Ricardo E. Valenzuela Ruiz : Ricardo E. Valenzuela Ruiz Chichen-itza 1 E-mail varr1947@yahoo.com
Mesoamerica : Mesoamerica Chichen Itza is the Mayan name which means "mouth of the well of Itza." It is one of the few Mayan sites which the original Mayan name is known and used. It is the best known of all the Mayan cities covering over a six square mile area. It was excavated and restored for over 20 years starting in 1923. The site was founded around 432 AD. The city was abandoned around 1200 AD. Chichen.itza
The Castle Chichen itza : The Castle Chichen itza What were Maya pyramids, temples and other structures built from? How were Maya buildings made? Why were religious temples on top of pyramids? .
Ah, Today I'm in the Mood to Build a New Pyramid. How Is That Done Again?
To build a Maya pyramid or other large structure was no easy task. It required a very large work force. Pulleys and wheels were, in all likelihood, not used, for the simple reason that they had not been invented, at least in the Maya neck of the world. The ancient Maya civilization was advanced enough to have a written language, yes, but no wheel.
Maya buildings were typically made from limestone, which was hauled to the building sites from local quarries. While in its bed limestone was soft enough to be chipped at even by stone tools. It was only when it was brought out and left in the sun that it hardene One frequently identified object at Chichén Itzá is a jaguar throne, a seat shaped like a jaguar presumably made for some of the rulers. This one is the only one left at the site open to the public; the remainder are in museums, because they are often richly painted with inlaid shell, jade and crystal features. Jaguar thrones were found in the Castillo and in the Nunnery Annex; they are often found illustrated on murals and pottery as well.
The castle interior : The castle interior
Murals : Murals
The Ossuary : The Ossuary The High Priest's Grave is the name given to this pyramid because it contains an ossuary--a communal grave yard--beneath its foundations. The building itself shows combined Toltec and Puuc characteristics, and is definitely reminiscent of el Castillo. The High Priest's Grave includes a pyramid of about 30 feet high with four stairways on each side, with a sanctuary in the center and a gallery with a portico in the front. The sides of the stairways are decorated with interlaced feathered serpents. Pillars associated with this building are in the form of the Toltec feathered serpent and human figures. Between the first two pillars is a square stone-lined vertical shaft in the floor which extends downwards to the base of the pyramid, where it opens up on a natural cavern. The cave is 36 feet deep and when it was excavated, bones from several human burials were identified along with grave goods and offerings of jade, shell, rock crystal and copper bells. On the road leading south toward the older part of Chichén Itzá stands a pyramid of nine levels similar to the Pyramid of Kukulcán, but of smaller size. Researchers believe it to be the tomb of a high priest. This pyramid is called the Ossuary and like the Pyramid of Kukulcán there are four sets of steps with large serpents' heads resting on the ground and atop the pyramid is a high temple decorated with Chaac masks on its walls. There are pillars with masks of the rain god found at the base of the pyramid. This structure covers a deep cavern which leads to another urban center outside of Chichén Itzá. There is a shaft cut into the center of the pyramid which archeologists say represents the entrance to the World of the Dead--where both the Maya paradise as well as its inferno were represented. Several tombs with rich offerings of precious stones and copper have been found inside the shaft. The weath of the objects found inside one of the tombs led its discoverer Edward Thompson to believe that this was the tomb of a great Mayan priest
House of the deer. : House of the deer. The name of this building, situated upon a high platform, is derived from the fragments of red paint that were found in its interior. The word "Chichancoob" means "small holes" and probably alludes to its lime roofcomb. The structure is comprised of an antechamber and three rooms and has sculptured hieroglyphic inscription in the main chamber. The facade is smooth and there are two roofcombs which bring to mind the late Puuc style of the Terminal Classic period. The building must have had a religious and public use, since there is a Ball Court joined to its eastern side, with basreliefs in the Maya-Toltec style Chichancoob
or Red House
Slide 8 : Engraving and sculpture
TEMPLE OF THE JAGUARS : TEMPLE OF THE JAGUARS The Great Ball Court at Chichén Itzá is the largest in all of Mesoamerica, with an I-shaped playing ground 150 meters long and a small temple at either end--in fact, it's so large it's difficult to photograph, even from the top of el Castillo. This photograph shows the south 1/2 of the ball court, the bottom of the I and a portion of the game walls. The tall game walls are on both sides of main playing alley, and stone rings are set high in these side walls, presumably for shooting balls through. Reliefs along the lower parts of these walls depict the ancient ball game ritual, including the sacrifice of the losers by the victors. The very large building is called the Temple of the Jaguars, which looks down into the ball court from the east platform, with a lower chamber opening outside into the main plaza. The second story of the Temple of Jaguars is reached by an extremely steep stairway at the east end of the court, visible in this photo. The balustrade of this staircase is carved to represent a feathered serpent. Serpent columns support the lintels of the wide doorway facing the plaza, and the doorjambs are decorated with typical Toltec warrior themes. A frieze appears here of a jaguar and circular shield motif in a flat relief, similar to that found at Tula. In the chamber is a now badly defaced mural of a battle scene with hundreds of warriors laying siege to a Maya village. The crazed explorer Augustus Le Plongeon interpreted the battle scene in the interior of the Temple of the Jaguars (thought by modern scholars to be the 9th century sack of Piedras Negras) as the battle between Prince Coh leader of Moo (Le Plongeon's name for Chichén Itzá) and Prince Aac (Le Plongeon's name for the leader of Uxmal), which was lost by Prince Coh. Coh's widow (now Queen Moo) had to marry Prince Aac and she cursed Moo to destruction. Afterwards, according to Le Plongeon, Queen Moo left Mexico for Egypt and becomes Isis, and eventually is reincarnated as--surprise! Le Plongeon's wife Alice.
Slide 10 : Plan of Upper Temple of the Jaguars, indicating location of murals, lintel, and altar.
Redrawn from Schele and Mathews (1986:228). Murals
Slide 11 : Murals
Temple of the bearded man : Temple of the bearded man The Temple of the Bearded Man is located at the north end of the Great Ball Court, and it is called the Temple of the Bearded Man because of the several representations of bearded individuals. There are other images of the 'bearded man' in Chichén Itzá; and a famous story told about these images was confessed by the archaeologist/explorer Augustus Le Plongeon in his book Vestiges of the Maya about his visit to Chichén Itzá in 1875. "On one of the [pillars] at the entrance on the north side [of El Castillo] is the portrait of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard.... I placed my head against the stone so as to represent the same position of my face... and called the attention of my Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: 'Thou! Here!". Not one of the high points in archaeological history, I'm afraid. For more on the wackiness of Augustus Le Plongeon, see Romancing the Maya, a terrific book on 19th century exploration of Maya sites by R. Tripp Evans, where I found this story. Mayanist Falken Forshaw adds: "The thinking now is that this court is not a place to play ball, being an "effigy" court for the purpose of ceremonial political and religious installations. The locations of the Chichen I. Ballcourts are set in the alignments of the windows of the Caracol's upper chamber (this is contained in Horst Hartung's book, Zeremonialzentren der Maya and very ignored by scholarship.) The ballcourt was also designed using sacred geometry and astronomy, some of the latter being published in journals. The playing alley is aligned using a diagnonal axis that it N-S."
TEMPLE OF THE WARRIORS : TEMPLE OF THE WARRIORS The Temple of the Warriors , ten meters tall and and over forty meters wide, is a good example of the Toltec influence on Maya architecture. This monument is almost an exact reproduction of one in Tula, the ancient capital of the Toltecs The Templo de los Guerreros was named after discovering the sculpture of warriors on the pillars of the front and supporting columns . The cornice of the upper temple which was built over an earlier temple is almost completely covered with motifs imported from central Mexico such as images of heart-eating eagles and jaguars. These images refer to the military elite to whom the Platform of the Eagles and Jaguars was dedicated. There are also images of Kukulcán as the Sun of Earth. Local Maya artists are believed to have hung masks of the god Chaac, the Maya rain god, which helps to distinguish this temple from others in the Yucatán. Inside the building there are many colorful paintings showing daily life during the Maya/Toltec period of Chichen Itza's history.
Slide 14 : . Murals
Adjoining the Temple of the Warriors on the eastern plaza of the central plain of Chichen Itza, the group of the thousand columns was built between 900 and 1200 A.D. and originally covered in plaster and painted. The columns once supported a frieze and a roof which have since collapsed. The exact nature of the roof is not known. It may have been made of thatch or wood and mortar. It is believed that these were once great meeting halls. Remains of the painted frieze indicate that it was decorated with Chaac masks and other motifs representing an earlier priestly class who governed the city. However, the addition of warriors on the pillars must have made the citizens aware of the military-religious aspect of this site. : Adjoining the Temple of the Warriors on the eastern plaza of the central plain of Chichen Itza, the group of the thousand columns was built between 900 and 1200 A.D. and originally covered in plaster and painted. The columns once supported a frieze and a roof which have since collapsed. The exact nature of the roof is not known. It may have been made of thatch or wood and mortar. It is believed that these were once great meeting halls. Remains of the painted frieze indicate that it was decorated with Chaac masks and other motifs representing an earlier priestly class who governed the city. However, the addition of warriors on the pillars must have made the citizens aware of the military-religious aspect of this site. Temple of the thousand columns
The market place : The market place The group of the thousand columns is made up of a series of columns whose position is in the form of an irregular square. On the south side it is completed by a building called the market, but it is obvious that it formed a part of the columns according to the Maya idea of architecture. In its conformation, three sections can be distinguished: The northern section, consisting of 156 columns placed four deep with a length of 125 meters by 20; the east section made up of 134 columns, including some that are in a temple on the same side; The western section, forms the entrance of the rectangle and are placed in four rows in an extension of 125 by 11 meters; The south side, which is closed, is the rectangle of a large construction called the Market, which has a small ball court on it's east side.
Venus plattform : Venus plattform Venus was one the representations of the serpent god Kukulcan. It is believed that the platform may have been used for religous ceremonies in honor of this important diety. In the sunken spaces Kukulcán, in his role of Venus the morning star, appears with forked tongue and jaguar- like claws to be coming out of the jaws of the plumed serpent. The stairways on each side of the platform are guarded by images of feathered serpents.