Ancient Mayan Ruins

FROM WHERE I SIT Ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico Feb. 15, 2013




Last week we flew to sunny Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and visited the ancient Mayan ruins at Tulum. Each time we take a trip outside the USA, I’m reminded of how young my country is in relation to other countries around the world. When we visit our daughter in Mexico City, we’ve enjoyed the ancient canals of Xochimilco, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the far south of Mexico City. These canals were built in pre-Hispanic times by the Aztecs who created floating flower and vegetable gardens. Tourists buy flowers, fruit, Corona Mexican beer, and tacos from boats floating on the canals and enjoy the music of mariachi bands floating on another boat. Many canals were part of Mexico City until the Spanish came with their horses and filled in this mode of transportation.



In the 1990’s Dave was flying American Airline flights to Cairo, Egypt, and took his family along to a different world. We rode camels to the pyramids and colorful Ramadan tents erected in the desert. We visited bustling, ancient markets from before Christ’s time and entered the City of the Dead where people live in tombs of wealthy, deceased residents where electricity was piped in for TV reception. People living there still cook on open fires on dirt floors.



Sometime I’d like to visit England’s Stonehenge where historians are still studying the monumental rock formations created thousands of years ago. I loved friendly Italy where I visited Rome’s Coliseum to see where gladiators had fought lions and Cameo Joe sold ivory cameos to fascinated tourists. As I walked through the underground tombs, where bones slept and ancient Christians worshipped, history’s timeline cast an eerie spell over me.



Most of us are fascinated by Europe’s towering cathedrals, castles, and royalty. Tourists can observe that life was so different in those years filled with opulent splendors for the ruling classes, but Charles Dickens wrote of the underclass’ dire poverty, their daily struggle to raise families with little food and shelter.



We read that Mexico’s Tulum ruins are the third most visited archaeological site in Mexico just outside of Playa del Carmen on the Riviera Maya south of Cancun . On a cliff overlooking the Caribbean, Tulum represents an advanced civilization that flourished from around 1200 AD until the arrival of the Spanish. It was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Mayans. Tulum was inhabited by 1000 to 1600 people who lived in platform dwellings along a street and supervised the trade traffic. Most inhabitants lived outside the walled city, leaving the interior for residences of the governors and priests and ceremonial structures. At its height, between the 13th and 15th centuries, it managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico and brought Old World diseases causing the city’s demise.



Tulum means “enclosure”. It was protected from invasions by a 16 ft thick wall on three sides, interrupted by five gates. The original name is believed to have been Zama or Dawn, reflecting the west-east alignment of its buildings facing the sunrise. Tulum had access to both land and sea trade routes, making it an important trade hub, especially for obsidian, a dark stone highly valued.



Tulum appears to have been an important site for the worship of the Diving or Descending god, the main god honored at Tulum depicted on several buildings as an upside-down figure above doorways. Castillo, or the castle, is Tulum’s largest and most prominent building. It served as a landmark for sailors. Directly opposite the castle is a cove and landing beach at a break in the sea cliffs, perfect for trading canoes to come in.



The Temple of the Frescoes in front of the castle was used as an observatory for tracking movements of the sun. 13th century frescoes are contained inside, but visitors are no longer permitted to go inside. The Mayan frescoes represent the rain god Chaac and Ixchel, goddess of weaving, women, the moon, and medicine. Supernatural serpents are a common motif. On the cornice of the temple is a relief of the head of the rain god.. From a distance visitors can make out his eyes, nose, mouth and chin.



Coastal and land routes converged at Tulum, apparent by the number of artifacts found in or near the site. Contacts with areas all over Central Mexico and Central America are apparent by copper artifacts from the Mexican highlands plus flint artifacts, ceramics, incense burners, and gold objects from all over the Yucatan. Salt and textiles were some of the goods brought to Tulum by sea. Typical exported goods included feathers and copper objects coming form inland sources. They could be transported by sea to rivers and taken inland by seafaring canoes with access to the highlands and lowlands.



Today, we continue to wonder at the knowledge of the Egyptians, Aztecs, and Mayans, who understood when to plant, when to harvest, and how to build pyramids. The knowledge of the moon, sun, and tides these ancient civilizations had is totally amazing to anyone visiting these sites today. 859 words