Archaeological Zones of Yucatan
Acanc?h is a site located within the town of the same name in Yucat?n. It is interesting for the cultural implications of its two explored buildings. The Pyramid is a building with stairs on all four sides and masks at its summit. Because of its resemblance to others built in the same period, particularly Pyramids E-VII and B at Uaxact?n, there would seem to have been early contacts between the area of northern Yucat?n and the Pet?n region. The Palace of Stuccoes was constructed in the early Classic and stands out due to the rich ornamentation of its stuccoed frieze. It has motifs representing birds of prey and squirrels and bats with human features remindful of the Teotihuacan style. This, together with certain of the building's architectual aspects, might suggest that Acanc?h was a
Teotihuacan enclave in the area.
Ak?, a site located in northern
Yucatan, has the distinction of an architecture based on blocks of stone. Its age of splendor dates to the Classic period, when its urban area measured 2.4 square miles. Even so, it remained a lesser sized site in comparison with Izamal, to which it was linked by a 19-mile long sacb? causeway. This bond must have been quarrelsome at one point in time, because Ake's leaders had a defensive wall put up around their environs. Another four sacbeoob connected sections within the site. The most important building is called the Palace, or the Building of Pilasters. Its summit features 36 huge columns consisting of stone tambours mounted one upon another. The technique makes the structure unique among the Maya buildings of the Classic in this region.
Balankanch? is a cave in Yucat?n, and esteemed as a place for worshipping the Maya water gods. The entrance remained sealed from pre-Hispanic times until recently, so its numerous offerings were discovered in situ. The cave was used from the late pre-Classic almost to the Spanish conquest and flourished between 990 and 1200 A.D. Inside, hundreds of objects placed as offerings have been found. The offerings belong to two distinct time spans. First they were made to the Maya deity Chaac, and later to the Mexicans' Tl?loc, both related to rain and water. Most offerings were either clay incense burners with Tlaloc's effigy or stone ones with such motifs as warriors or dancers. Others include miniature metates (corn grinders) with their hand stones, also miniature plates and pitchers, and figurines of Tl?loc and Xipe-Totec.
Chacmult?n, dates from the Classic period and lies in the hilly Puuc region of Yucat?n. It is noted for the way in which the local topography was used to achieve special effects. That is, three of its four main building clusters were erected on hillocks in order to enchance their monumental appearance. Its buildings, which were designed in the Puuc architectural style, are seen to be garnished to different extents, ranging from very plain up to highly ornamented ones. The Palace, the site's largest edifice, is one of the most decorated, having a frieze ornamented with small, reedlike columns and carved depictions of stylized thatched huts, as well as other motifs. Interesting, too, is Building 3, also called the Building of Paintings. One of its rooms contains vestiges of mural paintings showing a procession of dignitaries.
Chichen Itzais a major site located in the middle of the northern Yucat?n lowlands. It grew to become an important Maya power center from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. The city's art and architecture display both Maya and foreign features, thus proving for some specialists that Toltecs conquered the town. Other archaeologists believe, however, that these features reflect influence from Mexicanized Maya groups, called put?ns. The site reached a first zenith in the late Classic, between 600-900 A.D., in which time span the inhabitants erected buildings in the Punc style. Towards the end of that period there was an inflow of Itz? immigrants who took control of Chich?n Itz? in the year 969 A.D. That was the beginning of the site's second and most significant high point. It came to an end in approximately 1200 A.D., and there after the city declined and was eventually abandoned. Only its huge Sacred Cenote continued as a cultural focal point. There, the Maya continued celebrating ceremonies devoted to the rain and water god Chaac. Offerings centered on such valued items as carved jade, ceramic ware, and jewelry, and even sacrifices of people and animals. In Chich?n Itz? there are monuments built in the various stages of its history. The most well-known of them were erected in the early post Classic, when as said above, the city's development peaked. The Castle is both the largest and most important structure at the site. It is a building inspired in the annual solar cycle of 365 days. From the bottom stones of the stairway's side walls jut out enormous serpent heads. Hidden within it are two older constructions.
The second was discovered to have a temple holding a Chac Mool, a red tiger-shaped throne incrusted with jade and conch, and assorted offerings. The Temple of Warriors also covers previous buildings. One is the Chac Mool Temple, named after a carved sculpture found there. The Temple of Warriors itself contains pilasters with warriors and priests carved on them, as well as snake-like columns. Jaguars, eagles, and coyotes devouring hearts appear in the low reliefs of this temple's flanks. Other buildings from this same period in Chich?n Itz? are the following: the Temple of the One Thousand columns, the most spacious roofed building at the site, the Temple of Tigers; the Tzompantli, or Wall of Skulls, a feature clearly Toltec in its affiliation: and the Grand Ball Court.
Dzibilchalt?n is a large site located in northern Yucat?n. Its main feature is its uninterrupted occupation for 2 000 years, from 500 B.C. until colonial times. It first rose to eminence some time around 50 B.C., then, following a prolonged decline, the site arose again and achieved its maximum development from 600 to 1000 A.D. The nine square miles over which it spread has a large ceremonial and administrative core area filled with scores of big buildings. Dzibilchalt?n's most famed building is the Temple of Seven Dolls, erected early in the late Classic. An offering of seven deformed clay figures, put there in the post-Classic, explains its name. The temple's design is unusual for its windows and a truncated tower used for recording significant solar alignments.
Ek-Balam is a Classic period site located in the northeast portion of Yucat?n. The total community embraces an area of some six square miles and has a two-mile long sacb? causeway. It was at its height from 700 to 1000 A.D., the period in which it reached a position as the most influential city in the region. Low walls encircle its central plaza, which is overlooked by three massive buildings. The main pyramid, known as the Tower, rises to 100 feet and has several staired tiers. Outstanding features include an inside stairway and, in some of its tiers, what probably are vestiges of collapsed chult?ns. At the Platform of Stelae, fragments of three stelae were found. One of them shows a sitting man who holds a disk in his right hand. On another, one sees a ruler standing on a rostrum or platform.
Izamal is a large site which lies within the modern Yucatec town of the same name. Its most outstanding building is known as the Kinich Kak Moo and leads all others on the Yucat?n Peninsula in size. The site, whose original population dwelled there from the late pre-Classic until the Spanish conquest, covers an area of about six square miles. It held power in the region between 600-800 A.D. A long sacbe paved the way between it and Ak? and lesser sites. The Kinich Kak Moo is the largest building in Izamal. From a platform measuring 670 by 670 feet at its base there rises a 57-foot high pyramid. This structure was consecrated as a place of worship of the Maya drought -and-rain, or creator, god Itzamatul, or Itzaman?. No one but the priest who officiated sacrifices was allowed climb the pyramid.
Kab?h is one of the largest cities in the Punc region of Yucat?n. What marks it as a place of special interest are its buildings in the style proper to that region, most particularly the so-called Codz-Pop. The city must have been at its zenith between 800 and 900 A.D. Only the building cluster known as the Palace Group has been explored to date. Located there is the CodzPop, whose whole facade has dazzling decorations pieced together with carved limestone mosaics. The most frequent motif is masks of the god Chaac. There are 250 of them, each made from 30 pieces. This deity is also depicted on an inner stairway leading up to the building's rooms. On the east side of the cluster there is a plain Arch that marks arrival to the city at the end of a sacb? from Uxmal.
Labn?, located in southern Yucat?n, is one of the most representative sites of the Puuc architectural style, notwithstanding its status as one of the lesser settlements in the region. It was inhabitated during the Classic period, at the end of which it was abandoned. Labn? features a magnificent Arch and two huge buildings: the Palace and the Observatory, mutually linked by a sacb?. The Arch is decorated with masks at its corners and two carvings of palm thatched houses. The Palace was constructed on a natural rise in the terrain in order to enhance its monumentality. It has a frieze garnished by means of geometric and symbolic designs and masks of the god Chaac. On the nose plug of one of these masks are glyphs which give the date 862 A.D.
Lolt?n is a cave located in the hills of the Puuc area of Yucat?n, and it contains several galleries. From about 1200 A.D. to colonial times it was used as a source of water, and the Maya also tapped its clay and stone for the manufacture of various items. It was, moreover, an important place of worship, as can be seen in the numerous glyphs and paintings it holds: hands in negative and depictions of animals, human figures, and frets in echelon. A relief inside one gallery is of particular interest the so-called Lolt?n Warrior. It depicts a high-ranking, richly outfitted man with a spear in his right hand. Engraved on the rock above him is a row of glyphs. Because of its style, this relief is believed to date from the pre Classic period.
Mayapan, located in western Yucat?n, was one of the last great regional capitals of the Maya. This city was established some time around 1250 A.D. The founder-ruler himself, named Kukulk?n, gathered around him other nobles of the region and thus asserted his command in the area. After him, Mayap?n was controlled by the Cocom dynasty until it was destroyed and burned in 1450 A.D. At its zenith, the settlement had a population of 12 000 and its thousands of buildings occupied 2.4 square miles of land. The fact that the core of the town had a protective wall around it, is an unmistakable sign of the prevailing instability of the region in those 200 years. Mayap?n's main buildings are small-scale copies of those in Chich?n Itz?. The Castle and the Snail are obvious examples of this imitation and reduction.
Oxkintok was a major power in Yucat?n's Puuc region during the Classic period. This locality has a number of monuments with carved hieroglyphic inscriptions. Some of the most ancient Long Count dates yet found for Yucat?n are shown on the site's stelae, spanning the centuries between 474 and 859 A.D. The core area of the town, connected with the other urban neighborhoods via sacb? causeways, consists of three building complexes. The Tzat Tun Tzat is the most famous structure in Oxkintok. It is characterized by its many inner rooms which interconnect through small doors and narrow stairways. In the May Group are two noteworthy units: Structure 1, the site's highest building, and Structure 6, decorated, as are the majority of the constructions in this locality, in the Puuc style.
Sayil, is a site that flourished in the Yucatec Puuc region during the late Classic period. By that time the settlement covered an area of almost three square miles, and for its water supply a number of chult?ns for catching and storing rainwater were built. It has three main monumental building clusters: the Palace on the north side, the Stelae Group to the south, and a group of very large buildings in the middle. The Palace is erected on a hill and has three tiers set one over another. The second tier is decorated with small columns alternating with masks of the god Chaac. The ornamentation on the flanks of the third tier is smooth, and its tablets modeled in stucco are so worn as to be bearly discernible today. On this tier is found the date 730 A.D.
Uxmal, located in the Puuc region of Yucat?n, was one of the largest Maya cities in the Classic period between 600 and 1000 A.D. During those 400 years of power and prestige, it maintained its status as the capital of a vast territory on the peninsula. Overland foot travel was evidently vital for the survival of the town as a power center, as witnessed by an 11-mile long sacb? connecting Uxmal with the city of Kab?h to the southeast. The most famed part of the settlement is its monumental section. It has not yet been possible to map the site completely, nor to estimate its actual size and population. The city is laid out along a north-south axis about one mile in length. At its mid-section there are building clusters with a good number of large structures, some of which are unsurpassed in beauty anywhere else in the Maya area. Among these buildings are the famous Pyramid of the Wizard, the Quadrangle of Nuns, and House of Turtles. The particular alignments of some buildings, such as the imposing Palace of the Governor, apparently had an astronomical significance. Uxmal's architecture was executed in the typical Puuc style, that is, with finely hewn stones and elaborate stone mosaics forming geometric and naturalistic designs on the upper faces of the buildings.
The Pyramid of the Wizard is, with its height of 167 feet, the loftiest structure at the site. It is also distinguished by its eliptical layout. The Quadrangle of Nuns rests on a lenghty platform and is composed of four long, elaborately garnished buildings. On the facade of the soutlernmost building, for example, the most salient motifs are depictions of palm-thatched houses, complemented by masks of the god Chaac wearing a huge headdress. The Chaac motif also shows up on other facades. The House of Turtles is distinguished by its decoration based on small columns and depictions of turtles as related to water worship. The Palace of the Governor is a beautifully sophisticated building which features a luxuriant stone mosaic decoration. The countless Chaac masks, two-headed serpents, and other mosaic motifs together form a harmonious expanse of latticework.
Xlapac is one of the lesser sites found in the Puuc region of Yucat?n State. It was occupied in the late Classic period from 600 to 1000 A.D. when it was probably subservient to the larger Uxmal. The central area of the site contains two groups of interesting buildings. Group 1 has two structures built on a platform. One of them is Xlapac's most famed building and is called the Palace. This Puuc style construction is only one story high, but it has nine rooms. The upper part of its facade is finely decorated with frets, small columns, and three super-imposed rows of hook-nosed masks of the god Chaac with three masks per row. Building 1 of Group 2, which resembles the Palace, displays a frieze garnished by means of small columns and a row of serrated stones known as "chimez" (cimp?s).
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