March 4, 2026 ~Update~ :
Re What to Look for … when visiting Maya ruins:
Are things worth pondering … versus just wandering past yet another ancient ruined Maya building?
Can old fotos sometimes reveal a lot?
Things that hot-sweaty wandering-tourists often miss? 🤣
Notice all the peculiar angles … of how Chichen Itza’s El Observatorio / “Caracol” building is placed so peculiarly – not centered on the platform … where virtually NOTHNG lines up … not the stair cases, not the platform … not the building … not the doorway(s) … not even the small extra front-building & wall on the front right corner (SW corner) ….
… It’s all basically constructed with intentionally skewed angles that are NOT humans’ normal 90º … nor straight alignments.
Straight alignments? … Notice how even the main entry-way doorway does NOT align symmetrically with the center of the top stairs. … and the bottom sets of stairs are WAY OFFSET from everything … and they’re way off-angle from the top set of stairs.
AND … the El Observatorio / “Caracol” building is not even centered on it’s little top-platform, as it is skewed way to the South.
Why?
… Just a smidgin’ of careful inspection reveals that El Observatorio contains all the information of BOTH El Castillo …. AND … “La Casa de Siete Muñecas” (Temple of the 7 Dolls @ Dzibilchaltun).
El Observatorios’ wall’s … platforms … foreground-buildings’ … doorways’ etc ~curious angles~ point directly to:
~ The 583 day Venus Cycle, including the Northernmost & Southernmost Rising & Setting points.
~ The Spring Equinox
~ The Summer Solstice.
~ The Fall Equinox.
~ The Winter Solstice.
and
~ The northernmost rising points & setting points of the Full Moon.
and
~ The southernmost rising points & setting points of the Full Moon.
… PLUS … Just like Dzibilchaltun’s Casa de las Siete Muñecas temple, the peculiarly placed openings in the walls of El Observatorio are paired-aperatures that align with the Northermost & Southernmost rising & setting points of our 5 visible planets, where I call out Venus specifically due to it sometimes being the “Evening Star” and the “Morning Star” due to it’s apparent retrograde motion in our sky (due to Venus’ orbit being between the Earth’s orbit & the Sun).
A Few Celestial Details:
Some starting details on Chichen Itza’s El Obsservatorio / “El Caracol”:
~ Alignments in both the base and the top of the tower document (align with) to the 584 day cycle of Venus.
~ The structure’s upper platform includes four windows that align with the northern and southern extremes of Venus’s rising and setting points as both morning and evening star, corresponding to its 584-day synodic period, where five cycles approximate eight solar years.
~ El Observatorio / El Caracol also incorporates sightlines for solar events, particularly solstices and equinoxes, A diagonal axis connecting the northeast and southwest corners of El Caracol points toward the summer solstice sunrise and winter solstice sunset.
~ Specific doorways and windows also frame the sun’s position at these times relative to distant structures like El Castillo. [1]
~ Overall, the observatory captures sightlines for 20 out of 29 key solar and lunar events of interest to Mesoamerican skywatchers, including eclipses, enabling precise calendrical tracking.[2]
~ These solar markers complement other celestial markers around the Chichen Itza site, such as El Castillo’s equinox shadow … that creates the image of a descending serpent on El Castillo’s balustrade … which symbolizes Kukulkan’s arrival.[1]
~The grand staircase, oriented 27.5 degrees north of west, further reinforces Venus tracking by aligning with its northernmost extreme, underscoring El Caracol’s role in synthesizing multiple celestial patterns.[1]
[1] https://annex.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/caracol.html
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/25/science/ancient-astronomy-points-to-new-views-of-mayan-life.html
Yes, some readers are now thinking:
“Other ancient cultures understood as much, and more … and built the COSMOS it into their buildings.”
yet, the Egyptian pyramids replicate only the extremely simple 3 star combination in Orions belt (that even 5 yr olds know) … along with an annual nod to the rising of Sirius (the Dog Star) as yet another extremely simple celestial event marker … with nothing even close to El Observatorio’s 584 day Venus cycle synodic period.
… To the best of our knowledge, only the ancient-Germans 3,600 yr old “Nebra Sky Disc” comes close to the Yucatec Maya people’s celestial understandings. Yet, because it does not include Venus specific information, it’s still not at the level of ancient Yucatec Maya people’s understandings.
Every Good Scientific Report Includes Dates & Times:
Dzibilchaltun’s original Casa de las Siete Muñecas was built around 350 CE (when Scotsmen were still painting themselves BLUE & howling at Romans) … and the current Temple of the 7 Dolls version was built in 750 AD … while Chichen Itza’s El Observatorio / “Caracol” was completed around 906 AD.
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Things to ponder … versus just wandering past a Maya building?
Casa de Las Siete Muñecas … Temple of the 7 Dolls, Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan.
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A final thought?
How many readers have noticed how Uxmal’s “Palace of the Governors” building is aligned? 😉
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Seriously, the south side foundation/base of Uxmal’s “Palace of the Governors” points at the Spring & Fall Equinox points.
Dr. Steven M. Fry
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… and no, It’s not because Maya elites were cross-eyed. 😉
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Feel free to copy while giving proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry
Read on, MacDuff.
Surviving Yucatan 