At only a 22 kilometer distance
from the city of Merida the archaeological site of Dzibilchaltun is located,
marvel identified as one of the most ancient Mayan Centers in the northern zone,
the name signifies `Place where there is writing on the stones´. It was
inhabited continuously from 500 years B.C. until the arrival of the Spaniards.
Although its tourist attraction
is concentrated in what is today its urban or ceremonial center, its territory
covered close to 17 square kilometers and was connected to other Mayan centers
by stone roads called sacbes.
According to hundreds of
vestiges found in the area, Dzibilchaltun had more than 40 thousand inhabitants
in its apogee and carried on because of its proximity to the seacoast, intensive
trade with products such as salt and fish.
Its principal source of water
supply was the sinkhole X´lakah, which during the 1950´s was explored by a group
of scientific investigators headed by the archaeologist, E.Willys Andrews, under
the sponsorship of Tulane University.
In the cenote´s depths they
found fossils and Mayan ceramic shards. The Temple of the Seven Dolls is an
outstanding relic to which the archaeologist, Victor Segovia, assigned the
purpose of ceremonial rites dedicated to the sun and the moon which were
celebrated with devout masses in attendance.
This investigator advances the
theory that the governing class carried out ceremonies of light and shade to
reinforce their supposed positions as intermediaries between the sun god and the
populace.
