Bronko joined them, standing behind Pedro. He took a sip of coffee and stared down at the screen. “Looks like a prison layout to me,” he said without ceremony and then turned and left the tent.
Quint dropped his pencil and walked over to where Bronko had stood, looking at the screen. “Shit! He’s right. It does look like a prison with guard towers in the corners. That certainly would explain why the walls are higher on the inside than the out.”
“It can’t be,” Angélica said, turning the computer screen back toward her.
“Why not?” Quint came back around to her side, looking at the screen over her shoulder.
“Because the Maya didn’t have any jails. At least not long-term holding areas like what other civilizations had or what we havetoday.”
“What did they do with troublemakers?” Pedro asked.
Angélica glanced across at Daisy. “Do you know the answer to that?”
“I think so,” Daisy said, focusing on Quint. “I had a class that focused on the sociology of ancient civilizations. The Maya had a hierarchical structure, with royalty or nobles at the top not only ruling the rest, but also acting as the supreme judges. Otherwise, there were shaman, who sometimes gained in power and ruled alongside the elite, and then below them were the artisans, commoners, and slaves. When it came to punishment for crimes committed, the Maya were into restorative justice, meaning they would try to fix any damage caused by a crime through communication between injured parties, mediation via local leaders or elders, or even by performing community service. If harm was done to a family that could be recompensated with service or goods, then that would be the so-called punishment. But if the crime was greater, then the wrongdoer would have to take part in rituals that would benefit the public or work that would help the local people, such as building temples and other civic projects.”
Quint returned to the end of the table. “But what if the person did something really bad?”
Daisy toyed with her glasses’ chain. “I remember the professor mentioning that they had labor camps where criminals were sent to work the fields or do more hardcore physical construction. Through this work, they could repay their debt to society.”
“They were also into public shaming,” Angélica said. “Neighbors would be told of a wrong committed. In tight communities where families are very important, this was a strong deterrent to most crimes.”
“So, they involved all of the people in keeping the peace,” Quint closed his field notebook. “Interesting.”
“But what about the murderers and serial killers?” Pedro asked.
“I read an article once about the use of banishment for removing dangerous criminals,” Angélica told them and then finished off her tea.
Quint raised one dark eyebrow. “Like exile?”
She nodded. “For the safety of the rest of the civilians.”
“Exactly,” Daisy said. “It would also allow the one who committed the crime the chance to find redemption somewhere else.”
“Didn’t they also use criminals as sacrificial victims?” Dr. Fernel asked while tapping some keys on his computer keyboard.
“So I’ve read,” her father said, finger combing his mustache as he stared Angélica’s way with a slight squint. “Could this site have been used by the rulers of Calakmul as a temporary holding tank for their more dangerous criminals?”
That was an interesting idea. Certainly, in a city as large as Calakmul, there would be multiple crimes being committed. A temporary area for these criminals to reside until judgment took place would be unprecedented in the current Maya archaeological record; however, like Dr. Fernel had said, new concepts of the ancient Maya world were being birthed faster than ever thanks to LIDAR.
“I suppose,” she said to her father in particular, “until we find astelatelling us something about the site, we can’t rule anything out. I’m still leaning toward some sort of sacred site.” As her father had said before, when archaeologists couldn’t make sense of something, religion was usually in play.
“If we’re brainstorming possibilities,” Daisy said, “I’d like to add that maybe a non-local cult leader ruled here. A group that fractured off and built walls, so that they could worship whatever gods they wanted without interference.”
“That would explain all the weapons,” Pedro said.
“But wouldn’t there be some statues or symbolism on the structures or carved into the wall itself?” Quint asked. “You know, something showing they worshipped a pink feathered dragon that breathed out rainbow-colored fire.”
Angélica chuckled. “Nice, Parker. I like your monsters better than the ones the Maya came up with.”
“What about all those skulls?” Dr. Fernel made a cringing face at just the mention of them. “Why stack them outside like that?”
“And why the holes in each skull?” Pedro asked.
Angélica had thought about the skulls off and on over the last few days, wondering the same thing and coming up with no answers, same as now.
Quint stretched his lower back. “Do we know if they were prisoners or jailers?”
“Maybe both,” Pedro said.
