AMAZING STRUCTURES

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1 An equinox is a time in the year when day and night are of equal length.

2 A sacrifice is a religious ceremony in which people or animals are killed.

3 An astronomer is a person who studies stars, planets, and other objects in space.

For thousands of years, people have been inspired to create giant monuments. Here are two great architectural achievements, located on opposite sides of the world.

ChIChén Itzá

Chichén Itzá was a major city of the Maya Empire from A.D. 750 to 1200. Made of stepped pyramids, temples, and other stone structures, the ancient city is now one of Mexico’s most visited tourist destinations. The largest building in Chichén Itzá is the Temple of Kukulkan—a pyramid with 365 steps. A kind of calendar, the temple shows the change of seasons. On the spring and autumn equinoxes1 each year, a shadow falls on the pyramid in the shape of a snake. As the sun sets, this shadowy snake goes down the steps to eventually join a carved snake head on the pyramid’s side.

The Mayans constructed the pyramids with carved stone. Amazingly, they worked without wheels or metal tools. To build a pyramid, Mayan workers created a base and added smaller and smaller levels as the structure rose. Building the pyramids required many workers. Some pyramids took hundreds of years to complete.

Chichén Itzá was both an advanced city center and a religious site. Spanish records show that the Mayans made human sacrifices2 to a rain god here. Archaeologists have found bones, jewelry, and other objects that people wore when they were sacrificed. Experts also know that the Mayans were knowledgeable astronomers.3 They used the tops of the pyramids to view Venus and other planets.

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Temple of Kukulkan, Chichén Itzá, Mexico

5 When people excavate a site, they remove earth to find items buried underground.

göbeklI tepe

Göbekli Tepe, in southeastern Turkey, is one of the oldest man-made structures on Earth. Experts believe it was built about 12,000 years ago. The structure consists of dozens of stone pillars arranged in rings. Many pillars are covered with carvings of animals. The tallest pillars are 18 feet (5.5 meters) in height and weigh 16 tons (more than 14,500 kilograms).

At the time that Göbekli Tepe was built, there was no writing system, and people did not use metal. Even wheels did not exist. Amazingly, though, the builders were able to cut, shape, and transport 16-ton stones. Archaeologists found Stone Age4 tools such as knives at the site. They think hundreds of workers carved and put the pillars in place.

Archaeologists are still debating the purpose of Göbekli Tepe. Klaus Schmidt—the archaeologist who originally excavated5 the site—believed that Göbekli Tepe was a holy meeting place. According to his theory, the T-shaped pillars represent human beings. The pillars face the center of the circle and perhaps represent a religious ceremony.

New evidence suggests that large feasts took place at the site. Archaeologists found thousands of small animal bones nearby, with stone containers large enough to hold more than 40 gallons (150 liters) of liquid. They also found smaller pillars similar to Göbekli Tepe’s in areas over 125 miles (200 kilometers) away. It’s as though Göbekli Tepe were a cathedral and the other structures were local churches. 4 The stone age was a prehistoric period when tools were made of stone, not metal.

5 When people excavate a site, they remove earth to find items buried underground.

Göbekli Tepe, Turkey

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