The main materials used in the construction of Maya monumental buildings were dirt and rubble used as filling material, limestone for blocs, cement and plaster as well as wood for scaffoldings, beams and lintels. Sometimes local stone was prefered to limestone for its durability or fineness like tuf at Copán and sandstone at Quiriguá.

The tools used by the ancient Maya were made of flaked stone with wooden handles and used for hammering and cutting such as the axe, the hammer, the adze, the pick, the knife and the chisel (fig. 6). However, limestone is rather soft and could be sculpted with relative ease. Also, some basic measuring instruments, although unknown, must have been used to achieve the observable degree of symmetry. Transport of materials depended entirely on a robust work force since there were no draft animals and the wheel was of no use in the jungle.

Fig. 6: Maya tool. (after Shafer 1990)

The main construction technique consisted in creating cells with walls containing fill (fig. 7). While the platform was composed of a series of cells, the walls consisted in cells where the space between two rows of cemented stone blocks was filled with rubble. Any other space like between the arches was filled in the same way.  The ancient Maya, not caring much for the precision of joints, then covered the surfaces with plaster for uniformity. Plaster was produced by burning limestone into powder which was then mixed with calcitic sand (sascab) and tree resine (holol) for plasticity.

Fig. 7: Plate-forme (d'après Grube 2000)

The surfaces were finally painted with mineral and organic pigments such as hematite and indigo used to produce the two main colors: red and blue. Some paints were a mixture of mineral and organic substances like the famous Maya blue made of indigo, azurite and paligorskite clay. This mixture produced six different tons of blue with a translucent effect.

THE PYRAMID-TEMPLE

The pyramid-temple is the most widespred and certainly the most remarkable type of temple by its verticality. As its name indicates, this building is composed of two elements: (1) a small building serving as a temple and (2) a pyramidal platform whose purpose is to elevate the temple.

The temple reproduces the form of the hut with its three componants (platform, walls, roof) while the pyramidal platform appears as an added element requiring a more or less steep stairway (45 to 60 degrees). The temple's form (1 to 3 rooms) and the platform's height (10 to 50 meters) vary according to regions. The function of the pyramid-temple was religious and its form seems to represent both a mountain and a cave which are sacred places for the Maya. Some have proposed that the levels of the platform represent cosmological levels and the temple a mythical place. Thus, the pyramid-temple would have been a place of spiritual transcendence for those who climbed it to perform a ceremony.

Their access was reserved to the initiated members of the ruling elite among which the ruler. While the temple was used to perform and commemorate ceremonies during the ruler's life, it was also used as a tomb upon his death although this function was not usually planned. There are few examples of funerary crypts like in the pyramids of Egypt.

THE PALACE

The so called palace, by analogy with those of Europe, is the other extreme of building by its horizontality. Like the temple, it is composed of the three components of the hut multiplied horizontally as many times as was necessary to obtain the desired space. However, it can be distinguished from the pyramid-temple by its low platform (its lack of a pyramidal platform) and its greater number of rooms (3 to 30).

The mystery of the palace is its function. Judging from their form, one could think that they had an administrative function allowing for administrators and artisans to perform their daily activites. But judging from the decoration, one could also believe in a ceremonial function allowing for the temporary residence of priests and artists in times of festivities. Yet, judging from their evolution, one could also propose a residential function allowing for the permanent residence of the elite.

It is likely that the palaces combined many functions where political, religious and domestic activities coexisted. Moreover, the functions were probably not the same from one region to another and must have been changing constantly depending on needs. What is certain is that the palaces were used by the elite of society: the royal family and noble families composed of priests, administrators, scribes, craftsmen and other specialists.