Kohunlich
Kohunlich is a Maya archaeological site from pre-Columbian Mesoamerica . The site is located on the Yucatán Peninsula around 50 kilometers west of Chetumal in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo . Kohunlich was rediscovered in 1912 by the American Raymond Merwin.
The original Mayan name of the city is not known, the name "Kohunlich" goes back to a corruption of the English term "Cohoon ridge" . This name was adopted by the first archaeologist who examined the site, Víctor Segovia . Cohoon , also Cohune , is the name of the coconut palm species (" Attalea Cohune ") that grows there, with coconuts about the size of a fist.
The former Mayan city was settled around 200 BC. BC, whereby a large part of the building fragments still visible today come from the early classical period (approx. 250 to 600 AD). The city, with a maximum presumed population of around 10,000, was abandoned during the end classical period around 1000 AD. The meeting of different architectural styles is remarkable. The most famous building in Kohunlich is the Temple of the Masks , a pyramid that is decorated with three stucco masks arranged one above the other on either side of the stairs .
Building groups
Plaza Yaxná
This group of buildings lies in the northwest of the center and belongs to the middle and late pre-classical period. During this time, low platforms were built that were later almost completely covered by other structures. The earliest structures were built from large, carefully worked stone blocks that were covered with a thick layer of stucco. Of the covering structures, those with the designations E-1 and E-3 have been examined more closely. E-1 is a south-facing building with an elliptical floor plan, divided into four steps and with a wide staircase facing the plaza. At the top was a two-room building, according to the style of the time and the technical possibilities, the walls were very thick and the interiors extremely narrow. The building E-3 with a rectangular floor plan consists of three structures with wide rounded corners, on the top of which there was also a small building with two rooms. The thick walls indicate that there was probably a high ridge here. The stairs protrude slightly towards the plaza, and the remains of a stele have been found at its foot.
On the east side of the plaza, next to the building just described, is E-2, which has an idiosyncratic plan. It consists of four platform-like rectangular structures, the two upper ones being offset considerably backwards, so that a larger free area is created in front of them. The crowning building was on the fourth platform. A relatively narrow staircase led to the open space in front of the third building and another to the surface of the fourth and the building there. The entire building underwent several structural changes. Stylistically, it does not belong to the other buildings on the plaza, nor to those built later in Kohunlich. The remains of numerous people and offerings (including 40 complete plates) were found in a stone depot.
Temple of the Masks
Stucco mask
Building of the steles
The building was built roughly at the same time as the earlier buildings in Plaza Yaxná, but has a much clearer relationship to the architectural forms of Peten in Guatemala . The building consists of four structures, with a small building on the top, which presumably had a roof ridge. To the west is a staircase, on both sides of which the name-giving, large stucco masks are arranged, five of which have been preserved. Four of them show human faces that are provided with elements of the sun god . It seems to have been living people who wear masks and assign the important marks of the sun god to themselves through the attributes. The fifth figure is a jaguar who wears the hallmarks of the sun god as a headdress.
Building of the steles
The building of the stelae is at the foot of the elevation, on top of which stands the temple of the masks. Several steles tower up on the stairs. Noteworthy are the stucco figures of six seated people, resting on representations of the sacred mountains, with the repeated depiction of the glyph cauac .
The acropolis
Acropolis, east side
Acropolis, south side
Acropolis, space on the surface
Only a small part of this complex is understood because no deep excavations have been carried out. It is a large rectangular block of masonry, on the surface of which there is a large courtyard with relatively low remains of buildings on the sides. On two sides (to the south and east), parts of the underlying structure were exposed by the erosion. On the south side one of the typical, extremely steep (not climbable) stairs of the Rio Bec style becomes visible, without it being possible to say with certainty that the stairs led up to one of the typical false temples. On the east side, you can see the access to the interior of the earlier construction, which was later deliberately filled with stone material and which usually lies between the Río Bec towers.
The purpose of the filling was to be able to carry the load of the new structures erected on the surface more safely. These small constructions on the sides of the plaza also belong to the Rio Bec style, which shows a special characteristic in Kohunlich. Characteristic are brick corner pillars at the corners of the buildings, similarly constructed round, pillar-like door posts at the entrances from the outside, three-part cornice as a base, with groups of mostly three pillars alternating with smooth sections in the middle band, smooth outer wall surfaces made of precisely machined, mostly small, rectangular stones, covered with stucco painted in red. The interiors are covered with Mayan cantilever vaults and have stone benches on the narrow sides.
Plaza Merwin
Building paired pillars
Ball court
On the south side of Plaza Merwin there is a long building with a portico made up of brick columns arranged in pairs. The building and another of the same pattern are accessible through an open staircase that extends almost the entire length of the building. The interiors do not have stone benches.
Ball court
The ball court with the usual characteristics of ball courts in the southern Maya area forms something like an eastern continuation of Plaza Merwin.
Las Vías
To the west of Plaza Merwin is a group of around 20 platforms made of dry stone with an access staircase on one side, on the surface of which structures made of perishable material must have stood. The arrangement in several parallel rows is unusual, which is typical for buildings from the end of the Classical period or later.
Northwest Group
Northwest group
This group is located west of the Acropolis and consists of two complex buildings that were probably the residence of high-ranking personalities of the place.
Group of 27 steps
The 27 steps to the group of the same name
View from building E-8 across the two courtyards to building E-1
In Kohunlich there are several building complexes that are regarded as palace buildings. The more important of these is the group of 27 steps (grupo de las 27 escalones), around 300 meters south of the Merwin group (grupo Merwin). This group was created on the artificially flattened summit of a low hill, which reached an area of around 65 by 50 meters, but was later considerably widened laterally. The group comprises four courtyards that are completely or partially enclosed by buildings. The buildings were erected between 100 and 700 AD, and in some cases extensive changes can be identified. In the last stage of expansion, one reached a place (patio 3) via the 27 steps, the entire north side of which is taken up by the large building E-8. Two wide flights of stairs lead up to it. Opposite it to the south was building E-1. During the late classical period, the courtyard (patio 1) formed by these two buildings (and building E-7 on the west side) was divided into two halves by a series of smaller buildings, with access to the southern half (patio 2) being severely restricted The construction of the buildings on the east side also contributed to this.
The dominant building E-8, 27 meters long, located on its own platform around 2 meters high, had multiple functions. It consists of two parallel rows of rooms that open to the south and north, respectively. In the smaller middle room of both rows, the rear wall consists of a doorway, so that this building could control access to the courtyards and buildings further inside. In addition, there were two transverse rooms at both ends. There were no stone benches in any of the rooms, which is why they are not used for residential or representative purposes.
Courtyard 2 was surrounded by at least six constructions (the count is uncertain). Access was through a narrow passage between the various components of building E-2, or a small staircase between buildings E-3 and E-4. The most important building is the one designated as E-1, in the south of the entire complex, also 27 meters long. The facade corresponds to a modified Rio Bec style with brick half columns. A total of six rooms were arranged in two rows in a manner that corresponds in many details to Building E-8. Here, too, there is a central passage through the middle wall, which, however, did not serve as access to another courtyard, but rather led to a room with three stone benches. The side rooms also had a vaulted, narrow entrance to the rear rooms, in which there were also benches. This difference to the otherwise very similarly structured building E-8 makes the functional differences clear: benches that could not only have served as sleeping places, but also, according to the central arrangement, as representative rooms for the local ruling class. The numerous burials beneath the floor can probably also be attributed to her.
The building E-7 on the west side of the two courtyards 1 and 2 consists of four rooms, two of which are parallel to each other and two across at the ends. The two middle rooms were not created at the same time. The rear one was built earlier and has brick benches in the center of the rear wall and at the north end. The design of the bench in the middle with niches on the front identifies it as a “throne”. A somewhat smaller one with door openings on three sides was placed in front of the room. This construction underlines the representative importance of the throne room behind it and points to the function of the entire building. Access was possible from the courtyard via a relatively narrow staircase, which is aimed precisely at the center of the attached component.
The smaller buildings, which later separated the two courtyards 1 and 2 and others on the edges, were at least partially not covered with the Maya vault, but with roofs made of wood and palm leaves.
See also
Web links
literature
- Enrique Nalda: Dinámica ocupacional, estilos arquitectónicos y desarrollo histórico en Kohunlich . In: Hanns J. Prem (ed.): Esecondido en la Selva, arqueología en el norte de Yucatán . Bonn, Universidad de Bonn, 2003. pp. 199-215. ISBN 3-931419-07-X
- Kai Delvendahl: Las sedes del poder, evidencia arqueológica e iconográfica de los conjuntos palaciego mayas de Clásico Tardío . Mérida, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán 2010. ISBN 978-607-7573-40-1 (Kohunlich pp. 456-474).
Coordinates: 18 ° 25 ′ 0 ″ N , 88 ° 47 ′ 0 ″ W.