The Castillo-sub at Chichen Itza

Despite its prominent position at the center of Chichen Itza’s Great Terrace, the Castillo remains poorly documented and poorly understood. Reviewing the earliest descriptions and explorations of the structure, as well as more recent discoveries, this chapter addresses the function, meaning, and dating of this building and its substructure. Its placement (possibly over a cenote) and orientation in relation to topographical features and astronomical phenomena are also addressed. The inner Castillo and its varied offerings, found intact in the 1930s, is examined in some detail. The author argues that the temple chamber, with its chacmool, jaguar throne, and femurs imbedded in the walls, could have been the setting for sacrificial rituals. This pyramid or an even earlier substructure may have been a royal burial place, with the final construction (in the tenth century) giving the building a more public, calendrical role closely connected to the cult of the Feathered Serpent.