Mayapan ("Banner of the Mayas") is considered the last great Maya capital, dating back to the beginning of the common Era and reaching its golden age in the Postclassic period.
Although it is believed that Mayapan together with Uxmal and Chichen Itza formed a triple alliance, recent archaeological excavations indicate that these two last cities actually flourished well before Mayapan.
In the mid-XV century, Mayapan was destroyed, burned and abandoned.
Mayapan (in Spanish Mayapán) is a Pre-ColumbianMaya site in the state of Yucatan, Mexico, about 40 km south-east of Merida and 100 km west of Chichen Itza.
Mayapan was the political capital of the Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula from about the late 1220s until 1440s.
It was decided to build a new capital city near the town of Techaquillo[?], hometown of Hunac Ceel[?], the general who defeated the rulers of Chichen Itza.
Mayapan was the center of a large alliance of people.
Many provinces had allegiance to Mayapan, but the walls are defensive structures and demographic data indicates that it was a densely inhabitated city within the walls.
As in the case of its classical counterpart, the immediate cause of the trouble may have been the abduction of the wife, but the struggle doubtless originated in political jealousies of long standing and the desire of one city to obtain control of economic resources previously enjoyed by another.
Then late in the Twelfth Century, Hunac Ceel, the ruler of Mayapan, organized a conspiracy against Chichen Itzá, as the result of which he conquered the latter city aided by seven foreign Mexican captains and probably also by the people of Izamal.
Mayapan was seized by the Itzá men who had been separated from their homes because of the people of Izamal and because of the treachery of Hunac Ceel."
Mayapan, reaching its zenith around 1200 AD, represents one of the largest assemblages of Mayan ruins in the Yucatan and is one of the few walled Mayan cities.
The largest pyramid is the Castle of Kukulkan, made as a smaller replica of the Castle of Chichen Itza.
Mayapan also is home to many circular buildings, or observatories.
had been celebrated at Mayapan until the destruction of that city, and it was peculiarly the affair of the chiefs and priests who had assembled from the various parts of the country.
By the time of the fall of Mayapan, however, they were probably Mexican only by tradition, for the Spanish conquerors found them speaking only Maya some sixty years later.
The Chel family was descended from Mo-Chel, the noble son-in-law of one of the principal priests at Mayapan.
Mayapan (mah-yah-PAHN), located in the Yucatan in Southeastern Mexico, approximately 24 mi/39 km SSE of Merida; GPS, 20°28'N 89°11'W. Our first impression of Mayapan is that it is a beautiful, uncrowded archaeological site and that it is a wonderful place to visit.
The obvious difference between Mayapan and Chichen Itza is that the buildings at Mayapan are not built as well as at Chichen Itza.
Most of the other ceremonial center structures at mayapan seem to be long hallways faced with colonnades.
La Mujer Obrera(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
The Mayapan Plate, another of Cafe Mayapan's signature dishes, includes a taco, chile relleno, and red enchilada with beans and rice.
The restaurant, which is adjacent to Mercado Mayapan, is open on Mondays through Fridays, 11 a.m.
Cafe Mayapan is located at 2000 Texas Avenue, El Paso, Texas.
www.mujerobrera.org /cafemayapan.php (202 words)
Mayapan(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
Mayapan is a site located on the Yucatan Peninsula forty-seven kilometers southeast of Merida, the capital of the State of Yucatan, Mexico.
Mayapan continued to prosper between 1250 and 1450. The mid 1400's marked the end of the city when a rebellion overthrew Mayapan and nearly destroyed the city.
“Mayapan.” Visits to the Yucatan Peninsula (8 Nov 2000)
Morley concluded that "although Mayapan reached a position of first importance only at the close of Maya history when architectural decadence was well under way, its size satisfactorily agrees with the political preeminence ascribed to it by both the native and the Spanish chroniclers" (1938:142).
Although Pollock later avowed that Patton's map was of great help to Morris Jones in making the final site map (Pollock 1962: 3), Patton's work was never published, although Brainerd used part of his map of the ceremonial center as an illustration (Brainerd 1958: 347).
Brainerd was able to identify limited stratigraphic change in pottery types, notably the succession from "coarse slateware" (now Peto Cream ware) to "coarse redware" (now Mayapan Red ware), and the increasing frequencies of effigy censer fragments through time.
This city was built as imitation of Chichen Itza, in a period of fights between the different mayan provinces in decadence.
It should be said that from the post classic period an epoch of destruction begings at Mayapan structure as a result of the fights before the conquest and then during the conquest due the imposition of the spaniard's culture.
These mythical Mayan ruins remain to remind us of the ancient capital of the triple alliance formed with Uxmal and Chichen Itza.
Maya Area: Native Peoples, 1400-1600 A.D. | Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-13)
The K'iche' kingdom expands aggressively, leading to control of most of the Guatemalan highlands and parts of the cacao-producing Pacific coast lands.
The rulers of Mayapan erect stelae, tall stone slabs covered with relief sculpture, a common practice in the central Maya area a thousand years earlier.
Women from all over Yucatan come to worship at shrines containing sculptures with the image of the Maya moon goddess Ixchel, patroness of childbirth, pregnancy, and fertility.
Tour By Mexico ® - Mayapan Archaeological Zone in Yucatan State, Mexico
Also you will observe many mounds in their original state (covered with trees, shrubs, etc.) and others in transformation with the archaeologists actually working on them.
In Mayapan you can visit some outstanding buildings such as:
