The archaeological site of Uxmal is on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, 50 miles south of the city of Merida. It contains the ruins of an ancient Mayan city dating to the late Classic and early Postclassic eras. The structures are the best representatives of the Puuc style architecture and are very well preserved. Its intricately carved building facades and graceful style make it a particularly attractive ruin.
Uxmal appears to have originated before the 6th century AD, reaching its height during the 700's and 900's. We know little about its political development, although we do know that during the 800's it was ruled by the kings Chac-Uinal-Kan and Chac. The city may have been influenced by the Putun Itza Maya, a group with ties to central Mexico that ruled nearby Chichen Itza after the 800's. Uxmal seems to have benefited from the fall of the Peten cities to the south, taking over their role in the trade with central Mexico. At its height, the city was home to perhaps 20,000 people. There is some conflict as to when the city was abandoned. Some maintain that this occurred during the late 900's, possibly due to war with Chichen Itza. However, Mayan legend has it that Uxmal was a member of the League of Mayapan during the Postclassic period, and some maintain that Uxmal was not abandoned entirely until the time of the Spanish conquest, although it had declined much earlier. Its ruling class would have depended on peasants who cut the surrounding scrub jungle to grow corn, much as Mayan peasants in the area do today. There is evidence of some sophisticated agricultural techniques, including irrigation networks and the storage of water in underground cisterns.
The major buildings at Uxmal were constructed between the 8th and 10th centuries, somewhat later than the Classic Mayan centers further to the south. They are all in the Puuc and Chenes styles, very distinctive and different from other Mayan architecture. These styles involve a rubble core faced by precisely cut, inter-fitting stones. Unlike other Mayan buildings, these needed little plaster covering. The stones were arranged into geometric patterns or into representations of humans or supernatural figures. The most common and distinctive of these representations is that of the rain god Chaac, whose toothy, hook-nosed visage can be found everywhere, particularly on the corners of buildings and over doorways. Other carvings represent the Sky Serpent, perhaps related to Quetzalcoatl. Unlike Maya further south, there was little stelae construction, and the emphasis was less on tall pyramids and more on long palace-like structures.
The tallest structure at Uxmal is the oval-shaped Pyramid of the Magician. Nearby is the Nunnery Quadrangle, a set of single-story structures with intricate Puuc-style facades enclosing a square courtyard. To the south of these is a ballcourt, and beyond that, the Governor's Palace, a long, low structure whose facade includes the image of the great ruler Lord Chac. Further south lies the large, unexcavated Great Pyramid, and the South Temple, which features the remnant of a large doorway carved in the form of Chaac's gaping mouth.
The first visitor to describe Uxmal was Count Jean-Frédéric Waldeck in 1836. The site became widely known after a detailed exploration and description by the famous John L. Stephens and Frederic Catherwood in 1841. To the immediate south of Uxmal lie several other Mayan cities dating to around the same time and sharing Uxmal's Puuc style, and which may have been dependencies of Uxmal. These include Kabah, Sayil, Labna, and Xlapak. Kabah is noted for the Codz Pop, or Palace of the Masks, whose front facing is covered entirely with stone masks of Chaac. It is connected to Uxmal by a raised stone road, or sacbe. Sayil is renowned for its large 3-story structure known as the Palace, known for its facade of linteled columns.
References:
Ferguson, William M. and Richard E.W. Adams. Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2001.
“Maya Lowland Centers: Uxmal”. Athena Review. http://www.athenapub.com/uxmal1.htm. November 30, 2003.
“Uxmal”. Wikipedia. (November 28, 2003). http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uxmal. November 30, 2003.
Written by Michael D. Snell-Feikema