66 RESEARCH AT THE RUINS OF CHICKEN ITZA, YUCATAN. 



Maya had become familiar with their new environment and their energies 

 once more had begun to find outlet in artistic expression. The Transitional 

 Period was at an end, and the Maya Renaissance was under way. 



The opening of the eleventh century witnessed important and far- 

 reaching political changes in Yucatan. After the destruction of Chakan- 

 putun, the horizon of Maya activity expanded. Some of the Maya returned 

 to their former homes at Chichen Itza and reoccupied that city, while others 

 established themselves at a new site called Mayapan (Plate 12). At this 

 time also the city of Uxmal was founded. In 1000 a. d. these three cities 

 formed a confederacy, under the terms of which each shared equally in the 

 government of the country. Under the peaceful conditions which followed 

 this coalition, the arts blossomed anew. This was the second and last great 

 Maya epoch. During its course there doubtless arose the many cities whose 

 crumbling ruins are to be found to-day throughout the length and breadth of 

 Yucatan. When these were occupied, the country must have been one vast 

 hive of activity, for only large numbers of people, actuated by a great rehgious 

 and sesthetic awakening, could have left remains so extensive. 



This era of universal peace was abruptly terminated about 1200 a. d. by 

 an event which shook the political structure to its foundations and disrupted 

 the "Triple Alliance," under whose beneficent rule the land had grown so 

 prosperous. The ruler of Chichen Itza seems to have plotted against his 

 colleague of Mayapan, and in the disastrous war which followed, the latter 

 (by the aid of Nahua allies brought from Mexico) utterly routed his opponent 

 and drove him from his capital. 



The conquest of Chichen Itza seems to have been followed during the 

 thirteenth century by attempted reprisals on the part of the Itza, which 

 plunged the country into civil war. After the dissolution of the "Triple 

 Alliance" it seems probable that Chichen Itza was given by the ruler of 

 Mayapan to his Nahua aUies in recognition of their assistance. At least 

 many of the buildings at Chichen Itza are strongly Nahua in character, a 

 condition which prevails at no other large city in the Maya area.' 



According to the early Spanish chroniclers, the fourteenth century was 

 characterized by increasing arrogance and oppression on the part of the 

 rulers of Mayapan, who found it necessary to surround themselves with 

 Nahua fighting men to keep in check the rising discontent of their subjects. 

 This unrest culminated about the middle of the fifteenth century, when the 

 Maya nobility, goaded to desperation by this oppression, banded themselves 

 together under the Lord of Uxmal, sacked Mayapan, and slew its ruler. 



The destruction of Mayapan sounded the death-knell of the INIaya civili- 

 zation. As the native chroniclers tersely put it, "(After this) The chiefs of 

 the country lost their power," and again, "They were destroyed and it was 

 ended with those called Mayas." The population was spUt into a number of 



>Thia is particularly true of the Ball Court, which is a purely Nahua type of building. See page 75 

 and plate 3 b. 



