Roofcomb
A construction standing on a roof surface, usually containing inaccessible interior chambers and exterior sculptural treatment is known as a roofcomb. Str. 5D-63 is the only Central Acropolis structure known to present this feature and it has, or had prior to collapse, no less than sixteen of them.
Roof Structure
A construction standing on a roof surface but not identifiable as a roofcomb may be designated as a roof structure.
Room Floor
A hard plaster application within a room and turning up to the wall plaster is a room floor. In some cases, the plastered top of a building platform serves as a room floor; it passes under the walls rather than turning up to them.
Rope Anchor
A feature similar to a cord holder but very much larger and with a stouter peg is known as a rope anchor.
Run-under
A plastered floor or top surface that extends beneath some other feature is noted as a “run-under.”
Scratch Coat
A substrate for plaster prepared using either mortar or a low grade of plaster and deliberately roughened is called a scratch coat.
Sett
Small, roughly squared stones may be called setts. Several Central Acropolis structures, 5D-49, 51 and 55, employ setts as facing stones for the walls of the building.
Side Inset
A recess separating front building parts from rear building parts externally is a side inset; none are known in the Central Acropolis.
Sill
The bottom surface of a doorway, niche, or window is a sill.
Socket
The hole left by a rotted out beam is a socket.
Soffit
The under-surface of a projecting member is its soffit. Vault surfaces over a room are soffit surfaces.
Spall
Small stones that occur in masonry joints and beds are spalls. Some may have been placed so as to provide a correct setting for the blocks, others may have been included in the mortar.
Staggered Joints
Masons often take care not to align the end joints in adjacent courses. Joints are staggered to increase strength. Masons at Tikal did not do this because their facings were seen as skins rather than retentive elements. They took pains to ensure that core masses did not exert outward pressure on facings.
Stair
A flight of steps is known as a stair. A series of aligned stairs could be called a stairway.
Stair-side Outset
Terrace outsets flanking stairs are known as stair-side outsets. They do not occur in the Central Acropolis.
Stair-side Ramp
Some outset stairs present sheer edges, while others have a slightly raised ramp-like edge, also known by the terms “alfarda” and balustrade.
Standing Architecture
Tikal ruins include many architectural structures only partially collapsed. Project operations cleared debris away from many of these, but others were left as originally found. These are known as examples of standing architecture and were recorded without removal of collapsed material or vegetation.
Stretcher
A facing stone set with its length running in the plane of the surface.
Subapron
Apron profiles at Tikal are of two main types: two-element aprons and three-element aprons. The two-element type typifies Early Classic work and consists of an upper part projecting over a lower part; the lower part is the subapron. This implies that the upper part is the apron, although the term “apron” is also applied to the whole feature whether two element or three element. In three-element aprons the subapron is the middle part.
Subspring Beam
Beams spanning rooms and set below vault spring height are subspring beams.
Substructure
The parts below the building are known collectively as the substructure.
Subwall
This term was invented for use here to describe a wall-like feature, below floor level, within buildings where they act as footings for walls. Great Temple IV provides the only known example at Tikal.
Superior Molding
A molding at the top of an upper zone is a superior molding.
Supplementary Platform
A platform that intervenes between a building platform and a lower substructure platform is a supplementary platform.
Supra-lintel Masonry
On top of most lintels, there is a layer of masonry filling the gap between the tops of the lintel beams and the wall top.
Surface Dressing
The practice of planing face surfaces of facing stones to provide a fair substrate for plaster is known as face dressing. This is usually done after the facings have been installed.
Tandem Room
A room set in range fashion behind another room is a tandem room. Such rooms are described as set in tandem.
Thick Wall
A wall of a building so thick that its thickness approximates its height is known as a thick wall. None occur in the Central Acropolis.
Thin Wall
Walls of buildings proportioned such that their height is much greater than their thickness are thin walls. All building walls in the Central Acropolis are thin as compared with the thick walls of the Great Temples.
Transverse Room
A room set with its length parallel to the structure axis is a transverse room.
Tread
The horizontal part of a stair between risers is a tread.
Upper Zone
The exterior element corresponding to the vaults and overhanging exterior wall faces is the upper zone.
Upstand
A raised element on a bench is an upstand; alternatively, it can be called a bolster.
Vault
Masonry constructions that span over rooms or chambers are vaults. The vaults at Tikal are unlike arches in that one side does not depend on the other, they do not exert lateral thrusts, and do not require buttresses.
Vault-back
Some vaults have outer surfaces underlying upper zone material; these are known as vault-back surfaces. Some vaults at Tikal do not have vault-backs but most do.