Did the Mayans use siege towers?

by Khwarezm

Most of what I've read about with regards to Mesoamerican sieges here and elsewhere tends to say it was a fairly underdeveloped part of warfare, without tremendously complex fortifications, drawn out sieges or fancy siege engines.

But my attention was recently drawn to a Mayan mural that depicts a battle scene with a structure that looks astonishingly close to a siege tower that would have been used in Eurasia. Can we say with any kind of certainty that that indeed was what the structure was, or are there other less dramatic possibilities that seem to be more likely?

Malthus1

The Mayans did indeed have some pretty useful fortifications, though the degree to which Mayans relied on fortifications varied considerably over time.

In the post classic, for example, several cities were fortified, most notably Tulum and Mayapan. Indeed, the walls of Mayapan are specifically mentioned in the historical record, as well as their remains attested to by archaeology.

This article describes the historic basis of the “Great Wall of Mayapan”, noting, for example, that the Spanish claimed the city was “walled in like those of our Spain” (from the Relación de la “Quinacama”).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291123179_The_great_wall_of_Mayapan

For Mayan walls generally, see: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-94-007-7747-7_10086

This article describes further the historical and archaeological basis of Mayan warfare:

https://journals.openedition.org/civilisations/3400

The authors make the point that, obviously, defensive measures (walls, moats and the like) preserve better in the records than offensive measures, such as siege techniques. The authors further note that the picture linked by the OP appears to show a lattice-like structure used to surmount a defensive wall - not really a siege tower, more like a siege ladder.

It cannot be determined for certainty whether the Mayans used anything like siege towers. The best evidence is that they used structured akin to siege ladders.

This makes sense, given that we know the Mayans had defensive structures such as city walls. Any use of military technology inevitably results in the development of counter-measures to overcome that technology; however, the exact form those may take will vary ... in this case, given we have a mural apparently depicting the use of a lattice-like structure to surmount a wall, it is reasonable to assume (1) that this actually depicts something like a siege ladder (and not something unknown); and (2) that this technology was actually used in warfare.