Nearby is Structure III leading off to the plaza of the Great Acropolis.  The temple to the left of the main platform on Structure III contained the tomb of an adult male placed on a woven mat, resting upon five ceramic vessels.  He wore one jade mask on his face, one on his chest and one on his belt.  Jade beads, jade plaques, shell beads and vessels were found in the tomb, which must have belonged to one of the early rulers of Calakmul. In the Great Acropolis is the first ball court of Calakmul with a stela depicting a player that is discernible.  He appears to be holding a tablet.  South of the ballcourt is the Sacrifice Stone decorated with bound, naked men.  The Acropolis is bordered on the north by the remains of a seven-meter high wall, almost two meters thick, which may have been for defense.  Structure XII has a stela commemorating the last ruler of Calakmul , a woman.  Feminine figures at Calakmul are frequent, suggesting a certain degree of matriarchal dominance.
 

There was some discussion as to how long the walk into the site was from where we parked.  It seemed like over a mile to me! I made the observation that these sites would be far more popular if they were closer to the road.  The strenuous hike into the jungle was worth it when a beautiful Blue Morpho butterfly drifted out of the dense forest and followed me for awhile.  And, on my return from the site, our driver, Sr. Chell called, “I have something for you, Miss Sue!”  A Maya worker in the jungle had brought in a tiny, coiled, (dead), dessicated Fer-de-Lance, which is one of the deadliest snakes in the world!  

Before heading back to our hotel we went a couple of miles further west on Highway 186 to the site of Balamku’.  The site was only discovered in 1990 and is still under excavation, but it has one of the largest surviving stucco friezes in the Mayan world with much of the original Mayan color.  The 20m-long frieze is sheltered beneath a canopy on the House of Four Kings.  The frieze is a mass of images and animal figures over a level of earth monsters.  Above the earth monsters are various animals like monkeys and toads.

On the way back to Hotel Calakmul in Xpuhil, we stopped at Chicanna’. This site does not have any giant pyramids.  The architecture is a blend of two important Mayan styles, the Rio Bec and Chenes produced in the 5th to 8th centuries.  The buildings are relatively small but the ornateness and quality of decoration suggest that it was an important center for the elite.  The most famous and photographed building at Chicanna’ is Structure II on the east side of the central plaza. The entrance to the building is a great Chenes monster portal, also thought to be a symbolic depiction of the Mayan god Itzama’ who was creator of all things in Maya cosmology.  Above the doorway, which is a gaping mouth of a beast-like god, are teeth, and above the teeth are a nose and eyes and on the sides are stylized representations of the ears -- all with adornments.  Its sides are decorated with a series of stylized masks of Chaac, the rain-giving god.  Inside is a typical Mayan vault.  Other low buildings bordering the plaza have stairways and rooms. The face of Structure VI has the remains of stone masks and what was once an imposing cresting.  Jack Eaton (an early field investigator and assistant director at the Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA) was the first to survey, map, excavate and restore this site. 

The next morning we visited Becan  the largest of the sites in the Rio Bec style of architecture in the central Yucatan.  The name means “ditch of water” and the city is ringed by a 2 km moat that probably helped to protect the inhabitants from tribal conflicts.  We passed a large chultun (water cistern) on the way into the site.  The core of the city is enclosed by a 50’ wide moat, behind which are remains of a wall that was about 10’ high -- definitely a fortification.  The town had seven gateways, which were approached by sacbes – ceremonial causeways paved with plaster.  The oldest structures have been dated at 550 BC, and the latest at AD 1200.  The East Plaza is the most dramatic with immense buildings, steep staircases and giant towers.  A unique passageway beneath Mayan arches runs between two buildings to emerge into the Plaza Central.  There are niches for offerings along the way.  Structure VIII has a mask of Itzamma’ in the center and temples on top.  Becan’s main ball court is in the biggest square, the West Plaza.  We saw Maya women sweeping the plazas with “brooms” made of bundles of branches tied together.

We drove back to Chetumal for lunch and a visit to the museum of Mayan culture, which opened in 1994.  The museum has very few original artifacts, but seeks to explain every aspect of Mayan civilization through imaginative modern displays.  A great sculpture runs from Xibalbal (the Maya underworld)  in the basement to the physical world on the 2nd level to the heavens on the third level.  A great working model, which one can turn with a handle explains the Mayan calendar and the fields of cosmology, agriculture and glyphs are covered in a creative way.  It is not overwhelming like many museums and depicts an enjoyable overview of the Mayan civilization.

It was a long drive back to the field camp, but we made it in time for dinner, brimming over with stories of our trip.  A six inch scorpion awaited me on the doorstep of my room and Sam exterminated it with a ritual “ring of fire” ceremony.  I don’t recommend it.

Friday was fun day and all of us, including the volunteers, students and camp directors, set off for a barbeque and swim at the beautiful  Chan Chich Lodge to celebrate the end of this season’s excavations at Dos Hombres.  Going out of camp we saw coatimundi, deer, and all kinds of birds and butterflies.  The owner has cleared the jungle for about 200 ft. on either side of the road and all sorts of little creatures venture out on the green.  

Chan Chich Lodge is in a private nature reserve of over 250,000 acres.  Twelve thatched roof cabanas surround the central buildings that contain the restaurant, “Looter’s Trench Bar” gift shop and library.  It is built on the lower plaza of a great pyramid complex.  1000 years of rain, erosion and forest growth have transformed temples and palaces to mounds of earth and stone and huge, unexcavated mounds surround the Lodge.  It has an extensive jungle-trail system for hiking and exploring excavated areas of the site, a spring-fed lake, and a  swimming pool.  Parrots, orioles and all kinds of birds fly overhead, howler and spider monkeys were playing in the trees and Paul caught a huge iguana-like lizard.  A beautiful place and we had a wonderful day.

The next morning, Grant, one of Fred’s camp directors took us to the archaeological site of Lamanai, the ancient port town on the New River.  The site is on the banks of the beautiful New River Lagoon.  One of Lamanai’s distinguishing features is that ceremonial and civic construction continued in portions of the central area during a time when much of the Maya area was undergoing collapse.  Excavations at Lamanai show continuous occupation and prosperity from 1500 BC to the 19th century. During the Late Preclassic period, the city became one of the largest in the area.  A large, imposing temple-pyramid has a great stucco mask of a deity.   When the Spaniards arrived around AD 1540, the ceremonial center was abandoned and the Maya had small settlements in the area.  A  mission church was erected (a trace of a few crumbled burned walls remain), but by AD 1638, the Spanish withdrew as the community joined a widespread Mayan revolt.  In the nineteenth century, Lamanai was occupied by British families engaged in sugarcane production.  We visited a rusted old sugarcane-processing machine in the jungle that was slowly being absorbed by giant roots and encroaching jungle vegetation. An international bank is funding considerable restoration at the site.

Sam, another camp director took us to Las Milpas in the afternoon.  The site has been mapped and surveyed, but very little has been done in excavating and restorating. We saw broken stelae, with some glyphs still visible and a large looter’s tunnel into the side of one of the pyramids.  Also a catchment basin for collecting water.  After visiting the other Maya sites, it was interesting to visit a site where the plaza, surrounded by pyramids and palaces, waits to have the cloak of the jungle removed and its mysteries revealed.

Ellen Sue Turner
May, 2002

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