Oxkintok Part 3 of 4: Pyramids and palaces of the Ah May Group

Platform staircase of the Ah May Group, looking west. The stone-paved walkways shown in the lower right are parts of sacbeob (raised roads) that cross Oxkintok's Central Plaza, linking the Ah May Group to the Ah Canul, and Ah Dzib Groups. The staircase above faces north, into the Central Plaza. The three groups of structures, along with the Satunsat (Labyrinth), form the boundaries of the Central Plaza. Collectively, they are the most important part of the ancient Maya city of Oxkintok.

In the first two parts of this series, I showed you the Ah Canul Group, which has been described as the power center of the city. In this third part, we will take a look at the Ah May Group. It includes the oldest and highest of Oxkintok's pyramids, as well as several elite residential areas. Part 4 of the series will cover the Ah Dzib Group and the Satunsat or Labyrinth.

Overview

Site map of the Ah May Group (north at top). The Ah May Group stands on a massive platform covering 15,000 sq m (16,404 sq yds). The north side of the platform forms the southern border of Oxkintok's Central Plaza. To the northwest (upper left) is the Satunsat, a small, stand-alone structure also known as the Labyrinth. Off the map to the north is the Ah Dzib Group. To the east, also off the map, is the Ah Canul Group. The large pyramid known as MA-1 (#1 on the map) stands in the center of the platform.

Access to the platform is gained by mounting the ramp and staircase (# 4) from the north. The MA-1 pyramid faces the North Plaza (#5). Along this plaza's west side are two buildings (#2, #3) that may once have housed priests. The Southeast Plaza (#7) contains two elite palaces, including Palacio Junquillo (#6) and the MA-9 palace (#9). The Southwest Plaza (#8) contains the remains of structures that were probably residential, however I didn't photograph them.


Ah May's platform, pyramid, and palaces

The Ah May Group, viewed from the northwest. In the upper left of the photo you can see the ramp and staircase that gives access to the platform on which the pyramid and other structures stand. During the Late-to-Terminal Classic era, when the Ah Canul Group was the center of power in Oxkintok, Ah May held a lesser status as the civic and religious center.

However, Ah May's construction dates to the Early Classic period (300 - 500 AD) while Ah Canul's pyramids and temples were built between 750 AD and 1050 AD. Archeologists believe that Ah May might have been the power center in the earlier period, but yielded that status when Ah Canul rose to prominence. Modifications to Ah May's Early Classic structures continued through Oxkintok's history to the end of the Terminal Classic. (Photo from the Oxkintok website)

The platform's ramp and staircase has three levels. The long ramp leads up to the first level. Then a wide staircase leads to a second level which once had structures on either side of the staircase. From there the stairs lead to the broad North Plaza in front of the MA-1 pyramid.

For all the effort put into building this huge platform, as well as all the other structures at Oxkintok, there is no evidence of any of defensive works. There are none of the ramparts, ditches, or defensive walls so common among other pre-hispanic Maya sites. Further, there is no trace of the kind of destruction that occurs when a city is captured and sacked by an enemy force. This does not mean that armed conflict was totally absent during Oxkintok's 700 year history. However, any that occurred appears to have been rare and the city suffered few consequences from it.

Oxkintok is located about 48km (30mi) away from the great city Uxmal. They are considered to be the two most important pre-hispanic city-states in the Puuc Region. Over the centuries, Oxkintok's top-tier status should have led to many conflicts with neighboring powers. Yet the only evidence found to date are carvings on a couple of stelae. One contains the image of a warrior and the other shows a possible war captive (see Part 2 of this series). Most other Maya cities, including Uxmal, contain defensive works. Also commonly present are large numbers of relief carvings and statues with warlike themes, as well as hieroglyphic accounts of victories and conquests. The almost total absence of all these at Oxkintok is a real puzzle.

A line of columns stands at the top of the ramp to the left of the main staircase. These were once part of a portico called MA-15. Columned porticos are one of the features of the Puuc style, which developed around 700 AD. The presence of this portico indicates that it was added about 400 years after Ah May's construction began.

Housing for elite individuals stands on the top level of Ah May's great platform. Once you reach the top of the platform's stairs, you enter the North Plaza. Along the north and west sides of the North Plaza are two rectangular structures, perpendicular to each other. They once housed some of Oxkintok's elite, possibly including priests. In the foreground is MA-2, the smaller of the two. Its one doorway opens to the south, into the plaza. MA-2's Puuc style helps date it to between 600-800 AD).

In the distance, MA-3 borders the whole west side of the plaza. Its nine doorways suggest a religious connection and the possibility that it once housed priests. Numbers were always important to the Maya, and nine represented the number of levels in Xibalba, the Maya underworld.

MA-3 also appears to be older than MA-2. It was constructed with coarsely carved stone blocks and has the remains of a vaulted ceiling, both features of the Early Oxkintok style. This style, popular between 300-600 AD, pre-dated the Puuc style. Just behind MA-3, archeologists found manos and metates (stone tools for grinding corn), typical finds associated with a kitchen area, adding further proof that this was a residential structure.

Drawings of hieroglyphics found at the Ah May Group. On the left is a miscellaneous fragment, while the one on the right is from Dintel 11, a doorway lintel. Most of the history and chronology of Oxkintok must be indirectly inferred because only a few written records have been found in the city.

Those that exist are mostly in the form of hieroglyphic carvings on stelae, lintels, altars, ceramics, and the stone ring found in the Ball Court (to be shown in Part 4). However, many of these were too weatherworn to be deciphered. Among those hieroglyphs that are readable are a few that tell us the name of Oxkintok's only identified ruler. He was a man called Walas, who ruled the city during the Late Classic era. Among the hieroglyphs, only 13 specific dates have been found. These range from 475 AD to 859 AD.

However, archeologists have been able to supplement this fragmented chronology with additional methods. A careful analysis of 70,000 ceramic fragments and 38 complete vessels found at Oxkintok reveals a period of occupation totaling 2100 years, from the Pre-Classic era (600 BC) through the end of the Post-Classic (1500 AD).

The city's monumental architecture has a much shorter history than the pottery. Broadly speaking, the four main architectural styles are Early Oxkintok (300-500 AD), Proto-Puuc (500-700 AD), Early Puuc (700-850 AD) and Classic Puuc (850-1050 AD). However, these changes in styles over 750 years also provide a rough chronology of the city's social, political, and economic development.

Ah May's pyramid, known as MA-1. The pyramid stands on the third level of the platform and faces the North Plaza. The Southeast and Southwest Plazas are behind MA-1. At 15m (49ft), this pyramid is Oxkintok's tallest structure. What you see above is the latest version of the pyramid. Unlike modern builders, the Maya did not tear down an old pyramid when they wanted to put up a new one on the same spot. They simply built over what was already there. Such is the case with MA-1. When archeologists tunneled into the pyramid, they found the remains of a structure built centuries earlier.

The tunnels also revealed three tombs, each containing the remains of one individual. The three were aligned with one another on an east-west basis and all were perpendicular to the north-south axis of the pyramid. Based on the richness of the grave goods, the individual buried in the center was the most important,

The grave goods included blades and other objects of obsidian, a cylindrical vase with a tripod base, a lid with a handle in the form of a bird's head, cinnabar (bright-red mercury sulfide, used as a pigment), and various jade objects used for personal decoration. Also present were a large quantities of jewelry made from Spondylus Americanus shells from the northwest coast of Yucatan. The importance of the tombs' occupants is indicated not only in the quantity and quality of the the grave goods, but because of where they were buried. Tombs inside a major pyramid were reserved for those with the highest status, usually rulers and their families.

Schematics of MA-1. The drawing on top shows how the pyramid may have looked in the Terminal Classic period. At the top of the broad, north-facing staircase stands a two-room temple with an altar. The Puuc-style columned porticos to the left of the staircase were the last additions to the structure. Even with all the modifications over the centuries, some features from an earlier era were retained. The Early Classic talud y tablero (slope and panel) feature on the right side reflects the 5th century influence of Teotihuacán, the great trading empire of central Mexico.

The lower schematic shows a north-south cross section of MA-1, revealing the outline of the original structure underneath. It was built sometime between 300 and 500 AD. This palatial building had two levels with nine rooms. There were seven rooms on the bottom level, with five of them along a north-south gallery. Two more rooms were situated either side of the gallery to the east and west. On the second level are two more rooms. When the pyramid was constructed in the Mid-Classic era (500-750 AD), all these rooms were filled with rubble in order to create a solid foundation. (Schematics from Architectural Survey at Oxkintok, 1971-1993 by George F. Andrews)

Altar in the pyramid's temple. The altar was fitted into a cubicle between the temple's two rooms. There is a step at the base upon which offerings may have been laid. Above that is a niche in which a censer (incense burner) or a statue of a god may have stood. The cubicle is not much bigger than an old-fashioned telephone booth. For today's cell phone users who may be too young to know what that is, here is a photo of one from the National Historical Register.

View from the MA-1 temple, looking northwest. The MA-3 residential structure stretches diagonally across the photo. It faces east into the North Plaza. Eight large pilasters separate the nine doorways of the long, thin structure. Beyond MA-3 is another structure, called the Satunsat or Labyrinth, which I will show in my next posting.


The MA-9 Palace

The MA-9 Palace stands on Ah May's platform to the left of the pyramid. Like the pyramid, the palace faces into the North Plaza. It also forms the northern boundary of the Southeast Plaza. The palace has five rooms, four of which are laid out on an east-west line, with an adjoining room in back. The MA-9 palace was a late addition to the Ah May Group. It was built during the Terminal Classic period (750-1050 AD), during Oxkintok's highest era of cultural splendor.

The corners of the palace are formed with three columns called junquillos. The Spanish word junquillo means round stone molding. This feature places the structure within the Junquillo Phase of the Puuc architectural phase.To the right is one of MA-9's four doorways that open onto the North Plaza.

Interior of an MA-9 room. The door above is interior, leading into another room. The walls and the lintel are made from large stone blocks, probably limestone because it is plentiful in Yucatan. Notice how the rooms are choked with vegetation. We visited in December because the weather was comfortable at that time, but it also meant that vegetation was thick.

Palacio Junquillo (MA-6)

Palacio Junquillo is named for its prolific use of rounded stone moldings. Also known as MA-6, Palacio Junquillo is actually a collection of structures that form the southern and western boundaries of the Southeast Plaza. I took this shot from the temple atop the pyramid, but did not actually walk through the structures. There was no obvious path through the dense growth, time was short, and there were many other pyramids and palaces to see. I wish I had found a way through the brush, because my later research showed it to be an important site. Fortunately, I did turn up some schematics that will provide a better sense of Palacio Junquillo.
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What Palacio Junquillo would have looked like in the Terminal Classic era. A large, two-room structure sits on a low platform accessed by a two step staircase. The platform structure is laid out on an east-west line and faces north, into the Southeast Plaza.

Behind the two-room structure is an L-shaped building with four rooms and three doorways. Across from this is a long, four-room structure with a door on the north end and two on its east side. The east side doors face into a patio formed by the three buildings. The doors of the L-shaped building also face into the patio.

This shared space suggests a close connection among all three structures. Archeologists speculate that the large structure on the platform may have been used for religious purposes and the other buildings as residences or for utilitarian purposes such as storage or food preparation. (Schematic from Mesoweb)

Floor Plan of Palacio Junquillo. This schematic gives a different view and clearly shows the way the rooms were structured. Oddly, room #2 in the L-shaped structure doesn't seem to have any doors, either exterior or interior.  (Floor plan from Architectural Survey at Oxkintok: 1971-1993 by George F. Andrews, University of Oregon)

This completes Part 3 of my 4-part series on Oxkintok. 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. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim