| Site Description | Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Mexico, holds immense cultural significance as a remnant of the ancient Mayan civilization. Its architectural marvels, such as the Pyramid of Kukulcan, showcase advanced knowledge in astronomy and mathematics. This sacred site served both as a hub for religious ceremonies and as a center of trade, reflecting the Mayan people's complex societal structure. The site's alignment with astronomical events highlights the Mayans' deep connection to the cosmos. Today, Chichen Itza stands as a symbol of the rich heritage and ingenuity of the Mayan civilization, drawing visitors from around the world to marvel at its wonders. | |
| Project Description | This dataset is described in the following article:
Rissolo, D., McAvoy, S. P., Stanton, T. W., Garcia-Solis, C., Gallegos Flores, J. M., Osorio León, J. F. J., Pérez Ruiz, F., Meacham, S. S., and Kuester, F.: A Reexamination of the Substructure Inside the Castillo at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., XLVIII-M-9-2025, 1303–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-M-9-2025-1303-2025, 2025.
Abstract:
The Castillo (also known at the Temple of Kukulkan) is one the most iconic structures in Mesoamerica. This temple-pyramid towers over the main plaza of the civic-ceremonial city of Chichen Itza, which once dominated the political and economic landscape of the northern Maya lowlands. Reported here are the preliminary results of a multimodal and multiresolution scanning campaign and fusion of 3D data outputs intended to more accurately record the physical attributes of the earlier temple-pyramid inside the Castillo, known as the Castillo-sub, and examine the spatial and architectonic relationships between the two structures. A focus of our scanning campaign involved the upper façades of the sub-temple and the Chacmool and jaguar throne sculptures inside the sub-temple itself. Structured-light scans of the upper façades now serve as the definitive representation of this portion of the Castillo-sub.
Datasets were captured over the course of three expeditions, detailed here:
Mcavoy, S. P, Rissolo, D., & Kuester, F. (2025). Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Coba, Xkukikan - December 7th - 14th, 2024 Yucatan, Mexico. UC San Diego: Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative (CHEI) at Calit2. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nn5s6d9
Mcavoy, S. P, Rissolo, D., & Kuester, F. (2023). Chichen Itza and Ek Balam, Yucatan, Mexico August 27th – September 2nd 2023. . UC San Diego: Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative (CHEI) at Calit2. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8qg65087
Mcavoy, S. P, Rissolo, D., & Kuester, F. (2023). Chichen Itza and Merida, Mexico February 6th-12th 2023. UC San Diego: Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative (CHEI) at Calit2. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1jb1q2fr
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