Dzibilchaltún (

Yucatec Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic commu ...

: Ts'íibil Cháaltun, ) is a

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

in the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

Yucatán Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...

, approximately north of state capital of Mérida.

Location

In the view of modern researchers, the ancient builders of Dzibilchaltún may have chosen the site of the city to be as close as possible to the coastal salt-producing region (about away), while still being located on a reasonably fertile and habitable terrain. The region between Dzibilchaltún and the sea coast is less suitable for human habitation, being either mangrove swamps or bare rock.

Overview

The site has been continuously occupied for thousands of years, although it has expanded into a mid-sized city and contracted back to a small town more than once in its long history. It is about 30 minutes north of Mérida, and about the same distance south of the location of the impact site of the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs in Chicxulub.

Architecture

The most famous structure is the ''Temple of the Seven Dolls'', so named because of seven small

effigies An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

found at the site when the temple was discovered under the ruins of a later temple pyramid by archaeologists in the 1950s. On the vernal

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

, the site is crowded by visitors observing the sunrise through the temple's doorways. However, there is no archaeological feature marking the observation spot, making any relationship between the orientation of the temple with the equinoxes highly unlikely. The temple is connected to the rest of the site by a ''

sacbe Sacbe at Dzibilchaltun in the Yucatán Arch at the end of the sacbé, Kabah, Yucatán A sacbe, plural sacbeob (Yucatec Maya: singular ''sakbej'', plural ''sakbejo'ob''), or "white way", is a raised paved road built by the Maya civilization of pr ...

'', or "white road," so-called because they were originally coated with white limestone, built over stone-and-rubble fill.

Surroundings

The other major feature of Dzibilchaltún is its

cenote A cenote ( or ; ) is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for ...

, Cenote Xlakah, located around the center of the city's ruins. It is thought that the availability of this source of clean drinking water influenced the builders' choice of the location. Archaeological findings retrieved from the cenote by divers indicate that it was the center of a religious cult. These days the cenote is used as a swimming hole by local residents and tourists year round. Similar to

Chichen Itza Chichen Itza , es, Chichén Itzá , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from yua, Chiʼchʼèen Ìitshaʼ () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people" was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal ...

, a large number of archaeological pieces like carved bones and wooden objects, but mainly vases, have been found in the cenote. Valuable information about the ancient Mayans who lived near the cenote was found here. Dzibilchaltún also contains the ruin of a 16th-century Spanish church built at the site after the conquest. The Dzibilchaltun archeological site also includes a visitor center with maps, restrooms and gift shops. The renovated museum housing Mayan artifacts located at the site has re-opened. The museum is closed on Mondays.

National park

Dzibilchantún National Park was designated in 1987, and covers an area of 5.39 km². It is managed by the

National Commission of Natural Protected Areas There are currently 182 Protected Natural Areas in Mexico, covering 25.4 million hectares in total. They are protected and administrated by the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (''Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas'', o ...

(CONANP).UNEP-WCMC (2022). Protected Area Profile for Dzibilchantún from the World Database of Protected Areas. Accessed 14 April 2022. The natural vegetation of the area is

dry forest Dry or dryness most often refers to: * Lack of rainfall, which may refer to **Arid regions **Drought * Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages * Dry humor, deadpan * Dryness (medical) ...

."Dzibilchantún". Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), Government of Mexico. Accessed 14 April 2022

/ref>

References

External links

Dzibilchaltún Photo Essay
{{authority control Maya sites in Yucatán Former populated places in Mexico Tourism in Mexico Mesoamerican sites Sinkholes of Mexico Tourist attractions in Yucatán Museums in Yucatán Archaeological museums in Mexico Landforms of Yucatán 1950s archaeological discoveries Underwater diving sites in Mexico National parks of Mexico