Three Sets of Ruins

Doug in Tulum

I wanted to share a little bit more about the ruins we saw on our trip. We went to three areas with ruins: Tulum (near Cozumel, Mexico), Altun Ha (near Belize City, Belize), and Chacchoben (near Costa Maya, Mexico). They all offered different experiences.

Chacchoben had several large buildings and walking areas that were still covered with vines and trees. There were several areas where very large trees had taken root on stairways and were taking over the area. It reminded me of scenes out of Disney's animated "The Jungle Book."

[The "Jungle Book" look.]

Altun Ha had 8-10 structures of various sizes that were cleared of trees, but the backs and sides of several were covered with lush, short-cropped grass. The arena area in between the structures had the same grass. It was trimmed nicely enough to have been mowed, though I suspected that it was simply a short-growing grass (that I'd love to have in my lawn).

The guide said that in the 1-square mile radius of where we were, there were an estimated 5,000 structures - 99% were yet to be uncovered. Our LDS guide climbed to the top of the highest one and spoke to us for about 20 minutes about the area and the potential Book of Mormon people that may have lived there. We could hear him quite clearly.

[Here's a shot of our guide sitting up top speaking to us.]

The current thought among LDS scholars is that the land of Zarahemla was directly west of where we were standing, about a 1 1/2 days hike away. That would make Altun Ha directly in the "Land of Jershon," which was the home of the People of Ammon, or the people of King Lamoni and his father, who were converted by the Sons of Mosiah and eventually forced to leave the Land of Nephi.

It was unlikely that the structures themselves were there at that time, but it was possible that the area was the same. It is also possible that these structures were built on top of the ruins of the structures they would have had then.

Tulum had the most interesting story. It was a walled city. We walked through an opening in the wall to get inside. It had many free-standing structures, some looked like buildings in the more traditional or familiar sense. It is also the home of the "Descending God" or "Diving God".

There is a "temple" there that they believe is dedicated to him, and has a carving of an upside-down man over the entryway. There is a larger "temple" with three carvings over three entryways that they believe are dedicated to the three members of the Mayan godhead.

The central figure of a man is the main god. Next to him is an inverted man who is the "Descending God". Their belief is that one member of their godhead "dove" down from Heaven to live among men for awhile, before returning to be among the gods again.

Their third god is on the far side from the main god. The space for his carving is empty because they believed that there was a member of their godhead that had no body.

I found that quite interesting.

[This is a closeup on the temple with the purported members of their godhead above each entryway. It's hard to tell in this photo, but the one in the middle is upside down. Note that there is no figure in the space on the right.]