Yucatan palms and thatched roofs
My biggest regret from our Uxmal adventure last year is that
I didn't manage to snap a photo of the thatched roofs that abounded
along the highway between Progresso and the ruins. Luckily,
images of Mayan thatched roofs are common on the internet since
thatching is such an integral feature of Yucatan life.
I'm a big fan of
thatching in general since the method is lighter on the earth than any
other roofing option (although more work, which is why you don't see it
much in the United States.) Using plants for roofing is an all
around good idea --- you can grow your roof rather than mining metal or
manufacturing shingles, and when the thatch deteriorates, you can just
toss it on the compost pile to feed your garden. Victoria
Schlesinger reports in Animals and Plants of the Ancient
Maya that
palm thatched roofs in the Yucatan last six to 20 years. (For the
sake of comparison, a shingle roof is only expected to last 20 years.)
Various
palms are used for thatching in the Yucatan, including Cohune Palm (Orbignya
cohune), Botán (Sabal
morrisiana), Silver
Palm (Thrinax
radiata), and
Huano Palm (Sabal yapa). When identifying
palms, the first thing to look for is whether the leaflets are
pinnately compound (like the frond of many common ferns) or palmately
compound (like a Buckeye leaf.) If the latter, chances are your
palm is in the Sabal genus, like this one I saw at
Uxmal. Jim Conrad reports that the Huano Palm is perfect for
thatching --- check out his fascinating
photo explanation to see why.
Want
to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the
RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.
