Chichén Itzá Ruins - Ruin Chichén Itzá - Mexico

Chichén Itzá fascinates historians and archeologists as a city with a long, complicated development, displaying in its construction elements of both Mayan and Toltec styles.

This fusion has led to competing theories of origin and growth but one fact remains paramount: Chichén Itzá was long a cosmopolitan Meso-American center, influencing and influenced by a wide geographic area. Urbanized first in the 5th century AD, the city was likely settled because of two deep sources of water, including the Sacred Cenote. In the 6th century the area known now as Chichén Viejo emerged. Its buildings indicate the influence of the southern Yucatan region, with aspects of the Puuc and Chenes styles prominently featured in the architecture.

Major Chichén Itzá buildings date from the early 10th century, during which the city reached its peak. Ongoing controversy surrounds the reason for strong Toltec, or Central Mexican, influence in Chichén Itzá’s appearance. It was during this time that the city found its distinctive visual style: the gentler, detailed lyricism of Mayan esthetics emboldened by the aggressiveness and weight of the Toltec.

Around 1,000 AD, the Itzás inhabited and renamed the city. Some archeologists surmise that neighboring Mayapan overwhelmed the city in 1220 AD. Current theory holds that Chichén Itzá did not collapse and was never fully abandoned. It remained a viable military force when, in 1533, Mayan warriors repelled the Spanish soldiers led by Francisco de Montejo, the Younger.

By 1588 Chichén Itzá, however, had become a cattle-raising Spanish hacienda. Contemporary fascination with Chichén Itzá began in 1843 with the publication of Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood. In 1894 Edward Thompson began his exploration of the site and was succeeded by Sylvanus Morley in 1924.

Working alongside these foreign explorers have been countless native Mexican archeologists and laborers; the site and its excavation is supervised by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Discoveries continue unabated at Chichén Itzá. In 2009 archeologist Rafael Cobos uncovered the base of a building that dates possibly from the year 800 AD, located between El Castillo and the Temple of the Warriors. As time, money, scholarship and luck permit, revealing Chichén Itzá’s hidden mysteries will take centuries.

Ruin