Ek Balam had a long history. The area was first settled in the Pre-Classic period, around 300 BC. It was occupied well into the Post-Classic and may have been inhabited as late as the Spanish arrival in the early 16th century. Maya priests told the Spanish that Ek Balam was once the capital of the Tah Kingdom and was founded by a man named Ek Balam (or Coch Cal Balam). Beyond Maya legends, there is no evidence establishing his existence. The height of the city's power occurred in the Late Classic era (770-840 AD), during the rule of Ukit Kan Lek Tok´. He founded the Talol (or Tlalol) dynasty and is an historical figure.
Overview
Site map showing the various structures within the double perimeter walls. Plaza Sur is the "U"-shaped cluster of buildings near the bottom. The Oval Palace is at the base of Plaza Sur. The left arm of the U is formed by the Twin Temples (Estructura 17) and the right arm by a ceremonial platform called Estructura 10.
Sacbé 2 leads to a ceremonial gate on the south side of Ek Balam. Sacbé translates as "white road". Sacbeob (the plural) are raised roads paved with lime. Some of them were scores, or even hundreds, of kilometers long. The square gate sits on top of three stepped levels, with arched entrances on all four sides. The east and west sides have steps, while the north and south sides have ramps. Above, I am standing on the east side stairs. This gate is the most important of the five entrances to the perimeter walls. Spectacular processions once passed through here, including religious parades and visits by neighboring rulers.
The front of the Oval Palace, viewed from Plaza Sur. The rectangular base has 10 rooms, located on three of its sides. Two of the doors to these rooms can be seen above, one on either side of the bottom of the stairs. The second level has one room on either side of the staircase. The stairs narrow as they rise to the top level, which contains a small temple. The curved sides and rear of the upper levels indicate that the Oval Palace's temple may have been used for celestial observations. Similarly curved structures, like the one at Chichen Itza called "the Observatory", are believed to have been used for astronomical purposes.
View of the Oval Palace from the southwest. Above, you can see the curved sides of the upper levels, as well as the doorways of four of the ten base-level rooms on the west and south sides of the building. The low wall in the foreground is not part of the two concentric perimeter walls. In addition to the outer ring walls, there are several others that connect structures within the sacred precinct, further inhibiting access to any but the elite. The wall above connects the Oval Palace with the entrance arch.
Ceramic censer used to burn copal incense during various rites and ceremonies. This lovely little piece was crafted with a long handle that ends in a snake head. It is not only a functional object but also highly decorative. The openings around the bowl's sides allow the free flow of air to keep the copal burning. I found this piece among other artifacts in the San Roque Regional Museum in Valladolid. There is no on-site museum at Ek Balam, so the one in Valladolid is the best local place to find such artifacts.
Some of the rooms have raised platforms for sleeping or sitting. The platforms would have been covered by reed mats and cloth for comfort and warmth. Only the elite lived in rooms like this. The commoners would have lived in mud-and-wattle huts with thatched roofs, outside the sacred precinct. Most of the daily life for both nobles and commoners would have occurred outdoors, except during inclement weather. The various terraces, platforms and steps of the structures within the sacred precinct would have been where the nobles spent their leisure time socializing with one another.
View of Plaza Sur and the Twin Temples from one of the Oval Palace's front rooms. The Twin Temples are on the immediate left, while Estructura 8 (part of the ball game court) can be seen in the distance. Beyond the trees in the distance are Plaza Norte and the Acropolis (Estructura 1). Rooms in ancient Maya architecture seldom had windows, so the only natural light is through the door. Consequently these interior spaces would have primarily been used at night or during inclement weather or when some level of privacy was required.
The bones of a child were found during excavation of the Oval Palace. They had been placed in a vase or pot and then covered by a plate. The careful treatment of the remains suggests that they were not part of a sacrifice, although child sacrifice was not uncommon in Mesoamerica. Instead, it is likely that this was the child of one of the elite families living in the Oval Palace. In addition, the condition and arrangement of the bones suggests this was a secondary burial, meaning the child was buried somewhere else first and then the bones were de-fleshed and re-interred in the Oval Palace.
While the the area within the walls is about 1.2 sq km (.75 sq mi), the whole city once covered 12 sq km (7.5 sq mi). Serious archeological digs at Ek Balam only began in the 1990s. Since then only about 10% of the overall city has been excavated. Almost all of that has been in the sacred precinct, but even in that area, there is still much to be discovered. Estructura 2, the very large mound of rubble on the west side of Plaza Norte, has had almost no excavation. About 1/3 of the Acropolis is still un-excavated.
The four arches are believed to be associated with the four cardinal directions, which were very important to ancient Maya architects. In fact, the orientation of all the structures within the sacred precinct follows this pattern. Usually the most important directions in Maya cities (and elsewhere in Mesoamerica) are east and west. That is the path the sun takes from its rise to its setting. However, north and south are the most important directions at Ek Balam. For example, processions entered this gate from the south, and the Oval Palace faces north. It is not clear why the city's rulers and their architects made this unusual choice.
The Oval Palace
The Tah dynasty, founded by Ek Balam ("Black Jaguar"), was followed by a dynastic family called Cupul. Again, it was centuries later that Maya priests recounted this story to early Spanish investigators. How and why this change in dynasty happened is unclear and it may only be a legend. What we do know for sure is that the architecture here is a mixture of ancient styles, including Petén (Guatemala's lowlands), Chenes and Rio Bec (southern Yucatan Peninsula), and Puuc (northwestern Yucatan). Architectural style changes usually came about through trade contacts or foreign dynastic takeovers (peaceful or otherwise).
Unlike Mesoamerican civilizations like Teotihuacán, the Toltecs, or the Aztecs, the Maya were never unified in what might be described as an "empire". Instead, their world was a collection of warring city-states, more like that of Classical Greece. The more powerful states did exert influence over lesser city-states, but this was always a very fluid situation. During Ek Balam's long history, it was a contemporary of many famous Maya city-states, like Edzna, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, and Mayapan. In fact, the architectural styles at Ek Balam appear to have influenced other cities, Chichen Itza in particular.
Interior of one of the rooms. Rooms in ancient Maya elite architecture tend to be long and narrow. The ceiling were constructed as "corbel" vaults. They were not true arches, which Maya architects never mastered. As you can see above, a corbel vault gradually narrows as it approaches the center of the ceiling. Notice the blackened wall at the end of the room. This was probably the result of innumerable cooking fires over the centuries. Food would have been prepared on a griddle called a comal, supported by a trio of rocks with an open fire underneath. Lacking a chimney or windows, the room would have been pretty smokey.
Although the room above looks pretty bleak today, it would once have contained a colorful array of cloth goods, pottery, and other furnishings. The cloth would have been made from cotton in a variety of colors using mollusk dyes and decorated with embroidery, feathers, and pearls. Beautifully woven baskets would have been placed on the floor or suspended from cords of maguey fiber. Pottery was used for daily needs but also for display. In noble houses, it would have been artfully crafted and richly decorated with paint.
Copal sap was used by the ancient Maya and other Mesoamerican civilizations for thousands of years. Many modern indigenous shamans still use it. The word copal comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. The Maya called it pom and considered the sap to be "the blood of trees". They believed that when the sun, moon and stars arrived on earth, they brought pom with them. The sap is collected from the tropical Buerseraceae (torchwood) plant. Copal/pom was not only used for incense, but as a binder for pigments in Maya murals, for making jewelry with the "lost wax" technique, and as chewing gum.
Maya nobles were known as almehenob and filled a variety of roles. These included priests, government officials, court officers, scribes, tribute collectors, military leaders, and administrators. Their positions were hereditary and there were strict distinctions between the nobility and the commoners. These included not only Ek Balam's perimeter walls, but skull deformation of children so that nobles actually looked different than commoners. A noble's diet was similar to that of the commoners, but included more meat and special foods. They drank chocolate, (KaKaWa (cacao)) a beverage too expensive for the lower classes.
The Oval Palace was built during the rule of Ukit Kan Lek Tok´, apparently as a residence for his nobility. He built the Acropolis in Plaza Norte for himself. It is not clear whether the Oval Palace was constructed before or after the Acropolis. If it was before, he might have used it as temporary housing while supervising the work on the massive palace complex that became the Acropolis. If celestial observation was part of the function of the temple on top of the Oval Palace, it is likely that some of the residents were priest-astronomers. One of their key responsibilities was using the stars to predict planting and harvesting times.
In the Maya world, elite tombs were usually placed inside temples or other important buildings. Therefore, it would not be unusual to find this child's remains within the Oval Palace. Sometimes, the bones of one person would be moved aside so that another set of remains could be buried in the same tomb. In a later posting, I will show you the spectacular tomb of Ukit Kan Lek Tok´, located on the fourth level of the Acropolis.
Metate, mano, and other tools of daily life. The metate is the stone trough in which maiz (corn) was ground using the roller-shaped mano. The two stone objects near the base of the metate appear to be cutting tools. A bone awl is to the right of the the cutting tools. Maiz was fundamental to ancient Mesoamerican life. It was domesticated from a wild plant called teocinte (or teocintle) about 9,000 years ago. This probably occurred in the Valle de Rio Balsas, in the modern state of Guerrero, Mexico. Maiz was first cultivated by the Maya about 6,500 years ago.
Large scale maiz production enabled the development of a high level of civilization in Mesoamerica. The grain was inextricably intertwined with all aspects of life, culture, myths and religion. In fact, maiz had its own god, called Hun Nal Yeh (or, alternatively, Yum Kaax). In contrast to some of the other gods, he was portrayed as youthful, smooth faced, and vigorous. He also ruled the forests that surrounded the Maya city-states and represented abundance and prosperity. All this made the maiz god an important figure in the Maya cosmos.
The completes Part 2 of my Ek Balam series. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave an 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 in a timely manner.
Hasta luego, Jim
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