Chichen Itza
Savannah Stephens
Information
 Chichen Itza means “at
the mouth of the Itza
well”
 It is a Mayan city on
the Yucatan Peninsula
in Mexico.
 It’s the 2nd most visited
site in Mexico.
 Chichen Itza became
one of the new seven
wonders of the world on
July 7th, 2007. (7/7/07)
EL Castillo
The Basics of Chichen
Itza
 Chichen Itza is a city built in
the state of Yucatan in
Mexico.
 It covers about six square
miles and was made to be a
religious center for the
Mayans.
 The city was built in the
typical Mayan style of the 7th
to 10th century A.D.
 A second half of the city was
added when it was taken over
by the Toltecs. It was built in
the typical Toltec/Mayan style
of the 10th to 13th Century
A.D. (see right)
Cenotes
Cenote of Sacrifice
 Chichen Itza was mostly
agricultural, the reason being
because of the three sinkholes
located nearby. They were called
Cenotes and provided plenty of
water.
 Because of the perfect location
of Chichen Itza, the city became
a city of art, sciences, and
ceremonies.
 One of the Cenotes, however,
was used for sacrifice. (see left)
 When the Toltecs merged with
the Mayans, they brought with
them their way of life, including
sacrifice to appease their gods.
Sacrifices included pottery,
jewels, and even humans.
Kukulcan's Pyramid
 Kukulcan’s Pyramid is also known as El Castillo.
 It’s a square-based pyramid about 75 feet tall built for astronomical
purposes.
 At the vernal and autumnal equinox, at about 3pm, sunlight hits the
western balustrade of the pyramid’s main staircase, causing 7 isosceles
triangles to form, imitating the body of a serpent. The serpent’s head is
carved into the stone at the bottom of the stairway. The body slowly
grows until it connects to the head. The shadow serpent is a total of
about 37 yards long.
Shadow serpent
Temple of Warriors
 The temple is named for
the more then 1000 total
stone columns with Toltec
warriors carved in the
side.
 The temple of warriors is
dedicated to the god
Chac-Mool, known
because of the Chac
masks on either side of
the staircase, and the
reclining statue of the god
in the center of the
temple.
 Along the west side of
the temple, where about
800 of the columns are,
they was probably a
thatched roof over the
columns. Guides usually
refer to the place as the
marketplace of Chichen
Itza.
The
Great
Ball
Court
 The winning team’s
 The great ball court at
Chichen Itza is 545 feet
long and 225 feet wide
(the whole area included.)
And is totally opened to
the sky.
 Each end has a raised
‘temple’ area. A whisper
can be heard clearly from
one end to the other, and
is not affected by wind or
time of day/night. To this
day, is not explained how
that is possible.
 Many different ball
games were played here,
but the most played was a
game called pok ta pok.
The six field players could
use any part of their
bodies except their hands
to try to get the ball
through the stone hoop
on either side of the court.
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leader’s head would be
cut off by the loosing
team’s leader. This may
seem strange but it was
believed they would get a
direct ticket to heaven.
Seven was a lucky
number to the Maya
culture. They’re were 7
players on each team, the
stone rings were 7 meters
high, and if you clap or
shout, it will echo exactly 7
times. In paintings the
decapitated winning
captain’s body had 7
serpent grew out of his
neck.
Although this was not the
only ball court at Chichen
Itza (in fact there was at
least 12 others) But the
great ball court is in fact
the largest.
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Mayan Calendar
The El Castillo has yet another amazing thing about it-It’s a calendar.
Each of the four stairways on each side of the El Castillo had 91 steps. Added
together with each other and the platform at the top, that is 365 steps, which is
equivalent to the number of days in a year. In the Mayan calendar it’s 365 kin.
A typical Mayan date looks like this: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz.
The Maya’s have three different ways to calculate time as it goes (Ex. Months,
years, etc.) They are called the Long count, the Tzolkin, and the Haab.
THE LONG COUNT: 12.18.16.2.6 The long count represents all the days that have passed
since the beginning of the Mayan era. The basic unit is a Kin, which is equal to 1 day. The kin is
the last number in the sequence reading from right to left.
uinal(1 uinal = 20 kin = 20 days)
tun(1 tun = 18 uinal = 360 days = approx. 1 year)
katun(1 katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx. 20 years)
baktun(1 baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx. 394 years)
The Long count should have started at the beginning 0.0.0.0.0 but in reality it started at
13.0.0.0.0
THE TZOLKIN: The Tzolkin is the combination of two “week” lengths. One is a numbered week
of 13 days, and the other is a named week of 20 days.
THE HAAB: The Haab was the civil calendar of the Maya. It consisted of 18 months, with 20
days each and an extra 5 days known as Uayeb. This adds up to 365 days total. The months
names are:
1. Pop 2. Uo 3. Zip 4. Zotz 5. Tzec 6. Xul 7. Yaxkin 8. Mol 9. Chen
10. Yax 11. Zac 12. Ceh 13. Mac 14. Kankin 15. Muan 16. Pax 17. Kayab 18.
Cumku
The Observatory
 The Maya’s intense interest in astronomy is
evident yet again when you look at the
strange round building south of the Castillo.
This is known as the Carocal.
 The domed observatory has several
windows. Most of them point towards the
location of the equinox sunset. The last two
(the northernmost and southernmost) face
the horizon where Venus rises and sets.
Tourism
 Fernando B. Peon started the first offical tourism business for
Chichen Itza in the early 20s, in 1944 he purchased the entire
site of Chichen Itza and opened a hotel, which opened its way
to more tourism. In 1972 the site became federal property.
 In 1961 and 67’ there were expeditions to recover artifacts from
the Cenote Sagrado.
 It was in the 1980s that the shadow effect at El Castillo during
the spring equinox really started to gain tourists.
 Over the years the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and
History) have closed some of the ruins of Chichen Itza to the
public. You can go around them but not in them any longer. The
most recent was in 2006, El Castillo was closed to climb on
after a woman fell to her death.
Work cited
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