<P> The name is spelled Chichén Itzá in Spanish, and the accents are sometimes maintained in other languages to show that both parts of the name are stressed on their final syllable . Other references prefer the Maya orthography, Chichen Itza' (pronounced (tʃitʃʼen itsáʔ)). This form preserves the phonemic distinction between ch' and ch, since the base word ch'e'en (which, however, is not stressed in Maya) begins with a postalveolar ejective affricate consonant . The word "Itza"' has a high tone on the "a" followed by a glottal stop (indicated by the apostrophe). </P> <P> Evidence in the Chilam Balam books indicates another, earlier name for this city prior to the arrival of the Itza hegemony in northern Yucatán . While most sources agree the first word means seven, there is considerable debate as to the correct translation of the rest . This earlier name is difficult to define because of the absence of a single standard of orthography, but it is represented variously as Uuc Yabnal ("Seven Great House"), Uuc Hab Nal ("Seven Bushy Places"), Uucyabnal ("Seven Great Rulers") or Uc Abnal ("Seven Lines of Abnal"). This name, dating to the Late Classic Period, is recorded both in the book of Chilam Balam de Chumayel and in hieroglyphic texts in the ruins . </P> <P> Chichen Itza is located in the eastern portion of Yucatán state in Mexico . The northern Yucatán Peninsula is arid, and the rivers in the interior all run underground . There are two large, natural sink holes, called cenotes, that could have provided plentiful water year round at Chichen, making it attractive for settlement . Of the two cenotes, the "Cenote Sagrado" or Sacred Cenote (also variously known as the Sacred Well or Well of Sacrifice), is the most famous . </P> <P> According to post-Conquest sources (Maya and Spanish), pre-Columbian Maya sacrificed objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to the Maya rain god Chaac . Edward Herbert Thompson dredged the Cenote Sagrado from 1904 to 1910, and recovered artifacts of gold, jade, pottery and incense, as well as human remains . A study of human remains taken from the Cenote Sagrado found that they had wounds consistent with human sacrifice . </P>

Where is chichen itza located on a map