Maya corbel vault
Bóveda maya de saledizo (falsa bóveda)
- Date
- c. 200 CE · confidence low
- Place
- Tikal, Petén, Guatemala
- Credited to
- Maya builders
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A stone roof in which courses project inward until closed with a capstone, with very thick walls and mortar fill. It gave the Maya vaulted chambers without arch or centring, though only about 2 to 3 m wide.
Corbelling is ancient and universal (Mycenae, Mesopotamia, Ireland), not a Maya invention; what is distinctive is its development with a lime-concrete core. The earliest Maya examples are placed in the Late Preclassic or Early Classic and are poorly dated.
What it led to
- multi-chamber palaces and temples in Classic cities
- roof combs rising over vaults to heighten temples
- stone-and-lime architecture with rubble-core walls