RESEARCH AT THE RUINS OF CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. 75 



ruler of IVIaj'apan. Here, then, are sufficient historical grounds to account 

 for the presence of a strong Nahua influence at Chichen Itza This influ- 

 ence is to be seen most clearlj^ in the so-called Ball-Court group (see Plate 

 13; H, Plate 14; and Plate 3 b). The Ball Court proper is composed of 

 two massive stone walls, each 272 feet long, 34 feet thick, and 27 feet high. 

 These walls are parallel and 119 feet apart. A small temple faces each of 

 the open ends, and a very beautiful temple, "The Temple of the Jaguars" 

 (Plate 5), surmounts the eastern wall at its southern end. The name of 

 this temple is derived from a frieze of stalking jaguars, which forms a 

 conspicuous element of the fagade decoration. (For a detail of this motive, 

 see Plate 4 a.) An admirable restoration of this temple, by Maudslay, is 

 figured in Plate 6. A comparison of this with the photograph of the same 

 building, illustrated in Plate 5, will show that it is correct, even to the 

 smallest sculptural details. High on the side of each wall of the Ball Court, 

 midway between the ends, there is a large stone ring fastened vertically 

 to the face of the wall, as shown in Plate 3 b. The game played in this 

 court was not unlike the modern game of basket-ball, except that in the 

 Maya game the ball was driven through an opening at right angles to, 

 instead of parallel with, the ground.' The Ball Court is a purely Nahua 

 importation. The game was originated and developed in the Nahua area, 

 whence it spread to Yucatan at a comparatively late date, probably after 

 1200 A. D., as we have seen. Indeed there is only one other certain occur- 

 rence of a Ball Court in Yucatan, namely, at Uxmal. There are many 

 other features of the architecture and sculpture at Chichen Itza that 

 bespeak Nahua origin, and few of them are found at any other Maya site.^ 

 This condition, coupled with the historical event which probably gave rise 

 to it, makes Chichen Itza the site par excellence at which to study the 

 cultural affinities between the Maya and the Nahua, the two greatest 

 aboriginal civilizations of North America. 



6. Chichen Itza, the most likely Site at ivhich to find a Maya" Rosetta Stone." 



The point just mentioned has an important corollarj', in that the 

 meanings of a large number of the Nahua hieroglyphs, particularly those 

 denoting personal and place names, are known. In the lower chamber of 

 the Temple of the Jaguars there is sculptured a band of warriors, to each 

 of which is attached a hieroglyph drawn in Nahua style. The finding of 

 Maya equivalents of these glyphs would shed much light on the whole 

 question of the undeciphered parts of the Maya hieroglyphic texts. Should 

 there then exist such a thing as a Maya "Rosetta Stone," that is, a bilingual 

 text in Maya and Nahua, Chichen Itza is by far the most likely place to 

 find it. 



7. Chichen Itza, the most notable Historic Site in the Maya Culture Area. 



Chichen Itza has a recorded history extending over a period of eleven 

 centuries, or from 430 a. d. to 1540 a. d.' This is true of no other Maya 

 city, and indeed of no other aboriginal site in the Western Hemisphere. 

 Recorded history pertaining to pre-Columbian centers of population is 



'See Appendix V, p. 91, for a full description of the game played in this court. 



^"A Study of IMiiya Art, Its Subject Matter and Historical Development," Dr. H. J. Spinden, p. 205. 



^See Papers of the School of American Archseology, Noa. 11 and IS. Sylvanua G. Morley. 



