Classic Maya Wells at Quiriguá, Guatemala: Household Facilities in a Water-Rich Setting

Abstract

Studies of ancient Maya water management tend to emphasize consideration of features related either to agriculture or to the provision of communal water supplies in water-poor settings. Ceramic-lined wells in eighth-century Quiriguá, however, constituted household facilities of standardized form, distributed widely in a community where water supplies were always readily available. These wells both expand our knowledge of specialized Maya hydraulic technology and remind us that such inventions are not always the result of threats to survival.