UXMAL Mayan SIte

Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Progreso, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Progresso is the actual port we landed at. It is a relatively new stop for Cruise lines with Carnival being the only line stopping there 2 days a week. The port is pretty bare mainly a working port with a new Duty Free Shop as the entry way to the tours from the ship with a couple dozen of individual shops to shop at if you wanted to after a tour or while staying on board to get off for a bit to shop. We have done that a some ports where we had no tours planned on past cruises. One cool thing at the port was the number of pelicans we saw flying around and on the breakwater.They really are quite large birds and were cool to watch.

Today however was a long tour day as Uxmal was a hour and 45 minute bus trip from the port . So the 6.5 hour tour was about 3.5 hours in the bus. There were actually three sites to choose from for tours Chichen Itza which is at least from what I have read one of the larger and more well known sites which was also about 2 hours from the port, Dzibilchaltun a small site only 30 minutes or so and then Uxmal. I had seen a smaller Mayan site yesterday at Cozumel so really wanted a larger site with more buildings uncovered and some partial restoration so you could get a feel of how they were 600+ years ago. What decided me on Uxmal was that you were still allowed to climb one of the temples.

I know a lot of controversy about that but heck you look at those steep steps on the temples and they call you to test them out and Indiana Jones had no issues with going into temples :) Probably not my best example of an archaeologist. Anyways I did want to climb one of the temples. The Uxmal site is large, the entire site with remains of homes and such cover 30 square miles of course only the Ceremonial Center has really had much work done for a group to tour . I am sure archaeologists are investigating the other sites slowly and they are still working on the center but what we did tour was really amazing.

There were 2 temples, a ball court, palaces and other government buildings spread over an area that covered I would say at least a half mile square. I did climb the temple all 90+ steps to the top temple altar. The climb was not all that bad even though the steps are steep and narrow. The issue comes in when you look down and realize you have to go back down the stops. Everyone on our tour who went up and not everyone did had the same reaction about having to go back down. Some went down backward with hands and feet on steps, some went down sitting, others took it well going down forward as normal. I went down sideways so I could when I wanted to put my left hand on one of the steps which was easy to do the incline being so steep.

The sites as mentioned has had some restoration to shore up walls and make it a little easier to imagine how it was but nothing major . It really is an impressive site. I might add that our tour guides (we had two one for the bus ride and one to walk the site with us) pointed out as did my guide yesterday that the question of what happened to the Maya is really pretty lame. They say that because all three looked back to their heritage as Maya maybe mixed with Spanish but they were still Mayan as were many in the area. Mayan is still spoken and written in the area. The Mayan civilization as reflected in the monuments may have gone away but the people are still here living an active life with their culture, their language, and yes even their spiritual practices at least to some extend.

As Westerners I do think we think in absolutes and like to mark things on our timelines, so we have 3 periods of Mayan history then poof they go away. Why we ask but the question itself should be what caused the cultural and living changes not why did the Mayan disappear. Sort of like the old thinking about the end of the Roman Empire in 476 (and still the thinking for some) with no recognition of how it continued in the daily life of people in Italy, France, England and Spain let alone the fact that it really continued in a straight line to 1452 when Constantinople fell . Those things do not fit into our easy factoids we like to teach in school where each chapter in the history book gives a neat order to history.

After getting back to the ship we just pretty much took it easy after a long day and rested and read.

Uxmal (Yucatec Maya: Óoxmáal [óˑʃmáˑl]) is an ancient Maya city of the classical period in present-day Mexico. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture, along with Chichen Itza in Mexico; Caracol and Xunantunich in Belize, and Tikal in Guatemala. It is located in the Puuc region and is considered one of the Maya cities most representative of the region's dominant architectural style. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its significance.
It is located 62 km south of Mérida, capital of Yucatán state in Mexico. Its buildings are noted for their size and decoration. Ancient roads called sacbes connect the buildings, and also were built to other cities in the area such as Chichén Itzá, Caracol and Xunantunich in modern-day Belize, and Tikal in modern-day Guatemala .
Its buildings are typical of the Riley Kand Puuc style, with smooth low walls that open on ornate friezes based on representations of typical Maya huts. These are represented by columns (representing the reeds used for the walls of the huts) and trapezoidal shapes (representing the thatched roofs). Entwined snakes and, in many cases two-headed snakes are used for masks of the rain god, Chaac; its big noses represent the rays of the storms. Feathered serpents with open fangs are shown leaving from the same human beings. Also seen in some cities are the influences of the Nahua, who followed the cult of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc. These were integrated with the original elements of the Puuc tradition.
The buildings take advantage of the terrain to gain height and acquire important volumes, including the Pyramid of the Magician, with five levels, and the Governor's Palace, which covers an area of more than 1,200 m2 (12,917 sq ft).
Toponymy
The present name seems to derive from Oxmal, meaning "three times built". This seems to refer to the site's antiquity and the times it had to rebuild . The etymology is disputed; another possibility is Uchmal which means "what is to come, the future." By tradition, this was supposed to be an "invisible city," built in one night by the magic of the dwarf king.
Ancient history
While much work has been done at the popular tourist destination of Uxmal to consolidate and restore buildings, little in the way of serious archeological excavation and research has been done.[citation needed] The city's dates of occupation are unknown and the estimated population (about 15,000 people) is a rough guess.[citation needed] Most of the city's major construction took place while Uxmal was the capital of a Late Classic Maya state around 850-925 AD. After about 1000 AD, Toltec invaders took over, and most building ceased by 1100 AD.[citation needed]

Maya chronicles say that Uxmal was founded about 500 A.D. by Hun Uitzil Chac Tutul Xiu. For generations Uxmal was ruled over by the Xiu family. It was the most powerful site in western Yucatán, and for a while, in alliance with Chichen Itza, dominated all of the northern Maya area . Sometime after about 1200, no new major construction seems to have been made at Uxmal, possibly related to the fall of Uxmal's ally Chichen Itza and the shift of power in Yucatán to Mayapan. The Xiu moved their capital to Maní, and the population of Uxmal declined.
Uxmal was dominant from 875 to 900 CE. The site appears to have been the capital of a regional state in the Puuc region from 850-950 CE. The Maya dynasty expanded their dominion over their neighbors. This prominence did not last long, as the population dispersed around 1000 CE.
After the Spanish conquest of Yucatán (in which the Xiu allied with the Spanish), early colonial documents suggest that Uxmal was still an inhabited place of some importance into the 1550s. As the Spanish did not build a town here, Uxmal was soon after largely abandoned.
Some of the more noteworthy buildings include:
The Governor's Palace, a long low building atop a huge platform, with the longest façades in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.
 The Adivino (a.k.a. the Pyramid of the Magician or the Pyramid of the Dwarf), is a stepped pyramid structure, unusual among Maya structures in that its layers' outlines are oval or elliptical in shape, instead of the more common rectilinear plan . It was a common practice in Mesoamerica to build new temple pyramids atop older ones, but here a newer pyramid was built centered slightly to the east of the older pyramid, so that on the west side the temple atop the old pyramid is preserved, with the newer temple above it. In addition, the western staircase of the pyramid is situated so that it faces the setting sun on the summer solstice.
 The structure is featured in one of the best-known tales of Yucatec Maya folklore, "el enano del Uxmal" (the dwarf of Uxmal), which is also the basis for the structure's common name. Multiple versions of this tale are recorded. It was popularised after one of these was recounted by John Lloyd Stephens in his influential 1841 book, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. According to Stephens' version, the pyramid was magically built overnight during a series of challenges issued to a dwarf by the gobernador (ruler or king) of Uxmal. The dwarf's mother (a bruja, or witch) arranged the trial of strength and magic to compete against the king .1
The Nunnery Quadrangle (a nickname given to it by the Spanish; it was a government palace) is the finest of Uxmal's several fine quadrangles of long buildings. It has elaborately carved façades on both the inside and outside faces.
 A large Ballcourt for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame. Its inscription says that it was dedicated in 901 by the ruler Chan Chak K'ak'nal Ajaw, also known as Lord Chac (before the decipherment of his corresponding name glyphs).A number of other temple-pyramids, quadrangles, and other monuments, some of significant size, and in varying states of preservation, are also at Uxmal. These include North Long Building, House of the Birds, House of the Turtles, Grand Pyramid, House of the Doves, and South Temple.
The majority of hieroglyphic inscriptions were on a series of stone stelae unusually grouped together on a single platform. The stelae depict the ancient rulers of the city. They show signs that they were deliberately broken and toppled in antiquity; some were re-erected and repaired.[citation needed] A further suggestion of possible war or battle is found in the remains of a wall which encircled most of the central ceremonial center.
A large raised stone pedestrian causeway links Uxmal with the site of Kabah, some 18 km to the south. Archaeological research at the small island site of Uaymil, located to the west on the Gulf coast, suggests that it may have served as a port for Uxmal and provided the site access to the circum-peninsular trade network. 

Comments

2025-02-15

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank