TRADITIONS OF THE SUN: THE YUCATAN by Michelle Bienias
Fittingly launched on the June 22, 2005 solstice, Traditions of the Sun: The Yucatan explores the civilization of sites such as Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun, Mayapan, Kabah, Ek Balam, and others all across the Yucatan with nearly three dozen QuickTime VRs, photos and time-lapse movies. To the ancient Maya in the Yucatan, understanding the Sun was tantamount to survival, and this site aims to form a common bond between these great structures and people of the past and our own understanding of the Sun today. The site utilizes a non-linear platform of satellite images and aerial photography, making it easy to discern how buildings are aligned and their relationship to each other, while making it easy to navigate and get one’s bearings.
Traditions of the Sun: The Yucatan is the second in a series of projects exploring the world's ancient observatories, the first one examined Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. The Traditions project was conceived by NASA's Sun-Earth Connection Education Forum and Ideum. Ideum’s Jim Spadaccini points out that some of the locations were off-limits to visitors, and the group gained access through contacts with INAH - the federal agency charged with restoring and preserving these sites.
On the homepage of Traditions of the Sun, click on the left-hand side of the page to launch the Yucatan site, (the right side is a separate but related site, Chaco Culture National Historical Park). Once the site launches you’ll find a zoom-able satellite map of the Yucatan on the right with submenus of Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun and Mayapan. Beneath the aerial map are overlay options, which turn on and off the icons for photographs, QTVRs, time-lapse movies and a political map.
Chichen Itza Chichen Itza has an interesting time-lapse movie, shot the afternoon of the spring equinox, when thousands of people gathered to witness the light and shadow on the Castillo as the sun moves through the sky, giving the effect of a giant serpent descending the staircase. The panoramas in this section include: the Sacred Cenote, a natural pool of water that lies at the end of a 900-meter ancient road leading due north from the Great Plaza of the Castillo; the Ossuary, or Tomb of the High Priest; and the Observatory with its windows and doorjambs aligned to provide maximum viewing of the sun, moon and planet Venus.
The House of the Magician at Uxmal The House, or Pyramid, of the Egyptian, at Uxmal, has a juxtaposition of styles, the result of at least five separate stages of construction. The pano shows the view from the penultimate temple of the House overlooking the Court of the Birds below and the Nunnery Quadrangle beyond it. In the distance, the Governor’s Palace, House of the Turtles, and Pyramid of the Macaws are visible. Legend says that the House of the Magician originated as the result of a wager between a dwarf and the ruling governor. The last in a series of tests of strength killed the governor, thereby proving the dwarf’s magical powers and right to rule. He lived out his days in the House, which was built up around him in one night, while he slept.
Temple of the Sun in Dzibilchaltun The time-lapse movie of the sun at the Temple of the Sun in Dzibilchaltun was taken from the same spot at two different times of the year, first showing the suns wider arc before the spring equinox, and then the sunrise on the day of the equinox, perfectly capturing how the Temple is aligned so that the sunrise appears directly between the two doors on the morning of the equinox.
The Palace of Masks at Kabah The Palace of the Masks at Kabah is completely covered with monster masks, each composed of eighteen different blocks. As the text beneath the pano informs, people in areas without natural cenotes were entirely at the mercy and whims of the rains. To combat this uncertainty, the built “choltunes”, or bottle-shaped cisterns for collecting rain water (see an example in the courtyard). This technological development may explain the eventual settlement of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Spadaccini and his team traveled to the Yucatan in November 2004, and again in February 2005 and a final trip in March 2005, in time for the Spring Equinox. “We spent a little less than four weeks total in Mexico conducting shoots sites across the Yucatan. We shot nearly 40 QuickTime VRs and thousands of photographs.” In Mexico they worked with the Instituto Nacional de Anthropoligia e Historia, who gave them access to restricted areas and provided information about the sites of the Yucatan. Currently, the site is being translated into Spanish and plans are to launch the Spanish language version in the fall. “We're hoping to get funding to develop the next Traditions of the Sun project on the Maya sites of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras”, he reports.
