CHICHEN ITZA

MY HISBAND AND I VISITED THIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE WHEN WE WERE IN OUR 30'S.  IT IS AT THE MOUTH OF WELL OF ITZA, A PRE-COLUMBIAN CITY OF THE MAYA.  IT IS IN YUCATAN.

IT IS SOME STEPPED PYRAMIDS DATING FROM 600 - 900 A.D.  IT HAS MANY STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE. THEY MAY HAVE MOVED TO THESE LOWLANDS FROM CENTRAL MEXICO.

CHICHEN ITZA WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST MAYAN CITIES.  IT MAY HAVE HAD THE MOST DIVERSE POPULATION IN THE MAYAN WORLD.  TODAY THE SITE IS MANAGED BY BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.  1.2 MILLION TOURISTS VISIT THE SITE TODAY THE NAME OF THE SITE MEANS AT THE MOUTH OF THE WELL. OF THE ITZA.

IT'S SPANISH NAME AN ETHNIC GROUP  THAT GAINED ECONOMIC AND ETHNIC LINEAGE.  ANOTHER NAME MEANS ENCHANTER OF THE WATER.

THEY HAVE RECORDED HIEROGLYPHIC HIEROGLYPHIC TEXTS IN THE RUINS.  THE SITE IS LOCATED IN YUCATAN STATE WHERE IT IS ARID AND THE RIVERS  IN THE INTERIOR ALL RUN UNDERGROUND.  CENOTES ARE THE NATURAL SINK HOLES. THAT PROVIDED PLENTY OF WATER YEAR ROUND.  .ONE WAS CALLED SACRED WELL.  IN PRECOLUMBIA, THE MAYA SACRIFICED OBJECTS SUCH AS HUMANS INTO THE CENOTE AS A FORM OF WORSHIP TO MAYAN RAIN GOD CHAC.  FOR 6 YEARS  1 SCIENTIST STUDIED WHAT WAS IN THE THIS CENOTE AND FOUND ARTIFACTS, GOLD, JADE, POTTERY, AND INCENSE. AND HUMAN BONES.

CHICHEN ITZA MAY HAVE HAD LEADERS OF VARIOUS ELITE - CALLED MULTIPLE SYSTEMS.  IT WAS A MAJOR ECONOMIC POWER.IN  MAYAN LOWLANDS.  THEY HAVE A TRADE ROUTE ON THE NORTH COAST.  THEY TRADED OBSIDIAN FROM CENTRAL MEXICO AND GOLD FROM CENTRAL AMERICA.  BY 900 -1050 A.D. IT EXPANDED  AND BECAME A POWERFUL REGIONAL CAPITAL, CONTROLLING YUCATAN.  IT CONTROLLED THE AREA FROM CENTRAL YUCATAN. TO THE NORTHERN COAST.  ONE OF THE EARLIEST HIEROGLYPHIC DATES HERE WAS 830 A.D.   ATTHE END OF THE LATE CLASSIC PERIOD THE SITE WAS A  REGIONAL CAPITOL DOMINATING  POLITICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC, AND IDEOLOGICAL LIFE IN  NORTHERN MAYA LOWLAND.  OTHER CENTERS WERE DECLINING. 

IN THE 13TH CENTURY A RULER  OF MAYAPAN CONQUERED CHICHEN ITZA.  HE PHROPHISIZED HIS RISE TO POWER. DURING A CEREMONY THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS.  ARCHAEOLOGISTS SAY THE SITE WAS LOOTED BEFORE THE RISE OF MAYAPAN.  BY 1250 IT DECLINED BEFORE THE RISE OF MAYAPAN.  THE HIGH POPULATION WAS A FACTOR THAT AFFECTED SPANISH CONQUERORS TO LOCATE A CAPITOL THERE.IN 1526 SPANISH CONQUISTADORS CONQUERED MUCH OF THE PENINSULA 1530'S HE SENT HIS SON TO CONQUER THE INTERIOR. YUCATAN.  THEY ESTABLISHED A CAPITAL TO AT CHICHEN ITZA.  BY 1535 ALL SPANISH HAD BEEN DRIVEN OUT OF YUCATAN.  THEY RECRUITED INDIO - SPANISH ARMY CONQUERED THE PENINSULA.  THE SPANISH CROWN LATER ISSUED A LAND GRANT TO INCLUDE CHICHEN ITZA BY 1588 IT WAS A CATTLE RANCH.

IN 1875 A COUPLE VISITED AND EXCAVATED A STATUE OF A FIGURE.  IN THE BOOK WITH A PLATE ON ITS STOMACH.  THEY CALLED CHAC MOOL AND IT IS ALL TYPES OF STATUARY FOUN HERE.

BY 1894 THE U.S. CONSUL TO YUCATAN PURCHASED HACIENDA CHICHEN ITZA CHICHEN, INCLUDING THE RUINS.  FOR 30 YEARS THOMPSON EXPLORED THIS ANCIENT CITY.

CARNEGIE ACCEPTED A PROPOSAL TO HAVE LONG TERM ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM U.S. COME HERE AND WRITE UP HIS RESEARCH.  HE WROTE A BOOK CALED
' PEOPLE OF THE SERPENT'.

 CHICHEN ITZA WAS SOLD TO A TOURISM PIONEER IN THE 30'S.  THIS 5 KM SITE HAS MANY FEATURES AND ARCHITECTURE THAT IS CLUSTERED WITH PYRAMIDS AND THEIR ARE COMPLEXES THAT HAVE MANY STYLES OF PYRAMIDS AND VARIOUS STRUCTURES WITH OR WITHOUT MANY STYLES OF PYRAMIDS AND VARIOUS STRUCTURES WITH OR WITHOUT DEW.  SOME OF THE PYRAMIDS AND VARIOUS STRUCTURES WITH OR WITHOUT DEW.  SOME OF THE PYRAMIDS ARE BUILT BASED ON POSSIBLE INTENTIONAL DESIGN OF SPRING AND AUTUMN EQINOXES.  THE SITE HAS MANY BALLCOURTS.

THEY EVEN HAD STEAM BATHS.  THE TEMPLE OF THE WARRIORS HAS A CHAC MOOL AND ENTOMBS ANOTHER TEMPLE.  IN 1928 IT WAS RESTORED.   THIS SITE PRESUMABLY EVEN HAS AN OBSERVATORY HERE ALIGNED TO THE PATH OF HEAVEN.  ABOUT 2 MILES AWAY FROM THE SITE ARE SACRED CAVES THAT HAVE ANCIENT POTTERY.   IDOLS 
FROM PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES.

WIKIPEDIA.ORG