Entrance Plaza Group

Entrance Plaza Group

Entrance Plaza Group

(see detail, Map 7, Photographs 12 & 13)

Map 7 Entrance Plaza Group - detail (click for larger)

The Entrance Plaza Group consists of seven medium-to-large structures (Structures 7I-3, 7H-1, 7H-3, 7H-4, 7H-5, 7H-6, and 7H-8) on a basal platform adjacent to the highway and the entrance to the Muyil A Archaeological Zone. The open grouping of structures around a plaza forms an arc running from N 30 E to S 30 W. This group of structures is close to the cluster of three pyramids (Structures 7I-4, 7I-5, 7I-8) that form the western terminus of the sacbe system. A roadway bulldozed into the site in the 1960s was cut between these two groups, and we were unable to determine if and how these two groups may once have been joined by a common platform. They may have formed one large group.

Photograph 12 Entrance Plaza Group. From left, Structures 7H-4, 7H-3, 7H-5, 7H-6, 7H-13, and 7H-8 (click for larger)

Structure 7H-8 (Photograph 12, right of tree) is the most massive structure in the group and covers the most ground area but, at 8.1 m, is not the tallest. Its collapse has hidden all except occasional traces of wall lines, and few clues to its construction style. We suspected that this structure might be one of the oldest in the group, and ceramics recovered from test pit 5 in front of it date to the Formative. Its bulky profile is reminiscent of the pyramid at Limones, south of Muyil between Felipe Carillo Puerto and Chetumal. We found no evidence of a masonry structure at the summit. In front of this pyramid, just beyond its slump line, is a low (20-cm-high) 6 x 6 m platform with a simple shrine (Structure 7H-7, Photograph 14). The shrine, in the shape of a "U" with the open side away from the pyramid and facing into the open plaza, consists of 10-cm-thick slabs of limestone set upright to form the "U", and set in a double row with a 20-cm space between. The tops of the tallest slabs are 50 cm high. Test pit 5 was excavated in front of this shrine, into its low supporting platform.

Photograph 13 Entrance Plaza group, Structures 7I-3, 7H-1 (click for larger)

Structures 7I-3 (Photograph 13, smaller structure on the left), 7H-1 (Photograph 13 larger structure on the right), 7H-4 (Photograph 12, far left, and Photograph 15), 7H-5 (Photograph 12, behind Temple 8) and 7H-6 (Photograph 12, low mound left of tree) are arrayed in a quarter circle around the southeast side of the plaza. They are similar in form, and are like the Castillo (see above) with which they share a tall narrow profile, steep front stairways, several terraces with vertical faces, and caps of flat stones extending slightly beyond the verge of the terraces. This construction is especially clear in Photograph 15 of Structure 7H-4. In two clear cases (Structures 7I-3 and 7H-1), there are remains of C-shaped rooms at the summit. Structure 7H-1 shows evidence of a second internal structure along an upper terrace at the southwest corner. Structure 7H-5 has the greatest standing height today at 9.5 m above the plaza platform, and Structure 7H-1 is nearly as tall (8.2 m). The smallest, Structure 7I-3, is 3.3 m high today.

Photograph 14 Structure 7H-7, detail of east wall (click for larger)

A low (55 cm) platform with one step at the center of the south edge is placed on the floor of the plaza in front of Structures 7I-3 and 7H-1. With its access on the south side, this platform is most accessible from Structure 7H-1.

Photograph 15 Structure 7H-4 detail west and south faces (click for larger)

Structure 7H-3 (Photograph 16) is a two-chamber temple built on the floor of the plaza in the Postclassic style found frequently along the east coast. It was built in such a way as to back up to, but not quite block, the front stairway of Structure 7H-5, which is now collapsing into its rear wall at the plaza level. It has a small inner room with a central doorway and rear air vent at the top of the wall. The outer U-shaped room, which surrounds the inner room on three sides, is reached through a central entrance on the north side (Photograph 17), divided in three by two columns which once supported lintels and the roof, as well as by a doorway in each side (west - Photograph 18 and east - Photograph 19) of the structure. The front columns are extended ovals about 40 x 80 cm with flat sides with the longer part of the oval running from the front toward the back of the building. Spinden noted these columns (1926) as unusual, and drew them as two pair of round columns set one behind the other. The structure sits upon a basal platform with two one-step-high levels which in turn sits upon the plaza floor. The northeast corner of the lower level is now under debris fallen from Structure 7H-1. Debris and stairway collapse from Structure 7H-5 rest against the back wall of the structure. Rubble from Structures 7H-1 and 7H-4 rests against the east side of the structure. Structure 7H-3 has a corbel-vaulted roof of rough aspect. Walls were plastered with stucco inside and out. In specific places, including the interior door jamb, remains of blue paint bands outlined in black are visible. Blue paint outlines the doorway in a wide band, and black was used in 1 cm-wide stripes to outline the edges of color zones. The structure was consolidated by INAH masons some years prior to our 1987 field season. This work may be detected on the roof of the structure by the character of the mortar between the stones. Because of its placement on the plaza and its architectural style, Structure 7H-3 appears out of character with the other structures and gives the distinct impression of being a late addition to the plaza.

Photograph 17 Structure 7H-3 (Temple 6) front view (from the north) (click for larger)

Evidence for the use of the platforms and structures in the Entrance Plaza Group comes from test pits 5 and 6. Test pit 5 was excavated into the low platform supporting the U-shaped double-walled slab shrine in front of Structure 7H-7. In levels 1, 2, and 3, the first 33 cm of soil, all above a broken stucco floor, the ceramic content was chiefly Late Postclassic: in level 1, 35 of 40 sherds were from the Navula group; in level 2, 24 of 30 are Navula group; and in level 3, 51 of 60 identifiable sherds are Navula group. Ten of these Navula group sherds are from censers. These findings are consistent with the use of the small double-wall slab shrine located 50 cm to the south for Late Postclassic ceremonies.

Photograph 18 Structure 7H-3 (Temple 6) west side (click for larger)

Level 4 of pit 5 consists of fill material between floor 1 and floor 2 — a layer about 10 cm thick. In the area of the test pit, this material constitutes the last plaza floor constructed in the plaza. The material of level 4 consists of 16 Navula group sherds, one Payil Red sherd, and two other identifiable sherds not from the late Postclassic. This resurfacing of the plaza (at least where the test pit is located) dates to the Late Postclassic. If, as the evidence above for the Castillo suggests, the Castillo (and therefore by stylistic similarity the vertical pyramids in the Entrance Plaza Group) were built in the late Early Postclassic, this final resurfacing was concurrent with their construction.

Photograph 19 Structure 7H-3 (Temple 6) east side (click for larger)

Levels 5 and 6 also consists of fill of large stones, and small stones or ballast (bak chich) put down to resurface the plaza (with floor 2) and thereby raising its level 22 cm. Within the fill of level 5, eight sherds were identified as Saban Unslipped: Becoob Variety, and one sherd as Ucu Black: Ucu Variety. Within level 6 just above the next floor, the ceramics include Becanchen Brown, Cetelac Fiber-tempered, Dos Arroyos Orange Polychrome, Huachinango Incised-dichrome, Saban Unslipped, and Sierra Red. Level 6, therefore, is no earlier than the late Early Classic, and no material below it dates later than the Early Classic. It can be concluded from the forty sherds in level 6 that floor 2, separating levels 5 and 6, was laid down no later than the end of the Early Classic. Further, it appears that the plaza was then not resurfaced until the Late Postclassic — a span of 600 years.

Level 7 consists of a stucco floor in badly broken condition. Below it, levels 8 and 9 are construction fill above a fourth floor. Within this fill, sherds of Dos Arroyos Orange Polychrome, Huachinango Incised-dichrome, Sierra Red, Xoclan Trickle-on-variegated-red, and Ucu Black were found: this floor was built during the Early Classic.

Beneath the final floor (4) no sherds were found that date later than the Protoclassic, In this area there is abundant Sierra Red, Beclum White and other Late Formative and Protoclassic material. One piece of Middle Formative Dzudzuquil Cream-to-buff was found here. Thus, this area in front of Structure 7H-8 was in active use during the Late Formative and Protoclassic, and represents one of the earliest documented places of activity at Muyil. The evidence suggests that the first platform in the Entrance Plaza Group was built during the Late Formative or Protoclassic.

Photograph 20 Test Pit 6 (click for larger)

In test pit 6 (Photograph 20), placed in front of Structure 7H-3, the two-room Postclassic temple at plaza level, excavation revealed in the east wall of the pit a line of stones that form a part of a lower (unseen under the rubble) terrace of Structure 7H-1. The first remains of a floor were encountered at 60 cm below ground level. In the levels above this floor, in level 3 above the second floor, and in levels 4 and 5 above floor 3, the most abundant ceramic was Late Postclassic Navula group, much of it from Chen Mul Modeled censers. In these levels, the ratio of Navula group sherds to all other identifiable sherds is: 34:1, 265:7, 57:3, and 34:6. This clearly documents active use of this area in the Late Postclassic, a conclusion also established for pit 5 to the southwest by 20 m.

Between floors 3 and 4, the fill contained very few sherds, including Navula Unslipped, Muna Slate, Ticul Thin-slate, Cetelac Fiber-tempered, Saban Unslipped, and Sierra Red. I conclude that this construction layer dates to the early Late Postclassic.

Below the fourth floor, the material is almost completely from the Protoclassic or earlier, with a preponderance of Sierra Reds. Twenty-two sherds were identified as types which occur later than the Protoclassic. In level 8 we found 19 Sierra Red, one Becanchen Brown, one Cetelac Fiber-tempered, plus 10 Vista Alegre Striated and 11 Navula Unslipped. In level 9 there were 40 Sierra Red, 1 Flor Cream, 2 Ucu Black, 1 Saban, and 11 sand-tempered sherds, all of which date to the Protoclassic or earlier. In level 11 there were 6 Sierra Red, 7 sand-tempered, and one 2-gm fragment identified as Muna Slate: Chemax Variety (a type that is out of place with the other earlier material).

In summary, pit 6 presents much the same picture as pit 5: there are many sherds from the Late Postclassic; very few from the Late Classic, Terminal Classic, and early Postclassic; and a large number from the Late Formative, Protoclassic and Early Classic.

From the ceramic evidence of these two test pits, the Entrance Plaza Group was the scene of much activity early in Muyil's history, yet it has very little ceramic material datable to the 600 years between the end of the Early Classic and the beginning of the Late Postclassic.