1. CHICHEN ITZA OF THE MAYAS

2. A brief look at the Mayan Empire
Starting in the Yucatan, the Maya expanded their borders around southern Mexico, Guatemala, Northern Belize, and Western Honduras
The culture has been traced back to 1500 BC, entering the Classic period about 300 AD and flourishing between 600 and 900 AD
Considered to be a race of builders and great artists with more elegant designs and workmanship equal to the finest monuments of the Egyptians
From the third to the ninth century, the Maya empire produced temples, pyramids, palaces, and observatories, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphic writing, and a complex social and political order
They were also equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes through jungles and swamps in order to make extensive trade with distant peoples
Rumor has it the buildings that we still admire today were built without metal tools, beasts of burden, or the wheel
For the Maya, science and religion went hand in hand, forming the core of daily life

3. Toltec columns in the form of warriors

4. CHICHeN ITZA

5. Discovery
John Lloyd Stephens was an American lawyer by profession, but his hobby was archeology
He set out for central America in 1839, accompanied by his friend Frederick Catherwood
He managed to get the American government to finance his expedition and set out on mule back through the jungles of the Yucatan region to discover Chichen itza

6. THE LOCATION OF CHICHEN ITZA
Approximately 25 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of the city of Merida stand the ruins of Chichen Itza, the most famous of the Maya archaeological sites in the state of Yucatan
The Maya were not an empire but a collection of autonomous city-states in frequent communication with other city-states in their region
Chichen Itza and numerous other important Maya temple-cities were positioned according to a regional sacred geography
The Maya practiced sacred geography on a large regional scale by the placement of their temple-cities at specific sites that mirrored the positions of various celestial objects observed in the night sky

8. History of mayan the ruins at chichen itza
Proto-Mayan tribes had inhabited the flat limestone plateau that makes up much of the Yucatan peninsula for at least 8000 years
Archaeologists believe that the site where the temple-city of Chichen Itza would later be built was already an important pilgrimage place in the first millennium B.C.
As a Maya social center, Chichen Itza began its rise to prominence with the arrival of a seafaring people in the eighth century. Merchant warriors had first colonized the northern coastal areas of the Yucatan peninsula and then ventured inland
One of their first major settlement sites was in the vicinity of two large, natural sinkholes, called cenotes that provided water throughout the year
Their city became known as Chichen Itza, which means Mouth of the Well of the Itza. From this site, the Itza Maya rapidly became the rulers of much of the Yucatan peninsula
Toward the end of the Classic Period, from 800 to 925 A.D., the foundations of this magnificent civilization weakened, and the Maya left many of their major religious centers and the rural land around them

9. The Itza people abandoned their city by the end of the 8th century A.D. and lived on the west coast of the peninsula for about 250 years
However, by the 10th century A.D. they returned to Chichen-Itza
Some sources claim that in about 987 a Toltec king named Quetzalcoatl left the city of Tula in central Mexico and came to Chichen Itza with a large army and with the help of local Maya allies he captured the city and made it his new capital
Some archaeology and history books still argue this claim, it is now known that the Maya occupied Chichen Itza continuously
Around 1000 A.D. the Itza allied themselves with other powerful regional tribes and this alliance was favorable to the Itza for about two centuries
During this time, the people of Chichen-Itza added to the site by constructing magnificent buildings bearing the touch of Toltec art: porches, galleries, colonnades and carvings depicting serpents, birds and Mexican gods
In 1194, the city of Mayapan broke the alliance and subdued Chichen Itza. The city was gradually abandoned
The Maya chronicles record that in 1221 a revolt and civil war broke out
Chichen Itza went into decline as ruler ship over Yucatan shifted to Mayapan
In 1531 Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo claimed Chichen Itza and intended to make it the capital of Spanish Yucatan, but after a few months a native Maya revolt drove Montejo and his forces from the land

10. Life in Chichen Itza
has fast become the best restored record of the spiritual, domestic, and agricultural lives of people on the Yucatan Peninsula
The site became a major regional capitol, centralizing and dominating political, sociocultural, economic, and ideological life in the northern Maya lowlands
like most Mayan centers, was primarily a spiritual ceremonial cite instead of a commercial area
The loose arrangement of decentralized farming communities came together for offerings, sacrifices, and ceremonies in the town
Some trade, education, and recreation were also performed there

11. Some SIGNIFICANT SIGHTS IN Chichen Itza

12. El Castillo, the Pyramid of Kukulkan
The Temple of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Toltecs and Aztecs) is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza
The early Spaniards called it El Castillo, meaning the Castle
They used for religious and astronomical observation purposes
The architecture of the pyramid encodes precise information regarding the Mayan calendar and is directionally oriented to mark the solstices and equinoxes
Each face of the four-sided structure has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year

13. The most famous of structures within Chichen Itza, The Pyramid of Kukulkan, (the feathered serpent god) this structure is also known as El Castillo.

14. The grand senote "Cenote Sagrado" or Sacred Cenote
a naturally formed sink hole
Northern Yucatan has no aboveground rivers. The only sources of water are the natural sinkholes called cenotes
Mayans settled Chichen Itza around two wells; one sacred and one "profane," used for everyday use
Of the two Chichen cenotes, the larger, the "Cenote Sagrado" is the more famous and also sacred
According to post-Conquest sources (both Maya and Spanish), the pre-Columbian Maya threw sacrificial objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to Chaac, the Maya rain god

15. The Grand Cenote, “Cenote Sagrado” or Sacred Cenote, a naturally formed sink hole.

16. Art depicting a sacrifice taking place at the Sacred Cenote

17. The Caracol celestial observatory
The Observatory at Chichen Itza is called El Caracol (or snail in Spanish) because it has an interior staircase that spirals upward like a snail's shell
The first structure was probably built during the transition period of the late 9th century and consisted of a large rectangular platform with a stairway on its west side
A round tower of about 48 feet high was built atop the platform, with a solid lower body, a central portion with two circular galleries and a spiral staircase and an observation chamber on the top
Later a circular and then a rectangular platform were added
The windows in the Caracol point in the cardinal and subcardinal directions and are believed to enable the tracking of the movement of Venus, the Pleiades, the sun and the moon and other celestial objects

18. The Caracol Celestial Observatory

19. the ball court
Chichen Itza is also famous for its Great Ball Court with stone rings 20 feet high upon two ofvits walls
Each of the northern, southern and eastern sides supports temples, which were probably used for rituals on the days when the sacred games were played
Various groups in similar ball courts throughout Mesoamerica played several different ball games
The most widespread game was with a rubber ball and according to the paintings at various sites, players used their hips to keep the ball in the air as long as possible. Points were gained when the ball had gotten through the stone rings and onto the opposing players part of the courtyard
At one time it was believed that the losers were destined to die but researchers have proposed new theories. Some think that the captain of the winning team was sacrificed since his team's triumph made him a fitting offering to the gods

20. The Ball Court

22. The decline of Chichen Itza
The Maya chronicles record that in 1221 a revolt and civil war broke out
archeological evidence seemed to confirm that the wooden roofs of the great market and the Temple of the Warriors were burned at about this date
Chichen Itza went into decline as rulership over Yucatán shifted to Mayapan
This long-held chronology, however, has been drastically revised in recent years. As archaeologists improve their knowledge of changes in regional ceramics and more radiocarbon dates arise out of ongoing work at Chichen Itza, the end of this Maya capital is now being pushed back over 200 years
Archaeological data now indicates that Chichen Itza fell by around 1000 C.E. This leaves an enigmatic gap between the fall of Chichen Itza and its successor, Mayapan. Ongoing research at the site of Mayapan may help resolve this gap
While the site itself was never completely abandoned, the population declined and no major new constructions were built following its political collapse
The Sacred Cenote, however, remained a place of pilgrimage
In 1531 SSpanish Conquistador Francisco de Montejo claimed Chichén Itzá and intended to make it the capital of Spanish Yucatán, but after a few months a native Maya revolt drove Montejo and his forces from the land.

23. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza