Mayapán

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Location of Mayapán in Yucatán
Temple of the Murals (Templo de los Nichos Pintados)

Mayapán is a Maya ruined city in the Mexican state of Yucatán in Central America . The name “Mayapán” means something like “for the Maya” in the Náhuatl , the word explanation pendón de la Maya (Maya flag) given by Diego de Landa fails to recognize the nature of the place-suffix -pan . The name preferred by the Chilam-Balam chronicles is Ich Paa and refers to the characteristic city wall. The city was populated from around 1050 to after 1400 and is located around 40 kilometers south of Mérida and 93 kilometers west of Chichén Itzá near Telchaquillo. At the beginning of the 13th century, Mayapán defeated the rival, neighboring Chichén Itzá.

history

According to the Chilam Balam, the Cocom prince Hunak Ke'el , ruler and possibly also founder of Mayapán, was captured by the Itzá around 1194 and thrown into the cenote of Chichén Itzá as a human sacrifice on behalf of Chac Xib Chac . However, he survived and started the war that led to the destruction of Chichén Itzá. The establishment of the so-called League of Mayapán is attributed to the same . The supremacy of the Cocom in Yucatán was ended by an uprising 1441–1461 led by Ah Xupan Xiu , the ruling prince of Maní from the Tutul Xiu family , and led to the destruction of Mayapan. Almost all members of the Cocom family fell victim to the uprising. Only one son survived, who stayed abroad and initially settled in Tibolon, but then founded Sotuta. The Cocom remained one of the most influential families of the Yucatán until the Conquest .

buildings

Gate of the city wall
Remains of the city wall

During the late post-classic period , the place that existed earlier was expanded to become the largest city in Yucatan at the time. Presumably around 12,000 people lived in more than 4,000 buildings on an area of ​​just over 4 km². The houses are rectangular and stand on low platforms. It is characterized by an open anteroom with stone benches running along the rear wall, which are interrupted by the entrances to the rear room. The houses were surrounded by a small house garden, which was separated from the neighbors by low walls made of unworked stones. The urban area was densely built up without any special spatial organization and surrounded by an approximately 9 km long city wall with numerous narrow gateways, which indicates the troubled times. It is doubtful whether this wall could be used for defense because it would have been difficult to man in spite of the large population. There were only a few buildings outside the wall.

Kukulkan pyramid

Kukulkan pyramid

A little to the west of the center of the city is the administrative-religious center, which differs from the densely packed structure of the residential quarters by large open spaces and the shape and purpose of the buildings. The focus is on the Kukulkan pyramid, which consists of nine steps or stacked platforms with rounded corners. From all four sides wide staircases with stair strings lead to the small temple building on the top. The pyramid is unmistakably a scaled-down image of the pyramid of Kukulcán in Chichén Itzá , albeit in a less elaborate version. The outer sides themselves corresponded very precisely to the floor plan of the temple building, which consists of a large inner space with a narrow vestibule, the entrance of which is supported by serpentine columns, and on the three other sides a corridor-like space running around the inner space with three entrances in the other directions that of Chichén Itzá. Unlike there, however, the sides of the pyramid were not covered with well-worked cladding stones, but with painted, three-dimensional stucco. The height of the pyramid is 15 m, the base 32 by 35 m.

Porticoes

Panorama of the central area as seen from the Kukulkan pyramid
Porticoes

There are numerous representative buildings around the Kukulkan pyramid and the surrounding square. Most of them are columned halls, which are typical Mayapan buildings that lie on a platform that can be climbed via about 5 steps. The columned halls themselves usually consist of two rows of brick columns and a back wall, which is also about halfway up the sides. The brick pillars were clad with stucco, which was at least partially worked out with plastic warrior figures. In the middle of the back wall there is a small shrine, the remaining length of the back wall and the side walls is taken up by a brick bench. Very similar buildings can be found in the columned halls of Chichén Itzá and in sites on the east coast such as El Rey . Structurally, they are similar to the C-shaped buildings, such as after the end of the main settlement in Uxmal and other places of the Puuc zone, but also to the region of the Petén are found.

Round temple

Round temples similar to the Caracol in Chichén Itzá are particularly common in Mayapan. They are located on a higher platform (about 10 steps) and have a circular outer wall. They usually have a single entrance and the interior is divided by a transverse wall with a passage. In one case (building H 18) there are four entrances to the four directions, which also correspond to four stairs on the platform. The almost circular building has a diameter of about 8 m. Inside there is a round part of the wall that supported the other side of the Mayan vault. A walk to an observation chamber like in Chichén Itzá cannot be ascertained.

Sculpture and painting

The remains of stone sculpture, stucco sculpture and painting show clear influences of a late-postclassical style that encompasses large parts of Mesoamerica and is often referred to as the Codex style or Mixteca-Puebla style . Chaac masks in the Puuc style are also found on individual buildings . Mayapan is one of the few places in Mayan culture where a large number of metal objects have been found.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carlos Peraza Lope et al .: The chronology of Mayapan, new radiocarbon evidence . In: Ancient Mesoamerica 17 (2006) pp. 153-175
  2. ^ Sylvanus Griswold Morley : The ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1956 (3rd edition).

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Mayapan  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 20 ° 37 ′ 46 "  N , 89 ° 27 ′ 38"  W.