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24-502: The Mayan ruins of El Puente are located near La Entrada. The town was founded by hacienda workers in 1731. The town appears in a colonial census from that same year. In 1835, the government of Honduras issued a decree stating that all towns with less than 1,000 inhabitants that do not have municipal common lands would be granted one square Spanish league of land (about two miles), and towns above 1,500 inhabitants would be granted two Spanish leagues of land. These land grants contributed to

48-460: A circle around one burial, with a seashell placed beside the skull. Green obsidian from the Pachuca source in central Mexico has been excavated at the site. El Puente has 210 structures and the site core contains 5 plazas. Nine structures at the site have been investigated and restored. Parts of the site have been severely damaged by looters and by agricultural activities. Structure 1

72-671: A few have been excavated, including a large Maya step pyramid . El Puente is located in the Florida Valley in the municipality of La Jigua , 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) to the north of the Honduran town of La Entrada . The site is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north of the confluence of the Chamelecón and Chinamito Rivers. El Puente is 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of the El Paraíso archaeological site. The site

96-579: A form of travertine . It is generally thought that such features form from CaCO 3 precipitated when carbonate rich source waters emerge into alkaline soda lakes. They have also been found in marine settings in the Ikka fjord of Greenland where the Ikaite columns can reach up to 18 m (59 ft) in height. Tufa deposits form an important habitat for a diverse flora. Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts etc.) and diatoms are well represented. The porosity of

120-523: A form of calcareous sinter. They lack any significant macrophyte component due to the absence of light, and for this reason they are often morphologically closer to travertine or calcareous sinter. Tufa columns are an unusual form of tufa typically associated with saline lakes . They are distinct from most tufa deposits in that they lack any significant macrophyte component, due to the salinity excluding mesophilic organisms . Some tufa columns may actually form from hot-springs, and may therefore constitute

144-410: A hard limestone , with tufa being the commonest stone used at the site. The tufa is very fragile and the cut tufa stones have frequently crumbled to dust. The infill used within the structures is quite inconsistent and consists of stone, earth and clay. The mortar used in construction was of low quality, with little lime , using only a hard clay that was particularly vulnerable to water damage, causing

168-417: A reduction in p CO 2 , for example increased air-water interactions at waterfalls may be important, as may photosynthesis. Recently it has been demonstrated that microbially induced precipitation may be more important than physico-chemical precipitation. Pedley et al. (2009) showed with flume experiments that precipitation does not occur unless a biofilm is present, despite supersaturation. Calcite

192-406: A vaulted roof with channels to drain off rainwater. The wall was decorated with sculptures of three human figures. Archaeologists have tunnelled within the structure and have also excavated around it, revealing a large amount of ceramic fragments, burnt clay, and burnt maize and beans . The structure has been badly damaged by looters. Structure 3 has excellent quality stonework in the wall on

216-743: Is located within the Southern Maya area on the southeastern periphery of Mesoamerica, and it was situated on the frontier between Maya and non-Maya peoples. The site was first described by Jens Yde in 1935. He mapped the site but did not carry out any excavations. The site received a Cultural Heritage of the Nation designation by executive decree in March 1989. The La Entrada Archaeological Project (PALE – from Proyecto Arqueológico La Entrada in Spanish ) started excavations at El Puente in 1991 with

240-555: Is sometimes referred to as meteogene travertine . Modern and fossil tufa deposits abound with wetland plants; as such, many tufa deposits are characterised by their large macrobiological component, and are highly porous. Tufa forms either in fluvial channels or in lacustrine environments. Ford and Pedley (1996) provide a review of tufa systems worldwide. Deposits can be classified by their depositional environment (or otherwise by vegetation or petrographically ). Pedley (1990) provides an extensive classification system, which includes

264-574: Is the dominant mineral precipitate, followed by the polymorph aragonite . Tufa is common in many parts of the world including: Some sources suggest that "tufa" was used as the primary building material for most of the châteaux of the Loire Valley , France. This results from a mis-translation of the terms " tuffeau jaune" and "tuffeau blanc", which are porous varieties of the Late Cretaceous marine limestone known as chalk . Tufa

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288-495: Is the tallest building at El Puente, measuring 12 metres (39 ft) tall. It appears to have been built in the 7th century AD, its earliest version bears a stylistic similarity to buildings from that period in Copán. It was a radial pyramid with six tiers and stairways on all four sides, with the east and west stairways being the best preserved. It was topped by a superstructure with three rooms and fallen remains indicated that it had

312-543: The Parque Arqueológico El Puente ("El Puente Archaeological Park"), is a Maya archaeological site in the department of Copán in Honduras . Once an independent Maya city, the city of El Puente became a tributary to the nearby city of Copán between the 6th and 9th centuries AD. The site contains more than 200 structures that include tombs, religious structures, and living quarters, but only

336-605: The stucco facing to come away from the structures and resulting in their complete collapse. The plazas had a well-designed drainage system to channel runoff rainwater. These channels were carved from stone and at the base of Structure 5 one of the channels is still functional. Another has been excavated on the east side of Structure 3. Several burials have been excavated, some are accompanied by offerings of jade and ceramic vessels decorated with bands of hieroglyphs . One of these vessels contained an additional offering of 13 obsidian prismatic blades . Rough stones were placed in

360-605: The La Entrada region suffered politically with local elites losing prestige and territory. However, unlike at Copán, there does not seem to have been overuse of local resources and El Puente appears to have received immigrants from Copán during the Late Classic. Although the architecture is predominantly Maya there are slight non-Maya influences from the neighbouring non-Maya area, such as long structures connected end-to-end. The architecture at El Puente also tends to lack

384-660: The Late Classic. Excavators found an increase in fragments of Copán-style polychrome ceramics in the final construction phase. An altar and a stela were associated with the temple, the stela was not inscribed with any hieroglyphic text. 15°6′36″N 88°47′30″W  /  15.11000°N 88.79167°W  / 15.11000; -88.79167 Tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine or thermogene travertine . Tufa

408-407: The deposits creates a wet habitat ideal for these plants. Modern tufa is formed from alkaline waters, supersaturated with calcite. On emergence, waters degas CO 2 due to the lower atmospheric p CO 2 (see partial pressure ), resulting in an increase in pH. Since carbonate solubility decreases with increased pH, precipitation is induced. Supersaturation may be enhanced by factors leading to

432-598: The early growth of the town. La Entrada received the title of city by legislative decree on October 1, 1993. The request was made by the acting municipal mayor Eduardo Flores Calderón. The local football club, Olimpia Occidental , play in the Honduran second division . They play their home games at the Estadio Alsacias . This Honduras location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . El Puente (Maya site) El Puente , or

456-424: The following classes of fluvial tufa: Lacustrine tufas are generally formed at the periphery of lakes and built-up phytoherms (freshwater reefs), and on stromatolites . Oncoids are also common in these environments. Although sometimes regarded as a distinct carbonate deposit, calcareous sinter formed from ambient temperature water can be considered a sub-type of tufa. Calcareous speleothems may be regarded as

480-523: The intention of creating the second archaeological park in the country, after Copán . The Parque Arqueológico El Puente opened on 20 January 1994 and includes a visitor centre, site museum and administrative offices. El Puente appears to have been first settled around the middle of the 6th century AD, in the Early Classic period, fairly late in the Mesoamerican timescale and occupation at

504-452: The north side of its first-level platform but the rest of the building features markedly poorer quality workmanship. Structure 4 is on the northwest side of Plaza 1, at the extreme northwest of the site core. Structure 5 is also on the northwest side of Plaza 1, at the extreme northwest of the site core. It has three Copán-style rooms and traces of domestic activity were found during excavation. At only 30 centimetres (12 in) thick,

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528-544: The site did not last very long. Architectural and ceramic similarities with Copán suggest that El Puente was founded by that city to control the crossroads of two trade routes that met in the valley. The site was a regional centre during the Late Classic period when it remained closely allied with the great city of Copán. After the collapse of Copán in the Terminal Classic (between AD 850–950),

552-463: The symmetry found in traditional Maya sites with a long occupational history, perhaps due to a lesser level of technical ability. For example, stairways on the main buildings are of different sizes on each of the four sides of the structures. Quality of workmanship in the working of stone for construction can differ markedly from one building to the next, or even within the same structure. The principal materials for construction were tufa , schist and

576-438: The walls were not thick enough to have supported a vaulted roof. Structure 31 is a pyramid on the eastern side of the site core. Its eastern portion has been badly damaged by looters. The structure supported two rooms. The main room has the remains of a stone bench and an entrance that opens onto the main stairway that climbs the west side of the structure from Plaza C. The building had several construction phases, all dating to

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