northern colonnades and their associated two-chambered buildings in both groups, structure 5B16 in the Southwest Group and the Temple of the Initial Series in that group. To the southeast of these temples is a gallery patio structure in each group, structures 5B17 and 5C11 respectively. Small platforms are found in each courtyard, although 5C17 is less centrally positioned than 5B15. Each of five structures in one group is therefore the same type of building as each of five structures in the other group, and the arrangement of the buildings in one group generally parallels the arrangement of buildings in the other. Like the relationships of the buildings in the Warriors complex to the structures on the east side of the Court of the Columns, the types and relative arrangement of the structures on the north courts of the Southwest Group and the Initial Series Group are too striking to be mere chance. Parallel developments of this nature probably indicate similar functional complexes in both areas.

5A3 and 5A4, the southern buildings of the court, are possibly constructions of the Pure Florescent period (see plan of 5A4 in Chapter I). Two colonnades, structures 5A1 and 5A2, form the west and north sides respectively, and on the east is a pyramid temple, structure 5B1. In the center of the courtyard is a small platform, structure 5A5. The similarities of the arrangement of this group to the northern plazas of the Southwest Group and the Initial Series Group are evident: development around earlier Pure Florescent constructions, colonnade to the north, pyramid temple to the east, and a small platform in the courtyard. Here, unlike the other two groups, a colonnade closes the court to the west. Nearby, slightly south of east, is the Temple of the Turtle (5B2), a building that is not directly associated with the other structures of the group.

Modified Florescent construction in these northern courtyards was probably earliest in the Southwest Group. The north court of the Initial Series Group is thus probably modeled after the northwest court of the Southwest Group, but it is not known how much overlap in time there might have been between the two groups.

Group of the Bird Cornice North and west of the Southwest Group is the Group of the Bird Cornice, a small cluster of six structures that forms a courtyard. Structures

The Colonnade with the Bird Cornice (5A1) and the pyramid temple across the courtyard from it (5B1) seem to be formally oriented to each other as their facades more or less parallel each other. Both structures are somewhat unique. Of the small, free-standing colonnades at Chichén Itzá, 5A1 is the only one constructed with rectangular columns. No other columns with known measurements are the same dimensions as these in the Colonnade with the Bird Cornice (50 by 70 cm.), but those with the closest dimensions are the Northwest Colonnade, the High Priest’s Grave, and the Temple of the Sculptured Jambs (4B1). Of these structures, only the columns in the Colonnade with the Bird Cornice are unsculptured. The structure is named for the

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