Excavations in Residential Areas of Tikal--Group 7F-1. William A. Haviland

      II

      Architecture and Construction History

       Introduction

      Before worrying about by whom, and for what, Gp. 7F-1 was used, it is important to have as thorough an understanding as possible of the architectural entities that comprise the group. Accordingly, it is the purpose of this section to describe each structure, platform, and chultun that has been investigated, and to discuss in detail its construction history. The latter is necessary not only because the composition of Gp. 7F-1 changed from time to time, but also because the basis for architectural reconstructions cannot be made clear otherwise. Little attention is given to the hypotheses with which this report is concerned, lest these exert an undue influence on the architectural reconstructions. These hypotheses are best left to subsequent sections, once the physical composition of Gp. 7F-1 is understood. Datum for all the excavations in the group is St. 23 itself.

Structure 7F-29

      In its final form, Str. 7F-29, located on the N side of Plat. 7F-1, was a range-type structure of five rooms (Fig. 2). Its plan is similar to those of the upper stories of Str. 4D-14 and 5E-51 (TR. 23A:fig. 9b and 45a). As Op. 3E, the major portions of the three eastern rooms were cleared, and selective probes exposed portions of the S and E walls. A trench to bedrock penetrated the front-rear axis and a tunnel beneath the interior platform of Rm. 1 revealed details of construction of the rear (N) wall. Structure 7F-29 is discussed here as three architectural developments, the latest of which was subsequently modified. Since the supplementary platform of 29-1st and each of the three rooms that were investigated all showed evidence of only one modification, it is assumed that a single act of renovation was responsible.

      Portions of earlier construction were noted in the axial trench, as well as beneath the S wall of Str. 7F-29. Some of this pertains to a structure or structures that might represent architectural developments for 7F-29, or structures that more properly might be placed in the “Sub” series. For reasons discussed below, this construction is treated as architectural developments of Str. 7F-29 (Table 2.1).

       STRUCTURE 7F-29-3RD

      As seen in the axial trench (Fig. 3), the earliest activity at this locus consisted of quarrying operations (Fig. 23b), followed by construction of a plaza floor (Plat. 7F-1:U. 2). This is discussed elsewhere (see Plat. 7F-1-4th). After a period of use of unknown duration, the northern portion of the plaza floor was torn out (CS. 4). Fill was then dumped over the remaining portion of the floor, and above bedrock to the N. At the same time, a wall of a single course of well-cut, rectangular masonry (U. 7) was built to retain this fill on the N. Unit 6, a pause-line of compact, light-colored earth, marks the termination of this operation (CS. 3). Unit 6 served as the base surface for the structure represented by U. 2.

      Unit 2 is pavement that clearly served as a platform floor. As seen in the axial trench (Fig. 3), it was laid over a fill that was put in place in two stages. Dark earth, with several stone blocks in it, was dumped on U. 6. This was covered by a compact, light-colored earth fill on which the floor itself was laid. The N limit of U. 2 is not known, for it was later torn out for construction of the N wall of Str. 7F-29-1st-B (Fig. 3:14).

      Unit 3, identified in a trench along the E portion of the front wall of Str. 7F-29-1st-A, apparently is a portion of the same structure represented by U. 2 (Fig. 1). This wall now runs beneath the final wall of 29-1st-A to a point 7.24 m E of the axial trench. Here, a probe established the presence of a corner, inside of which a floor surface at the level of the top of U. 3 was located. Since it has the same elevation as U. 2, it must be a portion of the same floor. For lack of more detailed information, a single construction stage (CS. 2) has been defined for construction of U. 2 and 3.

      The entire form and size of the architecture represented by U. 2 and 3 cannot be reconstructed with certainty without further excavation. Moreover, much of it appears to have been destroyed in the course of later construction. Excavation along U. 3 revealed a break 2.24 m W of its E end, beyond which there is no further masonry. Evidently, the wall was ripped out W of this point. This is consistent with evidence from the axial trench. An entirely different kind of fill from that of 29-3rd runs S into the area of Plat. 7F-1, and begins at a point 0.10 m S of the front wall for Str. 7F-29-1st-B (Fig. 3:14), overlying U. 6. This fill is precisely like that seen elsewhere for Plat. 7F-1-2nd, so it appears that Str. 7F-29-3rd was partially destroyed when Plat. 7F-1-2nd was constructed.

      TABLE 2.1

      Structure 7F-29: Time Spans

      Since much of the front of Str. 7F-29-3rd was eventually destroyed, it is impossible to be sure what the structure looked like. It is reconstructed in Fig. 1 by analogy with 29-1st as having had a straight front wall, with U. 3 running to a SW corner the same distance E of the W wall of 29-1st-A, so that the SE corner is W of the E wall of 1st-A. Further excavation would be necessary to prove this; since 1st-A and B were range-type structures, however, and since there is a similar possibility for 2nd, Str. 7F-29-3rd may have been as well. There is no proof of this, though, and the extent of U. 2 so far N might seem to argue against this. Instead, what is suggested is that 29-3rd was a wide building platform. It could have supported a pole-and-thatch range-type building. In favor of this is the absence of a posthole in the SE corner of U. 2, such as would be expected in the case of an ordinary rectangular, one-level building platform (TR. 20B), and indications discussed later that the fortunes of the residents of Gp. 7F-1 were just beginning to recover from a particularly low ebb.

       STRUCTURE 7F-29-2ND

      This architectural development is represented by U. 1, a floor remnant W of the axial trench (Fig. 1). Its elevation is 0.45 m above that of U. 2, and 0.22 m below that of Fl. 2 of Str. 7F-29-1st in Rm. 1 (Fig. 3). That Fl. 2 of 1st postdates U. 2 is clearly indicated by the presence of U. 2 beneath it. Unit 2 was built when Ik pottery was in vogue, and when contemporary platform floors were laid up to, but not beneath, associated buildings or other constructions above their surface (TR. 35).

      Since Str. 7F-29-2nd was at some point almost totally demolished, little can be said about it. Only 0.60 m of U. 1 survived this demolition, but its N edge shows a clear turnup, so a wall must once have stood here. Its stratigraphic relationship to Str. 7F-29-3rd, plus the fact that 3rd seems to have been done away with when Plat. 7F-1-2nd was built, suggests that 29-2nd was served in front by the floor of Plat. 7F-1-2nd. As noted elsewhere, U. 2 of 7F-29 seems to have been incorporated into that floor. The height of U. 1 above this is sufficient to suggest that it is the floor of a building platform (equivalent to Fl. 1 and 2 of Str. 7F-29-1st in Rm. 1), and that there was probably

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