965H+7G Ushmal, Yucatan, Mexico
Approximately 80 meters southeast of the governor's palace site is a complex that has not been reconstructed and consists of a pyramid and several buildings. The pyramid, which once had a staircase on the western side, had a platform on top with something believed to have been a large building, possibly consisting of two rows of three rooms each. A more precise statement about this is impossible, as excavations have not yet been conducted.
Halfway up the pyramid on its northwest flank is the actual House of the Old Woman, which belongs to the early Puuc style and is therefore one of the oldest surviving buildings. It appears that this building stands on its own smaller pyramid, older than the larger one behind it. The building, whose northern half has collapsed, had two rooms arranged one behind the other, accessible through an entrance on the western side. The outer and inner doors were closed with wooden beams. Also notable is the partially preserved roof ridge, which on the visible side (to the west) has numerous protruding spikes for attaching molded figures. The second roof surface was probably built for the roof ridge, which is about 14 cm higher than the first. It is unknown whether this was a technical step or if the roof ridge was installed later.
To the north of the House of the Old Woman, on the same low terrace, there is a heavily ruined building consisting of three rooms. On the core of a stone quarry attached to the rear, there is a second floor with a single room, accessed from the west by a staircase that wraps around the facade of the first floor. From the passage under the staircase along the facade, the entrance leads to the middle room. The wooden beam spanning the entrance is still in place.
An interesting legend concerns the old woman who was the mother of the dwarf and who is represented in Uxmal in a hidden garden full of statues of penises. The mother of the dwarf was the goddess Ix Chel, considered the Moon Goddess by the Maya, and here she has her own pyramid and corresponding temple, but they are hidden from curious eyes and have not yet been touched by archaeologists. It is not surprising that Ix Chel was linked to the birth of the dwarf ruler, as she was the patroness of childbirth, midwives, and mothers. She was considered the progenitor of all living things, being the wife of Itzamna (the Creator God).
The legend of the old woman and her dwarf son who became the Ruler can be read here https://reveal.world/story/piramida-volshebnika-piramide-del-adivino. But what happened to his elderly mother?
No, do not think that the ungrateful son forgot her after becoming the Ruler. No, she simply disappeared. But legends say that in a certain village there is a deep well leading to an underground passage. Near the well, by the river, in the shade of a large tree, sits the old woman with a snake coiled beside her. She sells water but does not take money for it. "But be careful before taking water from her, because she wants your children in return, innocent children whom her snake devours."
There is a very unexpected connection between the House of the Old Woman in Mexican Uxmal and the Silver Age of Russian poetry. It was visited by Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont, who wrote the following in his book In the Lands of the Sun: Letters to a Private Person from a Round-the-World Journey:
“June 11. Among the ruins of Uxmal there is one building with a basement where I experienced a unique sensation. I do not know who, but someone foolishly called this building Casa de la Vieja (House of the Old Woman). Just as foolishly they considered the wonderful Sorceress of Rider Haggard old. Do you remember his striking novel 'She'? — I appreciate Haggard more than ever.
I entered the basement half-bent, literally shrinking in height by half — otherwise, you cannot enter the basement. In the corridor half-filled with rubble, by the left wall, I saw only one statue, a stern face, a figure up to the waist. It seemed, and perhaps it was so, probably so — it seemed that the lower half of this figure’s body had sunk into the ground. When I approached this face closely, I was overcome by a strange excitement, I would say reminiscent. Instead of the old face I expected to see, and instead of the ugly visage, one of those I was accustomed to here, a young and eternal face looked at me, young and beautiful. ‘Yes, it is she, she,’ I thought to myself, ‘She who must be obeyed.’
Sorceress, it is strange for me to see you like this.
People told me that you
Live — mercilessly destroying the living,
That your old features are terrible: —
You look so tenderly, you beckon lovingly,
And you are full of beauty.”
In fact, regarding the name Casa de la Vieja, it is known that when Stephens visited the ruins of Uxmal in the nineteenth century, at the foot of the pyramid there still stood a crude female sculpture, now identified as a depiction of the goddess of earth and vegetation. However, the locals identified her as an old sorceress, so the American explorer followed custom and named her so.
https://xyuandbeyond.com/mayan-legend-templo-de-los-falos/
Dmitry Viktorovich Ivanov: Architecture, History, and Art of Uxmal
Miroslav Sting: Mysteries of Indian Pyramids
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont: In the Lands of the Sun: Letters to a Private Person from a Round-the-World Journey
