The Opening Credits

Chichén Itzá, most important city of the Maya peoples, now an archaeological site, 29 km (18 mi) southwest of Valladolid, Mexico, in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. The name, meaning “Mouth of the Wells of Itzá,” is derived from the Itzá tribe of Mayan Native Americans that formerly occupied it and from the two natural wells that supplied the city with water; the religious and cultural life of the city was centered on those wells. Chichén Itzá was founded early in the 6th century AD and abandoned about the year 670. Rebuilt some 300 years later, when the Itzá returned to the region, it became the most important city of northern Yucatán and a center of Mayan culture. The architecture of this period shows Toltec influence, but it is unclear how that influence gained hold in Chichen Itzá. The city finally fell in around 1200. Subsequently, the Itzá appear to have been a part of an alliance in the Postclassic center of Mayapán, which itself collapsed in the century before the Spanish conquest.
The principal ruins cover an area of about 3 sq km (about 1 sq mi). The general structural type is that of the platform pyramid, ascended by means of broad stairways leading to vaulted chambers, the walls of which are covered with sculptured figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions or vividly colored paintings resembling the Aztec codices.
Each prominent structure is known by a distinct name, such as the Ball Court that was used for symbolic religious games. It is formed of two parallel walls, each 83 m (274 ft) long and 9 m (30 ft) thick, standing 36 m (120 ft) apart. Projecting from each wall 7 m (25 ft) above the ground is a sculptured ring of stone in the form of two entwined serpents. During the game the players attempted to send the ball through the ring.
Another important ruin is El Castillo, a large temple on a pyramidal mound 0.4 hectares (1.0 acre) in area and rising to a height of 30 m (100 ft), with staircases leading up on four sides to the temple of Kukulcan at the top. The Palace or Nunnery (Casa de las Monjas), the Sacred Well, the Temple of the Warriors, and the Caracol or Round Tower, probably an astronomical observatory, are among the other notable ruins.

Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Dave, an Archaeology student who has worked in the Andes, has noted that the mountain behind Esteban in this sequence is Huyna Picchu and believes these are real images tinted with the colors of the rainbow flag of Cuzco. Thanks Dave! - (SH, May14, 2006)

Machu Picchu, pre-Columbian Inca stronghold in the Andes, about 80 km (about 50 mi) northwest of Cuzco, Peru. Located at a high altitude on a ridge between two peaks, about 600 m (about 1950 ft) above the Urubamba River, the ruined city covers about 13 sq km (about 5 sq mi) of terraces built around a central plaza and linked by numerous stairways. The majority of buildings are one-room stone houses (now roofless), arranged around internal courts; some larger structures were evidently used for religious purposes. All are distinguished by engineering skill and fine craftsmanship. The city was discovered in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham; it is not mentioned in the writings of the Spanish conquerors of Peru, and the time of its occupancy is uncertain. Bingham believed that Machu Picchu might have been the last refuge of Incas from Cuzco fleeing the Spanish invaders, but nothing is actually known of its history.

Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Tikal (tkäl´), ruined city of the Classic Period of the Maya, N central Petén, Guatemala. The largest and possibly the oldest of the Maya cities, Tikal consists of nine groups of courts and plazas built on hilly land above surrounding swamps (which may have been lakes in former times) and interconnected by bridges and causeways. The main civic and religious center of the city covers about 500 acres (200 hectares). Temples and palaces rise above the plazas. The design of the buildings is for the most part monumental and static and utilizes harmonious combinations of solid masses. The tallest structure, a temple, is 229 ft (70 m) high. With a backdrop of lush tropical vegetation the abandoned city is an impressive sight.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2001 Columbia University Press.

Tiahuanacu, site of pre-Inca ruins in Bolivia, southeast of Lake Titicaca, near the modern village of Tiahuanacu. Its location, in the Andes at about 3800 m (about 12,500 ft) above sea level, made Tiahuanacu the highest city in the ancient world. An earlier view that Tiahuanacu was a ceremonial center that was used only periodically by the Aymara people, believed to be the city's founders, has been disproved by recent investigations in and around the site, which show it to have been a populous urban center supported by a sophisticated system of raised-field agriculture, well adapted to producing crops at high altitude. The few radiocarbon tests indicate founding dates older than AD 300. Certain structures were apparently left uncompleted when, for some unknown reason, all work ceased about AD 900.
The masonry at Tiahuanacu reveals some of the most skillful workmanship in South America. Certain stone-linking methods indicate the earliest use of metal for structural purposes in the western hemisphere. The Akapana, the largest unit at the site, is the remnant of a terraced pyramid about 15 m (about 50 ft) high and 152 m (500 ft) on each side. The most famous monument at the site is the Gateway of the Sun, an enormous sculpture carved from a single 9 metric-ton block of andesite and decorated with a distinct style of low-relief frieze. The meaning of the intricate symbolism in the decoration is uncertain. Another unit, the Kalasasaya, is a large square area delimited by upright monoliths (single blocks of stone), which appear originally to have formed part of a continuous wall. A semisubterranean temple nearby has been restored. Anthropomorphic statuary, mostly in characteristically symmetrical, stiff style, has also been found at the site.

Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Uxmal Pronounced As: ooshmäl, ooz- , ancient city, northern Yucatán peninsula, Mexico. A Late Classic period Maya center situated in the Puuc hills, Uxmal flourished between 600 and 900. It is one of the finest expressions of Maya architecture known as the Puuc style. The site has such impressive structures as the unique Pyramid of the Magician; the Nunnery, with elaborately decorated facades of stone mosaic friezes; and the Governor's Palace (320 ft/98 m long, 40 ft/12.2 m wide, and 26 ft/8.9 m high), with some 20,000 carved stone elements in its facade. The site was abandoned shortly after 950 but was reoccupied briefly in the 15th cent. by the Xiu, a Mexican group who soon abandoned the site after wresting power from the Cocom Itzá at Mayapán.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2000, Columbia University Press.