Resumen de Conservación de edificios prehispánicos de tierra cruda en la costa de Veracruz
Annick Daneels, Luis Guerrero, Yuko Kita, G. Liberotti, David Piña
Archaeological research since 2004 at the site of La Joya on the Gulf of Mexico has revealed that earth was successfully used as a building material for monumental architecture in the humid tropical coastal lowlands, an extremely adverse environment with heavy summer rainfalls and winter hurricanes. It is one of the many earthen sites of Central and Southern Veracruz, where pyramids, palaces, and ball courts of a size equalling or surpassing contemporaneous stone constructions, were erected during the first millennium AD. However, ignoring the value of these ancient cities, many of these sites have been levelled for road fill or brickmaking. In the case of La Joya, what started as a salvage excavation has become a pilot study in ancient earthen architectural techniques and preservation experiments. This chapter focuses on conservation strategies that have been developed at the site in order to maintain its state of equilibrium. The data are useful both for earthen heritage conservation, as for opening new possibilities for contemporary architecture in the humid tropics, for which there has been limited interest in Mexico.
