UXMAL AND CURLY-NOSED CHAC
By Anne Kiehl & Dave Krieg
Uxmal was the greatest city of the Puuc Maya culture of NE Yucatan. It is 50 miles south of Merida in a range of low hills and covered with brush. The site was first occupied about 600 AD and flourished between 750 AD and 900 AD. There are nearby satellite towns of Sayil, Kabah, Xlapak, and Labna. Uxmal means "thrice built" in Maya; actually it was rebuilt 5 times.
Puuc style architecture includes thin squares of limestone, veneer, decorated cornices, boot shaped vault stones, rows of attached half columns, and upper facades heavily decorated with stone mosaics of sky-serpents and monster masks.
Scarcity of water was a big problem. There are no lakes or rivers, and rainfall
(confined to the winter) was less than in eastern Yucatan. Rain water was
collected in natural holes and man-made cisterns. If these went dry during the
summer dry season, it was a major problem. The religious ceremonies and
great centers of worship were devoted to Chac, the rain god.
This site had so many enormous temples and structures that we spent the
entire day climbing pyramids and walking through the grounds studying as
much as possible, until we were very tired.
We could almost imagine how Uxmal looked in 1841 when the first explorer,
John Stephens, and his artist companion, Frederick Catherwood, found it in
dense jungle. Dave and I bought a beautiful book, "The Lost Cities of the
Mayas", with colored copies of Catherwood's original engravings. It was fun
to compare their pictures with what we saw. I will tell you about the major structures:
The Pyramid of the Magician (He was also called "the dwarf") was the highest: 128 feet. A heavy chain helped us climb the steps that were on a difficult 60 degree angle. The main doorway was formed into the mouth of a gigantic Chac mask.
The Governor's Palace was the home of Lord Chac, Uxmal's last and most powerful leader. On the corners of the building are hideous masks, one over the other, with protruding trunk or proboscis. Some early European explorers saw the long snouts, and thinking of elephants, speculated that Egyptians had built the structures. Above the doorway is the most ornate frieze in the Puuc region, made from more than 15,000 carved pieces.
The Nunnery Quadrangle consists of four long palace-like structures with many entrances and complexes of 74 rooms. It is decorated with many long-snouted masks, and crosshatched stone matting. We located eight double-headed serpents that lie on top of each other. An owl sculpture was carved in the center of the serpents. We learned that the owl represented warfare and sacrifice in the Maya culture.
We saw the Ball Court, the remains of the Great Pyramid, the house of the Old Woman (the home of the dwarf's magician mother -- a sorcerer). The small House of the Turtles had various turtles carved on the cornice. The Maya myth was that turtles also prayed for rain.
At 9 PM we headed for seats at the Nunnery, to enjoy a SOUND and LIGHT SHOW. It was a moving experience to be in the darkness surrounded by stark stone ruins, listening to rich Mexican narration and a wonderful symphony orchestra echoing from temple to temple. Colored lights flashed first on one building and then on another. We heard the story of the Maya history in Spanish. It was a little difficult to follow, but the theme was pleading with the rain god Chac to send rain to save the crops and thus the people. The sound system was so excellent that when the rains finally came, it was so real we felt that we should put up umbrellas.
