SAA Slides, GIScience and Temple of the Cross

Hello friends. The FTP site where I had previously stored several of the links in my last post is no longer working, so I have uploaded my files to another Internet location (Google Docs) and I have now updated my previous blog posting as can be seen below.

Here is the slide presentation that I created for the 2009 Society of American Archaeologists Conference in Atlanta:

Here is the new link to the Palenque Flyover:

What a Mess

One of the most important things that I must do in order to move forward with my dissertation research is to establish artifact typologies and classifications. I have spent the last two weeks working on these classifications and I think that I have finally made some progress. Above is a photo of only a few of the lists and categories that I have created, deleted and edited.

This painful and confusing process has helped me decide upon what feature datasets and feature classes I should create in ArcGIS and what corresponding Excel spreadsheets that I should formulate so that I can link the spreadsheets into the map. Above is a screenshot of ArcCatalog where you can see some of my categories. By entering artifact numbers into the appropriate feature class category and then placing that same artifact number in the Excel spreadsheet containing data about that artifact, I will be able to link the map with the data in a simple manner that even novice GIS users can replicate. One of my research goals is to try to figure out how to encourage Mesoamerican archaeologists to use GIS applications and I think that this linking method will help.

Caches of the Temple of the Cross

You may remember the above map as a smaller portion of a map that I posted in an earlier entry (it was annotated by Linda Schele) when I was discussing archaeologists that have excavated at Palenque. The map does not display those made by Miguel Angel Fernandez in the early 1940s where he found several caches in the Temple of the Cross and Sun.

Temple of the Cross

Temple of the Sun

The underground caching of objects by the ancient Maya people was a frequent ritual behavior and is evidenced in the archaeological record throughout the Maya Area, particularly within sacred temples. These caches often take the form of buried and covered pots that contain a variety of objects including things such as human bones, charred flowers, figurines and obsidian lances.

Photo Credit: Archaeologia Mexicana and Marco Antonio Pacheco/Raices

The pot on the left above was found in the Temple of the Cross by the Fernandez in 1941. When there are multiple caches in one building, the configuration of how they are laid out can have ritual or symbolic meaning. For instance, many are found in the shape of a cross or in the shape of a quincunx (one in each corner of the building and then one in the middle).


But the grouped cache excavated by Fernandez shown in the diagram above was of a very strange configuration that he postulated was in the shape of the big and little dipper (he also thought that it could be a coincidence). The layout does not quite fit these two constellations and the ancient Maya would surely have made it more precise, if that was their intention. What do you think it might represent or is this just a random "building ensoulment".

Here is a picture of some of the holes in the floor of the building. It was hard to take this photo, since I had to try to fit my camera through the screening device protecting the sanctuary. You may ask “how did Fernandez know where to dig for these caches?” He knew where they were because he could see the holes in the stucco of the floor where they had been patched up.

Fuzzy Boundaries

Soon after you arrive at the main entrance gate to Palenque - the one where they take your 20 pesos and ask you what country you are from - you realize that there are other landowners that encroach into the park boundaries. All the painted signs along the road going up into the site are a dead give-away. The boundary for the park was established several years ago, but there are still people who own land within it. I have been told that the government would like to purchase these properties to better protect the site and its archaeology, but they haven't come up with the funds to do this yet.

The first sign you see right at that front gate is the all popular lodging, eating, drinking and music establishment of El Panchan, along with various other businesses. Panchan has some of the best food I have ever eaten and they employ outstanding chefs.

The next establishment along the road doesn't seem to have a name, but has a sign advertising bungalows.

Then there is a youth hostel...

A place called La Palapa...

Next comes Michol Palapa - The word "Michol" is also the name of the nearby river.

Kichanes cabanas and camping

Last, but not least is the Mayabelle. Ed Barnhart and his crew actually mapped part of this property, since the land contains ancient structures.

After 5 Thousand Years

I recently received a new National Geographic magazine collector's item publication in the mail.
As I was flipping through the softbound book, I noticed the messages contained on the inside of the front cover.
And then I noticed the inside of the back cover. Delfino Lopez Hidalgo, one of the administrators at the Palenque site from the INAH (the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) told me that the governor of Chiapas, as well a the National Secretary of Tourism had spent large amounts of money in tourism advertising in order to promote the state of Chiapas. Visit http://www.sectorturismo.gob.mx/wb/sectur/sect_buscador?q=chiapas

to see some of their information. Since visitation is up this year it seems to be working.

Excusado del Palacio

You may recall a discussion in a previous posting about the possible existence of bathrooms in the Palace. This evening, while looking through many of our old books and enformes about Palenque, I came across the above diagram that was drawn under the direction of Mexican archaeologist, Miguel Angel Fernandez. He excavated at Palenque in the 1940's. The diagram illustrates part of the Palace tower court and clearly shows "la posición" that a man would be able take in order to relieve himself in "el hombre's estación". It even shows the physics of how it might operate. I guess we will have to continue to use our imagination regarding how the women's excusado works. I now have a new-found confidence in our Palenque tour guides because the information that they are giving their audiances comes from a pretty good source!

My Don Juan Mountain ESRI Presentation

To see a larger version of this presentation go to: http://tinyurl.com/6j4qno

Sharpening the GIS Saw

This year, for the first time, I am attending the International GIS conference in San Diego put on by ESRI (Environmental Science Resources Institute). I haven't seen so many geography geeks under one roof in my life! There are so many of us that we take up the entire San Diego Conference Center.I am here to hone my GIS skills, to present information about my Don Juan project (the mountain right behind Palenque), to learn from other people doing archaeology GIS, and to learn the new GIS tools that ESRI has been developing for their products this year.

In addition, I decided to be daring and stay at an International Youth Hostel to save money. Here is a picture of the establishment.

Here is a shot of the front desk.
But when I asked them about the bathrooms and showers, they told me that "yes, they are unisex". So I am thinking -- how does that work? Do I keep my privacy behind the walls of the shower? I know that the lady behind the desk was very amused at my question. I am, afterall, the oldest person in the joint.

No Resolving the Dissolving

As I have written before, the majority of the ancient building material at Lakamha’ is limestone, since that was the material available to the people. Here is a Map of Don Juan Mountain that I created from a digital elevation model sent to me by Karen Bassie-Sweet. Palenque sits at the base of Don Juan Mountain whose makeup is limestone, as are the mountains of the Chiapas highlands, south of Don Juan.

This picture displays the hieroglyphic stairs of Court E of the palace. They are slowly dissolving, especially those facing upward. There are also glyphs on these stairs that you can see only from the front view. All rainwater is slightly acidic. When it falls on limestone as carbonic acid (solution mixture of the air and water) it slowly dissolves the rock. This process eventually forms cracks in the limestone rocks that become underground caves and water systems.
Cenotes are part of this system. Thanks to Flickr for this picture of a cenote at Ik Kil. Within the caves (defined as places that are large enough for humans to pass), stalactites and stalagmites are formed from this solution mixture. These formations are dripstone, a type of travertine. For more about types of limestone see: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/geophys/limestone.html

So this means that when it rains on the buildings, they also begin to dissolve - like what is happening outside and inside the Palace. Here is a picture of a dripstone or a stalagmite that has formed inside one of the "T" windows. Perhaps these limestone buildings are even more vulnerable when they are reconstructed by archaeologists from unrecognizable dirt mounds into buildings.

In addition, the structures are also affected by rain runoff that flows around the buildings such as what happens in the Murcielagos group, but the ancient people who managed this group of buildings came up with an interesting way to deal with that water. They created a series of drains and pools to slow it down, perhaps.

We have plenty of buildings in the US made of limestone. For instance, most of the original courthouses of Texas are made of limestone. So why haven’t they also dissolved? It’s because these are only a couple of hundred years old. After 1,300 years, they too will experience dissolution, just like those at Palenque.

Presently, a method to protect the buildings has not been developed yet. The best that can be done is to build structures on top in order to shield from rain.

Trippin' up the hill to Lakamha

There are several alternative travel modes available to get to the Palenque site. My preferred way is the "combi" which costs only 10 pesos. But how are other people finding their way there? It is less than 10 miles from the modern city also named Palenque. When one begins the trip up into the site, its an uphill struggle by foot, so many people want motorized transportation to there. Lots of Mexican families are on vacation now and they tend to bring their cars, although many are arriving in tour package buses.
To determine the modes that people are using to get Lakamha, I have begun an effort to sample trip modes (what kind of vehicle are people using). It will come as no surprise to know that so far (and my sampling is not yet complete) I have found that 58 percent of all the vehicles that enter the site parking lot are private vehicles. But this is a third world country, right (is this still true of Mexico?) I don't know much about Mexico's economy, but I do know that they love their cars! This does not mean that more PEOPLE come into the site by private car, on the contrary, most people are coming in on the large luxury buses like this one.
What this large percent of private vehicles means is there are not enough parking spaces in the small lot up the hill next to the site, so people are parking on the road "shoulders". This road is the only one into the site.
In reality, the road has no shoulders. When it was built several years ago, at least one ancient grave was disturbed and the new road was carved into several of the ancient buildings. Widening it now is unthinkable, so other traffic management tools must be found -- it is an obvious safety issue.
It would help if parking were restricted to one side of the street, but this is not the case. In addition, people who have parked their cars are getting out and walking up in the street to get to the park entrance because there is no other place to walk, thus creating conflicts between the pedestrian, the car and the bus. I am told that there are plans to create a park and ride lot near the Panchan entrance, but the funds may not be available for a while and building a parking lot takes time. No need to worry, I am told, after all the problems are only due to vacation season, right? In a couple of months, all will be back to normal and the traffic problems will go away. OK, maybe so, but we should pray that no one looses their lives in the meantime.
I suggest that this is a wake-up call for what the future might look like within the next 20 years. Too many cars and people on a road too narrow and curvy.

Whose Palenque is this?

Around mid-day I saw a group of people dressed in purple, solemnly and quietly walk into the park in a single file. Since I am a student of the ancient Maya, my first reaction was to think that this ceremony had no place here. The participants were carrying two banners, one the image of Christ and the other I could not see. The presence of this group, with their chanting and singing, caused me to examine my feelings about who "owns" Palenque.

Here are just a few of the Owners of Palenque

Mexican School Children

Families on Vacation

Indigenous Maya in Traditional Dress

Young Indigenous Vendors

People from all over the world

La Piedra Serpiente

Today I went to the site looking for a guide named Nicolas Lopez, a local Chol Maya. He had ben my guide last year into Palenque's jungle on the western side of the site and I wanted to go there again. Tourists can only visit this area if they are accompanied by a licensed guide. Guides must have 530 hours of training. Few touristas want to go there because the paths are muddy and hard to follow. Nicolas loves to tramp through the woods, finding things that he thinks are of interest to me. When we were done, after paying him, I also gave him a reproducible map of the site that he can give out to his future clients.

During our very watery tour, we carefully made our way through all the travertine terraces that have formed in and around the cascades. Water ladened with calcite from the underground springs coats everything over time, including these snail shells that we picked up out of the stream.

At one point, Nicolas exclaimed "La Serpiente!" and pointed down to one of the formations and sure enough, there it was, a stone snake. Si, es verdad!

Give me a sign that...

tells me where I am - or that tells me what I shouldn't be doing, especially in an archaeological park. I have photographed, inventoried and geocoded over 100 signs at the park. Some are in really good shape and then there are others that have seem some weathering.



Here is a large stand up sign that the tourists and the guides just love. Its a map of the site that has the building names.

I made this map to help you see how I have geo-coded the signs. They are the purple dots and usually the are found along the tourist circuit path. As you can see, I still need to add the suspension bridge that crosses the Otolum (the signs incorrectly designate this crossing as the Murcielogos).