SECRETS OF Biss ie mele eee MM Co eekn ater) UNO MeL aa Fo eal Role er the ancientand modern Maya. x A \ ay the mouth of the Guillermo de Anda hopes to hear what he has suspected fer many months, What is true, Arturo?” he shouts. And ils up again, “The zenith light! It realy works! Get down here! The two logists are anxious to cd ther this cenote could has 3d sundial® and timekeeper for the ancient Maya, On tw May 23 and July 19—the sun reaches its zenith sun is vertically overhead and there n the morning of their de thie sun’s rays come very c 1ed, a beam of lig this , Montero and de ¢ day before, they nt would have plunged straight down into the water. unitta 9Os Beneath its narrow mouth, the walls of the cenote open up to become a giant dome. It looks like a cathedral, except for the roots of trees that penetrate the rock as they reach for the water, The beam of sunlight dances fire on the surrounding stalactites, and it turns the water a beautiful transparent blue, The archeologists were probably the first people in centuries to watch the sun move slowly across the cenote’s water. Did Maya priests wait in this well—known as the Holttin cenote—to observe and correct their measurements of the sun’s angle when reached the zenith? Did they come here during times of drought to make offerings to their water god, and at other times to give thanks for a good harvest? These and other questions invalving the Mayan religion and extraordinarily accurate calendar are what the two explorers were investigating. In recent years, archeologists have been paying more attention to the meaning of aves, the zenith sun, and cenotes in the beliefs of the ancient and modern Maya. Archeoiogists already knew that the ancient ‘Maya believed caves and cenotes to be doors toa world inhabited by Chaak, the god of life- giving rain, However, the significance of this fact has only recently started to become clear. De Anda began exploring Holtin in 2010. ‘One day, inspecting the walls of the cenote a few meters below the surface, he emerged from the water and felt something above his head. He was astonished to find a natural rock shelf holding an offering of human and animal bones, pottery, and a knife—probably used for sacrifices—all neatly placed there centuries earlier. Below the water, he saw broken columns and Mayan stone carvings The well was clearly a sacred site. WO unit tA ss) Key to Survival Three years later, in the cornfield on the surface above the cenote, a crew of Maya farmers is working hard in the grueling Yucatan heat to pull the explorers out of the well. The crews leader is Luis Un Ken, an optimist with an easy smile who is respected by everyone in his nearby village. “There was. a good rain the other day,” he says, wiping the sweat off his face. "The Chaak moved.” For men like Un Ken, the old gods are still very much alive, and Chaak—ruler of cenotes and caves—is among the mast impartant. For the benefit of living things, he pours from the skies the water he keeps in jars, Thunders the sound of Chaak breaking a jar open and letting the rain fall. The Chaak had moved, Un en said, and that meant the planting season would soon arrive. Chaak's absence can cause disasters for the Yucatan Maya, possibly the demise of the ancient Maya civilization itself. Their land is an endless limestone shelf. Rain sinks through the porous* limestone down to groundwater levels, and consequently no river or stream runs through the land. From the air, one sees a green sea of dense jungle. At ground level, however, the tropical forest appears very thin. Wherever there is enough soil, the Maya plant corn or milpa, a.combination of the corn, beans, and squash that constitutes their basic source of protein. But corn is a hungry crop; it sucks lots of nutrients from the soil. For thousands of years, milpa farmers have kept 6 Something that s porous has many smal ote nit which water an! aps erOUB.oo 6 10 their small fields productive by burning a different area of trees every year and planting in the corn- friendly ashes. We call tis deforestation, but to the Maya, it means survival. ‘As for water for the fields ... well, that’s where ‘Chaak comes in. Only seasonal rains can make the com grow, and they must arrive in an exact pattern: no rain in winter so that the fields and. forest will be dry enough to burn by March; some rain in early May to soften up the soil for planting; then very gentle rain to allow the planted seeds ‘to begin to grow; and finally, plenty of rain so the om can flourish. Any break in the pattern means less food for a family. It's easy to understand how. important Chaak was—and is—to the Maya.HOLTUN CENOTE feed Links to the Cosmos The El Castillo pyramid at Chichén Itza was planned with eet ek ee eee) Sea emus eT ae serpentlike shadow slither down its side. Guillermo de Anda ceo eae cance a middle of four cenotes (where the white lines cross, right), probably symbolizing the sacred mountain at the center of OMe ger meee ke Reni trans when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky (far right), further connecting the cycles of the heavens. ee eet) anyPea eda Desperate for water for their erops, the Maya prayed to the rain god Chaak from deep inside the cenote. On a racky shelf exposed during droughts, they laid out Bein eeu Reema eae eC sacrifices. Archeologists found artifacts scattered on the floor of the cenote. They Pee a eeu eee ke eee ec eet et reed eed roar Ce ise ee Tm ecu Twice a year, the sun rises directly to the northeast of E Castilo-and travels over its peak (right). It l 1 uc ues as Peay etree canes before sinking to the horizon. rer cod rae)