These include the famous ball-court and attached temples (PL XXVIII; p. 348), the Castillo (also seen in Pl. XXVIII), a large structure of which only the numerous square sculptured columns remain, and the so-called "Temple of the Tables." On these buildings neither Maya glyphs nor mosaic masks are found, while the Castillo and upper ball-court temple are furnished with serpent-columns similar to those of Tulan. In the lower temple attached to the ball-court is an elaborate relief showing figures, exhibiting no signs of cranial deformation, 
Fig. 84.—Caryatid figure, Chichen Itza. armed with spears and spear-throwers, assisting, so it would seem, at the obsequies of some personage in the centre who is distinguished by a huge feathered snake which overshadows him. Many of the figures are accompanied by glyphs which are distinctly Nahua in type, while their ornaments and dress combine both Nahua and Maya characters; further, a sun-disc in Nahua style occurs at the top of the relief. In the Castillo are atlantean figures carved in relief in similar style, and in the Temple of the Tables were found a number of slabs supported by small caryatides (Fig. 84), carved in the round, exactly similar to some which have been found at Tlaxcala. Finally, several stone recumbent figures supporting vases, of the type shown on PL VIII, 2; p. 74, have been discovered buried in the neighbourhood.[1] The buildings themselves, as far as preserved, present, architecturally speaking, Maya characteristics, except the large site with the numerous square columns, which probably supported a flat roof laid on transverse beams. To the west and south of the buildings first described are many unexplored
- ↑ One of these was also found by Maudslay, near Quirigua.
