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1700 year-old Mayan Buildings to be preserved
El Universal • Translated by Eduardo Rincón-Gallardo – September 2008

The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, National Anthropology and History Institute) and the Instituto Tecnológico de Mérida (ITM, Mérida Technological Institute), joined into the preservation of some buildings of the Maya area built around 1,500 to 1,700 years ago and despite their age they continue to stand.

Both organisms are joined by a new project involved in processing digital models of the prehispanic architectural systems, their structural diagnose as well as a mortar (the mix used to build their foundations) as close as possible to the original materials and structures.

This old civilization has not yet been equaled in its building standards, based on the fact that modern buildings can scarcely reach a 100-year period of usable life according to recent research.

This initiative, supported by INAH’s center in the State of Yucatán, is inserted within the Proyecto de Mantenimiento Mayor (Major Maintenance Project) of four sites located on the Puuc Route (mountain range, in Maya language): Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Xlapac; the Palacio (Palace) being the structure in this last touristic zone that served as the prototype for the development of the above mentioned research.

Even though the collaboration between both institutes began by the end of 2007, a framework agreement will be signed shortly. In addition to this, an initial digital model and essay created by civil architecture students of the ITM based on the analysis of the framework of Xlapac’s Palace is nearing completion.

Archaeologist José Huchim Herrera –along with specialist Lourdes Toscano Hernández-, co-director of Route Puuc’s Major Maintenance Project (zone where a hundred archaeological sites are found), commented that thanks to all these analyses and based on their results, schemes of conservation of these buildings can be designed.

Engineer Manuel Efraín Morales Bojórquez, responsible of the line dedicated to creating the digital models, made it known that “the passage of time causes wear on the constructive materials of the buildings due to the load they support” referring to the deterioration shown on the Mayan structures observed.

Source: http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/

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