Pre-Columbian civilizations

Settlement pattern

There is still controversy over whether the Late Classic sites built by the lowland Maya were actually cities or whether they were relatively empty ceremonial centres staffed only by rulers and their entourages.

The common people built their simple pole-and-thatch dwellings on low earthen mounds to keep them dry during the summer rains. Thus, total mapping of a particular site should always include not only masonry structures but also house mounds as well. So far, only a few Maya sites have been so mapped. The mightiest Maya centre of all, Tikal in northern Petén, has a total of about 3,000 structures ranging from the tiny mounds up to gigantic temple pyramids; these are contained, however, within an area of six square miles. The Tikal population has been estimated from this survey to be 10,000–11,000 people, but perhaps as many as 75,000 within an even wider area could have belonged to Tikal.

This sounds very much like a city, but the evidence actually can be differently interpreted. First, at the time of the conquest the Maya generally buried their dead beneath the floors of houses, which were then abandoned. Thus, ... (200 of 56,443 words)