Casca, that is an excellent example of being at the right spot to see the clues and I personally believe the Spanish just were not that able to assemble such items to compile a photo. I'm thinking that whoever assembled the intricate collages were the same people who produced the photo quality "paintings" of faces. You've seen examples of what I'm talking about. I've wondered for the longest time, just HOW did the sculptors communicated with their bosses when those large, DISTANT things were made. There were no radios back then and Indian smoke signals were just a Hollywood invention and the Morris Code had not been invented then. (side note, Samuel Morris did not invent the code either. His helper did and Morris put his own name on it.)
Logistics and communication are the two big "unknowns" of the west and south west.
They had chairs, we all seen the rocks of stone and they viewed the areas from about a 1/4 mile out. The only thing you see from the trail is a eye catcher. Once you get closer you start seeing large monuments and shadow markers. If you follow the trail, hearts, turtles, and such you will find in the trail these hidden images. Now once on the trail very few signs will be head on, those signs I stop in my tracks when I first see them. Most signs I find are off to the left or right at 45' and 90' to include 180' degree angles. SS find the area behind a lil mound nestled in the fold of the mountain and thats where they like to work. They could see you, but you could not see them. There is op set starting at the base of the mountain, they could see you coming for miles though.
Now you asked how they communicated? I would say depends on the range. But Flags and mirrors would work great. I also have found in the ledges fist sized holes that a candle was placed in. It could only be seen from a certain angle. Also they most likely used runners, I dont see the Spanish running around the desert, they had slaves.
I suspect a camp was close by the work area and a main tent set up for day to day operations. I have found areas that would be work areas, grinding the ore to dust. I found areas of where one would bath, I found areas where they would pray. I am certain there was a routine, one knew his place then.
I also found simple signs for the peon to follow, and signs for the clergy to follow. This includes some hidden and clever signs by the sight owner along with all the new signs from the Mexicans, indians, and such. Im pretty sure a master would set and supervise workers from a few feet to miles away depending on the sign and what they wanted you to see. I spot Spanish stuff out several miles, there is a lot of it. But not every rock or place has marks. The Spanish like the Mayan looked for certian areas that produced gold/silver and such.
I dont mean to dumb this down, but I keep it simple. Thats my take on communications and control. Well some of it lol.
