Mayan Jungle History: Chichen Itza

Introduction to Chichén Itzá

Chichén Itzá, (pronounced, Cheechen eetZA) is perhaps the best known Mayan archaeological site on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, leading Palenque, in Chiapas, Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras. Thought to be built on the site of a prior Mayan settlement, the city was at its height from around AD 980 to 1220, preceding the Toltecs from central Mexico, who settled here. Many ruins of important buildings remain from this time. These include the Castillo and other temples with sculptures and color reliefs, an observatory, and a sacred well (cenote), into which sacrifices, including human beings, were thrown.

History of Chichén Itzá

It is believed that Chichén Itzá was founded by the Putún Maya from the coastal region of the Gulf of Mexico in around 850 AD. Later the Toltec took over and they modeled many of the buildings to those of their former capital at Tula. Different styles of architecture are found in different Mayan regions, all based on the differences in culture and resources available for the establishment of the settlements. What you will find in Palenque will be very different from what you will find in Copan; just as the structure of architecture, design and layout will be different in Chichén Itzá from that in Tikal. Toltec rule ended when the city fell to Hunac Ceel, ruler of the neighbouring city-state of Mayapán, in 1221. Upon the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, the site had long been abandoned and fallen into ruin, the Maya that build and used the pyramids never saw Spanish ships coming to the new land as Mel Gibson would like to think. One theory suggests that many of the Maya from the larger settlements, namely Chichén Itzá Palenque, Tikal and Copan, left and migrated deeper into the jungle. The reason for this is still unknown, but it is often suggested that lack agricultural resources was one of the causes.

It is interesting to note that the Mexican government established a highway that went right through the site in 1983, but for ecological, and not so much archaeological reasons, this part of the highway was closed, and a bypass was built north of the site. The hotels on the east side can be reached by taking the bypass and then heading back toward the site (west) on the old section of Highway 180 that is still open for local traffic.

The site

Chichén Itzá has three main components that create the layout of the site:

(1) The North End structures, divided by the highway

(2) The South End structures divided by the highway

(3) "Old Chichén.": groups of structures even further south.

Architecture and Knowledge

A literary Tour of Chichén Itzá

There are two principal styles of public architecture at Chichén Itzá. The first is a local variant of the Puuc style found at sites in west-central Yucatán and northeastern Campeche. The other style, according to Peter J. Schmidt, "is partly derived from the same roots but is vastly enriched by elements and concepts from other parts of Mesoamerica, notably the Gulf Coast, Oaxaca, and central México". Early investigators of Chichén Itzá proposed that Puuc-style traits were "Maya" and the features of the "Toltec" style include serpent columns, Chac Mools, Atlantean figures, serpent heads at the top of alfardas, tzompontlis, and carvings of processions of warriors, among others, much like those found in Copan and Tikal.

Architecturally, this style embodies stepped pyramids dance platforms with stairs on all four sides, large columned porticoes, gallery-patio compounds, as well as other features.

While Mexican influence is clearly present at Chichén Itzá, Schmidt believes that "continuity of construction techniques, residential systems, and other features of daily life, such as ceramic vessel types, argue for the continued Maya character of Chichén Itzá, Tikal and Palenque."