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MAYAN
RUINS
OF MEXICO
YUCATAN
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Acanceh |
Ake |
Chichen
Itza |
| Dzibilchaltun |
Uxmal & The Puuc Cities |
Ek Balam |
| Izamal |
Mayapan |
Yaxuna
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ACANCEH
Acancéh is a small city located near
Merida. It is a very easy drive through the countryside and can be reached
from several directions. The ruins are very small but quite interesting for
the very large masks recently uncovered. The ruins are located within the
town and can be seen from the town square.
There are also interesting cultural implications at the site since "The Pyramid"
has stairs on all four sides and resembles other sites from the same period. Two Pyramids
at Uaxactún in the Peten Region also have the same design including the masks.
Acancéh's Palace of Stuccoes shows a high degree of ornamentation of its stuccoed
frieze. There are also features resembling of the Teotihuacan style. This, together with
the building's architectural aspects, suggests that Acancéh was a Teotihuacan enclave in
the area.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
AKE
Aké, a site located in northern Yucatán,
has the distinction of an architecture based on blocks of stone. Its age of
splendor dates to the Classic period, when its urban area measured 2.4
square miles. Even so, it remained a lesser sized site in comparison with
Izamal, to which it was linked by a 19-mile long sacbé.
This bond must
have been quarrelsome at one point in time, because Ake's leaders had a defensive wall put
up around their environs. Another four sacbe connected sections within the site. The most
important building is called the Palace, or the Building of Pilasters.
Its summit features
36 huge columns consisting of stone tambours mounted one upon another. The technique makes
the structure unique among the Maya buildings of the Classic in this region.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
DZIBILCHALTUN
Dzibilchaltún is a large
site located just north of Merida. The site is one of the oldest known sites
in Maya world. This city and its surrounding area was home to about 8000
structures spread over nine square miles.
The city is thought
to have had a population of some 25,000 people at its peak around 800 A.D. Dzibilchaltún
is thought to have had an uninterrupted occupation for 2,000 years, from 500 B.C. until
colonial times. It first rose to eminence some time around 50 B.C., then, following a
prolonged decline, the site arose again and achieved its maximum development from 600 to
1000 A.D.
The site has a large ceremonial and administrative core area filled with scores
of big buildings. There is also an open air cenote called Xlaca where swimming is
permitted.
 The site is very
well known for two main reasons. One is the museum at the entrance which houses items from
the history of Yucatan and artifacts from many Maya ruins in the Yucatan. It also is the
home of Dzibilchaltún's most famed building "the Temple of Seven Dolls". The
temple's name comes from seven clay dolls found during restoration. But, the amazing part
of the building is its alignment with the sun during equinox. The sun actually bursts into
the room on top the temple and lights up into a brilliant star.
The temple was originally
built around 700 A.D., but like many Maya structures this temple was built on top of an
existing building. Excavation has left clear evidence of the overlaying pyramid. At the
base of the temple you can clearly see the elevated sacbe which leads all the way across
the site and ends near the cenote. This particular sacbe is maybe one of the best restored
in all the Maya world.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
EK BALAM
Ek Balam means "Black Jaguar" in Mayan. The site
is located just north of Valladolid through the town of Temozon about 2 km north of Santa
Rita. Ek Balam is truly one of the gems of the ancient Maya Civilization. For years
archaeologists dated the site from around 600 A.D. to 1000 A.D. but, recent evidence shows
that Ek Balam was inhabited as early as 400 B.C. and up to Colonial times.
 What once were
considered mountains surrounding the central plaza have been identified as pyramids. Three
of them. The pyramids rise up seemingly all from the same place. Indeed, they looked like
mountains, none of which exist in this part of the Yucatan. The restoration of the
Acropolis in on going and from the top you can see Cobá, more than 30 miles away.
It
measures approximately 165 meters length and 75 meters high, this is one of the biggest
structures in the Yucatan. The findings in and around the Acropolis are incredible. The
temple is more than twice the size of the Castle at Chichen with platforms and stairways
in all directions. Life size statues the like of which have only been found in Palenque.
Tunnels inside the Acropolis leading to tombs. The list goes on and on.
Ek Balam had a defensive wall around this central area, a prudent measure in the face
of the threat from warlike Chichén Itzá, only 35 miles to the southwest.
 Upon entering the
labyrinth of the wall you come upon a huge gateway arch. On the other side of the arch
lies the ball court. In the previously part of the site is an astrological observatory
called the Caracol, The Temple of the Twins and the Nunnery upon which sits a huge
staircased temple. Much of the detail appears to be Puuc. Staele have been identified and
one large one sits in the main plaza.
The site has two cenotes, but neither one is located near the Main Plaza. A very large
Chultun has been identified on the north side of the Acropolis. Ek Balam has 5 Sacbe's and
4 of them head in the four directions. Perhaps the 5th was ceremonial.
The Lords of Ek Balam appear to have been allied with Cobá, Yaxchilan and Yaxuná.
Since Cobá and Yaxuná were dreaded enemies of Chichen Itza... perhaps Ek Balam was as
well. Soon the archaeologists will complete the reconstruction and we may have answers to
some of these burning questions.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
IZAMAL
Izamal is a large site
which lies within the town of the same name. The town is considered special
because the hills (cerros) have proved to be incredibly large ruins and for
the Convent which was built in the 1500's on top of what was certainly a
large palace or temple.
The site, whose original population dates from the late
pre-Classic until the Spanish conquest, covers an area of about six square miles. It held
power in the region between 600-800 A.D. A long sacbe paved the way between it and Aké
and lesser sites. Today it is possible to tour the ruins in horse drawn carriages as the
cerros are located in different parts of the city.
Its most outstanding building is known as the Kinich Kak Moo. From a platform measuring
670 by 670 feet at its base there rises a 57-foot high pyramid. This structure was
consecrated as a place of worship of the Maya. No one but the priest who officiated
sacrifices was allowed climb the pyramid.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
MAYAPAN
Mayapán, located in western
Yucatán, was one of the last great regional capitals of the Maya. And during
its reign was certainly capital of most of the Yucatan. By 900 A.D. the
Southern Classic sites were abandoned or in decline. The period after about
1000 A.D. is known as the Post Classic.
In the northern region Chichen Itzá
continued to flourish until about 1200. By this time new construction at Chichen Itzá
ceased and the city center fell into disuse. The rise of Maypán occurs after the demise
of Chichen Itzá, some time around 1250 A.D. The ruler, Kukulkán asserted his command in
a very large area. After him, Mayapán was controlled by the Cocom dynasty and eventually
Nachi Cocom, the last great Maya Ruler, until it was destroyed and burned in 1450 A.D.
At
its zenith, the settlement had a population of 12,000 and its buildings occupied only 2.4
square miles of land. A truly dense city. The fact that the core of the town had a
protective wall around it, is an unmistakable sign of the prevailing instability of the
region in those 200 years. Very few Maya cities had walls.
Notable exceptions are Tulúm,
Ek Balam and Becán. Mayapán's main buildings are small-scale copies of those in Chichén
Itzá. The Castle and the Snail are obvious examples of this imitation and reduction. The
ruins are in less than average state of restoration and receive few visitors each year.
Much of the site is still overgrown with vegetation and grass can be found covering many
of the structures.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites
YAXUNA
Yaxuná stands just 20 kilometers south of
Chichén Itzá in the heart of the Yucatan. It is a very old city, dating to
the Middle Preclassic era and contains many large monumental buildings. The
longest known sacbé (Maya road), runs straight as an arrow from the center
of imperial Cobá and ends among the pyramid platforms at the ceremonial
center of Yaxuná. It is over 100 kilometers long. This sacbé has posed some
very interesting questions about the politics of ancient Yucatan.
Among the building sites at Yaxuná is The North Acropolis. This large platform holds a
triad of pyramidal structures. The foundations of these buildings probably date to the
Late Preclassic. The Yaxuná ballcourt lies 100 meters to the south of the acropolis
platform directly on the centerline of both the acropolis triad and the entire ceremonial
precinct. Another interesting find at Yaxuná is the site of Xcan Ha which is located just
2 kilometers north of the site center.
It is a rock citadel or outpost and is in a direct
line with Chichen Itzá. Since it is believed that the citizens of Yaxuná were aligned
with the rulers of Cobá it is possible that the Xcan Ha site was a defensive early
warning fort to warn the city of impending danger from Chichén Itzá. The old, Preclassic
center of Yaxuná lies in the southern groups of triad pyramids. Here, a pyramid stood in
Preclassic times as the highest building north of the imperial Peten city, El
Mirador.
Yaxuná is still in the process of restoration but visitors are welcome and it is
certainly worth the trip.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites of Mexico
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