GUIDING SERPENT SCULPTURE DISCOVERED AT CHICHEN ITZA [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

GUIDING SERPENT SCULPTURE DISCOVERED AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY (INAH) HAVE DISCOVERED A SERPENT SCULPTURE AT THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF CHICHÉN ITZÁ, LOCATED IN THE TINÚM MUNICIPALITY OF THE MEXICAN STATE OF YUCATÁN.



Chichén Itzá was a pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The city was a major focal point in the Northern Maya Lowlands from the Late Classic (AD 600–900) through the Terminal Classic (AD 800–900) and into the early phases of the Postclassic period (AD 900–1200).

Excavations have been financed by the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones by the Federal Government. This has led to the discovery of a serpent sculpture which served to guide the route from the Kukulcán Pyramid, also known as El templo, to the Sacred Cenote in the north of the city civic precinct.

The Sacred Cenote is a limestone sinkhole, which according to Maya and Spanish post-Conquest sources (later confirmed by archaeological studies), was used for depositing ritual offerings and human bodies in sacrifice to the Maya rain god, Chaac.



Kukulcán Pyramid – Image Credit : Shutterstock

The serpent statue is orientated towards the Sacred Cenote and delimited the sacbe, meaning “white road”, which was a ceremonial route constructed to connect important structures or plazas with ceremonial centres.

More:
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/03/guiding-serpent-sculpture-discovered-at-chichen-itza/146572