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Chichen Itza was one of the main regional center in the northern Maya lowlands from the Late Classic through the terminal and into the early part of the Early Post Classic. The website provides a variety of architectural styles, from what is called "Mexicanized" and reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico in the Puuc style found among the Puuc Maya of the northern lowlands. The presence of the central Mexican styles was once thought to have representatives of the direct migration, or even conquest of central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations of the presence of these non-Maya styles more than the result of cultural diffusion.
According to the American Anthropological Association, the actual ruins of Chich'en Itza are federal property, and the site’s stewardship is maintained by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, INAH). The land under the monuments, however, is privately-owned by the Barbachano family.