Chac II

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Chac II is a Mayan ruin site in Mexico . It is located on the Yucatán Peninsula in the state of Yucatán , a few kilometers west of the Sayil ruins . The name distinguishes the site from another nearby, which is located directly at the entrance to a cave system that was used to supply the local population with water until the 19th century. The first description of Chac II comes from John Lloyd Stephens , albeit without any attribution . Teobert Maler wrote another report under the name Chikin Sayil because he saw the place as a distant part of this great city. He stayed here briefly in February 1887. The first modern explorations were made by Gair Tourtellot and Nicholas P. Dunning. Archaeological excavations and investigations have been taking place under the direction of Michael P. Smyth since 1995.

pyramid
Palace-like buildings around the courtyard in front of the pyramid

The excavations have so far concentrated on the pyramid in the south of the site , which is unusually high for the closer environment at around 20 meters. They resulted in three older construction phases, including an earlier staircase under the later staircase. There a badly damaged, large stucco mask of a snake's head was discovered. Around the courtyard in front of the pyramid are seven buildings that were once domed in an irregular shape . They formed a closed ring, access was via ramps. The coordinates refer to this pyramid. A little over a hundred meters to the northeast is a very complex, multi-storey building, in between a complex called the Acropolis . No further investigations have yet been carried out in either of these.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John L. Stephens : Incidents of travel in Yucatan . Dover, New York 1963, 2nd vol. ISBN 0-486-20926-1 . Vol. 2, p. 15.
  2. ^ Teobert painter : Península Yucatán . Ed. Hanns J. Prem . Gebr. Mann, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-7861-1755-1 .
  3. ↑ Jeremy A. Sabloff et al .: Settlement and community patterns at Sayil, Yucatan, Mexico , Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico, Research paper 17, Albuquerque 1985.
  4. ↑ Nicholas P. Dunning. Lords of the hills, ancient Maya settlement in the Puuc region, Yucatán, Mexico. Prehistory Press, Madison 1992. ISBN 1-881094-04-9 .
  5. ↑ Michael P. Smyth: Early Maya urbanism in the Puuc region: archaeological research at Chac II (1995-2000) . In: Hanns J. Prem . Escondido en la Selva, arqueology in the north of the Yucatán . Universidad de Bonn, Bonn 2003. ISBN 3-931419-07-X . Pp. 97-118.

See also

Coordinates: 20 ° 11 ′ 16 ″  N , 89 ° 39 ′ 55 ″  W.