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<< Our Photo Pages >> Chichen Itza - Ancient Village or Settlement in Mexico in Yucatan

Submitted by Jurgen on Monday, 28 November 2016  Page Views: 24490

Multi-periodSite Name: Chichen Itza Alternative Name: Chichén Itzá, El Castillo, Kukulkan’s Temple
Country: Mexico Region: Yucatan Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Merida, Yucatan
Latitude: 20.682778N  Longitude: 88.569167W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

jdeblois83 would like to visit

mfrincu visited on 28th Dec 2013 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 4 Breathtaking! The size and complexity of the site is amazing! You need at least a couple of days to explore. Don't take bus tours as you'll arrive late and don't see much!

XIII visited on 1st Sep 2012 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5

Rileyy visited on 1st Jan 2006 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4

ModernExplorers visited on 2nd Jan 2003 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 4 A complex full of treasures

graemefield visited on 27th Oct 1999 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 5 Access: 3

Tdiver visited on 1st Jan 1991 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 5 Access: 5

43559959 visited on 20th Nov 1990 - their rating: Cond: 5 Amb: 5 Access: 5

canucklehead visited - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

Ogham DrewParsons paulcall davidmorgan Ahdzib MelissaBWrite have visited here

Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 4 Ambience: 4.63 Access: 4.38

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by Jurgen : Mayan Temple complex in Yucatan, Mexico. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Occupied from 600 AD until the Spanish Conquest, it is a multi-component site with elements from Late Classic (c.600–900 AD,) Terminal Classic (c.800–900,) and Early Postclassic periods (c.900–1200). Chichen Itza is known for the El Castillo Pyramid, temples, and the remains of colonnaded halls.

The site is now owned and managed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History, but was privately owned up until 2010. The primary Pyramid in the complex is El Castillo (Kukulcán pyramid.) It is considered to have been built to include calendar markers. It has 91 steps to the top on each side (totaling 364 steps plus one for the platform at the top making 365 steps). 52 panels on each side represent the 52 year cycle of the Maya calendar. The west side has a serpent head carved at the foot of the staircase, On the spring or fall equinox, at sunrise, the nine pyramid levels cast a shadow on the staircase edge mimicking a slithering snake body, but there is little evidence that this was an intentionally built feature. The serpent heads are part of the layer of the pyramid that was completely covered in the later occupations of the site. They were only discovered, excavated, and restored in the 1920-30's.

The location given is general for the complex.

Resources:
* Coe, Andrew, Archaeologial Mexico, Avelon Travel, 2001.
* TekTrek offers a labeled areal view and detailed map of Chichen-Itza briefly describing the major buildings. For a fee they offer downloads for MP3 players with an audio tour (90 min) and images of the site and costumed reenactors.

Note: Original pyramid found nestled inside two larger ones at Maya ruins of Kukulcán - Chichen Itza. See latest comment.
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Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by Jurgen : Mayan Temple complex (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by DrewParsons : Chichen Itza - El Castillo (Vote or comment on this photo)

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by Jurgen : Mayan Temple complex in Yucatan, Mexico. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by Jurgen (Vote or comment on this photo)

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by wirzroland : The Temple of a Thousand Warriors (2 comments)

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by davidmorgan : A carved jaguar head on the Platform of the Jaguars and Eagles overlooking the crowds at the Vernal Equinox, 20th March 2005.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by Jurgen : Mayan Temple complex in Yucatan, Mexico.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by karolus : The Observatory

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by karolus : Staircase serpents of the "Ceremonial Pyramid" at Chichen

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by durhamnature : Old photo from "Ruins of Mexico" via archive.org Site in Yucatan Mexico

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by wirzroland : The Temple of a Thousand Warriors

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view of El Castillo taken from The Temple of the Warriors with the reclining statue of the god Chac in the foreground and a serpents head on the left. It is said that the Mayan priests used the statue to cut out the hearts of living victims in order to ensure the rising of the sun every day. (This photo taken in 1994 cannot be taken by the public anymore, as I gather the Temple of the Warriors i...

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view from the top of El Castillo down towards the Temple of the Warriors and the Thousand Column Building.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view from the top of El Castillo looking towards the Temple of the Warriors. The Mayan engravings are still easily seen on the side walls.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view looking up the steep steps of the main pyramid, El Castillo. The steps are about 6 inches deep, so your heels overhang as you climb up them, making it feel very precarious. I don't know whether the Mayan people had much smaller feet than us, or whether it was supposed to give an added sense of danger when you were marched up there to be sacrificed!

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view of the main pyramid at Chichen Itza through the scrub surrounding the site

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by karolus : The lesser known "Ceremonial Pyramid" at Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by karolus : The lesser known 7 step "Ceremonial Pyramid" at Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by DrewParsons : View towards the Temple of the Warriors. Photographed during a visit in December 1989

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by durhamnature : Old photo, from "Mexican Archaeology" via archive.org Site in Yucatan Mexico

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by durhamnature : The Temple of the Jaguars at the ball court. Old photo, from "Mexican Archaeology" via archive.org

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by ogham : The Temple of a Thousand Warriors

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : A view across the northern plaza of Chichen Itza towards the Temple of the Jaguars and the main Ball Court. There are three other ball courts at the site, showing the importance of this brutal game to the Maya.

Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza submitted by paulcall : Taken in 1994 at Chichen Itza, I am again uncertain as to this buildings identity owing to loss of notes. Any clues? (1 comment)

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 4.6km SE 127° Balankanche Cave* Cave or Rock Shelter
 18.5km SSW 212° Yaxuna* Ancient Village or Settlement
 24.5km W 271° Xtojil Cenote* Ancient Village or Settlement
 50.6km ENE 63° Ek Balam* Ancient Village or Settlement
 54.4km WNW 301° Izamal* Ancient Village or Settlement
 81.5km WNW 291° Aké (Yucatan)* Ancient Village or Settlement
 89.2km ENE 57° Kulubá* Ancient Village or Settlement
 90.8km ESE 103° Coba'* Ancient Village or Settlement
 92.9km W 266° Mayapan* Ancient Village or Settlement
 93.0km W 279° Acanceh* Ancient Village or Settlement
 98.7km SW 235° Chacmultun* Ancient Village or Settlement
 100.3km WNW 285° Xiol (Mérida) Ancient Village or Settlement
 104.0km WSW 243° Grutas de Loltún* Cave or Rock Shelter
 104.6km ENE 62° San Manuel Cenote Cave or Rock Shelter
 107.5km NW 311° Xcambo* Ancient Village or Settlement
 114.0km WNW 287° Mérida Anthropological Museum* Museum
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 115.8km WNW 293° Dzibilchaltun* Ancient Village or Settlement
 119.5km WSW 242° Labna* Ancient Village or Settlement
 120.2km SE 124° Muyil* Ancient Village or Settlement
 120.9km WSW 241° Paso del Macho* Ancient Village or Settlement
 121.7km WSW 237° Kiuic* Ancient Village or Settlement
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 125.0km ESE 113° Hoyo Negro Cenote* Cave or Rock Shelter
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Chichen Itza Spatial Data by Andy B on Thursday, 02 April 2020
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Chichen Itza Spatial Data
https://openheritage3d.org/project.php?id=2atk-cq42

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/OgLSnnqWE9B_IQ

https://cyark.org/projects/chichen-itza
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Kukulkan's secret passageway discovered by AngieLake on Tuesday, 14 November 2017
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This news is on Daily Mail online tonight. I think it is an update on the post from Nov. 2016.
See:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5077989/Secret-passageway-1-000-year-old-Mayan-temple.html

Sample excerpt:

"The passage was found through a smaller burial chamber, known as the Ossuary, although it is currently blocked off.
Speaking to El Universal, Dr de Anda said: 'Through the Ossuary, we can enter the cave beneath the structure and there we found a blocked passageway, probably closed off by the ancient Mayans themselves."

" 'We will enter again and this time we will try to open it to see if the passageway leads us to the entrance of the cenote beneath the pyramid.'
Researchers discovered an enormous sinkhole beneath the 1,000-year-old Temple in 2015.
They fear the body of water in the cenote, which has a river running through it, may eventually cause the entire pyramid to collapse if its roof gives way.
It is believed the Mayans may have built the Temple of Kukulkan around 900 to 1,100 years ago on top of the cavern as part of their religious beliefs."

Article includes LIDAR images and photos.

[ Reply to This ]

Original pyramid found nestled inside two larger ones at Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza by bat400 on Monday, 21 November 2016
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Archaeologists have discovered what may be the original structure built at the pyramid of Kukulkan (El Castillo) at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, experts said Wednesday.

Last year, archaeologists using electrical imagining techniques found that the pyramid was built atop a subterranean river, or a cenote.

Archaeologists have long known that a smaller pyramid is encapsulated underneath the visible temple.

Researchers said Wednesday that they had detected an even smaller structure inside the other two structures. Using what is called tri-dimensional electric resistivity tomography, or “ERT-3D,” they found a 10-metre tall structure within the 20-metre tall ‘intermediate’ pyramid that was covered over by the last construction stage, perhaps around 900 A.D.

Archaeologist Denisse Lorenia Argote said “if we can research this structure in the future it could be important, because it could tell us about the first-period inhabitants” of the site.

Argote, of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, said the first structure may be in the “pure Maya” style from between 500 and 800 A.D.

University of California, San Diego anthropology professor Geoffrey Braswell, who was not involved in the latest project but who has conducted research at Chichen Itza, said the discovery may be new, or may be a structure detected in the 1940s.
Braswell said that while digging into the intermediate-layer pyramid in the 1940s, one archaeologist found a third platform buried within it.
“The tunnel was unstable, so we know very little about this platform,” Braswell wrote. “It appears to be much smaller than the outer two pyramids, and is not perfectly aligned within them.”

The computer image distributed by the researchers also showed un underlying structure not quite aligned with the subsequent layers.

Braswell compared the Kukulkan pyramid to a Russian nesting doll, with each layer encapsulating another. But at the bottom, there may be more than one platform encapsulated.
“To make matters more complicated, ” Braswell wrote, “the third Russian doll moving in may actually be one of a set of several small dolls rattling around inside the same shell. We just do not know. ”

Rene Chavez, a researcher at the National Autonomous University’s Institute of Geophysics, said the early structure appeared to have a staircase and perhaps an altar at the top that may have just been filled in and preserved. The structure has been mapped, but it is not clear whether it will be excavated.

“Given that no one has excavated this structure … it is difficult to say with certitude if it is one of the oldest buildings at the site,” Braswell said. “But this is quite possible.”

Source: Associated Press at multiple sites, including the Vancouver Sun.
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Maya Blue Paint Recipe Deciphered by davidmorgan on Sunday, 19 May 2013
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Submitted by coldrum:

The ancient Maya used a vivid, remarkably durable blue paint to cover their palace walls, codices, pottery and maybe even the bodies of human sacrifices who were thrown to their deaths down sacred wells. Now a group of chemists claim to have cracked the recipe of Maya Blue.

Scientists have long known the two chief ingredients of the intense blue pigment: indigo, a plant dye that's used today to color denim; and palygorskite, a type of clay. But how the Maya cooked up the unfading paint remained a mystery. Now Spanish researchers report that they found traces of another pigment in Maya Blue, which they say gives clues about how the color was made.

"We detected a second pigment in the samples, dehydroindigo, which must have formed through oxidation of the indigo when it underwent exposure to the heat that is required to prepare Maya Blue," Antonio Doménech, a researcher from the University of Valencia, said in a statement.

"Indigo is blue and dehydroindigo is yellow, therefore the presence of both pigments in variable proportions would justify the more or less greenish tone of Maya Blue," Doménech explained. "It is possible that the Maya knew how to obtain the desired hue by varying the preparation temperature, for example heating the mixture for more or less time or adding more of less wood to the fire."

American researchers in 2008 claimed that copal resin, which was used for incense, may have been the third secret ingredient for Maya Blue. Their research was based on a study of a bowl that had traces of the pigment and was used to burn incense. But Doménech's team didn't buy those findings.

"The bowl contained Maya Blue mixed with copal incense, so the simplified conclusion was that it was only prepared by warming incense," Doménech said in a statement.

The Spanish researchers say they are now investigating the chemical bonds that bind the paint's organic component (indigo) to the inorganic component (clay), which is key to Maya Blue's resilience.

Among the more remarkable discoveries of the paint in context was a 14-foot thick (4 meters) layer of blue mud at the bottom of a naturally formed sinkhole, called the Sacred Cenote, at the famous Pre-Columbian Maya site Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. When the Sacred Cenote was first dredged in 1904, it puzzled researchers, but some scientists now believe it was probably left over from blue-coated human sacrifices thrown into the well as part of a Maya ritual.

http://www.livescience.com/28381-maya-blue-paint-recipe-discovered.html
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Google Street View travels to Mexican historical sites and Brazil by Andy B on Wednesday, 29 August 2012
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Google's Street View, [having been rumbled 'accidentally on purpose' slurping people's WiFi data] is now expanding across Brazil and Mexico. [Whether they will find any evidence to refute the legendary 'lazy and feckless'' charactistics of Mexicans remains to be seen.]

The search giant today announced that its Street View coverage in Brazil now includes "colonial cities like Fortaleza, architecturally compelling cities like Brasilia, and coastal landmarks like Recife, Natal, and Salvador." All told, Street View now lets users comb through more than 70 Brazilian cities.

Google also announced the addition of 30 archaeological sites across Mexico, including the 1,100-year-old Kukulkan's Temple and the pyramids of Teotihuacan.

Google's Street View, which made its name as a service that let users virtually drive down city and suburban streets, has been increasingly expanding its imagery over the last several months. Back in May, Street View expanded to support 132 world-famous sites. In June, Google announced that Street View was going offline with help from a backpack rig.

More at
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57495515-93/google-street-view-travels-to-brazil-mexican-historical-sites/ and see also

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57448293-93/google-takes-street-view-off-road-with-backpack-rig/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57444907-93/google-street-view-takes-you-to-world-wonders/

With thanks to Jackdaw1 for the original link.
[ Reply to This ]
    Google have just scanned a few 'touristy' locations to get a quick positive headline by Andy B on Wednesday, 29 August 2012
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    Sadly if you have a quick scan down the other sites from the Megalithic Portal's coverage of ancient sites in Mexico - see the Nearby sites list then the links to Google Maps - it appears Google have just scanned a few 'touristy' locations to get a quick positive headline rather than actually provide any in-depth coverage. There is better coverage showing on the Street View pages from Panoramio photos. I will resist making any playground-style lazy and feckless jokes as clearly it was Americans doing the scanning.
    [ Reply to This ]

El Castillo Street View by Andy B on Wednesday, 29 August 2012
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View Larger Map

(I did this by clicking on the 'Link' icon from Google Street View, then copying the code from 'Paste HTML to embed in website' and pasting it in to the Portal's comment box)
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Uncovering the Mayan Ruins by bat400 on Saturday, 12 November 2011
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Article on touring Mayan sites, thanks to coldrum:

An advanced civilization inhabiting the lands of the Yucatan Peninsula along with Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala some time between 300 CE to 900 CE. Just a few centuries later, archaeologists have discovered brilliantly erected pyramids along with astonishingly distinct ancient monuments through these areas, which are seen to have persisted between 1300 BCE and 1200 CE. The good news is, these ancient Mayan ruins have been opened up for travelers and young explorers at the same time. The fact is that most people who have visited the areas of Mexico as well as Central America are left stunned and praising the what we call Mayan ruins.

Travelers and historian buffs’ thirsty for windows of the past have unraveled the Mayan ruins and may find joy and satisfaction by heading to Yucatan Peninsula and explore the magnificent Chichen Itza. In actual fact, the Chichen Itza is regarded as the main city plus cultural center of the Mayan civilization.
Tulum and Chichen Itza are only two of the amazing Mayan archaeological sites found in the Yucatan Peninsula . Travelers may likewise fall in love with the premiere Mayan ruins with the grand Temple of Inscriptions highlighting Pakal’s tomb all based in Palenque. Lovers of history will certainly find the sites of Agua Azul very interesting not forgetting the captivating Misol Ha falls, Bonampak ruins and the pristine Usumacinta river.

Read more at eva-news.com/travel.
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Chichen Itza by davidmorgan on Friday, 11 February 2011
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Street View -
View Larger Map
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X-Rays Reveal Secret of Ancient Mayan Dye by coldrum on Wednesday, 25 August 2010
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X-Rays Reveal Secret of Ancient Mayan Dye

Physicists have created a dye that promises to last for a thousand years. The secret to this extraordinary durability? Its formula is based on a Mayan pigment, a brilliant blue color that survives to this day on the walls of their ancient temples.

"This pigment has been stable for centuries in the hostile conditions of the jungle," said Eric Dooryhee at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y. "We're trying to mimic it to make new materials."

Dooryhee and team of French physicists have spent years studying historical objects using X-rays. They shoot finely-tuned beams of X-rays from a synchrotron machine -- much stronger than a dental X-ray -- at these materials and look at the pattern of scattered X-rays coming out in order to determine the structure of the atoms inside.

The scientists have used this technology to examine Egyptian cosmetics, Roman pottery, and Renaissance paintings. They have recreated some of these ancient materials and are just beginning to learn how to borrow their strengths to make new modern "archeomimetic" materials that can stand the test of time.

Unlike most organic pigments, which tend to break down over time, the pigment Maya Blue is remarkably resistant -- not only to natural weathering, heat, and light, but also to strong acids and solvents in the laboratory.

Pre-Columbian Mesoamericans, who lived in Central America before the first Spaniards arrived, developed the pigment about 1700 years ago. Archaeologists rediscovered it in 1931 at the site of the ancient Mayan capitol Chichen Itza.

The Mayans used the pigment in art and in rituals to bring the rains. Recent evidence suggests they painted sacrificial objects and human victims blue and threw them down a deep natural well called the Sacred Cenote, thought to be the home of the rain god Chaak.

The pigment was made by burning incense made from tree resin and using the heat to cook a mixture of indigo plants and a type of clay called palygorskite. A bowl retrieved from the Sacred Cenote revealed traces of all of these materials, each of which was considered to be a healing substance by the Mayans.

"By offering incense to Chaak, they were combining two healing components," said Dean Arnold, an anthropologist at Wheaton College in Ill. who examined the bowl. "This was ritually significant because the rain healed their land."

Now the physicists' X-ray beams and other measurements have revealed the secrets behind this recipe's remarkable longevity and durability. As the mixture was heated, indigo molecules filled a network of tiny channels inside the clay. Some of these bits of indigo plugged the pores on the surface, preventing the color from escaping over time.

The clay, in turn, protects the indigo from the environment. Harsh chemicals can destroy a sensitive bond within indigo molecules -- changing the color from blue to yellow. Like the double-parked car that prevents you from opening the driver-side door to your own car, the clay channels take up the space around the bond, blocking these chemicals.

After looking for other kinds of clay-like materials with similar structures, Dooryhee and colleague successfully combined indigo with a porous substance called zeolite -- widely used in commercial products as diverse as cement, laundry detergents, nutritional supplements, and cat litter -- to make a new kind of long-lasting blue pigment.

The team hopes to use this new material to restore paintings
and is considering other applications such as colored cement, said Dooryhee.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/27/x-ray-study-reveals-secrets-ancient-mayan-technology/
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The Mesoamerican connection: part four - the Itza Maya and Chichen Itza by Andy B on Friday, 21 May 2010
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The Itza Maya are currently believed to have originated in the Lake Peten region of western Guatemala. They spoke a language in the Maya family that would not have been mutually intelligible to Mayas living in the northern Yucatan Peninsula 1500 years ago. The word Itza had two possible translations. It literally means “corn tamale” in the Itza language. However, ethnologists have proposed that it might have also been the combination of two words, Itz – ha, which means “magic water.”

The Itza Maya were probably associated with the cultural advances of early Maya civilization around “El Mirador.” (See article on Early Maya Architecture.) When the region around El Mirador was virtually abandoned around 400 AD – probably due to an attack by enemies – the Itza dispersed. Some came to live among the peoples of the hot, humid Tabasco coastal plain. The immigrant Itza probably stimulated cultural advancement and adaptation of some Maya cultural traits.

For the next few centuries, the Itza remained at the edge of advanced Maya culture. Their architecture returned to simpler forms. However, when violent wars, combined with drought and famine, caused the powerful Maya city states to weaken, the Itzas moved northward and occupied part of the northern Yucatan peninsula. Their most important city was Chichen Itza, when means “mouth of the Itza well.” The northern Yucatan Peninsula had almost no surface streams, so possession of natural sink holes, called “cenotes” was mandatory for a city to thrive.

More at
http://www.examiner.com/x-40598-Architecture--Design-Examiner~y2010m4d15-The-Mesoamerican-connection-part-four--the-Itza-Maya-and-Chichen-Itza
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Sacrifice to the Gods: A view into the sacred well of Chichen Itza by coldrum on Sunday, 04 October 2009
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Sacrifice to the Gods: A view into the sacred well of Chichen Itza

Mexico has a rich history of cultures and the archaeological sites they left behind. One such site, and perhaps the most eerie, is Chichen Itza with its sacred well. Chichen Itza, unceremoniously called “chicken pizza” by gringos and locals alike, is a spectacular Mayan site located on the Yucatan peninsula about 100 miles from Cancun.

There are many beautiful buildings including a huge step pyramid, known as El Castillo, built in the center of the site. Other important archaeological features at Chichen include the Observatory, which is aligned to astronomical occurrences, and the largest ancient ball court in Mesoamerica. (see slideshow)

There are various versions of the 3000 year-old ball game, the goal of which was to score a point by causing a ball to go through a circular stone ring on the sides of the court. The losing team would often be sacrificed. The game is wonderfully recreated nightly at Xcaret, a beautiful park located on the Yucatan coast. See http://www.xcaret.com for more information.

My favorite favorite feature at Chichen Itza is the Cenote Sagrado, or Sacred Well.
An American, Edward Herbert Thompson, purchased Chichen Itza and its surrounding land in 1894. For the next 30 years he excavated the site, including the sacred well, the dredging of which was begun in 1904 and completed six years later. He described the extensive artifacts found there, including jade objects, gold, and human remains.

In one of my favorite books, “Gods, Graves and Scholars,” there is a section describing the dredging of the sacred well in detail. Thompson actually dove in to the well and describes being scared to death when brushed by a tree trunk floating in the murky depths. He had previously read about the Gods which the Maya believed inhabited the well and for one instant, he felt he was being attacked by one of the Gods.

He also describes many of the objects and human remains he found in the well, including the skeletons of young people and children. Interestingly, a skeleton of a young girl was found intertwined with the bones of an older man. Thompson hypothesized that in the instant the girl was pushed in, she may have clung to a priest and caused him to also fall into the well with her. The story of the sacred well is a window into the ancient Maya world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza for more information on the site. Also http://wikitravel.org/en/Chichen_Itza has useful information on travel logistics.

http://www.examiner.com/x-21510-Portland-Adventure-Travel-Examiner~y2009m10d2-Sacrifice-to-the-Gods-A-view-into-the-sacred-well-of-Chichen-Itza
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Ancient Mayans made pyramids to make music for rain god by bat400 on Sunday, 04 October 2009
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Submitted by coldrum---

Researchers have discovered that many pyramids in Mexico were created by the ancient Mayans to create “raindrop” music to communicate with their rain god.

Take for example, Mexico’s El Castillo pyramid in Chichen Itza. As visitors climb the colossal staircase, their footsteps begin to sound like raindrops falling into a bucket of water as they near the top. The discovery of the raindrop “music” in another pyramid suggests that at least some of Mexico’s pyramids were deliberately built for this purpose.

Researchers were familiar with the raindrop sounds made by footsteps on El Castillo - a hollow pyramid on the Yucatan Peninsula. But why the steps should sound like this and whether the effect was intentional remained unclear.

According to a report in New Scientist, to investigate further, Jorge Cruz of the Professional School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Mexico City and Nico Declercq of the Georgia Institute of Technology compared the frequency of sounds made by people walking up El Castillo with those made at the solid, uneven-stepped Moon Pyramid at Teotihuacan in central Mexico.

At each pyramid, they measured the sounds they heard near the base of the pyramid when a student was climbing higher up.

Remarkably similar raindrop noises, of similar frequency, were recorded at both pyramids, suggesting that rather than being caused by El Castillo being hollow, the noise is probably caused by sound waves traveling through the steps hitting a corrugated surface, and being diffracted, causing the particular raindrop sound waves to propagate down along the stairs.

El Castillo is widely believed to have been devoted to the feathered serpent god Kukulcan, but Cruz thinks it may also have been a temple to the rain god Chaac. Indeed, a mask of Chaac is found at the top of El Castillo and also in the Moon Pyramid.

“The Mexican pyramids, with some imagination, can be considered musical instruments dating back to the Mayan civilization,” said Cruz, although he adds that there is no direct evidence that the Mayans actually played them.


Read more at http://www.thaindian.com.
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Substructure Discovered in Chichen Itza by bat400 on Monday, 03 August 2009
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Submitted by coldrum ---

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found a substructure near El Castillo and Templo de los Guerreros, in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, more than 1,000 years old. The construction corresponds to the period previous to the site splendor, between 8th and 9th centuries, and brings in important data regarding Maya urbanism.


Archaeologist Rafael Cobos, member of INAH Archaeology Council and responsible of the project, informed that works began with the aim of understanding relations and origins of El Castillo, Gran Columnata and Templo de los Guerreros, 3 emblematic buildings at Chichen Itza, excavating the surrounding space to determine their development and architectonic evolution. To present, 12 linear meters of the substructure have been found. “It was definitively built 100 years before El Castillo or Templo de los Guerreros, directly settled on parent rock; until now, a building corner, a cornice and a slope wall have been identified; the southeastern part might have been discovered as well, but it is not known where does it end or if it has a staircase”.

A great amount of construction filler material used by ancient Maya to level the terrain has been found, as well as 5 different floor levels covered with stucco that reach the base of El Castillo south staircase.
Conservation state of the substructure is good, declared archaeologist Cobos, because it was covered and sealed during Prehispanic times, using limestone and lime. Once sealed, terrain was leveled and covered with a stucco floor, over which the new construction was built.

The possibility of knowing new architectonic groups such as this substructure would reveal that ancient dwellers were constantly looking forward to outstand from other social groups for political, economic or social reasons.

Excavations will continue until September 2009.
Cobos concluded that research continues in a yard-gallery at structure 2D6, to the north of Templo de los Guerreros, as well as the reconstruction of the great wall that surrounds the great level of the archaeological zone.

For more, see artdaily.com.
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Mystery of 'Maya blue' dye tied to human sacrifice by Anonymous on Sunday, 02 March 2008
Archaeologists may have at last cracked the mystery of how and why Mayans produced "Maya blue", a pigment famed for its sky-blue colour and remarkable durability.

The Mayans produced the fabled pigment as part of their ritual sacrifices – including that of humans – at their ancient centre of power, the city of Chichén Itzá, suggests a new study of artefacts.

The Mesoamericans – who flourished in Central America before it was colonised by the Spanish – developed Maya blue around 300 AD, and used it widely in art and ritual until the conquest. After that Maya blue was largely forgotten about until archaeologists explored the region in the early 20th century.

Most natural organic pigments used by ancient people fade rapidly. Yet Maya blue on murals and pottery did not fade after hundreds of years, despite the harsh, hot climate of Mexico's northern Yucatan peninsula, where dry and wet seasons alternate, and hurricanes are frequent.

That remarkable durability intrigued chemists and archaeologists, who initially suspected the colour came from copper compounds.
Ritual link

Later studies showed the colour came from indigo that had penetrated deep into channels in an unusual clay mineral called palygorskite. That protected the indigo from degradation, but how and why the Mayans made the pigment remained unknown.

Dean Arnold of Wheaton College in Illinois, who led the study, suggested in 2005 that the Mayans heated and fused indigo leaves and clay by burning copal – a sticky tree resin they used as incense.

Temperatures of 100 to 150 °C force the indigo into the internal channels of the palygorskite, forming the pigment. All three materials were used in ritual and medicine, so it seemed a logical combination.

However, hard evidence was lacking until Arnold went to the Field Museum in Chicago to examine a three-footed incense bowl dredged up a century ago from the Sacred Cenote (a natural water well) in Chichén Itzá.

The bowl contained copal, as well as fragments of white and blue materials that were identified as palygorskite and indigo under a scanning electron microscope.
Invoking rain

Gary Feinman, curator of anthropology at the Field Museum, who worked with Arnold, thinks that slow heat from the burning of the copal incense fused the palygorskite and indigo. The sticky copal residue also bound the pigment together, helping it adhere to surfaces.

Some of the pigment remains clearly visible on two other bowls hauled from the cenote, he told New Scientist. "It might require some chemistry and experimental work to nail down all the details."

The dye was part of a ritual intended to invoke the rain god Chaak, thought to live in the Sacred Cenote, says Arnold. "We have three healing constituents, combined richly in the burning of incense, and the very act of performing that ritual creates Maya blue in almost an incarnation of bringing the rain god into the presence of the people."

Arnold adds that objects and human sacrifices were painted with the newly created pigment before being thrown into the Sacred Cenote to ensure rain would return after the dry season.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13386-mystery-of-maya-blue-dye-tied-to-human-sacrifice.html
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Ancient Maya sacrificed boys not virgin girls by bat400 on Saturday, 16 February 2008
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The victims of human sacrifice by Mexico's ancient Mayans, who threw children into water-filled caverns, were likely boys and young men not virgin girls as previously believed, archeologists said on Tuesday.

Maya priests in the city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula sacrificed children to petition the gods for rain and fertile fields by throwing them into sacred sinkhole caves, known as "cenotes."
The caves served as a source of water for the Mayans and were also thought to be an entrance to the underworld.

Archeologist Guillermo de Anda from the University of Yucatan pieced together the bones of 127 bodies discovered at the bottom of one of Chichen Itza's sacred caves and found over 80 percent were likely boys between the ages of 3 and 11.

The other 20 percent were mostly adult men said de Anda, who scuba dives to uncover Mayan jewels and bones.

He said children were often thrown alive to their watery graves to please the Mayan rain god Chaac. Some of the children were ritually skinned or dismembered before being offered to the gods, he said.
"It was thought that the gods preferred small things and especially the rain god had four helpers that were represented as tiny people," said de Anda.
"So the children were offered as a way to directly communicate with Chaac," he said.

Archeologists previously believed young female virgins were sacrificed because the remains, which span from around 850 AD until the Spanish colonization, were often found adorned with jade jewelry.

For more, see Reuters via Yahoo.
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Re: Chichen Itza by paulcall on Thursday, 14 June 2007
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Mayan site fears becoming victim of success by bat400 on Thursday, 24 May 2007
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Mexico's most famous Mayan ruins, at Chichen Itza, could become a victim of their own success if they are named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a global competition.

Archaeologists believe the pyramid site in southeastern Mexico would be hit by an avalanche of additional visitors if it wins the contest and that the extra wear and tear could force authorities to limit the tourist traffic.

Chichen Itza, arguably the greatest of all Mayan temples, is now in second place in the competition (http://www.new7wonders.com) to select the world's new breathtaking structures in a more modern version of the ancient wonders.

The site's directors are proud that Chichen Itza is a front-runner among the 20 places in the vote but worry about what success might bring. Chichen Itza director Eduardo Perez de Heredia said. "It is going to oblige us to implement restrictions because there is a limit of 1.5 million visitors per year which cannot be passed."

Chichen Itza, whose main attraction is the El Castillo pyramid, is visited every year by around 1.2 million people. Many make the trek from the Caribbean beach resort of Cancun, popular with North American and European tourists and two hours away by car.

Archaeologists have just finished a two-year restoration of El Castillo, including work on the so-called Jaguar chamber which has a statue of a red-coloured jaguar encrusted with jade stones and has yet to be opened to the public.

Archaeologists want to promote other Mayan sites in the Yucatan peninsula, like the pyramids at Uxmal and Coba. "In the Yucatan there are also other marvellous sites," said Claudia Garcia Solis, who headed the recent restoration project. "We don't want people's Mayan knowledge to be limited to Chichen."

Fore more, see the Reuters article in the Scotsman.
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