This Yucatan Dzibilchaltun gallery is an expanded collection on the cornerstone Yucatan Dzibilchaltun travel blog
The area highlighted in blue are the grounds we were allowed to access. The Temple of the Seven Dolls is at the end of the sacbe on the far right of the map
Shots from the museum on site at Dzibilhaltun:
ChaacMaya codices (singular codex) are folding books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark paper. … The paper was made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or amate (Ficus glabrata). Glyphs carved in stone
Temple of the Seven Dolls:
The deity Chaac, god of rain and corn, lived within the mountain. The mask of Chaac often appears above the doorway of a temple. The doorway is his mouth. The mouth represents a cave, entrance into the heart of the mountain. The mountain is a sacred place that provides the rain and in turn the corn that will feed the people.Notice the remnant of the pyramid that covered this temple on the right side of the pedestal. It was a common practice to build over existing pyramids with regular frequency. We came to find this frequency was every 52 years, corresponding to a complete cycle of the Mayan calendar.Templo de las Siete Muñecas, the Temple of the Dolls, is an impressive building on a pyramid base with one short tower on its roof and a stelae in front of the building. The temple was discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s under the ruins of a larger pyramid which was constructed on top of The Temple of the Dolls. stelae Imagine the roadway illuminated along its entire length to the main plaza on the equinox when the sun’s rays pass through both doorways at sunrise. Time to rise and shine and plant corn.
On the plaza:
Descending these steps there was once again evidence of the Puuc style of Mayan construction whereby older structures are covered by new construction.Beyond the reach of the pedestrian visitor, many structures remain inaccessible under the growth of forest. This area was secured off as: Peligroso (Dangerous)
Cenote Xlakah:
Cenote XlakahUnder the surface, Cenote Xlakah reaches depths of 44 meters (144 feet). According to the plaque near the water’s edge, Xlakah means “old town” in Maya. The cenote was first explored from 1957-59 when thousands of pottery shards and urns were found in the water along with wood, stone and bone artifacts. The earthenware dates to the Late Classic Periods of 600-1000 A.D. Notice the pyramid behind the cenote.
