Temple Of The Warriors In Chichen Itza — страница 2

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book. A website written by Dr. Eduardo Vargas entitled, Chichen Itza, is a primary source because it is based off of the temple and the ruined city which is all archeological research. Another website that I found entitled Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza, is also a primary source. In this the author, who is not disclosed, describes the building and some of the different aspects that gives the temple a unique character. In Morris’s book, Digging in the Yucatan she describes the process taken by the archeologists of the Carnegie Institute. From the accidental find to the final handing over of the Temple of the Warriors to the Mexican Government, her book covers much detail. Earl H. Morris, the husband to Ann Axtell Morris, discovered the Temple of the Warriors while watching

over the excavation of the Court of a Thousand Columns. He ventured over to a huge mound for that seemed to be attached to the Court. After pondering about the mound a few days, he gave the orders to start clearing it. (See figure 3) Within a few days, two columns were found and next to them were two stone rattle snake tails. They immediately realized that it was part of the Plumed Serpent because it was the symbol for the chief god of Chichen Itza. “His image is painted and carved upon temple walls, hundreds of times repeating gaping fanged jaws and feather-covered slimy curves” (Morris, 106). They dug to the bottom of the columns and found the two serpent heads in perfect condition. After many days of putting the tails back together and reconnecting them to the large

columns, they had found the entrance to the top of the temple. (See figure 4) When the remainder of the temple was cleared of the rubble, they found a high petition wall with a narrow door, which led into an interior room. Behind the wall Morris found an inner sanctuary, which at one time must have contained the Altar of Sacrifice. Not surprisingly, there was an altar smashed to bits and pieces but through much effort they were able to put the altar back to together. Nineteen little men supported the Atlantean altar. (See figure 5) On each side of the pyramid was a series of four terraces of alternating sloping and perpendicular zones. The zones were formally narrow bands, which encircled the pyramid. The bands were carved with hundreds of curious figures standing about two and a

half feet tall. They were reclining human figures, jaguars, eagles, and some curious half bear and half coyote creatures, which were each holding a human heart in its claws. At the end of the second year, in 1926 the archeologists found a column that they expected to find. (Morris) They went up the side of the pyramid and after digging seven feet down, they found a red polished floor. They started digging and found the buried temple. The sanctuary of the buried temple with exception of painted walls and colored sculptured columns, was quite bare. (Morris) (See figure 6) Towards the end of the excavation after four long exciting years, Earl Morris decided to try and find any burials located in side the temple. The only burial that was found was outside the temple next to the grand

staircase, which was a cremation pit. He was tapping around the floors of the buried temple when he heard a slight echo come from the floor. He broke the floor and lifted the huge heavy stone. At the center of the cavity lay a large spherical ball of dark jade polished as glass. This was one of the Zaz-Tuns or “light stones” which the old priests had used for prophecy. (Morris) Next to it was a piece of green apple jade carved to represent a human face and accompanying it were two more jade beads and strings of shells. (Morris) Underneath was a jar, which contained a turquoise mosaic. The mosaic was nine inches in diameter and contained over three thousand pieces of turquoise. (See figure 7) From research done on the hieroglyphics it was determined the Buried Temple that was

only in use for 15 years before they decided to build the Temple of the Warriors over the top of it. In Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization, Gallenkamp says that the Carnegie Institute with Earl H. Morris in charge first laid the temple bare in 1925. At the base of the mound were fragments of dozens of square columns that once formed the impressive colonnade along the front of the terraced building, which contained weathered images of Itza Warriors. (See figure 7) While excavating the ruins, they found a Chac Mool, a number of Atlantean figures, and sections of huge columns sculptured in the form of plumed serpents which originally had been set up on either side of the temple’s doorways. Gallenkamp talks about a hidden temple inlayed within the Temple of the