Mexico/Yucatan: Dzibilchaltun Ruins
Yet another Mayan archaeological site, just NW of Merida – Dzibilchaltun. This is one of the oldest Mayan sites and had been occupied for nearly 2000 years from about 600BC to well after the Doanish arrived in 1500s. It’s a relatively small site now, but used to be a city of 200,000 inhabitants. The main feature architecturally here is a unique Temple of the Seven Dolls (Templo de las Siete Muñecas), which stands solitary on one side of the site and then a long road connects it to the rest of the site with pyramids and platform and terraces. The Temple of the Dolls and its doorways on two sides were constructed in a specific and deliberate direction so that during the spring and fall equinoxes the sun’s rays pass exactly straight through the doorways.
