The Stone Age pyramid at Chichen Itza

While the Egyptians were firmly a Bronze Age civilization, 3000 years later, on the other side of the world, The Mayans were still in the Stone Age.

With advanced geometry, they built this wonder of the world by hand.

It’s first picture in 1860.

1892, just before purchased by US consul, who spent the next 30 years exploring and finding many amazing things.

How the snakes looked in 1905.

This is also 1905, the pyramid has been cleared of debris. A lot of casing stones were taken by the Mayan ages ago for other buildings.

I found a conspiracy: a botched restoration. Most of what you see, is not original and Wikipedia, the Mexican tourist info, National Geographic… never mention it. This staircase isn’t original, but it was at least made with stones they found laying around the pyramid.

But then it was torn out and replaced with a completely new one. Local stones cut with saws.

Fully replacing the casing stones in 1922. Which stones are original and which aren’t, is lost.

Using what was there, they extrapolate the design.

These are not 1000 year old Mayan blocks, but 100 year old Mexican ones. Most of the originals were taken by the Mayans to build other things centuries ago.

The southeast side isn’t in disrepair, it was just never reconstructed. So if you go, you can still see 1000 year old stone cut blocks around the back.

The back side in 1995, if you’re like me, this is the side you want to see.

1973, you can see more dirt all over it. That’s been removed but luckily they don’t seem interested in reconstructing anymore.

The back of the temple on top, most pyramids have empty tops because the temples were wooden.

Temple of the feathered serpent. Human sacrifices took place inside.

View from top, check out the carved pillar.

It was fixed up, but is original.

Most Mayan pyramids only have 1 staircase, this one is unique.

How the snake head looks now

The sun casts a shadow that makes a snake on the balustrade. May not be an original feature and you don’t actually have to go at the equinox, it’s visible for weeks before and after.

The nearby sacred cenote, the Yucatán has no rivers or lakes, so this and rain were their freshwater sources.

They did sacrifices here too, lots of human bones at the bottom.

It was thought to be solid, but in 1931, they dig a tunnel into the core and found something amazing.

A whole ass other pyramid. The Mayans didn’t dismantle previous construction, they just built over them.

Seeing these carvings and huge temple while underground is so bizarre.

The inner pyramid also has a temple on top, and inside is this guy.

He’s a chacmool, and his lounging position represents a slain warrior bringing a sacrifice to the gods. Human hearts would go on its belly.

A year after it was dug out a second room was found and the temple was named the temple of the red jaguar for what was found inside.

It’s a seat for a king of priest to observe rituals happening at the chacmool

Jade eyes, flint teeth, and brightly painted. One of the coolest artifacts I’ve seen and I’m sure you guys will love it. Look, a kitty!

More carved pillars but since these were buried, their color has survived.

Pillar on the other side.

Behind the red jaguar, there are two rows of bones embedded in the wall.

Human femurs.

Recent experiments reveal there is yet another pyramid underneath this one, but it’s yet to be observed.

I dive deeper into the history and structure in my video on the subject: https://youtu.be/RSnvAKflAdo