Hormiguero
Hormiguero ("anthill") is the name of a pre-Columbian Mayan ruins in the Mexican state of Campeche . It is characterized by the style , which is named after the ruin zone Río Bec , which is about 60 km to the east .
location
The Maya site of Hormiguero is located in the bush forest of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the south of the Yucatán Peninsula, about 20 km (driving distance) southwest of Xpuhil at an altitude of about 120 m . The closest major city is Chetumal, approx. 140 km to the east .
history
The Mayan site of Hormiguero was likely abandoned in the 9th century. It was known only to a few rubber collectors and was first visited in 1933 by the American archaeologists Ruppert and Denison and described in detail. The first archaeological excavation and restoration work began in the late 1970s.
architecture
Building II
The most important building in Hormiguero is the very well-preserved building II, which combines the most important characteristics of the Rio Bec style in an optimal way: at both ends of the main facade there are towers with steep, inaccessible stairs. Under the stairs there are narrow, vaulted passages, the stepped towers have the characteristic rounded corners and show the high-quality stone processing of the Rio Bec style. At the top of the towers there are small chambers that are supposed to represent temple buildings (today only remains are left). In contrast to other buildings of the Rio Bec style, these temples had a real interior. Between the towers is the monumental central entrance to the building in the shape of a snake's mouth, the largest preserved entrance of its kind. The highly stylized face of the reptile is framed by cascades of Chaac masks in half profile. The door opening lies in the middle of the animal's mouth, which is distorted upwards. Above and on the sides of the doorway (which is supported by old wooden beams) the huge teeth are made of plastic, the middle teeth are supposed to represent teeth filed for decorative purposes. The entrance platform in front of the door represents the stuck tongue. On both sides of the lower part of the door opening, the mouth is greatly widened, here too the teeth of the upper jaw are clearly visible. Above the doorway you can see the reptile's wide nostrils, a little deeper and further to the side, the slightly inclined nose pegs with the small knob at the end. The rest of the facade is filled with volutes. The three-dimensional facade decoration is made of thick stucco, the edges being very sharp and a contour line running parallel to them on the inside. Outside the two stair towers there are further entrances to interior rooms, which are flanked by flat god masks. The back of the building is completely smooth, but has brick pillars. Two entrances lead to two consecutive rooms that occupy the space behind the towers. Below the platform in front of the entrance, between the narrow access stairs, there is a central room of a previous building, behind which there is another. Both were filled in when the platform was erected, with the upper half of this previous building being removed.
Building v
To the north of the building described is the second building with a snake-mouth facade, which is marked with the number V. This facade faces north. Here the same motif as in building II is distributed on a significantly narrower facade, which makes the side part of the snake's mouth appear far less extended. Since there are no side towers, the corner masks of the mask cascade go all the way around the corner. Here, too, the wooden beams of the doorway are still in function. Next to the building, but at the same level as the site, a narrow building extends to the east, of which only the outer walls have so far been exposed. To the north-west of Building V there is a narrow courtyard that has not been excavated and is bordered on all four sides by buildings that have completely collapsed.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Ruppert, John H. Denison, Jr .: Archaeological reconaissance in Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Peten , Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington 1943
Web links
Coordinates: 18 ° 24 ′ 35 " N , 89 ° 29 ′ 35" W.