A chultun (plural: ''chultunob
''' or ''chultuns'') is a bottle-shaped underground storage chamber built by the
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
Maya
Maya may refer to:
Civilizations
* Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America
** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples
** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples
* Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...
in southern
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica ...
. Their entrances were surrounded by plastered aprons which guided rainwater into them during the rainy seasons. Most of these archaeological features likely functioned as
cisterns for
potable water.
Chultunob' were typically constructed in locations where naturally occurring ''
cenote
A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit cave, pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly ...
s'' were absent (such as the
Puuc hills, which sit hundreds of feet above the
Yucatán Peninsula
The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
). While many were constructed to collect water, not all may have served that purpose. Some chultuns may have been used for storage of perishable
comestibles
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
or for the fermentation of alcoholic beverages. Experimental research conducted in the 1960s by Mayanist
Dennis E. Puleston demonstrated that chultuns around
Tikal
Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...
were particularly effective for long-term storage of ramon nuts (
Brosimum alicastrum).
After a chultun ended its usefulness, many were used for discarding refuse or for human burials. This makes chultunob' an excellent source of information on both the life and death of ancient settlements of the Prehispanic Maya.
See also
*
*Indigenous peoples of Mexico
*Indigenous peoples of the Americas
*Mesoamerican region
Notes
External links
*
Mesoamerican Photo Archives: click on "chultun" for more info
Maya civilization
Mesoamerican architecture
Water supply infrastructure
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