Hidden Maya Cities of the Yucatan

by Stanley Guenter

This trip to the Maya area picks up where “Capital Cities of the Ancient Maya” leaves off. After visiting Palenque we explore a number of sites in the Rio Bec region of southern Campeche, where little-visited Maya ruins feature entrances built to resemble the mouths of gigantic serpents. The site of Calakmul is one of the largest Maya sites and was anciently the capital of the powerful Snake Kingdom, mortal enemy of the kings of Tikal. The site of Dzibanche is another large ruin that was the capital of the Snake Kingdom from approximately 450 to 600 A.D., before it moved to Calakmul. It was from this capital that Snake Kings, including Sky Witness and Scroll Serpent, set out to attack and defeat such distant enemies as Palenque and Tikal. Kohunlich is a nearby site where large stucco masks were saved from looters when the Mexican authorities secured the site in the 1970s.

Our drive north through the Mexican state of Quintana Roo takes us through the land of the Cruzob Maya, descendants of Maya who in the 19th century rebelled against centuries of mistreatment and who ruled this area independently until the beginning of the 20th century. The Postclassic site of Tulum is situated dramatically on a rocky rise above the turquoise waters of the Caribbean waters that have made the site world famous. Ek Balam has only recently been discovered and is of incomparable importance due to its phenomenal state of preservation. Chichen Itza, in the central part of the Northern Lowlands, was one of the last great Maya capitals and its structures reflect intimate connections with the Toltecs of Central Mexico. The famous Cenote of Sacrifice was once the scene of rituals that included tossing, not only gold and jade artifacts, but also people into the deep waters. Old tales tell of virgin sacrifices and, while the bones of the sacrificial victims have been recovered, modern archaeologists have not been able to verify their virginal status.

We finish off our visit to Yucatan with visits to Uxmal and Dzibilchaltun. Uxmal is one of the most beautiful Maya sites and its Puuc-style architecture has been described as the height of architectural beauty among the ancient Maya, an impressive accomplishment given that all the work was carried out with stone-age technology.

Merida is the capital of Yucatan and has been since colonial times. Even earlier it was the capital of the Postclassic kingdom of Tiho’ and hieroglyphic texts from Dzibilchaltun, an important site just north of modern Merida, reveals that it was the capital of the Tiho’ kingdom back in the Classic period. Merida was known as the “Paris of the West” a hundred years ago due to its French-inspired architecture that flowed from the enormous wealth generated by Yucatan’s henequen haciendas.

Surprising Finds at Ek Balam

By Stanley Guenter

Over the last decade the site of Ek Balam has emerged as one of the great surprises in Maya archaeology. A relatively small site, although possessing sizeable mounds, excavations in Ek Balam's Acropolis have revealed one of the best preserved stucco facades in Mesoamerica. Arranged around a doorway in the shape of a gigantic serpent's mouth, nearly life-sized stucco figures were excavated in nearly pristine condition, having been carefully buried by the ancient Maya about 1200 years ago. The reason for the elaborate precautions taken by the builders to preserve this facade were revealed when archaeologists entered the inner chamber of this structure and found a royal tomb. Surrounded by ceramic vessels, once stocked with funerary offerings of food and drink for the deceased, lay the body of Ukit Kan Le'k Tok'. Inscriptions from across the site have now confirmed that he was both the first and the greatest king of Ek Balam, having come to the throne in 770 and dying around 800. During the thirty years of his reign Ek Balam became the greatest power in northeastern Yucatan, superseding Coba, the enormous site to the southeast. Many structures were built at Ek Balam during his reign, and Ukit Kan Le'k is even mentioned in the inscriptions of Ichmul, a site 25 km to the west.

A painted capstone from the room just inside the elaborately decorated facade that framed the entrance to his tomb inform us that the name of this structure was the Sak Xok Naah, that may read "White House of Reading". Within his tomb many inscriptions named the dead king, and one remarkable find was a carved human femur, clutched in the hands of the deceased. A hieroglyphic inscription on this bone indicated that it was the bone of a man who was named Ukit Ahkan, possibly the father of Ukit Kan Le'k. There was a tradition amongst the ancient Maya of retrieving the bones of their ancestors to use in rituals designed to commune with the dead. The bone held by Ukit Kan Le'k in his tomb had one end filed down into a point, possibly to be used in bloodletting rites. Other objects buried with Ukit Kan Le'k included a necklace made out of small shells carved in the shape of skulls, as well as pearls and most remarkably, a small frog made out of gold. Gold is all but completely unknown from the Classic Maya world, and this piece was clearly an import from Panama given its style, indicating the extensive trade networks of which Ukit Kan Le'k was a part.

What may be the most interesting find in the tomb, however, was a painted capstone found above the burial. On it, Ukit Kan Le'k is portrayed in the guise of the Maize God, the deity of resurrection and rebirth who represented the cycle of life and death in the cornfield that was the center of traditional Maya life. This painting is unique, however, in portraying this king/god with a split upper lip. Osteological examination of the bones found in the tomb revealed that Ukit Kan Le'k had suffered from a bone disease on his maxillary area, suggesting that in life he would have indeed had an oddly shaped upper lip. While most Maya kings were portrayed in an idealized manner, the artists of Ek Balam saw it fit to portray their king as an individual, allowing us over a thousand years later a unique glimpse into the reality of life as a Maya king.