Chichen itza, Yucatan, Mexico
Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences,
Universityof Wisconsin - Green Bay
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Left and below: countryside on the way to Chichen itza. Yucatan
is surprisingly dry and covered with thin soils and scrubby forest.
The karst bedrock keeps it from being wet enough for jungle. |
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Below: license plates you don't see very often in the U.S. |
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Left and below: entrance to Chichen itza |
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Model Views
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Looking south and slightly west. In the foreground is the Ball Court.
El Castillo (the main pyramid) is in the center and the Plaza of a Thousand
Columns is behind it. Left of the plaza is the Temple of the Warriors. |
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Looking west from the Sacred Cenote to the pyramid. The Temple of
the Warriors and Plaza of a Thousand Columns is left of the pyramid,
the Ball Court to the right. |
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Looking slightly northeast over the Plaza of a Thousand Columns
with the pyramid beyond. |
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Looking east. The "Nunnery" is in the forgeround, the
Caracol or Observatory is beyond it with the main pyramid in the distance.
The smaller pyramid on the left is the "Ossuary." |
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Model of the Temple of the Warriors and the Plaza of a Thousand
Columns. |
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Overall view, with the Plaza of the Thousand Columns on the left,
the great pyramid in the center, and the ball court on the right. The
path to the sacred cenote leads toward the bottom. |
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Old dredge used in early archeological work in the Sacred Cenote. |
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El Castillo
Climbing the Pyramid
According to one site, you can't do this any more because a tourist (an American,
from California need I add?) fell and was killed in 2006. Where are the defenders
against American cultural imperialism when it comes to the globalization of
protecting people from their own actions?
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Looking east at the Temple of Venus |
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Looking south to the Temple of the Warriors and the Plaza of a Thousand
Columns |
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Looking north at the ball court and the Temple of the Jaguars. |
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Left and below: the temple atop the pyramid. |
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Left: corbelled roofs like this were the only way the Maya knew
to span wide openings with stone. |
Temple of the Jaguars
Temple of Venus
Temple of the Warriors
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So called for the sculptures of warriors on its pillars. At the
top is a reclining statue of Chac-Mool, unfortunately not available
for close inspection. |
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Plaza of a Thousand Columns
The "Ossuary"
The Caracol (Observatory)
The Caracol (Spanish for "snail") is so called because of the winding
stairway within. It seems to have been an ancient astronomical observatory.
Access was closed when these pictures were taken in January 2004.
The "Church" and "Nunnery"
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Left and below: the Nunnery, more massive than beautiful |
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Other Buildings
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Left and below: this shelter protects the reliefs and paintings
below. |
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The Ball Court
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A small temple occupies the eastern end of the court. |
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The four photos below show the "scoring rings." It is
generally believed players had to maneuver the ball without using their
hands and scored by sending the ball through the rings. |
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| Above: the Temple of the Jaguars occupies the southwest corner of
the court. |
Below: views of the main pyramid from the end of the ball court. |
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Sacred Cenote
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The Sacred Cenote is a large sinkhole in the limestone |
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Left: limestone is never far below the surface in Yucatan. |
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Sound and Light
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Created 28 March 2007, Last Update
03 June 2020
