Lintel

A lintel is a structural horizontal block that spans the space or opening between two vertical supports. It can be a load-bearing building component, a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors, windows, and fireplaces.

Structural uses

In worldwide architecture of different eras and many cultures, a lintel has been an element of post and lintel construction. Many different building materials have been used for lintels.

In classical western construction methods, defining lintel by its Merriam-Webster definition, a lintel is a load-bearing member and is placed over an entranceway. In ancient Western classical architecture, the lintel, called an architrave, is a structural element that is usually rested on stone pillars or stacked stone columns, over a portal or entranceway. An example from the Mycenaean Greece cultural period (c. 1600 BCE – c. 1100 BCE) is the Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae, Greece. It weighs 120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 × 5.2 × 1.2 m, one of the largest in the world.

Yaxchilan Lintel 24

Lintel 24 is the designation given by modern archaeologists to an ancient Maya limestone carving from Yaxchilan, in modern Chiapas, Mexico. The lintel dates to about AD 725, placing it within the Maya Late Classic period. The text of Maya hieroglyphics indicates that the scene depicted is a bloodletting ritual that took place on 5 Eb 15 Mac, October 24, AD 709. The ruler, Shield Jaguar, holds a torch while his consort, Lady Xoc, pulls a rope studded with what are now believed to be obsidian shards through her tongue in order to conjure a vision serpent.

Discovery and removal

Lintel 24 was found in its original context alongside Lintels 25 and 26 in Structure 23 of Yaxchilan. Alfred Maudslay had the lintel cut from the ceiling of a side entrance in 1882 and shipped to Great Britain where it remains today in the British Museum of London. Lintel 25 made the journey in 1883. Lintel 26 was discovered in 1897 by Teobert Maler. It was removed to the Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia in 1964. Structure 33 has since collapsed.

Podcasts:

PLAYLIST TIME:

Linda Lou

by: Hank Snow

Witten and Recorded by Hank Snow
(A) Linda Lou, honest true,
I’m just wild about your lovely eyes of (E7) blue,
For your smile, I’d walk miles,
For my honey child I’m glad to be with (A) you,
(A) As long as you are by my side I (D) have no cause to pine,
I (B7) point you out with so much pride,
And (E7) tell the world you're mine,
Linda (A) Lou , honest true,
I’m in (B7) love with you a-(E7) lone sweet Linda (A) Lou.
(A) I’ve waited a (D) long time for you (A) darlin',
But (E7) never knew exactly what you’d (A) be,
Now that you have (D) come to me my (A) darlin',
You ‘re a (B7) wee bit of heaven to (E7) me;
Linda (A) Lou, honest true,
You’re the first in every thought I have to-(E7) day,
You’re so sweet, and so neat ,
That I thank the LORD for sending you my (A)way,
Some day you’ll know the way I feel deep (D) down within your heart ,
To (B7) be with you when shadows steal and (E7) know we’ll never part ,
Linda (A) Lou , honest true,
I’m in (B7) love with you a- (E7) lone sweet Linda (A) Lou.




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