Chichén Itzá was a ranch when Stephens and Catherwood arrived, which meant that much of the site had already been cleared by grazing animals. This saved the team days of hard labour and allocated more time to drawing and exploring the site. The style of art and presence of glyphs established the site’s Maya origins. Today the site has been cleared even more for tourist activity, and many of the buildings have been reconstructed.

    Images of warfare, conquering enemies, men with spears and weapons, and skull motifs were more common in artwork at Chichén Itzá than elsewhere. Softer limestone resulted in less detailed carvings and reliefs than at Uxmal. The feathered serpent is also a popular decorative motif around the city, something that Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens had previously seen in Aztec art but not Maya art.

Stephens and Catherwood noted the Aztec influence in many areas of this Mayan complex, further reinforcing their theory of an Indigenous origin of Mesoamerica’s ancient cities. Archaeologists agree with these early observations, but still can’t explain the link. Was Chichén Itzá a Mayan city or were there periods of Aztec dominance? Was it a multicultural melting pot? Was the city’s trade with the Aztecs so successful that Aztec culture influenced the Maya artistic motifs here? These are some of the questions that experts are still debating.