Chichen Itza is located in the northern center of the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico. Northern Yucatan is very hot and dry and most of the rivers run underground. Cenotes, which are natural sink holes might have provided water year round at Chichen Itza. Cenote Sagrado is the most famous. Pe-Columbian Maya sacrificed objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to the Maya rain god Chaac. Edward Thompson dredged the Cenote Sagrado and discovered gold, jade, pottery, and human remains. A study of the remains found at the Cenote Sagrado,had wounds consistent with human sacrifice.
Chichen Itza rose to prominence around 600 AD. It wasn't, however, until the end of the Late Classic and early part of the Terminal Classic that the site became a major regional capital, centralizing the political, sociocultural, economics in the northern Maya lowlands. Around 1000 AD a Toltec King named Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl arrived here with an army from central Mexico, and made Chichen Itza his capital.There is a mix of Maya and Toltec styles in the art and architecture.
