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Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures pp 1–5Cite as

Puerto Rico Tower

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Puerto Rico’s cylindrical tower represents a unique case in Maya typologies of architecture. There is no other cylindrical tower known within the great Maya region. Some buildings can be compared in morphology, such as Mayapan’s round temples or the cylindrical building at Chichén Itzá, best known as “El Caracol.” But there is an elementary difference between them: Puerto Rico’s tower has a solid core, and the others have interior spaces and vaults.

Few studies have been carried out at Puerto Rico (Andrews IV in Aveni, 2005, p. 383; Benavides Castillo, 1999), and the tower has been mentioned in some other papers (Andrews, 1989; Kelly & Kelly, 1982). But the first archaeological research was carried out by archaeologist Antonio Benavides Castillo (1999). The results on the excavations showed that previous researchers used incomplete data about the morphology of the cylindrical tower.

Several studies focused on the astronomical function of the tower because it has some ducts going...

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References

  • Andrews, G. F. (1989). Four unique free standing towers in the Chenes archaeological region. Cuadernos de Arquitectura Mesoamericana, 11, 16–24.

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  • Benavides Castillo, A. (1999). Restauración de la Torre Cilíndrica de Puerto Rico, Campeche. Revista Temas Antropológicos, 21(1), 144–151.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to the result presented here forms part of the project “Time in Intercultural Context,” directed by Prof. Dr. Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen (Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, The Netherlands), and has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC grant agreement n° 295434.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Archaeology Faculty, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands

    Manuel May Castillo

  2. INAH México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Felix A. May

Authors
  1. Manuel May Castillo
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  2. Felix A. May
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Correspondence to Manuel May Castillo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, USA

    Helaine Selin

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Castillo, M.M., May, F.A. (2018). Puerto Rico Tower. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-5

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  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-3934-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-3934-5

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Puerto Rico Tower
    Published:
    02 February 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-5

  2. Puerto Rico Tower
    Published:
    30 January 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-4

  3. Puerto Rico Tower
    Published:
    14 October 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-3

  4. Original

    Puerto Rico Tower
    Published:
    02 July 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10012-2

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