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The Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza. The Sacred Cenote (Spanish: cenote sagrado, Latin American Spanish: [ˌsenote saˈɣɾaðo], "sacred well"; alternatively known as the "Well of Sacrifice") is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula.
El Castillo (Spanish pronunciation: [el kas'tiʎo], 'the Castle'), also known as the Temple of Kukulcan is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán. The temple building is more formally designated by archaeologists as Chichen Itza Structure 5B18.
Elaborate stone facades in Chichen Itza's "Monjas" complex in 1902. The Maya name "Chichen Itza" means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza." This derives from chi', meaning "mouth" or "edge", and chʼen or chʼeʼen, meaning "well". Itzá is the name of an ethnic-lineage group that gained political and economic dominance of the northern ...
Chichen Itza is known for its stunning architecture, including an impressive pyramid structure now called El Castillo. Nearby is a sacred water-filled sinkhole called a cenote, where the bodies of ...
At the Sacred Cenote in Chichen Itza, people were hurled into the cenote during times of drought, famine or disease. The Sacred Cenote is a naturally occurring sinkhole eroded from the local limestone; it is approximately 50 metres (160 ft) wide and drops 20 metres (66 ft) to the water surface, with the water another 20 metres (66 ft) deep. The ...
The Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza, Mexico. Cenotes are surface connections to subterranean water bodies. [5] While the best-known cenotes are large open-water pools measuring tens of meters in diameter, such as those at Chichen Itza in Mexico, the greatest number of cenotes are smaller sheltered sites and do not necessarily have any surface exposed water.
After the fall of Chichen Itza, the nearby Postclassic city of Mayapan became the centre of the revived Kukulkan worshipers, with temples decorated with feathered serpent columns. [13] At the time of the Spanish colonization , the high priest of Kukulkan was the family patriarch of the Xiu faction and was one of the two most powerful men in the ...
The most jade found at a single site was at the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichen Itza. Metal was a common offering during the Postclassic, with the largest collections coming from the Cenote of Sacrifice and "bell" caves in western Honduras. The tale of the Earth Lord having much wealth in his cave may have come from this tradition. [35]