How the Maya Built Their World: Energetics and Ancient Architecture

by Elliot M. Abrams

Maya architecture is often described as "massive" and "monumental," but experiments at Copan, Honduras, convinced Elliot Abrams that 300 people could have built one of the large palaces there in only 100 days. In this groundbreaking work, Abrams explicates his theory of architectural energetics, which involves translating structures into volumes of raw and manufactured materials that are then multiplied by the time required for their production and assembly to determine the labor costs of past construction efforts. Applying this method to residential structures of the Late Classic period (A.D. 700-900) at Copan leads Abrams to posit a six-tiered hierarchic social structure of political decision making, ranging from a stratified elite to low-ranking commoners. By comparing the labor costs of construction and other economic activities, he also prompts a reconsideration of the effects of royal construction demands on commoners.

176 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1994

Reviews

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the title is promising, this dry stick of a book fails to deliver on it. First it only covers dwellings, forget any temples or other types of building. Second, the actual buildings are not covered in any detail, just a couple of grainy black and white photos and a couple of so-so line drawings. Actual construction methods are covered in only the most generic of terms and not illustrated. And while it's interesting to know how long it took to build a house and the health advantages of stone versus earth, you have to wade through a pile of the worst kind of academic verbage to find it out.

Of use to only a very small audience.