Aké – Yucatan – Mexico

Posted on 02/10/2023 by Michael

Ake

Aké – Yucatan

Location

This site is situated in the north-west of the state of Yucatan, 33 km from the city of Merida by federal road 80, which leads to Tixkokob and Ekmul. Aké is used as the toponym, but the word ak’ on its own means ‘liana’. The area where the archaeological site is located is characterised by the same type of terrain and climate as Merida. The natural wells (cenotes) and depressions (aguadas) are the principal guarantees for the supply of water in northern Yucatan. There are several cenotes in Aké, which in pre-Hispanic times must have provided the main sources of water, as well as two possible aguadas. Due to years of burning and planting henequen (a type of agave cactus used to make sisal rope) in Aké, most of the present-day landscape is given over to low woodland and bushes (Tsitsilche, Sakkatsin, Subi’n, Tsiuche, Yaxmuk, Zacate, etc.).

History of the explorations

Aké was first reported many years ago by travellers and Mayanists such as Desire Charnay, Teoberto Maler and Lawrence Roys and Edwin M. Shook, who drew up the first map of the core area of the site. More recently, the Atlas Arqueologico del Estado de Yucatan classified Aké as a second-class site. In 1979, Ruben Maldonado Cardenas and the INAH launched the Aké Project and conducted several field campaigns, leading among other things to the restoration of the Temple of the Columns, the first map and the excavation of stratigraphic wells in various structures in the residential area. In 2003, a new phase of research and restoration commenced at Aké aimed at confirming its complexity, timeline and regional importance. Maps were drawn up and excavations undertaken to establish the occupational timeline and gain a clearer idea of the form and function of its buildings and spaces. The project continues to this day led by Beatriz Quintal Suaste.

Pre-Hispanic history

The surface ceramic material recovered and the excavation of stratigraphic wells confirm an occupation stretching from the Late Preclassic (300 BC-AD 300) to the Postclassic (AD 1300-1450). The present-day population is principally the result of the boom in the cultivation of henequen. The longest period of occupation demonstrates significant growth: Aké must have started out as a village that subsequently expanded and gained in importance, finally becoming a city-state with control over the immediate vicinity.

Site description

The archaeological site consists of two separate sections delimited by two walls. One wall encircles the core area, where the monumental structures are situated, while the other encloses most of the residential area. Situated at the centre of the settlement is a rectangular plaza; Structure 1 or the Temple of the Columns defines the north side, structures 13 and 19 the east side, Structure 7 the south side, and structures 6 and 2 the west side. The plaza covers an approximate area of 25,000 sq m and the residential zone an approximate area of 4 sq km.

Structure 1 or Temple of the columns.

This is a vast construction measuring approximately 103 m in length by 32 m in width at the narrowest section and 36 m at the widest. It is fronted by a monumental stairway made of large blocks of limestone. On the platform at the top of the stairway, which measures nearly 67 m in length and 14.20 m in width, are three rows of large columns, making a grand total of 35. These pre-Hispanic structures probably supported one of the largest roofs in Mesoamerica. Visible between the columns is a small promontory on which stands part of the lower section of the walls of what must have been a room added much later.

Structure 2

This occupies the west end of the great plaza and adopts an apse-shaped plan measuring 45 m along the sides and standing approximately 15 m high. It would appear to have had four entrances, one on each side. The excavations revealed two construction phases: the first, corresponding to the Early Classic, is associated with the Megalithic style; the second, which covered the first phase and denotes the use of smaller blocks of stone, corresponds to the Proto-Puuc style developed at Oxkintok. The platforms are decorated with an inset talud and tablero (slope and panel) and apron moulding, like those reported at Oxkintok, Dzibilchaltun and El Mirador in Yucatan (Varela and Quintal).

Structure 3

This is situated west of Structure 2 and consists of a building erected on a sub-structure; it measures approximately 43×29 m and stands 6 m high. The upper structure is subdivided into a row of five rooms from east to west, with a single room on the south side and another on the north side. The plan is clearly defined by the existence of low walls, some of which are still standing and rise to a height of nearly 2 m. The column entrances were made of square blocks of stone placed one on top of the other, exactly like the technique used for the columns in Structure 1. The room on the north side had a triple entrance and the one on the south side a quintuple entrance. In both cases the space between columns is 4 m.

Ceramics

The preliminary analysis of the ceramic material recovered confirms an occupation stretching from the Late Preclassic to the Postclassic. The most representative ceramic groups include the Ucu, Saban and Sierra of the Chicanel Horizon; the Xanaba, Dos Arroyos and Chuburna of the Cochuah Horizon; the Katil, Conkal, Dzitya, Arena, Chum, Muna, Ticul and Teabo of the Cehpech Horizon; the Sisal Unslipped group of the Sotuta Horizon; and the Mayapan group of the Tases Horizon. The analysis has revealed a numerical predominance of the groups corresponding to the Cehpech Horizon.

Beatriz Quintal Suaste

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp 390-391.

How to get there:

From Merida. There are colectivos that regularly leave from Calle 63, entre 52 y 50, going to Tixkokob. They take about 45 minutes and cost M$20. From there you might be lucky to pick up public transport but it will unlikely be at convenient times. Your best bet is to negotiate with a tuk-tuk driver to take you to the archaeological site, wait and then bring you back.

GPS:

20d 57’20” N

89d 13’10”

Entrance:

M$70

Xlapak – Yucatan – Mexico

Posted on 01/10/2023 by Michael

Xlapak

Xlapak – Yucatan

Location

This site is situated 38 km south-east of Uxmal on the old ‘via ruinas’ Campeche road; after Kabah, where it meets the Puuc route state road, turn left. The Maya word Xlapak means ‘old walls’.

Site description

Xlapak is distinguished by the symmetry and exquisite decoration of the facades of the ancient residences. Although only three of the buildings have been restored, a visit to this site offers the chance to enjoy the classic architecture in a natural setting with beautifully tended vegetation in a small valley at the heart of the Yucatec mountains. The main groups are associated with caves and chultunes, and it is more than likely that this aspect impacted to a certain degree on the pattern of the ancient settlement. The construction and decorative characteristics of the residences suggest that the site experienced its peak between AD 600 and 1000.

The principal construction is the small palace, as the caretakers call it. In the 1960s the archaeologist Cesar Saenz, from the INAH, excavated and restored the building. It is a single-storey structure with an ornate frieze decorated with stacks of masks of Chac, the rain and water god, and stepped frets. The main buildings of another two architectural groups have also been consolidated, although further excavation and restoration are required to shed more light on their characteristics.

The building in group 2 is distinguished by a frieze with colonnettes and a row of dentilated stones known as chimez (‘centipede’ in Maya), typical of the Classic Puuc style.

Josep Ligorred i Perramon

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp 378-379.

Xlapak

1. Small Palace; 2. Group 2; 3. Group 3.

How to get there:

Not easy if you don’t have your own transport. There are no buses or colectivos that run along this road. Although the three sites (Labna, Xlapak and Sayil) are all within a 15km stretch of the road unless you hire a taxi from Santa Elena (expensive) you have to depend upon your wits, imagination and good luck.

GPS:

20d 10′ 26″ N

89d 36′ 22″ W

Entrance:

M$70

Sayil – Yucatan – Mexico

Posted on 01/10/2023 by Michael

Sayil

Sayil – Yucatan

Location

The archaeological area of Sayil is situated 25 km south-east of Uxmal, Yucatan. To reach it, take federal road 180 and then state road 131 to the site. The Puuc region is characterised by karst landscape and uneven topography, with no sources of surface water, only cenotes and aguadas, natural wells and depressions. One of its principal cultural traits during the pre-Hispanic period was the development of a technology to store rainwater in chultunes or cisterns dug out of the rock. The vegetation in the Sayil area is at different stages of growth, giving rise to a thick layer of secondary vegetation that makes it relatively inaccessible. This vegetation is the produce of the last 400 years of seasonal farming characterised by the cultivation of small plots of land which are rotated every so often when the nutrients of the soil have been depleted. This modern farming method, combined with the low levels of population it sustains, is a stark contrast to the high population levels in the Puuc region during the pre-Hispanic period, especially the Terminal Classic (AD 750-950.)

Pre-Hispanic history

The size of the civic-ceremonial precinct at Sayil was only eclipsed in the region by Uxmal. Near Sayil are various minor sites, including Kabah and Labna. These civic-ceremonial cities are situated at regular intervals of between 10 and 12 km, with dense human conglomerates between larger centres. The density of the pre-Hispanic population was such that in certain areas of the Puuc region it was continuous, leaving very few places without any human presence. The growth of Sayil as an important centre was probably the result of the collapse of other centres and the population decline in the southern lowlands during the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Over the course of the following centuries, the majority of the population in the southern lowlands probably moved to areas with a greater stability in terms of resources or to less populated regions, such as Puuc. The rapid population increase in northern Yucatan is therefore almost certainly related to the decline in importance of Peten in the political and economic history of the Maya area, but also to a major change in rainfall levels and improved farming potential in the Puuc region at the end of the Classic period. Based on the capacity of Sayil to accumulate water in chultunes and on the number of rooms per building, some historians estimate a population of between 4,000 and 8,000 during the Terminal Classic (AD 750-950) and a possible area of influence of 70 sq km with a total population of 16,000.

History of the explorations

Sayil was first visited and its ruins presented to an international public in 1841, after it had been recorded by John Stephens and Frederick Cartherwood. Although numerous travellers and researchers have published their impressions about their respective visits, relatively little is known about this archaeological site beyond the architecture of the core area. Until recently, the most complete perspective of this site, and indeed of any other site in the Puuc region, was the map drawn up by Edwin Shook in 1934 showing the layout of the buildings and documenting some of the most notable structures. Evidence of the principal period of occupation was limited until a few years ago to the existence of certain calendric dates on inscriptions and on the ceramics uncovered during minor excavations conducted at the site by Brainerd in 1958. Most of these pots correspond to the Cehpech ceramic group, which dates from between AD 800 and 1000. Between the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, the University of New Mexico conducted a longer and more detailed archaeological project at the site.

Site description

At its peak, Sayil may well have comprised four architectural groups of varying sizes and importance: one to the north, another two along the causeway running north-south through the site, and the largest to the south-east. The main settlement is concentrated in the bottom of the valley, where five main groups are arranged in an approximate north-south axis along the main causeway. The location of the settlements not directly associated with the causeway is determined by the presence of limestone rocks, which were required for the construction of chultunes. The site continues, practically in all four directions, to the foot of the hills that form the valley

Palace.

This is the best known building at Sayil, being noted for its sheer scale and decoration. In certain publications it is referred to as the Great Palace or the North Palace. It was built on ground that had been levelled and adopts the form of a vaulted group on three stepped tiers comprising over 90 rooms; its basic function was to serve as the residence of the governor’s family and closest circle. The main facade faces south and rises from a platform which also marks the beginning of the causeway that leads to the other groups that form the urban landscape of Sayil. The first two levels are defined by ‘tripartite’ entrances which eventually lead to each of the rooms inside the building. The width of these opening was achieved by a novel technique in the Maya area: the use of modestly decorated, monolithic columns, which permitted the creation of large, well-lit surfaces covered either by flat roofs or corbel vaults. The facades display a harmonious and balanced combination of various decorative panels: on each level, the facades have a different type of decoration, the most notable being the middle section with its complicated mosaic designs, typical of the Puuc style. On the bottom level, the west facade once displayed medial moulding combined with zoomorphic masks, the latter no longer visible. On the east facade, the smooth panels are combined with a frieze decorated with colonnettes. The second level offers a magnificent example of Puuc architecture at its height, combining simple entrances with much wider ones and a decorative repertoire defined by the use of colonnettes on the lower frieze. Medial and upper mouldings decorate the short sections of these same elements which alternate from wall to frieze between the doorways, the portico openings and the sculptural decoration. The walls are decorated with colonnettes with ataduras or moulded bindings in the middle and at the ends, while the frieze, simple and bare, serves to accentuate the wall decoration. On the frieze above the central openings are robust stucco masks representing the front view of a long-nosed deity, flanked by serpents shown in profile. The decoration of the lower levels of the Palace contrasts enormously with that of the top level, which is much simpler. This level was added at later date and part of the lower levels must have been filled in to support the weight of it.

Mirador.

Situated next to the south end of the causeway and built on a stepped platform, the reconstructed building we see today is defined by its high corbel vault and an equally high roof comb. Nowadays, the facade is bare and simple, with medial moulding that must have contrasted with the roof comb which still displays traces of butts for stucco anthropomorphic figures. The building originally contained five rooms, of which only one has survived.

Temple of the Hieroglyphic Lintel.

This forms part of a small quadrangle. It is poorly preserved, with only three of its original rooms still visible today. The north room displays an interesting doorway from the architectural point of view and relatively rare in the Maya area: a band of 30 glyphs, many fairly well preserved, decorates the jambstone and lintel of the main entrance to the building.

South Palace.

This is a fairly simple, three-room structure with a central portico defined by two columns, lintels and capitals with carved figures and anthropomorphic deities. It is the largest building in the south group. A two-level structure, its main facade faces east. On the ground floor the rooms are arranged around a solid volume. The central room on the facade has three doorways. Nearly all of the decoration is articulated by horizontal lines of colonnettes.

Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp 375-378.

Sayil

1. Palace; 2. Temple of the Hieroglyphic Lintel; 3. Mirador; 4. South Group.

How to get there:

GPS:

20d 10′ 47″ N

89d 39′ 16″ W

Entrance:

M$70