DESCRIPTIVE TEXT PART 1

 

Nama         : Devi Lusyany

Kelas          : XII IPS 4

No Absen   : 8

Chichen Itza in Mexico

 

Chichen Itza is one of the 7 wonders of the new world. A place located in Yucatan, Mexico is an archaeological site of the Mayan heritage most popularly visited by foreign tourists. The buildings, which are famous for their beautiful architectural forms, were built between 550-900 AD by the Itza, one of the Mayan ethnic groups. But somehow in the 10th century this place was abandoned by them and since then the Mayans have mysteriously disappeared.

 

The name Chichen Itza comes from the Mayan language which means "Chi" mouth, "Chen" the well, and "Itza" the name of the tribe that inhabits the place itself. The remains of the Maya civilization in Central America, such as Chichen Itza, were once urban areas that had been abandoned by the Maya long before Christopher Columbus first set foot on the Americas. The Mayan El Castillo Pyramid, which is also located in Chichen Itza, is often touted as the second famous pyramid building after the Pyramids of Egypt. However, unlike the architectural form of the Egyptian Pyramids, the Mayan Pyramids were not conical pyramids, because at the top there was a flat plane that was used as a place for their rituals. Around it, we can find four stairs totaling about 91 steps, and there is one more step at the very top, bringing the total steps to a total of 365 steps. The height of this building reaches 24 meters, while the area at its peak which is used to place offerings is 6 meters high.

 

And the Mayans are a civilization that has a very extraordinary level of Astronomy knowledge. It is never doubted by astronomers at this time. Long before Nicholas Copernicus stated that the shape of the earth is round and the heliocentric theory which states the sun is the center of the solar system, the Maya already knew about it long ago. The Mayan astronomical observatory also has a very specific building form. Viewed from a contemporary point of view, functionally and externally the Mayan observatory is very similar to today's observatories, for example the observation tower of the Kainuoka / El Caracol observatory which is also located in the Chichen Itza area, on a beautiful and very large terrace on the tower There is a small terraced steps leading to the terrace.

 

Until now, we can still find remnants of the Mayan cultural influence that is still attached to some residents in the Yucatan Peninsula Region and a little in the Chiapas region, the original language of the ancient Mayans is still widely used as their daily dialect and is interpreted four to six times. million people living around Yucatan still use the language. This also applies to the traditions of the Ancient Mayans, people in Yucatan still carry on many traditions of the ancient Maya society such as growing their traditional food crops (corn, beans, chilies, tomatoes and pumpkins) with the same technique, and choosing to use herbal plants as medicines. their medicine. But history says that the Chichen Itza area was abandoned by the Mayans around 900 AD, this coincided with the period in which 80% of the Mayans were said to have mysteriously disappeared. Until now there has been no explanation that can answer the mystery of the disappearance of the population of this civilization.