The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology

by James A. O'Kon

  Alignment Criteria of Roadway Systems

  The construction of a sacbe began with the selection of the route and the engineering design of the roadway. Maya roads were designed as straight alignments between two points, no matter what the distance. The alignment followed the vertical geometry of the surface terrain, rather than using cut-and-fills to change the vertical contours of the roadway. Maya engineers preferred road routes to pass over the crest of a hill or follow the contours of a natural depression. This method of alignment also reduced the opportunity for ambush by invaders by eliminating potential hiding positions.

  The field engineering for the construction of a Maya roadway used a few simple surveying instruments. The basic engineering tools have not changed in contemporary road construction. The basic tools for establishing horizontal lines and right angles were based on the plumb bob, string lines, and water levels. Curved roads were just not in the Maya repertoire. The basic surveying tool used by the Maya was based on gravity, whereas contemporary surveying instruments are based on digital technology that use laser beams for leveling and distance. The results are the same, but digital tools are 99 percent accurate. The overall alignment of Maya roads was based on celestial navigation.

  The route of the sacbe cut an open swath through the forest, enabling sunlight to penetrate the shadows and dry the surface of the roadway after a rain. The same open slot permitted the surface of the white roads to be illuminated by moonlight and starlight. This celestial light enabled travel during the night, making the sacbe a true year-round transit route.

  Figure 9-1: Cross section of structural detail and geometry of typical sacbe. Author’s image.

  Figure 9-2: Detail of Maya sacbe with materials of construction shown. Author’s image.

  The 10-meter-wide sacbe had sufficient width to offer the opportunity for two lanes of travel in each direction. Lacking the advantages of beasts of burden, the Maya relied on manpower for transportation. It is apparent that heavily laden bearers would keep to the outside or “slow lane” in each direction. Fast movers, such as messengers, travelers without burdens, and military traffic, would have the right of way in the inside fast lanes. These four lanes of traffic would require the entire 10-meter-wide pavement, with 2.5 meters for each of the four lanes. Modern roads have lanes that are 3 meters wide for highway traffic, a very similar lane width to that used by the Maya.

  The sacbe system, in many cases, extended for long distances. To provide aid and support for travelers, the sacbe system included rest stations with water and provisions. Military garrisons were positioned along the routes to maintain order and carry out administrative duties, such as the collection of tolls. The sacbe system extended throughout the peninsula, interconnecting the major city-states. The concept, purpose, and geographic distribution of the sacbe system was similar to the interstate highway system in the United States, the Autobahn system in Germany, and the Roman road system in the Roman Empire. It served to enable military forces to move swiftly to a trouble spot. The hard surface of the sacbe provided a firm footing for marching warriors. The paved roadways also became a major economic factor and grew the wealth and culture of the Maya. In a similar manner, the modern interstate highway and the Autobahn have changed the primary purposes of the highways from a military role to the lifeline for economic transport.

  Comparison Between Maya Road Technology and the Roman Road System

  Historically, Roman road construction has been considered the ultimate in well-constructed, all-weather roads. These roads outlasted the sturdy building constructions of the Roman Empire for a millennium and a half. The Roman roads were well constructed all throughout the empire, but were at their optimum in Italy, where cast-in-place concrete was available to the road builder. However, the Roman roads north of the Rubicon River were also well constructed of locally available material.

  The comparisons of these famous Roman roads with the Maya sacbe system indicate similarly sound structures that have also lasted for well over 1,000 years. In addition, the construction techniques used by both technologies are quite similar. The major difference is the elevated geometry of the Maya road surface. The Romans based their design on the natural environment of Europe and North Africa versus the tropical jungles and rainstorms in the Maya criteria. Maya roads were elevated a meter above the adjacent terrain, whereas Roman roads were built just above grade level. Roman roads were 6 meters in width, and the Maya roads were 10 meters in width. Like Maya engineers, the Roman civil engineers constructed their roads to follow the natural terrain. The quality of the construction of the roads depended on the strategic importance of the road and the availability of local materials. Major, fully paved Roman roads were constructed of four to five layers of structural-grade materials installed in a foundation excavation of approximately 1 meter in depth.

  The depth of the foundation depended on the quality of the supporting soil. Roman engineers used innovation in order to select appropriate local materials for road construction. Construction initiated with the survey of the road’s centerline, using survey tools similar to the Maya, based on the plumb bob and the water level. The foundation excavation down to bearing soil proceeded along the centerline. The strata of construction materials included a base course of sand and mortar, followed by a layer of flat, worked stones that were set in mortar, and then a layer of gravel set in clay or concrete. The final structural layer was the installation of large, worked, hard stones set in concrete. The top level of hard rock was the travel surface; this stone pavement was laid to produce a crown for drainage. Large curb stones were set at the perimeter, and the lateral drainage gutters completed the construction.

  The Roman engineers and their contemporary Maya counterparts followed the theory that a well-constructed road would require minimum maintenance. The Maya road-builders had the luxury of an ample supply of cement for producing cast-in-place concrete, concrete paving, and stucco. Roman road-builders were required to rely on a source of natural volcanic cement found only in Italy. Transport of this valuable construction material had a limited range. It has been only in recent years that road-builders have returned to quality road construction similar to the Maya and Roman roads.

  Many Maya roads have been covered by the encroaching jungle and alluvial material, and have been degraded by the roots and lack of maintenance. However, some Maya roads have been paved over and serve as the base for contemporary highways. Thousands of miles of sacbeob stretched across the Yucatán Peninsula during the Classic Period. By comparison, only 114 miles of paved road had been built in the United States before 1914.

  Incidents of Encounters With Ancient Sacbe

  When the conquistadors invaded the Yucatán in 1542, the Maya sacbeob had fallen into a state of dilapidation, due to the 600 years that had passed since the decline of the Classic Maya civilization. Maintenance and construction of the roads had ceased and the jungle environment engulfed the marvelous road systems. Although some roads were reported to be in a state of usable quality, the majority of the sacbeob were in a state of deterioration, covered by jungle tendrils and alluvial deposits.

  The first reports of the Maya roads were recorded in the 16th century by colonial historians; later accounts of observations in the 19th and 20th centuries were noted by explorers, archaeologists, and travel writers. Archaeologists did not carry out formal studies of the sacbe system until 1934, when the Cobá to Yaxuná sacbe was surveyed by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. After Alfonso Villa’s report, “The Yaxuná–Cobá Causeway,” on the 1934 survey was published in Contributions to American Archaeology, many archaeologists doubted the actual existence of the Maya roadway system. Archaeologists, when judging the existence of the roadway system, considered the raised highways to be unique to the eastern Yucatán. However, research of historical chronicles, journals, and reports by observers indicated that sightings of the sacbeob have been reported for centuries at various locations across the breadth of the Maya domain.

  May
a strongholds in the southern lowlands and the Petén were not conquered by the Spanish until the dawn of the 18th century, some 150 years later. Reports of sacbe sightings from that area of the Maya world came later in history. After the conquest and during the colonial period, the 300 years of Spanish rule discouraged exploration of the Yucatán, which only began in earnest after the Mexican Revolution in 1821, when travelers and archaeologists began to explore the technological and artistic works of the Maya. Written accounts of the reports by historians and soldiers, though mostly a footnote to history, indicated that a technologically advanced highway system had been observed throughout the domain of the Maya city-states and were not solely confined to the eastern Yucatán.

  The reports of an advanced roadway system constructed by the ancient Maya were considered by archaeologists to be a mythological feat remembered as a folk memory by the native culture. The reports of these roads were solely based on Spanish historical chronicles recorded by conquistadors until the mid-19th century. Moreover, actual Maya roadways had not been identified and studied until the 20th century. Archaeologists did not investigate the fabled roadways until the 1934 Carnegie survey of the Cobá to Yaxuná sacbe.

  Although the majority of early reports of Maya roads were from the Northern Yucatán, exploration, archaeological investigation, eyewitness observations, and Spanish colonial accounts have described encounters with the ancient roads in diverse locations throughout the realm of the Maya. It has become apparent that the standard design of the engineered roadway was adopted and constructed through the Maya world. The sacbe system was a common denominator for transportation and communication adapted to suit local political and environmental conditions.

  Research has indicated that parts of the sacbe system were in use by 300 BC and were still in use well after the collapse. Early records of observations of the Maya roadway system were recorded in 1562 when Bishop Diego de Landa, in Relación de las cosas de Yucatán, reporting on the architecture of the city of T’hó (Mérida), wrote, “There are signs nowadays of there having been a very beautiful causeway from some to others.” De Landa also described a 62 km paved road extending from T’hó to Izamal. In 1610, Bernardo de Lizana made reference to ancient roadways in his Devocionario de Nuestra Señora de Izamal y Conquista Espiritual de Yucatán (Prayer Book of Our Lady of Izamal and Spiritual Conquest of the Yucatán). When describing the Maya religious center of Izamal, he wrote, “They...made pilgrimages from all parts, for which they had made four roads or causeways to the four cardinal points, which reached to the ends of the land and passed to Tabasco, Guatemala, and Chiapas...so that today in many parts may be seen pieces and vestiges of them.” In 1688, Diego Lopez de Cogolludo observed there were paved highways that traverse and ended on the east on the seashore so that pilgrims might arrive in Cozumel for the fulfillment of their vows.

  It would be 233 years before another historical note relative to observations of sacbeob was recorded. John Lloyd Stephens describes reports of the sacbe from Cobá to Yaxuná. He describes the architecture of Cobá with a calzada or paved road, of 10 or 12 yards in width, running to the southeast to a limit that has not been discovered with certainty, though some agree that it goes in the direction of Chichen Itza.

  In 1883, Désiré Charnay, the French archaeologist and explorer, reported that on his explorations he encountered an ancient paved roadway in the eastern Yucatán from Izamal to the sea, facing the island of Cozumel. Charney was reporting on a portion of the sacbe that extended from T’hó to the Caribbean coast at the town of Ppole (Puerto Morelos). Reports of sections of this fabled sacbe have been reported by de Landa and Diego Lopez de Cogolludo. This route has been referenced in Colonial and modern studies, and would have extended in an east–west direction from Mérida to Puerto Morelos.

  It would be the 20th century before Victor Pinto verified the nature and route of the 20-kilometer sacbe from Kabah to Labná in the Yucatán. In 1912, Dr. Sylvanus Morley reported that when construction crews from the United Fruit Company were constructing a company railroad in Honduras, the excavations carried out on the outskirts of Quiriguá encountered a “magnificent causeway of cut stone.” It was reported that the sacbe extended from Quiriguá to the northeast traversing toward an unknown destination.

  In 1966, Lawrence Roy and Dr. Edward Shook investigated the sacbe extending from Izamal to Aké. They walked the route, taking compass readings and measuring its width. This east–west route may be part of the fabled 300-kilometer Ppole to T’hó road. In 1959, geologist A.E. Weidie reported that a railroad formerly used by chicleros extended to a point 20 km west of Puerto Morelos, and that the railroad had been built on the raised structure of an ancient roadway extending in an east–west direction. From 1995 to 2002, archaeologist Jennifer Mathews of Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) carried out surveys on that same sacbe. Her studies extended 48 kilometers to the west from Highway 360 at Puerto Morelos. Her reports detail surveys and photographs of a broad sacbe with a prototypical design configuration. The numerous inter-site sacbeob at the ancient city of Cobá, surveyed and recorded by Dr. William Folan and Dr. George Stuart in the early 1970s, indicate the role of the roadway system in a city’s development. Dr. William Folan also investigated sacbeob extending from Calakmul to El Mirador. The sacbeob were observed crossing marshland as they extend toward El Mirador. These sacbeob, a modified prototypical design using earth fill to suit the marshland conditions, were studied by Folan in the 1990s. Archaeologist Richard Hanson, in conjunction with NASA, is investigating sacbeob extending from El Mirador to other sites. Archaeologists Arlen and Diane Chase have surveyed sacbeob extending from the site of El Caracol in Belize. The historical and contemporary reports of engineered roadways by the ancient Maya have presented sufficient evidence that indicates not only their very existence, but their wide distribution throughout the Maya domain. David Bollen, in a paper submitted to FAMSI, stated that a few years ago it was thought that sacbeob did not exist in Campeche, the Petén of Guatemala, or in Belize. Now that there is valid reporting of the wide range of sacbeob, it would seem that the discoveries of them crossing the great Maya domain have just begun.

  Archaeo-Engineering Surveys of the Sacbeob

  The traces of sacbeob were often difficult to visually locate due to shrouding by the rainforest environment. In some cases, the ancient roads were covered by jungle detritus and alluvial fill, and degraded by prying roots. Man has also contributed to the destruction of the ancient roads. They were dismantled by local builders who used the stonework of the road structure as a quarry. They have been destroyed by modern developmental activities and agricultural expansion. However, the low vertical profile of these roads is another reason for the difficulty in locating evidence of their presence. The sacbe, which is barely a meter in height, does not present a noticeable mound or high vertical profile. The majority of encounters have been by chance and are usually the product of other archaeological or construction activities. Aerial photography and remote sensing by satellite have increased the incidents of detection of the linear telltale traces of these roadways. These roads can be also viewed by an observer on the Internet. Vestiges of the roads can be visually located on Google Earth, which has become a valuable tool for archaeological research, and for viewing sacbeob and other artifacts. The length and remoteness of these roads have not attracted the archaeological investigations that have been lavished on the Classic cities. The cost of searching for and consolidation of the roads on the ground would be prohibitive.

  The 100-kilometer sacbe extending from Cobá to Yaxuná exhibits the classic criteria of the Maya road system. This route is the only long-range sacbe system that has been surveyed by an archaeological institution. The original survey, carried out in 1934 by Alfonso Villa, ascertained the route of the road and encountered unique archaeological artifacts along the route. The published report included a map, photographs, and a detailed narrative of the survey and historical background on sacb
eob.

  From 1995 to 2002, a comprehensive, digitally based ground and aerial survey of the Yaxuná to Cobá sacbe was carried out by an archaeo-engineering team led by me. A survey had not been carried out on this route since Villa’s work in 1934. Extensive archaeological surveys of sacbeob were carried out in the 1970s in the area of Cobá, a sacbe-rich site. However, the surveys did not include the route of the 100-kilometer sacbe to Yaxuná. The goal of our contemporary survey was to assess and confirm the civil and structural engineering technology used in the construction of the roadway, and establish the route using ground-based GPS positioning instruments, photography, satellite images, and aerial surveys. Furthermore, our investigation carried out observations and took photographs of the ruined sacbe at each terminus, intersections at Sacbe No. 3, and at intermediate crossings of modern roads.