Yucatan-December 2007
Dzibilchaltun
The Central Plaza

After visiting the Museum, we walked on to the Central Plaza.  The Central Plaza includes many temples, including a Spanish colonial church near the center of the group.  I enjoyed walking up the various temples, especially Temple XXXVI and Edifice XXXXIVTemple XXXVI felt the best to me.


INAH was restoring a Ball Court behind Temple XXXVI.


According to the INAH Plaque accompanying the Central Plaza, the Central Plaza covers 12,240 square meters (about 129, 285 square feet).  The Mayans stuccoed the floor of the Plaza, which has almost entirely disappeared.  A series of temples, whose stairs all face the center of the Plaza, surround the Plaza.  Archaeologists date most of these temples to the Late and Terminal Classic Periods (600 - 1000 A.D.), except for 2 smaller temples to the north which date to the Early Post Classic Period (1000 - 1200 A.D.).

The west side of the Central Plaza, seen from the Saq Be, at Dzibilchaltun
Map of the Central PlazaYUCATAN-DZIBILCHALTUN-CENTRALPLAZA-Map-2007.htmlshapeimage_4_link_0
The west temples of the Central Plaza seen from the Saq Be