Ancient Mayans had Pressurized Water

It has long been thought that the concept of pressurized water (ie, "running" water like we have out of faucets today) didn't arrive in the new world until the arrival of the Spanish.

However, a new find has shown that idea to be wrong.

Maya Plumbing: First Pressurized Water Feature Found in New World

A water feature found in the Maya city of Palenque, Mexico, is the earliest known example of engineered water pressure in the new world, according to a collaboration between two Penn State researchers, an archaeologist and a hydrologist. How the Maya used the pressurized water is, however, still unknown.

The city was first occupied around 100ad. It was at its height around 250-600ad and abandoned by 800ad.

Just goes to show that even modern science doesn't know everything about how advanced ancient cultures were.


[edit on 5-5-2010 by Frogs]

S&F. You beat me to this story by like 3 minutes!

Good stuff!

Edit: Correction, 5 minutes.

[edit on 5-5-2010 by Crossfate]

reply to post by Crossfate


lol You gotta be quick. As the old saying goes - "Great minds think alike".

Anyway, its a very cool find they made. In the article it states they think they have found similar structures in the palace. To me that makes perfect sense as the rulers would want the luxury of running water if it was available.

S+F on this one, for sure.

I wonder what they actually used this for, if anything "usefull" at all. I'm not a skeptic, but the restrictive nature of natural flows would limit it as far as local water-holes, and decorative fountains.

I know these are still substantial, and I'm not trying to argue against that. I'm just curious if they had some alternative use for them, ya know. Like, undiscovered graineries, or something like that, which uses a mill that hasn't been found.

It just makes me think and say, oooh... they had, yet MORE technology. He he he, I love how science and history are perpetually changing on a daily basis.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think this is a new finding.

I knew the Maya had running water years ago. I also knew they managed to construct their waterway (which ran under the city in question) in such a way as to build up enough pressure to bring water to some of the upper parts of some of the buildings.

Harte

The feature, first identified in 1999 during a mapping survey of the area, while similar to the aqueducts that flow beneath the plazas of the city, was also unlike them. In 2006, an archaeologist returned to Palenque with a hydrologist to examine the unusual water feature.

Good for you Harte!

Great find, a good read. S+F

Originally posted by Fergu

The feature, first identified in 1999 during a mapping survey of the area, while similar to the aqueducts that flow beneath the plazas of the city, was also unlike them. In 2006, an archaeologist returned to Palenque with a hydrologist to examine the unusual water feature.

Good for you Harte!

Well, I said several years ago, and I meant it. But I'm not finding anything before 2009 that mentions what I remember:

One peculiar finding at Palenque was a buried, spring-fed conduit some 216 feet long (66 m). While other aqueducts under the site's main plaza stayed relatively level and maintained a roughly constant width, the rectangular conduit was located on a steep slope and abruptly narrowed at its end.

Assuming this sloping conduit was smoothly plastered as the aqueducts were at Palenque, the researchers calculated the resulting water pressure could drive a fountain shooting water roughly 20 feet high (6 m).

"This finding is yet another technological achievement made by the Maya independently of the Old World," French said. "The Maya of Palenque had water pressure technology by 750 AD at the very latest and most likely much earlier."

French noted it has been speculated for decades that the palace in Palenque had running water for toilets. "Getting running water to the palace was impossible without water pressure," he said. Because of this new find, "the toilet theory isn’t so far-fetched."

Source
I remember reading about this "narrowing" conduit. Probably what I was reading was some of the "speculation" mentioned by Kirk French - the part I bolded above.

Harte