House lots were clustered and often focused on a common ancestor whose veneration was a fundamental part of everyday life.Ĭarved Stucco Mask at the Pyramid at Acanceh, Yucatan. The residential sector of the site was composed of houses arranged around small patios, surrounded by low walls. The main temple is the Pyramid of Kukulkan, which sits over a cave, and is similar to the same building at Chichén Itzá, El Castillo. The legend reports that because of their greed, the Cocom were eventually overthrown by another group, until the mid-1400s when Mayapan was abandoned. However, after his departure, there was some turmoil and the local nobles appointed the member of the Cocom family to rule, who governed over a league of cities in northern Yucatan. Kukulkan fled the city with a small group of acolytes and moved south where he founded the city of Mayapan. According to various Maya and colonial sources, Mayapan was founded by the culture-hero Kukulkan, after the fall of Chichén Itzá. The origins and the history of Mayapan are strictly linked to those of Chichén Itzá. In the Late Postclassic, from 1250–1450 CE after the decline of Chichén Itzá, Mayapan rose as the political capital of a Maya kingdom that ruled over northern Yucatan. The earliest correspond to the Early Postclassic, when Mayapan was a small center probably under the influence of Chichén Itzá. Two main periods have been identified at Mayapan. The site is surrounded by many cenotes, and by a fortified wall which enclosed more than 4,000 buildings, covering an area of ca. Mayapan is one of the largest Maya sites in the north-west part of the Yucatan peninsula, about 24 mi southeast of the city of Merida. The geological deposits created by the meteor impact of some 160 million years ago introduced soft limestone deposits which eroded, creating sinkholes called cenotes-water sources so important to the Maya that they took on a religious significance.ĭecorative Frieze at Mayapan. The meteor which created the 110-mile (180-km) wide crater is believed to have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Geologists have also long been fascinated by the Yucatán peninsula, at the eastern end of which are the scars of the Cretaceous period Chicxulub crater. John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, who published detailed drawings and photographs of the Maya ruins in Yucatan in 1841 with Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan.Jean Frederic Maximilien de Waldeck, who moved to the Yucatan in 1834 and published Voyage pittoresque et archaelogique dans la province d'Yucatan pendant les annees 1834 et 1836, in which he propagated his notions of European influence on the architecture of the Maya. Fray Diego de Landa, who in the 16th century attempted to make up for his destruction of hundreds of Maya books by writing the Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan.The peninsula was the focus of many of the first explorers of Mexico, explorers who despite many failings were principal to recording and preserving the ancient Maya ruins you'll find. When you get to the Yucatán, you'll be in good company. hunting scene : white hunter and his guide hunting feline. Maya Sculpture of Itzamna, lithography by Frederick Catherwood in 1841 : it is the only picture of this stucco mask (2m high).
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