74 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
Features like those of the Great Platform are also located at key points within
2.5 km of the site’s center, and the site has a total of thirteen ballcourts. Gallery-patio
complexes are unique to this site, and it is likely that they represent key adminis-
trative halls maintained by major officials in the polity. The city was large and dis-
persed; networks of at least ten radial sacbes connect the city’s center to its outlying
groups. Notable earlier sites with similar radial sacbe networks include Calakmul
and Caracol.
Chichén Itzá is a grand and resplendent site. Its buildings are elaborately deco-
rated with more carved stone than any other city in Maya history. It was clearly the
heart of an aggressive, expansionary polity that held major influence over the north-
ern lowlands during its height. A surge in major construction programs occurred
during the ninth century A.D., but this city’s power waned by A.D. 1000 or 1100 at the
latest.
Direct links between Chichén Itzá and Tula are suggested by both Central Mex-
ican and Yucatec native histories and the striking architectural and artistic similari-
ties between the two sites, but the precise nature of the relationship between the twoFigure 1.17 Temple of the Warriors, a major administrative feature used for council
meetings, ceremonies, and processions at Chichen Itza’s Great Platform. Photo by Robert
Rosenswig.