Thatched Roof Aztec

Houses all had inner courtyards they were painted white and had flat thatched roofs.

Thatched roof aztec.

Lime was also used to whiten the exterior. As commoners were not allowed to do. Thatch is also a traditional roofing material in many regions of africa as well as in japan and korea. Poorer aztecs and commoners usually lived in one room homes built of adobe brick and thatched roofs.

Despite acts of vandalism the interior of this building is still in good condition. There is ample evidence that the mayans incans and the aztec used thatch as a roof covering for both homes and communal buildings. Since the bulk of the vegetation stays dry and is densely packed trapping air thatching also functions as insulation. The structures tended to be oval rather than round in shape and the roofs were thatched to keep out the elements.

Much has been made of bernal diaz castillo s first impression of tenochtitlan. Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw water reed sedge rushes heather or palm branches layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Many aztecs whitewashed their homes with lime so the houses would reflect light and stay cool. The conical thatched roof that covers the main building is a reproduction of the kind of roof it probably had in antiquity but the shed like porch is less faithful to the original.

It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries usually with low.