The Great Platform

The Great Platform

The Great Platform

(see detail Map 9)

Map 9 Great Platform - detail

The Great Platform is one of the oldest, largest, and most complex areas at Muyil. It consists of a large 45 x 85-m platform with multiple levels, but with a base about 1.25 m high. The eastern edge of the platform abuts the western edge of the collapse zone. At the southern end, the platform is elevated an additional 2.8 m, and on this elevation is an enclosed 2 x 10-m room with massively thick (5 m) walls (Structure 8I-1). The inner walls of the room are built of horizontally laid slabs forming a vertical facade to a height of over 1 m, but this room was not excavated to its floor by us and is undoubtedly somewhat deeper. The entrance faces north-northeast and opens into an area enclosed by two walls, each a rough quarter circle, which enclose a small courtyard, or entryway, and form a second outer entrance to the area. Pit 10 was excavated here in the entryway. The room opens onto a raised plaza area (the east side of the middle of the Great Platform) with three low structures (Structures 8J-1, 8J-2, and 8I-11). Structure 8J-2 is a two-room outline formed by a single course of stones at the level of the plaza surface. Structure 8J-3, a small vaulted building 2.6 m high, sits opposite Structure 8I-1, facing southward towards it across the plaza. The platform surface between Structure 8J-3 and the sunken room (Structure 8I-1) appears to have been a sunken plaza with the higher western portion of the platform enclosing the plaza on the third side. The southern portion of the platform was served by two means of access: one to the west of Structure 8I-1 down to the ground on the west side of the Great Platform (where we placed test pit 66), and the other adjacent to Structure 8I-11, opening off the east side of the platform toward the karstic depression.

The northern end of the Great Platform consists of two stepped pyramids facing each other on the 12° clockwise alignment seen elsewhere at the site (the Castillo, the sacbes, and several pyramids in the Entrance Plaza.) Between them is a plaza, 1 m lower than the southern part of the Great Platform, creating the impression of an sunken area enclosed on three sides (four if we count the high platform edge of Structure 8J-7 to the north.) In the center of the plaza is an 80 cm-high 4 x 4 m platform, Structure 8J-10. Structure 8J-4 is a 4 m-high stepped pyramid that supports the remains of two, (perhaps one), vaulted building(s) in very bad condition. Spinden drew this structure as a double temple with a single common wall. Each side or room had a triple entryway formed by two columns. Its front stairway rises from the plaza to the summit. Its opposite number on the west side of the sunken plaza, Structure 7J-9, is a stepped pyramid built on a terrace (Structure 7J-10) of the Great Platform. Remains of the vaulted structure at the top are clearly visible. The stairs to this structure begin at plaza level. At their foot is a small 60-cm-high 1.5 x 1.5-m altar, Structure 8J-5. The back (west side) of Structure 7J-9 has a large enclosing wall that forms a sheltered walkway around the back of the building and which cuts off one's line of sight from ground level to the north and west. Test pit 11 was excavated at ground level on the west side of this wall. There is a 25-cm-high altar (Structure 7J-8) to the south of Structure 7J-9.

To the southwest of Structure 7J-9 is a collection of structures in a variety of styles. Structure 7J-7 is a 2.6-m-high pyramid with no masonry remains of a summit structure. To the front of it (on the east side) is a small shrine (Structure 7J-6) built in the same double-slab-wall style as Structure 7H-7 in the Entrance Group Plaza. Both small shrines were built at the foot of the front stairway of an earlier pyramid. At the southeast corner of the pyramid (Structure 7J-7) is a small masonry room (Structure 7J-5) and to the south of the pyramid, Structures 7J-2, 7J-3, and 7J-4 are the low remains of wall lines, whose upper portions were probably of perishable material, supported by stones at the base. These last three structures are virtually at ground level of the terrain to the west. They give the impression of being additions to the Great Platform, much as the two rooms (Structure 7I-17) appear to have been later additions to Structure 7I-18, a residential platform also near a ceremonial area.

At the north, the Great Platform has three more entryways: one at the southeast corner of Structure 7J-2; one at the northwest corner of Structure 8J-4; and one which passes down (three ?) steps between Structures 7J-7 and 7J-9. Test pit 11 was placed at the foot of these steps.

As suggested above for the 9K-1 precinct, I hypothesize from viewing the entire Great Platform that it served chiefly as a residential area (for elites(?)) and that some portions of the platform (the sunken plaza and temple-pyramids at the north) served a ceremonial function. Four metates were found on the platform structure. The platform was tested by several excavations: pit 10 adjacent to the entryway of Structure 8I-1 (the sunken room) within the encircling entry walls; pit 40 adjacent to the south side; pit 66 adjacent to the west access stair; pit 11 adjacent to the stairs at the northeast corner, and pit 65 adjacent to the east side.

Test pit 11 provides one of the clearest pictures of the ceramic sequence at Muyil (see the test pit seriation diagram.) The location of this pit was chosen to sample a possible midden area at the foot of the northwest steps. Nearby were a weathered pyramid (Structure 7J-7), a Late Postclassic shrine (Structure 7J-6), vaulted structures (Structure 7J-9), and apparent residences (Structures 7J-2, 7J-3, and 7J-4). This fortuitous choice of location resulted in a controlled excavation 130 cm deep with no significant change of soil. At the lowest level were Formative materials (Sierra group). These were followed by Early Classic (Saban group), Late Classic (Muna Slate and Vista Alegre Striated), Early Postclassic (Kukula group), and Late Postclassic (Navula group). This establishes the Great Platform as one of the earliest-used and continuously-used areas at Muyil. Test pit 10 (into the deepest area of platform fill at the south end of the Great Platform) produced similar results, but with far fewer ceramic types (see the seriation chart) and much lower sherd counts. The sealed floors we encountered do isolate several epochs clearly. At the lowest levels are Sierra group, Saban group, and a few other early types. Muna Slate is remarkable by its near absence. Vista Alegre Striated follows and gives way to Navula group material. Pits 65 and 66, adjacent to the east and west sides of the platform respectively, paint a similar picture, but with the bulk of the material recovered dating to the Late Classic and later. Of these four excavations, pit 11 and then pit 10 provide the most helpful ceramic sequences.