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A urine feature of speech found in the ancient Mayan city of Palenque , Mexico , is the earliest known example of plumbery with pressurized piss in the New World , researchers suggest .
Found in the Piedras Bolas Aqueduct is a water spring - fed conduit located on extortionate terrain — a 20 - pes ( 6 - meter ) drop from the entrance of the tunnel to the outlet about 200 foot ( 60 foot ) downhill . The crossing - section of the feature film decreases from about 10 square infantry ( 1 substantial cadence ) near the outpouring to about a half square foot where water emerges from a modest opening . At the outlet , the air pressure wield could have moved the water upwards of 20 feet .
This is the interior of the Piedras Bolas aqueduct showing the abrupt reduction in conduit size near the exit.
" The experience the Maya at Palenque had in constructing aqueducts for diversion of water and preservation of urban blank space may have led to the universe of utile water pressure , " say team penis Kirk French of Penn State University .
The researchers are n’t exactly sure what the water - pressure feature was used for , but surmise includes apublic fountainor a effluent disposal organization .
Previously , researcher remember that water - pressure systems entered the New World with the arrival of the Spanish , but this finding shows that close channel water pressure scheme were already present .
resistance water features such as aqueduct are not unusual at Palenque . Because the Maya build the city in a constricted field indweller were unable to distribute out . To make as much land available for exist as possible , the Maya at Palenque route streams beneath plazas via aqueducts .
The feature was first identified in 1999 in the Maya city in Chiapas , Mexico . The domain was first use up sometime near the year 100 , raise to its largest size during the Classic Maya catamenia 250 to 600 , and was then abandoned around 800 .
The Piedras Bolas Aqueduct is partially give so very little H2O currently flows from the outlet . Gallic and his team member Christopher Duffy , also of Penn State , used simple hydraulic example to determine the possible water pressure accomplishable from the Aqueduct . They also feel that Aqueduct would hold about 18,000 gallon ( 68,000 liters ) of water if the outlet were controlled to stash away the water .
The results of the subject field are detailed in the May issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science . The research was fund by the National Science Foundation and the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies .
