The ancient Maya city of Oxtankah

View of the left side of Oxtankah's Structure I. This pyramid's rather unromantic moniker was given by the archeologists who excavated it. Notice how Structure I was constructed with rough rocks and rubble, then covered by a layer of finely cut stones. The pyramid has four stepped levels, with a temple on top and two burial chambers. Oxtankah is probably the easiest ruin to reach from Chetumal, the capital of Quintana Roo. It is located 16 km (10 mi) north of the city, near the shore of Bahia de Chetumal.

In spite of its convenient location, the site was nearly empty of tourists. This is not unusual, since the vast majority of Mexico's wonderful pre-hispanic ruins get few visitors, even though the sites are usually well maintained and marked with informational signs in both Spanish and English. Only a few large, well-publicized sites, like Teotihuacán and Chichen Itza, get significant numbers of tourists.

Site map of Oxtankah. The sign above shows an elite ceremonial area which contains two plazas, each surrounded by pyramids, temples, and palaces. The structures shown are the only ones that have been completely excavated, although a number of unexcavated mounds dot the area. In this posting I will give you a general overview of Oxtankah. In the next, I will focus on the Plaza de Abejas (Plaza of Bees), seen in the center of the sign. In my final posting on Oxtankah, we'll look at the Plaza de Columnas (Plaza of Columns) at the top. The ancient city originally contained at least 100 buildings and extended as far as Isla Tamalcab in Bahia de Chetumal.

Ramón tree, with its characteristic root system. Oxtankah means "three neighborhoods surrounded by ramón trees." It is a name invented by archeologists. What the ancient Maya called their city is a mystery. The ruins are shaded by deep jungle and the only sounds your hear are from birds and the wind rustling through the trees. During our visit to Southern Yucatan, we stopped at ten ancient Maya sites, including this one. There were never more than few other visitors at these places and sometimes our car was the only one in the parking lot. In our opinion, this is the very best way to experience ancient ruins.

Trees and other vegetation are not the only living things that inhabit the ruins. A trio of iguanas sun themselves on the rock wall of a palace. These are some of the easiest of all animals to photograph. Iguanas will lie motionless for long periods of time, even in the presence of people. Perhaps they just like to pose for photographers like me. Mexican Spinytail iguanas (Ctenosaura pectinata) are very social animals, unlike other species of iguanas, who tend to be solitary. They like rocky areas with plenty of crevices to hide in, although the ones above don't appear much inclined to conceal themselves. They inhabit dry forests near both coasts of Mexico and Central America.

Detail from a Maya codex showing a figure paddling a canoe. The objects in the bow appear to be trade goods. The economy of Oxtankah was closely attuned to the resources of the nearby Caribbean, including fishing and salt production, while agriculture and hunting played a lesser role. Proximity to the ocean also encouraged seaborne trade. Oxtankah's inhabitants were skilled navigators and readily made their way up and down the Caribbean coasts of both Yucatan and Central America. The dots and lines at the top of the codex are part of the Maya numeric system. A dot is a 1 and a horizontal or vertical bar is a 5. It is not clear what the numbers represent, although they may be dates.

Structure X of the Plaza de Columnas. The columns on this temple are among those that prompted archeologists to give the plaza its name. Oxtankah flourished as a coastal trade center between 200 AD and 600 AD, during the Classic Era of pre-hispanic Maya culture. After 600 AD it was largely abandoned and left to crumble for the next 800 years. In the 1400s, the city was re-occupied and re-built, using materials from the Classic Era ruins. When the Spanish arrived in the 1520s, Oxtankah was still inhabited and evangelizing Franciscan missionaries built one of their signature "open chapels" adjacent to the pre-hispanic ceremonial center.

Pot lid decorated with a handle in the shape of a bird's head. The pot may have been made locally, although it may have been a trade item brought from elsewhere. One attraction of maritime trade for the Maya of Oxtankah was the ability to transport large amounts of goods with less effort and expense than would have been necessary to haul a similar amount overland. There were no animal capable of carrying a load, nor were there wheeled vehicles. Everything had to be transported on the backs of human porters. Another benefit from carrying goods in a canoe was probably a lot less breakage than with land transport. However, storms and rough seas were always a danger.

Structure VI in the Plaza de Columnas contains the tombs of several high status individuals. The two plazas were part of an area reserved for the nobles, priests, and rulers. The common people lived outside this area in oval-shaped huts called nah, which were constructed with mud and wattle walls and had thatched roofs. Modern travelers through Yucatan's rural areas will find many Maya living in structures that closely resemble the homes of their Classic Era ancestors.

Diagram of Tomb 2, Structure VI. This particular tomb contained a single body, that of an adult male, unclothed except for a loin cloth. Buried with the body were various grave goods, including several pots. Tomb 2 was located under the main staircase, apparently a spot of honor within the pyramid. The pyramid itself was an important structure within the overall complex. Both of these factors indicate that the person laid to rest in the tomb was a particularly high-status individual.

Room within the left end of Structure III. This structure is a palace, which occupies one whole side of the Plaza de Abejas. The room may have been used for residential or administrative purposes, or possibly for the storage of household goods. There are additional rooms on the opposite end of the long rectangular platform. Other rooms, made of perishable materials, are believed to have once stood along its top.

Limestone is easily available throughout the Yucatan Peninsula. Consequently, it was widely used to construct Maya cities. In fact, the entire Peninsula is composed of a thick, flat shelf of limestone, covered by a relatively thin layer of topsoil. The shelf was created millions of years ago by the steady accumulation of shell, coral and fecal debris on the seabed. The calcium carbonate rock is relatively light, easily carved, and therefore ideal for the construction of temples, pyramids, and palaces, as well as for stelae, sculptures, and other artistic purposes. Limestone was also burned to create the stucco which covered the walls of the various structures. In addition, the stucco was used to surface patios, courtyards and the lengthy sacbeob (roads) that ran for many kilometers through the jungle to connect the ancient cities. The production of large amounts of stucco necessitated a great deal of firewood. Over time, this resulted in widespread deforestation, which may have caused droughts and crop failures and contributed to the decline of the Classic Era Maya civilization.

Pot, in the shape of a melon. Ancient potters often used the shapes of melons, gourds, and squashes as patterns for their creations. This pot might have been used for food storage, cooking, or serving meals, just as today's pots are used. The collection of water is another possible use. Fresh water has always been scarce in the Yucatan Peninsula, which has almost no above-ground rivers. This is another result of the limestone shelf under the topsoil. Limestone is very porous and, consequently, water doesn't remain on the surface but seeps down into underground rivers and aquifers.

In the northwestern part of the Peninsula, there are large numbers of cenotes (deep sinkholes) full of fresh water. These deep circular holes were created when water seeped through cracks, dissolving the limestone. Eventually, the weakened limestone collapsed into an aquifer, making a cenote. The southern part of the Peninsula has very few cenotes. The cracks which allowed for their creation were the result of a meteor impact 60 million years ago, just off the northwest coast of Yucatan. This was the same meteor that scientists believe killed off the dinosaurs. Lacking cenotes, the Maya of the southern Peninsula cut water storage pits, called chultunes, into the limestone. They then dug drainage channels to direct the rainy season's runoff so that it would collect in the chultunes and could be stored for the dry season.

Temple located on the top level of the pyramid called Structure I. It is likely that the temple had a thatched roof at one time. However, unlike limestone structures, such perishable materials don't survive for millennia in Yucatan's climate. Archeologists found two tombs in Structure I. One of them can be accessed through the back side of the temple above, and I will show it in my posting on the Plaza de Abejas.

Carved limestone decoration from one of Oxtankah's palaces. The softness of limestone meant that it could be easily carved using the tools available. These didn't include any metal objects. The ancient Maya were sophisticated in subjects such as astronomy, mathematics, and calendars, but they were still essentially a stone age culture. Their tools were made from stone, obsidian (volcanic glass), and bone. Copper tools were used during the Post Classic Era by some of the cultures of western Mexico, such as the Tarascans of Michoacan, and the small kingdoms around Colima. These people learned how to smelt and work copper from their coastal trading connections with the ancient Peruvians. Although copper tools never reached the Maya, decorative copper objects such as ornaments and bells did reach Yucatan through the trade networks.

Stela and altar, near the entrance of Oxtankah. The faint outline of an elite figure, possibly a priest or warrior, can be seen on the upright slab. Circular stone disks are often found in front of stelae and were probably used for the placement of offerings. A great deal that we know about the Maya has come from deciphering hieroglyphs on stelae. The "Maya code" was not broken until the 1970s and, when it happened, it forced archeologists to radically change their perceptions of who these people were and how their societies operated. For a long time, the Maya had been viewed as peaceful star-gazers who occupied their lives with complex mathematics and mystical calendars. The deciphered hieroglyphs revealed, however, that warfare and bloody sacrifices played a large role in Maya culture. Regrettably, they turned out to be pretty much like everybody else.

One of the numerous unexcavated mounds found in and around Oxtankah's ceremonial center. There are probably many more of these than there are structures that have been fully excavated. Given the limitations of funding for archeological digs, it was once believed that it might take decades or even centuries to fully explore the various cities of the ancient Maya world. In fact, a new technology called LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is revealing that many ancient sites are vastly larger than anyone ever imagined. LiDAR is capable of peering through previously impenetrable jungle canopy to see the structures hidden beneath. The lowland Maya areas, of which Oxtankah was a part, were once thought to have had a population of 5 million. LiDAR has revealed that it was more like 10 to 15 million. Stay tuned for more revelations!

This completes my first posting on the ancient Maya ruin of Oxtankah. I hope you have enjoyed it and, if so, you will leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly.

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Hasta luego, Jim