Xlapak
Xlapak (also Xlabpak ; German = 'old walls') is a Mayan ruins on the Yucatán peninsula in the Mexican state of the same name .
location
Xlapak is located in the center of the Puuc region about 37 km (driving distance) southeast of Uxmal . Together with the neighboring archaeological sites of Kabáh , Labná , Sayil and Chacmultún , it forms a group of smaller and seldom visited Maya sites on the Yucatán Peninsula.
history
At the time of its construction (approx. 600–800 AD), Xlapak was surrounded by corn fields ( milpas ). In addition, keeping domestic animals (dogs, turkeys) and hunting in the neighboring bush forests certainly played an important role in the protein supply of the population. At the beginning of the 20th century, the site was discovered and exposed by archaeological research; the main building was partially restored or reconstructed towards the middle of the century.
Attractions
architecture
Only three palace buildings are of importance in Xlapak - all buildings are built in the so-called 'Puuc style', the main characteristic of which is the division of the external facades into two parts. The lower parts of the outer walls remain completely undecorated, whereas in the slightly protruding upper part rich stone mosaics, which have probably remained unplastered and were only painted with paint, make up the decorative elements.
The five-door building I is - despite its partial destruction - one of the most impressive buildings of Mayan architecture in Yucatán; Its outer walls, which are decorated with corner pillars, are adorned in the upper part with impressive Chaac masks arranged one on top of the other and provided with several rows of teeth , whose geometrically angular appearance indicates the close iconographic relationship of the Mayan rain god to Tlaloc , the rain god of the cultures of the central Mexican highlands. Geometric-abstract decorative motifs can be found between the huge Chaac masks.
Buildings II and III are largely destroyed; some of the elements of the decorative elements that have been preserved indicate that they were once also imposing buildings.
As sophisticated as Xlapak's stone mosaics are, the lack of a large temple pyramid and ball playground must appear strange. Whether this - as some researchers have suspected - is due to a decline in identity-forming religious convictions at the end of the classical phase of Maya architecture (cf. in this context also Edzná ) can no longer be clarified today.
Others
The finds in Xlapak also include an approximately 1.20 m high stone phallus as well as several approximately 40 cm high stone human-like heads, the function of which and the original place of installation or attachment are unclear. Nowadays, the heads rest on architectural elements that are modeled on the knots of wooden sticks (or the internodes of reed grasses ) and are found more frequently on buildings in the Puuc region. The stelae or altars that are typical of the Maya lowlands of the classical period - with figures and / or glyphs - are rarely found in the Puuc region.
See also
literature
- Cristina Lorenzo Vidal, Gaspar Muñoz Cosme (Ed .: JP Laporte and H. Escobedo): La arquitectura de las ciudades Mayas del área Puuc, Yucatán. X Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala 1996, (Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología), pp. 360-376. [1] (Spanish; PDF; 882 kB)
- Charles Rhyne: Architecture, Restoration, and Imaging of the Maya Cities of Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, and Labná - The Puuc Region, Yucatán, México. (Annotated Bibliography of the Puuc Region) Reed College, Portland, Oregon. [2] (English; PDF; 1.5 MB)
Web links
Coordinates: 20 ° 10 ′ 25 ″ N , 89 ° 36 ′ 30 ″ W.