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Seated on a 5 meter-high stone-faced platform, the Red House (Casa Colorada) is located between the Caracol and Tomb of the High Priest. The building's relatively simple, restrained Puuc facade includes three flat Chac masks on a roofcomb. Like the Temple of the Three Lintels in Chichen Viejo, the Red House may have been an elite residence. Three doorways with glyphs on their lintels lead into a corridor whose back wall contains a long glyphic text dated AD 869 and 870, describing blood-letting and fire ceremonies. A radiocarbon date of AD 780 was also obtained from a wood lintel. In back are three rooms with traces of red paint, giving rise to the name of this structure.
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[Fig.1: The Red House at Chichén Itzá (photo: Athena Review).]
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