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Yaxchilan
 Yaxchilan
is one of the most important Classic Period Maya cities
in terms of its size, & the number and quality of
its monuments. It is best known for its sixty carved
lintels, which, aside from being aesthetically interesting,
depict Maya ritual bloodletting and warfare with an
explicitness presented nowhere else. Other unique aspects
of the art and inscriptions of Yaxchilan are the inclusion
of many women in ceremonial roles, the complex cosmological
format of imagery on the stelae, the degree of documentation
of the reigns of two Late Classic kings, Shield Jaguar
and his son Bird Jaguar IV, and the unusual design of
the city to mimic the passage of the sun over the earth.
 The
main plaza in the city of Yaxchilan, is oriented from
northwest to southeast. Several small buildings sit
perpendicular to this axis, and their apertures face
southeast, the same direction as the plaza. Bisecting
this major axis is a strong axis in the form of the
stairway to Structure 33, the temple itself, and the
group of monuments in the centre of the Main Plaza.
All these face northeast...This is not accidental, nor
is it common at other Maya cities.
At Yaxchilan's latitude, the sun rises at 115-116 degrees
on winter solstice. Like the summer solstice orientation
group, the winter solstice buildings are set slightly
outside the path of the sun. Again, this allows for
a few minutes of illumination of the interior of the
buildings, providing the trees at the southeast end
of the plaza were kept cut. Note that all the winter
solstice alignments are found on the Main Plaza, where
no tall buildings block the path of the sun on winter
solstice. So these alignments suggest that at Yaxchilan,
winter solstice was the time and direction for the commemoration
of the deceased.
 The
buildings and stelae which face summer solstice, on
the other hand, all document Period Endings, accessions,
captures, and sacrifices of living kings. Almost every
building with associated sculptural or hieroglyphic
monuments faces one of these two directions, and the
few that do not seem to have been oriented in response
to other specific concerns.
Known for its numerous exceptionally fine engraved
monuments, this site lies half hidden in the thick jungle
and is mostly overgrown next to the Usumacinta River.
The development of the city took place between 350 and
810 A.D.
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