Early Maya geometric planning conventions at El Palmar,Guatemala

Archeology of complex societies has long focused on the actors behind the planning and engineering of architecture in monumental centers. However, the motivations for and conventions used in ancient planning are often lost to modern scholars without the aid of texts of the builders. This is especially true with the early ancient Maya, where large centers with evidence of extensive planning existed as early the Late Preclassic period (ca. 300 BC–250 AD). The current Focus article addresses site planning of monumental Late Preclassic settlements with a case study at El Palmar, Guatemala. Results suggest that apart from cardinal alignments based on solar movement, conventions of planar geometry formed a large part of the planning toolkit. The discussion argues that the dimensions of repeating similar rectangles probably related to the ideal size of ancient Maya agricultural spaces.