As we seek to improve our understanding of precolumbian conflict resolution, we must be aware of the limitations imposed on our search. Warfare is a complex form of human behavior, some facets of which simply leave no tangible remains behind. Other aspects of warfare can be surmised only indirectly, such as, for example, the purported seasonality of wars, or efforts ta mitigate conflict.
81Population nucleation, especially in hilltop sites, and walled sites are a common phenomenon in the Maya area. Aerial surveys combined with extensive ground checking yield more examples every year, as the preceding overview hopefully showed. Walls and moats are visible expressions of fear, and this fear is often translated into huge tangible defensive measures, such as moats and masonry walls. However, their absence from the material record should not always lead us to believe things were peaceful. Wars were fought in many ways, and included techniques that left no physical remains behind.
82Written sources tell us of palisades in the Maya area. The Maya referred ta them as tulumché (Armillas 1948:141). Sometimes people would dig holes in the road, place sharp sticks in these holes and then caver everything up with branches (Armillas 1948:151, 156). Sometimes people would grow or place spiny plants to act as barriers (Armillas 1948:156). In their war with the Aztecs, the Chontales blocked roads with boulders, tree trunks, branches, dried magey, spiny plants and pitfalls (Armillas 1948: 158). Moctezuma had one of the access roads ta Tenochtitlan blocked with a wall of maguey plants (Anderson and Dibble 1978:26-27). The Quiché of highland Guatemala employed a fighting technique which le ft behind no traces either: they threw gourds full of wasps among the enemy ta disrupt them (Carmack 1968:79-80).