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<< Our Photo Pages >> Calakmul - Ancient Village or Settlement in Mexico in Campeche

Submitted by davidmorgan on Thursday, 12 November 2009  Page Views: 18009

Multi-periodSite Name: Calakmul
Country: Mexico
NOTE: This site is 1.149 km away from the location you searched for.

Region: Campeche Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Xpujil
Latitude: 18.114276N  Longitude: 89.802978W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

DrewParsons would like to visit

john_op_stap visited on 29th Jul 2004 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 3 Access: 3 With the ongoing work there seems to be a lot more to see then when I was there. The site will surely hold many more surprises.

MelissaBWrite davidmorgan have visited here

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure II - the main pyramid. This structure is colossal, there's another tier above what you can see here. Best seen from the air. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Calakmul evidences an uninterrupted architectural sequence which extended across fourteen centuries (550 BCE - 900 CE). Its outstanding architecture includes figures sculpted in stone and modelled in stucco; other noteworthy features of the site are the great quantity of stelae and dated monuments, upon which the history of Calakmul's rulers is recorded.

In the Maya region, towards the end of the Middle Preclassic period (700 - 300 BCE), important public urban works were undertaken. During this period, the largest structures of Calakmul's history were constructed. This was also when the site's first public architecture appeared, marking an effort to define administrative activities.

During the 5th century CE, extensive remodelling was initiated, although this activity didn't include a modification of the city's urban plan, which was established in the Preclassic period. Among these works is the noteworthy remodelling of the great foundation of Structure II.

The rulers who inherited the throne of Calakmul initiated public as well as private urban works, such as palatial complexes, in various sectors of the city. The built structures to be used in artistic production and specialised craftsmanship; it was here where members of the royal lineage ordered for the making of ceramics and other objects used in ritual. It is likely that toward the end of the Late Classic period (600 - 800 CE), a series of reforms and public works were initiated, changing the city's image.

The peak of the greatest prosperity in Calakmul occurred during the Late Classic period, during which the majority of monuments, known as "smooth stelae" were erected in the Great Plaza; construction at the time, however, was restricted to minor remodelling. This era's high yield with regard to ceramic production, along with that of the Early Classic period, indicate that both periods represent times of greatest human population at the site.

From the site information board.

Note: Colorful Murals Show Common Activities of a Maya Market Place. A Unique View, Lost until now.
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Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure I - another massive pyramid. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure IV - this architectural complex with its twin temples on each side (IV-A and IV-C) and central building (IV-B) was preceded by 14 stelae. The monuments, which still have legible dates, make reference to events which occurred between 6 December and 28 June, 810 CE. Five substructures were discovered in structure IV-B. It is the longest construction sequence in the complex. The diverse... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure XI - The Ball Court is found in the Northern Plaza of the public area of the Great Acropolis and is an "open" type with no hoops or markers. It is of late construction and seems to break away from the earlier power structures and marks a reorientation of the site's architectural style. The field of the Ball Court must have been inaugurated towards the second half of the 8th century CE.... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Another view of the pyramid (Structure II) from the plaza. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure I - a small distance from the Grand Plaza.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : One of the many stelae. This is next to the ball-court.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : The top of Structure II seen from the top of Structure VII. (1 comment)

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by karolus : Site in Campeche Mexico

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Structure VII - on the Grand Plaza opposite the main pyramid (Structure II), possibly used as an observatory, due to its alignment. There are so many trees here that it wasn't until I had climbed this building that I realised there was a huge pyramid only 100 metres away across the square.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Dated at 9.12.0.0.0, during the reign of Yukom the Great, this stele shows on its right face a verb associated with "birth"; although the date of the event is eroded, it could be read as 8 Kaban 5 Yax; this date would correspond with a clear reference to the birth of the same person on 9.8.7.2.17 (11 September 600 CE), according to Stele 20 at the site of El Perú [in Guatemala]. The information ...

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by karolus : Templo Mayor

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by karolus : View from summit of Templo Mayor

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by john_op_stap : Calakmul - 29/07/04 Structure II - Door to tunneling project, see comment. Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : A stele in front of Structure I.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : Plan of the central plaza - I've drawn some white lines approximately where the solstice and equinox alignments radiate from Structure VI across Structure IV.

Calakmul
Calakmul submitted by davidmorgan : The stelae in front of Structure II.

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"Calakmul" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Re: Calakmul by john_op_stap on Saturday, 16 November 2013
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When I visited this site, work had only begun a couple of years before, and little was still to see. One thing however stuck with me, and ever since I have been looking for INAH to make it public, but they never did.

On structure II, there was a tunneling project ongoing. The entrance was a metal door, which was open wen I passed. Since there was no sign of forbidden entry or off limits, I entered. Inside was quite a large room, going at least completely underneath the main stairs of the pyramid.

Once I got adjusted to the darkness, I was standing in awe before a huge stucco mask of Pre Classic style, like the ones known from El Mirador. No paint traces that I could see, but a perfect sculpted more than man size large beauty. Unfortunately my presence was noticed and one of the crew working urged me out before I could try and take a picture.

I hope that one day they make it accessible to the public, like they did with the Frieze at Balamku.

Many pictures of Calakmul
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life by Malta_Bulb on Thursday, 12 November 2009
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Wow! This is beautiful ... and thanks for submitting the aerial photo!!! I somehow did not realize that the pyramid was in the middle of a jungle! Simply awesome.

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Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life by bat400 on Thursday, 12 November 2009
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Submitted by coldrum ---

Recently excavated Mayan murals are giving archaeologists a rare look into the lives of ordinary ancient Maya. The murals were uncovered during the excavation of a pyramid mound structure at the ancient Maya site of Calakmul, Mexico (near the border with Guatemala) and are described in the Nov. 9 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The find "was a total shock," said Simon Martin of the University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia, who studied the paintings and hieroglyphs depicted in the murals. The Maya have been studied for more than a century, but "this is the first time that we've seen anything like this," Martin said.

"We almost never get a view of what other layers of society [besides nobility] are doing or what they look like, so this is one of the things that makes [the murals] so special," Martin told LiveScience.

The murals were found on the walls of one layer of the mound structure - Maya built over the top of older structures, creating buildings in layers like onions, Martin explained. While other layers were scraped up and destroyed in the effort to build over them, the layer with the murals appears to have been carefully preserved, with a layer of clay put over the murals, ostensibly to protect them.

The images on the mural show people engaged in mundane activities, such as preparing food. Hieroglyphic captions accompany each image, labeling each individual. In each case the term "aj," meaning "person," is used and followed by the word for a foodstuff or material. For example, the terms "aj ul" ("maize-gruel person") shows a man with a large pot, dish and spoon with another man drinking from a bowl, and the term "aj mahy" (tobacco person) depicts two men, one holding a spatula and the other a pot that likely holds a form of the tobacco leaf.

Such scenes have never been seen in surviving Mayan paintings before, (though some parts of quotidian Mayan culture have survived through the ages with the remaining Mayan populations) and the hieroglyphs for some words (such as "tobacco" and "maize-gruel") were already known. Other hieroglyphs, though, were new to researchers - of particular importance were finding the words for maize itself and salt, which were known to be key staples of the Mayan diet.

Martin and his colleagues are not yet sure what the structure was or why the mural was painted and preserved. But they hope to learn more as they continue to excavate more layers of the pyramid and uncover more of the mural.

For more, including photographs, see Science Live.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life by bat400 on Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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    From another article sent by coldrum---

    Update for 7 p.m. ET Nov. 10: Boston University's William Saturno had more to say about the Calakmul research after he read the published paper. He agreed that the murals are significant and reveal a side of Maya society that has been seen only rarely.

    "In terms of the work of public art, I don't know of others that show nondescript people," he told me in a follow-up phone call. "They're not nobility. You have titles like 'He of the Corn Gruel.' In that sense, they show a part of Maya life that is not commonly seen in public art."

    "I have to say I'm puzzled as to why the art is not being discussed as market scenes as opposed to scenes of everyday life," he said. "Some of the things I think are really neat about this are things that are not being emphasized."

    Saturno noted that the murals almost exclusively show market transactions rather than, say, the actual production of the goods being traded.

    Other researchers have surmised that Structure 1 and its surroundings were the site of an ancient Maya marketplace, Saturno said. "There are all these little, low-walled, stall-like structures that are unprecedented in other Maya sites," he observed. The implication, then, is that the pyramid indeed served as a public monument with a market theme.

    "Maybe we're finally looking at a Maya market," Saturno said, "and if we're looking at a Maya market, that's really cool."

    For more, see cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: Calakmul by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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The information on the site board doesn't do this place justice. For a start it's 60km into the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, a jungle teeming with wildlife - there were monkeys in the trees at the ruins. And also it's huge, one of the largest and strongest cities in the region at the time, and filled with really massive structures.
You could could spend a whole day here, exploring the jungle and the ruins. Truly overwhelming.
Here's a good aerial photograph of Structure II with Structure I in the background.
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