The History and Preservation of Chichen Itza

The topic of my research paper is going to be the preservation of the Mayan ruin site of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan in Mexico. My tentative thesis statement so far is: Throughout history, ownership of Chichen Itza, and concurrently archaeological rights to the site, have affected the current state of preservation. From researching my sources so far, I have discovered that Chichen Itza's ownership has changed hands throughout history. Also, the archaeological rites to the site have not always been owned by the landowners of the site,which I find to be extremely interesting.

Chichen Itza contains many temples, formations, and buildings, some of which are still being discovered in the jungles surrounding the area. I went to the site last May and was given a tour by a government archaeologist that currently works on the site. He told me that if we were to go not too much more than a thousand feet into the jungle on the edge of what is now open to the public, that it is very likely that we would be able to find remnants of more temples in the brush. Because of the mismanagement of the land, and the constant battling over who owns the land, preservation and discoveries have been difficult. The Mexican government has just bought the land back from its previous private owner, and that is why preservation is currently underway. The preservation methods that are being used at this time seem to be very professional and responsible, whereas in the past, multiple archaeologists from many places have been allowed to use their own methods to unearth the secrets of Chichen Itza. I think this topic is a very interesting one because of the mismanagement of the land throughout time.

The Mayan people who originally occupied and used these sites also have a rich and intriguing history, which I will share in my paper, in order to explain why these sites are so historically important. The Mayan people vanished from this site, and after their disappearance centuries ago, confusion over what the land was used for and who had rites to it have invited many misguided theories and abuse of the land. I think this topic is very relevant in this class, even though it is not a site in the United States. Chichen Itza is very relevant to our own history, as the Mayans are a very ancient culture that had many important ties to native groups all over the world, some of whom resided in North America before it was stolen by Christopher Columbus. By learning about the site and its history, we can learn more about our own native history. By learning about the mismanagement of this site, we can hope to maintain better practices in the future so that history can be shared in a purer form.

Since I was at this site, a place I have wanted to go for most of my life, it is close to my heart. While walking the ruins, I could feel the heartbeat of the place, and I truly felt that the truth of its origins wanted to be known. Not in stories, or legends, or speculation, but in fact. There are still Mayan people that live on these lands. They do not have rights to the area, aside from being permitted to work on the sites for tourism purposes, and they do not receive much aid from the government. It was shared with our group that most people around the world currently think that the Mayans as a people have vanished, but that is not true. There are still Mayan people living, there are still Mayan schools, and people do still speak the Mayan language. This culture has been perverted in the eyes of many, and I think the responsible preservation of these areas can educate the rest of us, and help a native group's culture live on.