The Puuc Maya

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Chubby Figures

From a geographic perspective, the Puuc is a hilly region running across the northwest corner of the Yucatán peninsula. Historically, the Puuc societies reached their heyday during the Epi-Classic period, particularly during the relatively brief period between 800 and 900 AD. Although the Puuc Maya also carved flat stone stelae, the flat, cylindrical style that human bodies and especially heads were sculpted around is more distinct to this region. Such is the case with the tall sculpture at right, which used to stand as a structural pillar at Oxkintok. The stone sculpture at left, with unusually swollen cheeks, is from Yucatán State.

Dzibilchaltun Site Museum, National Museum of Anthropology and History


Hochob Temple

At the National Museum of Anthropology stands a full reproduction of the Hochob temple from Yucatán. The human faces at the upper corners of the main structure have been interpreted as stellar deities. Two rows of standing men, clad in only commoners' loincloths, crest atop the facade. What stand out most on this temple is its entrance, an enormous face representing the literal jaws of the earth that characterized caves. Priests acting within the temple's inner chamber were, in effect, drawing from the sacred power within the recesses of the earth.

National Museum of Anthropology and History


Temple of the Magician

Uxmal and other Puuc cities in the northern Yucatán are relatively late in the Maya chronology, the inhabitants having settled in the peninsula's northern lowlands by the ninth century A.D. and onwards. The Temple of the Magician is a masterwork of Puuc Maya architecture. The stairs on the western (left) side have a nearly perfect 60-degree slope, and on the east side the stairway is set at 45 degrees. While the apex has a rectangular border, the sloping corners round off towards the bottom until the temple's base is an oval. Legend holds that a dwarf magician built the temple in a single night.

Uxmal


Palace of the Governor

Many Mesoamerican cities have building schematics coordinated to astronomical patterns. The leftmost of the three buildings in the first image, the Palace of the Governor is dated to the tenth century AD. With seven major entrance halls and four along the periphery, the palace's main face points southeast. It is now known that the center niche was aimed directly to face Venus during the planet's southernmost descent. On the right is a close-up of part of the southeastern facade.

Uxmal


Great Temple Macaw and Owl

The Great Temple of Uxmal is also called the Temple of the Macaws, after the reliefs at its main complex. Riddled with images of macaws and owls, the temple also features many faces of the Rain Lord Chaak, including a massive one near the floor of its central niche. The bird at left is one of the macaw reliefs on the main northern face. The owl, such as in the relief at right, is barely the icon of wisdom from the Old World as much as a dark spirit in Mesoamerica. Many creatures associated with the night are likewise believed to pass into the realm of the dead. These include the owl, the jaguar and the bat, all of which appear in the underworld, Xibalbá.

Uxmal


Nunnery Quadrangle

The "Nunnery" is in fact a large palace complex just west of the Temple of Magician. The interior of the courtyard is framed by four separate rectangular buildings. Each building is richly decorated in simple patterns and images of Chaacs, priests, birds, rulers and even a frieze of the Feathered Serpent. The serpent is likely a new addition to the building; even the carving looks superimposed onto the older wall.

Uxmal


The Cistern at K'abah, Yucatan

Because the Yucatan peninsula sees little rain during the winter months, the Maya built cisterns to store rainwater in the summer. This building features long rows of masks depicting the mythic Macaw deity, associated with (unchecked) political power.

K'abah