CHICHN ITZ

ruined ancient Maya city occupying an area of 4 square miles (10 square km) in south-central Yucatn state, Mexico. It is located some 90 miles (150 km) east-northeast of Uxmal and 75 miles (120 km) east-southeast of the modern city of Mrida. The only source of water in the arid region around the site is from wells (cenotes) formed by sinkholes in limestone formations. Two big cenotes on the site made it a suitable place for the city and gave it its name, from chi ("mouths"), chen ("wells"), and Itz, the name of the Maya tribe that settled there. Chichn Itz was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988. Chichn was founded about the 6th century AD, presumably by Maya peoples of the Yucatn Peninsula who had occupied the region since the Pre-Classic, or Formative, Period (1500 BC-AD 300). The principal early buildings are in an architectural style known as Puuc, which shows a number of divergences from the styles of the southern lowlands. These earliest structures are to the south of the Main Plaza and include the Akabtzib ("House of the Dark Writing"), the Chichanchob ("Red House"), the Iglesia ("Church"), the Casa de las Monjas ("Nunnery"), and the observatory El Caracol ("The Snail"). There is evidence that, in the 10th century, after the collapse of the Maya cities of the southern lowlands, Chichn was invaded by foreigners, probably Maya speakers who had been strongly influenced by-and perhaps were under the direction of-the Toltec of central Mexico. These invaders may have been the Itz for whom the site is named; some authorities, however, believe the Itz arrived 200 to 300 years later. In any event, the invaders were responsible for the construction of such major buildings as the Castillo (the great pyramid), which rises 79 feet (24 metres) above the Main Plaza. The Castillo has four sides, each with 91 stairs and facing a cardinal direction; including the step on the top platform, these combine for a total of 365 steps-the number of days in the solar year. During the spring and autumnal equinoxes, shadows cast by the setting sun give the appearance of a snake undulating down the stairways. A carving of a plumed serpent at the top of the pyramid is symbolic of Quetzalcatl (known to the Maya as Kukulcn), one of the major deities of the ancient Meso-American pantheon. Excavations within the nine-platform pyramid revealed another, earlier structure containing a red jaguar throne studded with jade. The ball court (for playing the game /a>tlachtli [Mayan: pok-ta-pok]), is 545 feet (166 metres) long and 223 feet (68 metres) wide, the largest such court in the Americas. Six sculpted reliefs run the length of the walls of the court, apparently depicting the victors of the game holding the severed head of a member of the losing team. On the upper platform at one end of the court stands the Temple of the Jaguars, inside of which is a mural showing warriors laying siege to a village. Standing on the platform of the temple to the north of the court, it is possible to hear a whisper from 150 feet (46 metres) away. Other structures include the High Priest's Grave and the Colonnade (Thousand Columns) and the adjoining Temple of the Warriors. Most of these buildings probably were completed in the Early Post-Classic Period (c. AD 900-1200). In the Late Post-Classic Period (c. 1200-1540), Chichn appears to have been eclipsed by the rise of the city of Mayapn. For a time Chichn Itz joined Uxmal and Mayapn in a political confederacy known as the League of Mayapn. About 1450 the League and the political supremacy of Mayapn dissolved. When the Spanish entered the country in the 16th century, the Maya were living in many small towns, but the major cities, including Chichn, were largely abandoned. Long left to the jungle, Chichn Itz remained sacred to the Maya. Excavation began in the 19th century, and the site became one of Mexico's prime archaeological zones. A legendary tradition at Chichn was the Cult of the Cenote, involving human sacrifice to the rain god, in which victims were thrown into the city's major cenote (at the northernmost part of the ruin), along with gold and jade ornaments and other valuables. In 1904 Edward Herbert Thompson, an American who had bought the entire site, began dredging the cenote; his discovery of skeletons and sacrificial objects confirmed the legend.