Construction Estimates
(handed out at the beginning of the MesoAmerican section)
(adapted from an
activity created by Keith Kintigh and Margaret Nelson, Arizona State University)
Answers must be typed;
show your work.
Archaeologists often find it useful to estimate the amount of labor that it would have taken to build a prehistoric monument (e.g., a mound or pyramid). The amount of labor required to build a monument can be used as a measure of the power of the person(s) who organized the construction; the ability to mobilize large numbers of people to work for extended periods of time suggests that whoever was in charge of the construction had a considerable amount of influence or power.
Because we live in a society in which large-scale construction is done with heavy equipment, we are not very sensitive to the effort that is required to create large structures using only human labor. In this exercise, you will estimate the labor that would have been required to build a mound of earth the size of two buildings here on the campus. Hopefully, after estimating the labor involved in building a monument the size of these familiar buildings, you will have a better appreciation for the amount of labor that was organized to build less-familiar ancient monuments.
Once you have determined the amount of labor needed for each building, I want you to think what this means in terms of the size of the population needed to construct and support the buildings, what kind of leadership is needed to mobilize the population, and whether competition is a factor.
*Note for instructors: any large building can be used from your own campus or in the town/city in which your institution is located.
The buildings you will study are the old and new libraries on the Southern and Dobson campus of Mesa Community College. They are located in the center of campus. We will walk over together and look at the buildings prior to the beginning of this activity. I want you to estimate the labor that would be required to build a mound of earth the size of the each of these libraries. . To do this, you will need to do the following:
1) Measure the circumference of each library by counting your paces as you walk around it. You will have to walk through the hallway that connects the buildings to get the eastern distance. For the average person, a slightly exaggerated stride will be equal to about 1 yard. You might want to measure your pace with a measuring tape before you pace off the building.
2) Given that the building is ?? yards high (??), calculate the volume of the building. The formula for computing the volume of a cylinder is
V = H p (C/(2 p))2 = HC2/(4 p))
p = 3.14
C = circumference (the number of paces [yards] you counted)
H = height of the building (?? yards)
This calculation will give you the volume of the arena in cubic yards (yd3).
3) The preceramic site of El Paraiso was estimated to have 340,000m of fill. The conical pyramid at La Venta may be estimated to have on the order of 4,000,000m of fill. As 1m=1.3yd, this means that El Paraiso is about 445,000yd and La Venta about 5,200,000yd. How many times larger (or smaller) is each building than each of these monuments?
4) Now that you have a volume estimate for the building, calculate the labor required to build a mound of earth of this size. Archaeologists measure labor in terms of person hours (PH), which is a unit equal to the labor of one person working for one hour.
There are two steps involved in constructing an earth mound: procuring the earth (digging it out of the ground) and moving the earth to the place where you want to build.
It takes 1.5 PH to procure 1 yd3 of earth.
It takes 0.65 PH to move 1 yd3 of earth 100 feet.
5) Assuming that the dirt has to be moved 2000 feet (a little less than half a mile), use these constants to calculate the number of person hours required to build a mound of earth the size of the buildings.
6) Finally, calculate how many days or years it would take for 100 people working 8 hours a day to build the mound.
When you have completed your calculations, revisit the libraries and take a moment to appreciate their size. Make a mental note of the labor involved in building a mound of this size; we will use this mound as a scale to help you appreciate the immense size of some of the prehistoric monuments we discuss in class.
Now consider: the first library was built when the student population at Mesa was fewer than 10,000 students. The second library was built when the student population had more than doubled to more than 20,000. Consider the need to support a larger population and the availability of a larger workforce to construct the building. The size of a population often helps structure what can be produced. Finally, I mentioned competition earlier; consider whether having a new and larger library is important in the competition between schools in attracting students. Would the old library support 25,000 students? Would students be attracted to the campus with the old library or would the new library encourage them to enroll? Does the new library enhance the stature of the campus? Of the President of MCC? Of the students who attend MCC? Consider how these issues are also relevant to the cultures we are studying. Would a larger pyramid enhance the stature of the leadership? Of the residents of the city?
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