The Archeotourist — 02
The Roads of the Maya
Sacbeob (pronounced sock-bay-oob), Maya for “white roads”, are found throughout the Maya world. This one is typical of those found in the Puuc hills, several hundred miles to the west of Coba.
This excavated and restored segment of road is at the city of Chichen Itza. The environment is the same as Coba’s and the technique of road construction is the same. Two stone retaining walls holding a causeway style, elevated roadbed, with a stuccoed cap applied as surfacing.
Roads are important markers of societies and civilizations. Roads make it possible to efficiently move people and goods from place to place. They make it possible to move armies rapidly. They make possible the exchange of information and news and they help make societies cosmopolitan and dynamic.
Roads are important but they take a lot of effort to build. They are generational “long term” projects that take sustained funding and a stable labor force to pull off. The roads of the Maya were not hard packed dirt paths through the jungle, or simple graveled trails. They were carefully engineered and constructed. They match the best roads in the world built by anyone…
