The finest example of a three-tiered building is found at Santa Rosa Xlabpak (Fig. 78), but in this case a broad stairway leads from the ground to the highest tier. Two remarkable buildings of more than one storey call for mention, if only as exceptions to the general rule. These are the square tower at Palenque, and the circular edifice known as the "Caracol" at Chichen Itza. The first (Fig. 75, f) had originally at least three floors, as well as two intermediate blind storeys, the chambers of which are grouped around a square core of masonry in which is built a staircase. The second (Fig. 75, e), which has two storeys, is constructed round a circular core, in which is a very small spiral stairway. The essentials of construction are the same, the chief differences lying in the facts, firstly, that whereas the chambers of the Caracol are all vaulted, those of the Palenque tower are in some cases furnished with flat ceilings of beams, and secondly, that while the upper storey of the Caracol is considerably less in diameter than the lower, the square tower retains the same diameter throughout. Architecturally the latter is considerably superior to the former, but the shape of the Caracol is interesting since it is the only circular construction now existing in the Maya country, though Landa states that a circular temple to Kukulkan was built at Mayapan, and further remarks that this shape of building was particularly related to this god. It will be remembered that circular temples, according to tradition, were erected to Quetzalcoatl, his counterpart, in Mexico.
The Maya architects did not attempt to handle large masses of stone in the construction of their buildings; no blocks comparable in size with the great lintels of Mitla enter into the composition of Maya temples and in the art of masonry the Maya were far behind the megalithic builders of the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands. The only attempt at stone building, where regularly squared
