Mayan Temples

[xvart]

I haven't been around for a week because my wife and I were on vacation. We went down to Honduras and Mexico on a cruise. One of the stops was Costa Maya, Mexico, where we went to the Mayan city of Chacchoben. It was amazing. We started out next to this large temple:

Then we wondered around a little more and then went up thirty some large steps, and to my surprise was greeted to the beautiful site of a large clearance with a large temple and several smaller temples. Mind you, this was all raised up and I couldn't even see the temples above from the bottom of the stairs!

These are only some of the pictures I grabbed real fast, and I'll probably upload more as I sort through them (and some pictures from some of the other places we were. I also did a panaramic picture from the top but I still need to combine the pictures.

It was quite a site. I had always wanted to visit some of the ancient Maya civilizations.

It's good to be back!

xvart.

 

[S_Oregon_CP]

very beautiful! I am so glad you got to go see these wonderful structures. Very cool.

 

[swords]

That's amazing man! Can you go there at night, or can you camp there? It would be so awesome to be there at night!

I saw on TV a while ago Walmart wanted to build a store not very far from one of these temples. Nothing could be grosser (when viewed from a distance) than a Walmart crowned with a Mayan temple!

 

[Ant]

I'm jealous! You got to go down into the range of leaf cutter ants! I can't even get down into Arizona to look at the desert leaf cutter ant. Also nice pictures, I am more fond of the Aztecs though, they built their capital on a lake.

 

[Capensis]

Wow! That must've been an exciting experience, being able to see ancient temples and ruins. I've always wanted to go see some myself. Thanks for sharing.

 

[xvart]

Our guide said that during the excavation (still going on) they had not yet found any indications of human sacrifice; however, they did find evidence that the Maya people would offer self sacrifice, by which I mean that when they would do their extravagant piercings they would donate their blood to the temple and obviously the more blood the better.

That's amazing man! Can you go there at night, or can you camp there? It would be so awesome to be there at night!

Nope, you couldn't (or aren't supposed to). They didn't have any protection or fences. The informational signs said normal park hours were 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. I doubt they have much trouble because our guide said that their main draw was cruise boats so nobody would be staying at night.

However, the guide did talk about how a few of them were able to get permission from the government to climb them during the winter/summer solstice and the equinoxes to take photos of the sun rising and lining up with the temples. She showed us some pictures they took and they were amazing!

I saw on TV a while ago Walmart wanted to build a store not very far from one of these temples. Nothing could be grosser (when viewed from a distance) than a Walmart crowned with a Mayan temple!

Yeah, that would be disastrous. I doubt there will even be that threat in this area because it was still pretty ravaged from Hurricane Dean a couple of years ago and there was not a lot around this area.

I'm jealous! You got to go down into the range of leaf cutter ants! I can't even get down into Arizona to look at the desert leaf cutter ant. Also nice pictures, I am more fond of the Aztecs though, they built their capital on a lake.

We did see some leaf cutter ants! I didn't get any pictures, though. I didn't think about it until afterwords and then couldn't find anymore.

Although the movie was terrible and had zero basis in reality, visiting here made my wife and I want to watch Apocolyto again.

xvart.

 

[droseraguy]

Those are awesome !! I would totally have loved to do this. How was your cruise ? Did you guys get to see some other areas ??

 

[lambdlth]

Nice pictures. Interesting, that pyramid looks very similar to Uxmal in the northern territory of Yucatan. I thought it was unique to that region, apparently not. Did you clap at it? I think the rounded pyramids make an odd sound as well as the square ones.

 

[ktulu]

Those pictures are amazing. Any idea as to the period these date to? is the structure pre-classic?

They probably wont let yo go there at night because of people looting the site. Maya ceramic vessels and wall murals go for big money on the antiquities market. Sad really as they usually destroy considerable portions of the site and often other pieces in the process of looting.

Walmart did destroy a small Aztec pyramid in Mexico city so they could build a parking lot because paving around it would have been too much work.

As for the auto sacrifice, blood was required to open a portal to the other worlds (the sky and Xibalba the underworld). Often times a cord with thorns in it would be drawn through the tongue or the a perforator would be used on intimate areas to draw blood.

as a final note Apocalypto is based on the Book of Mormons interpretation of the Maya in the New World.

 

[Baylorguy]

Looks like the weather was nice as well. Great pictures.

 

[carnivoure12]

I pitured mayan tamples to be more... exciting.

 

[xvart]

Those are awesome !! I would totally have loved to do this. How was your cruise ? Did you guys get to see some other areas ??

The cruise was great. We also went to Cozumel, Mexico and Roatan, Honduras. In those places we mainly went to the beaches and got some serious R&R (and a massively purple sunburn ). I'll post some more pictures of the beaches and the other areas once I get through those.

Nice pictures. Interesting, that pyramid looks very similar to Uxmal in the northern territory of Yucatan. I thought it was unique to that region, apparently not. Did you clap at it? I think the rounded pyramids make an odd sound as well as the square ones.

Costa Maya is on the Yucatan peninsula (but more southern about an hour from the coast).

Those pictures are amazing. Any idea as to the period these date to? is the structure pre-classic?

If I remember correctly, this area was built in the classic period (if I remember pre classic was up until 50 AD or 100 AD?). I think these temples were started in the transition period and most were constructed around 700 AD.

As for the auto sacrifice, blood was required to open a portal to the other worlds (the sky and Xibalba the underworld). Often times a cord with thorns in it would be drawn through the tongue or the a perforator would be used on intimate areas to draw blood.

The guide did not mention anything about the portal (which is pretty disappointing after the fact...) unless they did while I was away from the group looking at other things. She did talk about the tongue and "intimate areas" as you said.

Looks like the weather was nice as well. Great pictures.

The weather was perfect. It did rain for about ten minutes while we were walking around; but that was to be expected.

I pitured mayan tamples to be more... exciting.

You sound like my wife!

xvart.

 

[carnivoure12]

Xvart are buying more plants?

Well they must be more interesting upclose, i should stop watching those documentries in which they recreate the people and restore them.

 

[ktulu]

Ok so it is classic, I am not a Mesoamericanist so I wasnt sure, but 700 A.D. is toward the end of the Maya classic period.

As for its unimpressive nature the problem is the inside where all the murals and such are is the part of temples that are usually the most beautiful. Also these would have likely been plastered and painted plus pieces of obsidian decoration etc. that would have made them much more impressive in their prime. 1300 years of rain and plant growth have taken their toll on the structure and removed much of the color and part of the beauty.

 

[Ant]

We did see some leaf cutter ants! I didn't get any pictures, though. I didn't think about it until afterwords and then couldn't find anymore.

Very cool. I would guess you saw a species in the Atta genus but, there are a few other. Their queens are an inch in size or LARGER. They are usually the species of ant that are put on display or used in studies because of how easy they are too feed, they don't require hibernation, and a very prolific with a few different castes. It is very cool to see how the queen dwarfs her daughters. This is a very good example of the queen's size. http://www.myrmecos.net/myrmicinae/AttTex31.html
That species is known as Atta texana and is native to the area around the Mexican boarder (it spreads father north then south, its range ends at the Mississippi River.)

Lol, when ever someone acknowledges anything I say about ants I am forced to give the ant a bio.

 

[swords]

Ktulu, I thought the Mayan only did iconic statuary carvings, those squared figures in boxes ("glyphs"?) and the calendars as decoration. I didn't know they ever did any murals or paintings of any kind. Are any of their murals still existing and viewable online somewhere? I'd love to see the style!

I never saw that movie you guys are talking about but they sure chose an odd source material!? What was the reason for using that and not archaeological research?


All this talk makes me want to go pick up the huge Encyclopedia of Aztec and Mayan Civilization they have at Borders Books on my way to work tonight....

 

[Ant]

I think it was the Aztec calendar your thinking of. It was more accurate then ours, it even factored in the 1/4 day every year.

 

[xvart]

Ok so it is classic, I am not a Mesoamericanist so I wasnt sure, but 700 A.D. is toward the end of the Maya classic period.

As for its unimpressive nature the problem is the inside where all the murals and such are is the part of temples that are usually the most beautiful. Also these would have likely been plastered and painted plus pieces of obsidian decoration etc. that would have made them much more impressive in their prime. 1300 years of rain and plant growth have taken their toll on the structure and removed much of the color and part of the beauty.

Ktulu, I thought the Mayan only did iconic statuary carvings, those squared figures in boxes ("glyphs"?) and the calendars as decoration. I didn't know they ever did any murals or paintings of any kind. Are any of their murals still existing and viewable online somewhere? I'd love to see the style!

Very true. In fact, this area was still being dug up. There were several very large "bumps" of earth where more temples are waiting to be unearthed and excavated. Here is the an overview of the area. I forgot I took a picture of this. Number three on the picture is the first temple in my original post. The buildings that aren't numbered are still overgrown with plant life, dirt, and rocks; therefore un-excavated. The large box around seven, eight, nine, and ten is the thirty some large stairs that we had to walk up. Most of the surrounding wall (where it wasn't stairs) was still earthed over. Some of the temples at the top were for specific reasons: number nine was believed to be dedicated to astronomy, in which only the astronomy family would be allowed to use and climb. You'll see the other temples up there when I put together the panoramic and post it.

They also talked about how when these temples were in use a large part of them were covered in a red dye. Our guide showed us an artists' rendition of what it might have looked like in 700 AD and it was something else. I didn't know that the Maya painted their temples, but it certainly was inspiring.

I never saw that movie you guys are talking about but they sure chose an odd source material!? What was the reason for using that and not archaeological research?

Probably because it was made my Mel Gibson.

Xvart are buying more plants?

Huh?

xvart.

 

[xvart]

Here is the panoramic picture I just put together. I guess when I upload it to PhotoBucket it makes it really small, so I don't know how to make it bigger with good quality. Anyone have any suggestions?

Regardless, you can see the small temple dedicated for astronomy on the very left of the picture. The bigger pictures is below the panoramic.

http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q265/xvart/maya/?action=view&current=MayaPanorama.jpg

xvart.

 

[ktulu]

Swords Bonampak is a site that had quite a few murals that are up on the web if I remember correctly. Famsi.org is a good place for anyone who is interested in Mesoamerican archaeology as it has quite a few academic articles and I think it has murals and such somewhere, I know it has roll outs of many of the Maya ceramic vessels. Again I do not work in Mesoamerica this is just what I have learned from going to a school dominated by Mayanist and Olmecian archaeologists. The statues and the glyphs are important, in fact deciphering the glyphs is how we have learned much of the Maya history, though its restricted to essentially wars and successions for the most part because that is what the carved in stone and wasnt destroyed by the Spanish. The vessels have some really cool imagery on them too, especially of auto-sacrifice and vision serpents and the likes.

Ant, the Aztec calendar was essentially a rip off of the Maya calendar, which was the first to include the 1/4 day per year and is extremely accurate. The Maya were excellent astronomers and mathematicians hence their extremely accurate calender. I dont believe the Aztecs made any improvements, I think they were too busy busting heads to worry about a new calender.