Uxmal is one of the most popular ancient Mayan sites. It is located on the Yucatan Peninsula, about 50 miles southwest of Merida. It is very well noted for its stone decorations that are carved in the stone. The design of the building was unlike all the other Mayan sites, because it was on the only ridge hill on the Yucatan Peninsula. The area surrounding Uxmal was home to 25,000 Mayans. It is considered one of the most beautiful and complex expressions of Puuc architecture. Puuc means hilly country which was given to the hills nearby.
It is sometimes called the Pyramid of the Dwarf because legend has it the 115 foot high pyramid was built by a magician. They thought that the magician was born from an egg and raised by a witch and ended up getting challenged by the ruler to build a huge pyramid in one day. After 1000 when invaders took over the peninsula, all the construction stopped. It began to be occupied by the League of Mayan. The site was abandoned shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.
The main ruins of the Uxmal cover about 150 acres with residential districts spreading further beyond. It is a grassy savannah surrounded by forest and the hilly landscape. Uxmal came from a man-made cistern that collected rain water, unlike most of the Yucatan sites. The concern with the water supply explains the popularity when it comes to Chac the rain god at the Puuc sites.
The pyramid is unique among Mayan structures because of its rounded sides, height, and steepness, and the doorway on the opposite side near the top. Its limestone core was originally covered with smooth plaster and painted red with blue, yellow and black. Uxmal is in better condition than many of the other Mayan sites. It was very well built and the concrete was into the core and they didn’t reply on the plaster and other things to hold the building together. Because it was preserved so good, the visitors can get a good idea of what it looked like in ancient times.
Uxmal was a center of power and a place of human sacrifice. Even though its nickname was dwarf there is nothing small about it. There are several generations of smaller pyramids inside the massive edifice. Skulls and bones were used as decoration around sites where they did a lot of human sacrifices. There were also a lot of carvings of animals and some bones .
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