followed by the need of exhibiting the sculpture, but not only the one from the Palace of the Scribe but from Copán as a whole, and we dared to suggest the building of a sculpture museum with a totally different museographical concept. The team’s idea was to exhibit the original sculpture, not in showcases but instead, in exact replicas of the buildings to which they corresponded. Eventually, such museum became a reality, and nowadays accurate architectural replicas are present, where we exhibit the original sculpture. An example of this may be observed in Photo 53, below, where the replica at a natural scale of the east building of the ballcourt is presented, representing the original sculptures in the position we were able to elucidate through our joint investigation.
During further work (Copán Mosaics Project and Copán Acrópolis Project, 1985-1996), we underwent several unique experiences, of which at least two are worth referring: they represent extraordinary examples of how the team managed to achieve results that would have been unattainable in other projects. A portion of the bearing wall of the west façade in Structure 10L-22A was almost completely collapsed (Photo 4). After careful excavation, we found within the rubble on a section that showed the organization of several courses of ashlar stones, including a row of perfectly organized corner stones. With the documentation method already described, each stone was marked and then, with the help of photography and joint work, we were able to reintegrate the ashlar stones providing the building with a greater significance (Photo 5, below).
In the same way, one portion of the main façade, south side, containing mosaic sculpture, had also fallen in a relatively organized fashion, and we were able to reintegrate it with the certainty of doing the right thing (Photo 6, shown above, and Photo 7, below). Besides, in the eastern edge where the structure abutted with its neighboring one, Temple 22, we still had a portion of the upper zone decoration which helped to understand the fallen elements with clarity.
Our greatest success took place when the team of archaeologists under the supervision of Wyllys Andrews as co-director of PAAC (Tulane University), worked in the liberation of Structure 10L-29, located north of the Acrópolis. The collapsed western façade, which apparently was a huge labyrinth of fallen stones (Photo 8) was actually a frieze of mosaic sculpture, which appeared before us in a surprising order and with a remarkable feasibility for reintegration. When the bearing wall collapsed, it fell down in fractions that rested one on top of the other, in the shape of layers. The method consisted in documenting the superficial layer in the first place, to be later picked up and recomposed in an adjacent space. In Photo 9, we see William Fash, sitting on a chair that runs hanging from a wire, while he was taking pictures with a conventional camera. Pictures were also taken with a Polaroid camera to obtain images at once.
The process was repeated with the subsequent layers of stone; the method functioned perfectly well, and its immediate results may be seen in Photo 10, shown above, where the portion of the frieze recovered and recomposed in an adjacent part of the collapsed building may be observed. Today, the southern façade may be observed at the Sculpture Museum (Photo 54, below).
During the excavation works at Structure XIX of the Group of the Cross, with Alfonso Morales as the archaeologist in charge, the team of excavators found thousand of fractions of molded and polychromed stuccoes within the rubble. In normal projects, whenever fractions of molded stucco are found within the rubble, the fractioned material is collected and kept in bags or wooden boxes; later, this material is probably examined and finally kept in a storeroom. In this case, and as an extremely rare exception, Morales decided that the collected material was to be rescued and reintegrated. The team of experts of the Las Cruces Project (1999) accepted the challenge, and following a hard and patient laboratory work, their efforts were crowned with the obtention of the portrait of Pakal K’inich, who seems to have been the successor to Ahkal Mo’ Nabh III (Morales, personal communication, January 2001) in a representation over three and a half meters high with amazingly lively colors. The stucco was part of the decoration of one of the central pillars of Structure XIX, whose base still presented a small portion of well preserved stucco. In situ conservation has been one of the objectives of contemporary restorers. The purpose is that findings, particularly sculpture, are left right where they are found. Unfortunately, experience has shown that tourism, the lack of trained and permanent personnel, insufficient surveillance and nature itself, favor the destruction of delicate materials whenever they are left exposed to the public. On this basis, our idea was to rescue the entire panel and reintegrate the fractions of one another, while simultaneously protect it in the sole place where its permanency could be secured, that is, at the site museum.
The destiny of the building, as well as that of the entire site, is to be exhibited to visitors; therefore, in an absolute right manner and with all common sense, Structure XIX was restored by stabilizing its walls and pilasters, but as far as the stucco panel was concerned, the decision was to substitute it with a replica that looked exactly the same than the original (Photo 11, shown above) and place it in the corresponding pilaster. To some conservators, perhaps, placing the original piece in a different place than its place of finding, or original context, is not an easily accepted idea in general terms, although no one may deny that the objective of preserving it will be assured, away from curious hands; most important, however, is to have protected it from meteorological effects. Anyway, the characteristics of construction of this entity urged us to recommend the placement of a protection roof and a footpath for visitors (Photo 57, below).
As to the architectural remains of Structure XIX, it is interesting to mention that though large sections of displaced or fallen walls could not be reintegrated, anastylosis was applied in stabilizing the main stairway. The movement of the ashlar stones was pronounced but pretty clear, so we were able to do some reintegration in the stairs without hiding its deformations and completing an indispensable minimum to make it clearly understandable. During my last trip to the Maya world, while I was visiting Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, I found something very special in the works conducted by Peter J. Schmidt. First, and surprisingly, we found sculpture recomposed through anastylosis, though it was not reintegrated to the building but placed nearby (Photo 12, shown below). The result, not what we would have anticipated for the site, conveyed a sense of great respect for authenticity, allowing that the visitor’s imagination carried out the work of architectural recreation. Regretfully, it still is at arms length of tourists and snoopers.
Presently, in a group south of the city, reintegration is being implemented in some of the friezes with bas-reliefs, through anastylosis. This has efficiently contributed to the restoration of the architecture and its upper façades, by following the same method, and the result is a very complete vision of the restored monument, but eliminating the magic of imagination. |
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