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  Pyramid of Kulkulkan/Quetzalcoatl, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico              While the earliest archaeological artifacts thus far found at Chichen Itza date from            AD 1 to 250, it is probable that the site was settled at an earlier time.  The flat            limestone plateau that makes up most of the Yucatan peninsula had been inhabited            by proto-Mayan tribes for at least 8000 years.  These nomadic peoples would            certainly have discovered (and imbued with legendary sanctity) the enormous natural            well, next to which the great city of Chichen Itza later grew.  As a social center            Chichen Itza began its rise to prominence with the arrival of a seafaring people in            the eighth century.  Called the Itza by archaeologists, these merchant warriors first            colonized the northern coastal areas of the Yucatan peninsula and then ventured            inland.  After their conquest of the holy city of Izamal, the Itza settled            at a sacred spot that would become known as Chichen Itza, "the Well of the Itza."            From this site they rapidly became the rulers of much of the Yucatan peninsula.            Writing of Chichen Itza, Mayan scholars Linda Schele and David Freidel tell us:            "After over a thousand years of success, most ot the kingdoms of the southern            lowlands collapsed in the ninth century.  In the wake of this upheaval, the Maya of            the northern lowlands tried a different style of government.  They centered their            world around a single capital at Chichen Itza.  Not quite ruler of an empire, Chichen            Itza became, for a time, first among the many allied cities of the north and the pivot            of the lowland Maya world.  It also differed from the royal cities before it, for it had            a council of many lords rather than one ruler."              The written history of the city covers only a short period, with the earliest clear date            being AD 867.  The traditional interpretation of the history of Chichen Itza held that            the city was occupied several times by various groups of people, beginning with the            Mayans and ending with Toltec invaders from the city of Tula in central Mexico.            While numerous archaeology and history books still ascribe to this interpretation, it            is now known that Chichen Itza was occupied continuously by the Mayans.  The            Toltec influences found in the art and architecture of certain areas of the great city            were the result of the patronage of a cosmopolitan nobilty involved in trade with the            Tula Toltecs and other Mesoamerican peoples.              The Pyramid of Kukulkan (the Feathered Serpent God, also known as Quetzalcoatl)            is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza.  This            ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries directly            upon the multiple foundations of previous temples.  The pyramid is a store-house of            information on the Mayan calendar.  Each face of the four-sided structure has a            stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform            at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year.  On each face of the pyramid            the central stairway divides the nine terraces into eighteen segments representing the            eighteen months of the Mayan calendar.  The pyramid is also directionally oriented to            mark the solstices and equinoxes.  The axes that run through the northwest and            southwest corners of the pyramid are oriented toward the rising point of the sun at            the summer solstice and its setting point at the winter solstice.  The northern stairway            was the principal sacred path leading to the summit.  At sunset on the vernal and            autumnal equinoxes, an interplay between the sun's light and the edges of the            stepped terraces on the pyramid creates a fascinating - and very brief - shadow            display upon the sides of the northern stairway.  A serrated line of seven interlocking            triangles gives the impression of a long tail leading downward to the stone head of            the serpent Kukulkan, at the base of the stairway.              The massive pyramidal temples found at Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Palenque   and many other major Maya sites were symbolic sacred mountains.  Schele and Freidel explain in A Forest of Kings:  The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya:           "To the Maya, the world was alive and imbued with a sacredness that was especially            concentrated at special points, like caves and mountains.  The principal pattern of            power points had been established by the gods when the cosmos was created.            Within this matrix of sacred landscape, human beings built communities that both            merged with the god-generated patterns and created a second human-made matrix of            power points.  The two systems were perceived to be complementary, not separate.            ....The world of human beings was connected to the Otherworld along the wacah            chan axis which ran through the center of existence.  This axis was not located in any            one earthly place, but could be materialized through ritual at any point in the natural            and human-made landscape.  Most important, it was materialized in the person of the            king, who brought it into existence as he stood enthralled in ecstatic visions atop his            pyramid-mountain. ... When new buildings were to be constructed, the Maya            performed elaborate rituals both to terminate the old structure and contain its            accumulated energy.  The new structure was then built atop the old and, when it was            ready for use, they conducted elaborate dedication rituals to bring it alive. ... So            powerful were the effects of these rituals that the objects, people, buildings, and            places in the landscape in which the supernatural materialized accumulated energy            and became more sacred with repeated use.  Thus, as kings built and rebuilt temples            on the same spot over centuries, the sanctums within them became ever more            sacred.  The devotion and ecstasy of successive divine kings sacrificing within those            sanctums rendered the membrane between this world and the Otherworld ever more            thin and pliable.  The ancestors and the gods passed through such portals into the            living monarch with increasing facility.  To enhance this effect, generations of kings            replicated the iconography and sculptural programs of early buildings through            successive temples built over the same nexus. ... As the Maya exploited the patterns            of power in time and space, they used ritual to control the dangerous and powerful            energies they released.  There were rituals which contained the accumulated power            of objects, people, and places when they were no longer in active use.  And            conversely, when the community became convinced that the power was gone from            their city and ruling dynasties, they just walked away."