Talk:El Castillo, Chichen Itza

notice that the temple has 91 stair steps on each of the 4 sides and with the top step adds to 365 .. mayans were very good in maths and astronomy.. it is suppoused that the temple was actualy a calendar..

Name

As "El Castillo" is a rather common nickname for large structures, perhaps this should be moved to "El Castillo, Chichen Itza" or something similar? -- Infrogmation 16:07, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, think we need a dab title here (there's also a highlands site in the Cotzumalhuapa region called El Castillo, for eg). There'd be the same problem for its alternative familiar name, Temple of K'uk'ulkan. I think your suggestion, El Castillo, Chichen Itza, should be fine, its formal designation as Chichen Itza Structure 5B18 is perhaps too obscure.--cjllw | TALK 01:57, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

OK, hv moved it to new title per your suggestion.--cjllw | TALK 03:56, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Article Needed?

Do we need this article? The same information is found in the Chichen Itza entry. Can't visitors to Wikipedia searching for El Castillo be directed to the Chichen Itza page instead of maintaining the same information in two places?CoyoteMan31 12:10, 15 June 2007 (UTC)CoyoteMan31

IMO there's sufficient expansion scope for this notable structure to sustain its own article- although yes, in practice at the moment there is considerable overlap with the main Chichen Itza article. Both articles could readily be extended, there's a lot of info on both not yet covered. Ideally, the Chichen article would give the overview on the main features and structures associated with the site, while the subarticles carry the details & specifics. I don't think it does any harm to have this one here, even if only as a sketch awaiting further work. --cjllw ʘ TALK 14:16, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Last 'Graf

The last paragraph is incorrect: "Today 'El Castillo' is one of the most popular and recognized tourist sites of Mexico. It's most notable feature is its Sacred Cenote or Well of Sacrifice into which human sacrifices were thrown." I believe the author meant "Chichen Itza," of which El Castillo is one monument. The Sacred Cenote is not part of El Castillo. However, there is a footnote to Michael Coe's book at the end of this graf, and the information does not come from that book. It is probably an appendage from an earlier draft. I didn't want to change it because I didn't know where the footnote belonged.

While I'm at it, that Montejo dragged a cannon into the middle of the Yucatan peninsula, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, is unlikely, as anyone who has traveled through the jungle in that region would attest. From my reading of the sources, it also is not clear that El Castillo was where the Spanish set up their fort (100 men certainly wouldn't fit on it). Las Monjas (the Nunnery) would probably have been a better location, and some historians believe that was where they were quartered during the sieges that eventually drove them from Yucatan. However, I haven't done the research yet to verify it one way or the other, so I didn't change it.CoyoteMan31 19:01, 13 July 2007 (UTC)