![]() Temple of Kukulcán before excavation, 1860 The older, inner temple is referred to as the "substructure".Īfter all of the restoration work was completed, an entryway was cut into the balustrade of the northeastern exterior staircase to provide access to tourists. It is estimated that this last construction dates to the eleventh century AD. When a temple structure was renewed, the former construction was destroyed using a ritual that involved resolving the space of spiritual forces to preserve its sacredness. Anthropologists think that the site remained sacred regardless of how the structure was positioned on the location. Based on archaeological research, construction of Kukulcán was based on the concept of axis mundi. The last construction probably took place between 900–1000 AD, while the substructure may have been constructed earlier, between 600–800 AD. The construction of Kukulcán ("El Templo"), like other Mesoamerican temples, likely reflected the common practice by the Maya of executing several phases of construction for their temples. The square base measures 55.3 m (181 ft) across. The structure is 24 m (79 ft) high, plus an additional 6 m (20 ft) for the temple at the top. That number is equal to the number of days of the Haab' year and likely is significantly related to rituals. Īll four sides of the temple have approximately 91 steps which, when added together and including the temple platform on top as the final "step", may produce a total of 365 steps (the steps on the south side of the temple are eroded). Technically, the clapping noise rings out and scatters against the temple's high and narrow limestone steps, producing a chirp-like tone that declines in frequency. The researchers argue that this phenomenon is not accidental, that the builders of this temple felt divinely rewarded by the echoing effect of this structure. Scientific research led since 1998 suggests that the temple mimics the chirping sound of the quetzal bird when humans clap their hands around it. To contemporary visitors, the event has been very popular and is witnessed by thousands at the spring equinox, but it is not known whether the phenomenon is a result of a purposeful design since the light-and-shadow effect can be observed without major changes during several weeks near the equinoxes. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the temple and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, creating the illusion of the feathered serpent "crawling" down the temple. Sculptures of plumed serpents run down the sides of the northern balustrade. The temple consists of a series of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. It has a substructure that likely was constructed several centuries earlier for the same purpose. The temple building is more formally designated by archaeologists as Chichen Itza Structure 5B18.īuilt by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries AD, the building served as a temple to the deity Kukulcán, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deity closely related to Quetzalcoatl, a deity known to the Aztecs and other central Mexican cultures of the Postclassic period. Location of El Castillo, Chichen Itza in MexicoĮl templo, known as the Temple of Kukulcán (or also just as Kukulcán), is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán.
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