Muyil
Coordinates: 20 ° 4 ′ 44 ″ N , 87 ° 36 ′ 50 ″ W.
Muyil is a Mayan ruin site in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo on the east side of the Yucatán peninsula in the Caribbean coast.
geography
The ruins of Muyil are located near the current settlement of Chunyaxché, 20 km southeast of Tulum directly on Carretera 307 , the connecting road between the tourist centers of Cancun and Playa del Carmen in the north and the state capital Chetumal on the border with Belize . They already belong to the Municipio Felipe Carrillo Puerto .
The site is located in the area of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, which was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 . So far, over 20 smaller Mayan sites have been discovered in the nature reserve. The buildings of Muyil were erected in the immediate vicinity of a freshwater lagoon, the Muyil lagoon, after which the ruins are named.
Muyil was part of the Mayan Caribbean coastal trade network. A sacbé led from the ruins to the shore of the (formerly larger) Muyil lagoon. This in turn has a drain (or puncture?) To the Chunyaxché lagoon (also Xlahpak or Xlabpak lagoon ). The drainage of the Chunyaxché lagoon , a wide and restrictedly navigable channel, leads to the Caribbean coast and to the Mayan ruins on the narrow, elongated peninsula, at the southern tip of which is today's Punta Allen . The distance from Muyil to the coast is 15 km (air line).
history
It can be assumed that Maya colonization in the area of the later Muyil began as early as the late pre-classical period (300 BC to 250 AD), but there are no buildings from this period.
In the Maya Classical period (250-900 AD) the population grew and around 600 AD trade relations were established along the coast, which most likely extended to the salt flats of Belize. The first ritual buildings followed the increasing residential development.
Most of the architectural remains, however, date from the post-classical period (900-1500 AD), when the city was first under the rule of Chichén Itzá , and later under that of Mayapán . It was part of the coastal trade network, which ran along the Caribbean coast with a large number of locations and promoted the region economically. The mainland ports of Tancah / Tulum , Xel Há , Xcaret , El Rey and El Meco to the north, as well as the connected islands of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel, belonged to it .
The city was also in the direct sphere of influence of the Maya city of Cobá , which was a regional center of power. Later Muyil belonged in the regional division according to Roys , which divides the Maya area into 16 ruling districts for the 16th century , in the political sphere of influence of Ekabs . The pre-Hispanic city was probably inhabited until the Spanish conquest of the Caribbean coast around 1550; However, Muyil continued to exist as a village until 1871, when part of its inhabitants abandoned it during the turmoil of the Caste War and the new settlement of San Antonio Muyil was founded about 35 kilometers further north .
building
The pre-Hispanic city consists of two areas, Muyil A and Muyil B. In Part A, there are various architectural groups with pyramid-shaped structures, temples, altars and platforms, systems for residential buildings and a 500 m long sacbé as well as a network of walls. In individual buildings there are stucco work and remnants of red, black and blue wall paintings. A 17 m high building has a small round temple room on its top, a construction that is atypical for this region. Cult objects made of colored stone and seashells were found in one of the two altar rooms below. In part B there are a few platforms, civil and religious buildings and some ramparts. Similar to Tulum, the ceremonial area was probably surrounded by a wall.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Instituto nacional de antropología e história INAH: Muyil, Maya Archaeological Site Surrounded by Exuberant Nature. Lunes, 13 de Abril de 2009 ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on September 17, 2009.
- ↑ Map of archaeological sites in Sian Ka'an. Research report of the SMV Science Museum of Virginia ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on September 5, 2009.
- ↑ ZONA ARQUEOLÓGICA DE MUYIL
- ↑ The Mayan site of Muyil on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
- ↑ INAH Archaeological Site Muyil ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 17, 2009 (Spanish).
- Jump up ↑ A flourishing salt trade during the Mayan times. In: Image of Science. April 5, 2005, accessed September 10, 2019 (Researchers discover forty salt works in Belize).
- ↑ Tsubasa Okoshi Harada, Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, Ana Luisa Izquierdo (ed.): "Nuevas perspectivas sobre la geografía política de los mayas." México DF, UNAM, 2006, map on page 93. on Google Books, accessed September 10, 2009 (English / Spanish)
- ↑ Nelson A. Reed: The Caste War of Yucatán , Stanford University Press, Stanford 2001, p. 269ff (English).
Web links
- Main page of the INAH Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia , accessed on February 10, 2016 (Spanish).
- Photos and map of Muyil from Walter Witchey's website, SMV Science Museum of Virginia, accessed on February 10, 2016.