10-18-08 The ruins of Xkichmook and Ichpich

I met a friend here Manuel. He worked for 15 years in San Fran working his way up to being a head chef. Last year he moved back and makes chinese food by the produce market where I met him. He is my age and it's great to have a friend here who I both totally Meixcan (Mayan) and American. He has a second house where I am now staying, and of course he cooks great food. The best part though is he has family to the south (the Chenes region) and has a jeep, so today we hit the road looking for ruins off the path. In the end we did not find any ruins i did not know about, but both of these ruins were off unmarked dirt roads.....though winding cornfeilds.....then though rough uncut roads. Never could find these without help.

Driving south the roads became hilly and the forest became thick and wet. The corn feilds have gotten so much rain the corn is not growing. One man we spoke to has planted three times this year and still nothing will grow, a very bad situation for them. Even Manuel has not been selling much food because the market is so bad from the weather here.

Many people here speek English and want to talk with me for practice. They all learn English in the states from working without papers. While this is common knowlage at home, there is so much i don't know, and what I read in the papers about illegal workers seems bizzare while talking here. Most people come in a boat. Boats come from all over, not just from Mexico. Not only is building a wall between Mexico and the States a joke, but there is already a wall, the 'new wall' is just making the old wall taller. One man told me citizens were shooting at his boat when it was pulling into harbor. Once in Amereria, and this is true for just about all illegal workers, you have a labor boss who tells you where to work and where you live. Living is typically in a large warehouse with 60 or more other workers, but some people like Miguel who was very successful had his own place. While these conditions are very hard, every single person I talk to about this used their money to start their own buisiness. Many are in their early 20s, married and have a nice life now. Sounds like the American dream. If the politicians wanted to reduce illegal workers they really could just go after the labor bosses, not building a wall. The thought that getting rid of cheep labor will help America and the economy is not clear to me.

Thought the feilds to Xkichmook. Still a lot of rain.

The corner of a temple with stacked masks on the palace.

While the architecture at Xichmook is Chenes, the masonry is Puuc. Many Chenes structures, especially in the northern Chenes regione are have Puuc masonry. The mask on the palace above is similar to Puuc, but far more fluid, and does not use mass produced elements.

Another mask. Many masks do not have lower jaws. It is not clear is the scrolls falling from the jawless mouth are blood or vegitation. In most imagry it probably intentionally vague.

Another of the many structures here. Masks are both above the doorways and on the walls. Masks on the walls are not found in Puuc buildings and are distictive of both Chenes and Rio Bec (most people agree Chenes and Rio Bec are one style, with northern and southern spheres). For example the building at Xkichmook are built with Puuc masonry style, something that does not happen in the Rio Bec region.

A wall mask from the structure above.

Ichpich is small, and is really a Puuc site, but it is further south than Xkichmook. If my Maya is correct, Ichpich means 'medium sized place,' not to interesting. The relation between Puuc and Chenes is not entierly clear. It is generally accepted Chenes is earlier than Puuc but overlapping. Not that more research has been done, it is clear that both started much earlier that before believed (about 500AD). Why people living next to each other, buildng the same way would build in different styles in not clear though.

Structure 1 at Ichpich. Basically Puuc, but the pegs in the upper area would have held stucco sculptures since melted. These pegs are Chenes, not Puuc (early Puuc building did have pegs like this, see my posting about the early pyrimid building at Labna).

Chenes builders liked to paint the very tops of their rooms. This is the corner of an eve of the structure where there is a painting of a person sitting indian style. I have never seen or hear about anything like this.

The Chenes region is very dry (in the summer). They would hollow out small rooms in the bedrock to store water and food. The rooms would neck down to a small opening at the top, and a lid would close them. This giant hole, 10-15ft around opened into a giant cavity. This was almost certanly natural, but the Maya modified it so it was perfically smooth and round.

Back in the jeep tommorow to checkout some of the smaller Chenes ruins in northern Campeche. I a few days I will move to northern Campeche to see some of the large Chenes sites. Archeologies are now working there and have just made some important architectural findings!