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<< Our Photo Pages >> Dzibanche - Ancient Village or Settlement in Mexico in Quintana Roo

Submitted by LivingRocks on Saturday, 12 January 2013  Page Views: 9564

Multi-periodSite Name: Dzibanche Alternative Name: Dzibanché
Country: Mexico Region: Quintana Roo Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Chetumal  Nearest Village: Morocoy
Latitude: 18.642190N  Longitude: 88.76064W
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
 5

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Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by LivingRocks : Edificio 1. The Temple of the Owl. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient City in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Dzibanche, meaning 'writing on wood', was a major site in the Classic Period (300 – 900 AD). Its inhabitants settled on some 40 sq km of hilly lands surrounded by flat plains.

Throughout that area they erected their homes and buildings for worshipping their gods, as well as public buildings which were the hub of the community’s social and economic life. The site's most important architectural complex is made up of a number of plazas ringed by large palaces and platforms from which temples arose. The most notable of these plazas are those corresponding to Temples 1 & 2, as well as the Small Acropolis, that of the so called ‘Unknown Building’ and that of the Set in ‘C’ A Ball Court, somewhat removed from the main block of structures completes the list of buildings.

(Taken from the site information board)

Note: Dzibanché discoveries redifine the "Maya Collapse", showing lowland cities were not completely abandoned
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Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by LivingRocks : Edificio 6. The Temple of the Lintels. Glyphs on a wooden lintel here dating back to 618AD gave the site its name. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by LivingRocks : Edificio 2. The Temple of the Cormorants (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : Edificio 6 - The Building of the Lintels. It is a pyramidal platform upon which there is a temple with two vaulted galleries. The one at the rear has a special design with tensors that prevent the walls from collapsing at their corners; above it a solid trapezoidal cresting was built, vestiges of which remain. The exposed temple belongs to the last stage of construction; its pediments were d... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : Edificio 2 - The Temple of the Cormorants. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : Edificio 1 - The Temple of the Owl.

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : Edificio 2 - The Temple of the Cormorants. It is a temple with two galleries probably constructed at different times. The one in front is the most recent. The rear corridor, which is narrower and higher, is reinforced at its ends to prevent the collapse of its walls which supported a hollowed-out trapezoidal cresting that perhaps held, towards the rear, three stuccoed masks or medallions. Th...

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : The Temple of the Lintels from the side.

Dzibanche
Dzibanche submitted by davidmorgan : The site plan of Dzibanché.

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Dzibanché discoveries redifine the “Maya Collapse” by davidmorgan on Wednesday, 02 January 2013
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A polychromatic stucco mural, referring to one of the oldest Mayan dynasties of the important city of Dzibanché, in Quintana Roo is one of the latest findings which reveals that it was inhabited well into the 13th century CE, and not the 11th century CE when it was believed the cities of the Lowlands were completely abandoned during the “Maya collapse“.

Continuing the work of Enrique Nalda

This important find comes after study was resumed by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) after the death of archaeologist Enrique Nalda (1936-2010) who worked extensively on the ancient Maya city.

During his last season there he found human remains and a large number of offerings including a bone artefact carved with a scene of human sacrifice, greenstone jade along with obsidian artefacts.

A massive city state

Dzibanché is a city located in southern Quintana Roo, set within 40 square kilometres in the jungle and is composed of four discreet groups of buildings: Dzibanche, Tutil, the Central Complex and the Kinichna Acropolis. The city site reached its peak in the Classic period (200-1000 CE), during which the Kaan dynasty ruled, one of the oldest and most important of all the Maya.

Archaeologist Sandra Balanzario, project leader at Dzibanché reported that the new data indicates the city was inhabited until well into the Late Postclassic period (1200-1550 AD), “which is important because our previous research pointed to the end being the Terminal Classic (800-1000 AD). “

She explained that among the artefacts recovered was a Late Classic vessel that had been ritually killed (intentionally broken) and deposited as an offering, the piece is decorated with iconography referring to one of the brothers called Sky Witness, one of the most important past rulers of the Kaan dynasty.

This vessel, along with two murals have been restored. They are covered with glyphs associated with this dynasty and indicate a continuation of the Kaan lineage.

This is important as previously it was thought that the Kaan dynasty had settled in Dzibanché during the Classic period, and then moved to Calakmul, but this discovery shows a continuity at this location with a branch of the dynasty remaining in Dzibanché to control the city.
Looking for the residents

Balanzario said that after a two year break in activity on the research project at the site, work resumed in Dzibanché with a priority on the conservation and consolidation of the areas Nalda discovered between 2008 and 2009.

The INAH archaeologist at Quintana Roo explained that the objective of Nalda’s last season was to find houses of the ordinary people, as he had already discovered ceremonial areas and buildings with burial chambers.

It was during this work he discovered the dwellings of the city administration, much of the standing architecture covered in fragments of polychrome painted stucco and graffiti, some bearing the family glyphs of Kaan.

These buildings were located in the area known as Little Acropolis, which also produced archaeological materials that were not associated with domestic activity; rich offerings dating to the 1300s, including shell objects, gold, polychrome pottery, jade beads and organic materials.
Ritual killing

The team also found the remains of four dismembered individuals who appear to have been killed along with the ritually killed artefacts such as censers, flint and obsidian knives and a bone awl depicting the heart removal scene of a sacrifice.

Another richly adorned structure was located, which, due to its proximity to the main monuments of Dzibanché, archaeologists think could have been be the actual residence of the Kaan Dynasty.

Nearby, in the Temple of the Cormorants, Nalda’s team discovered another mural with polychrome stucco, created during the Classic period, its iconography representing the sacred mountain, which desc

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