Ruins of Calakmul, the mayan ruins, Mexico, Maya World Ruins, Archaeological Zone Calacmul, Campeche

The fascination of this place has captured a group of archeologists, who since 1985 have worked ceaselessly in Calakmul, the largest Mayan archeological zone in all of Mesoamerica; its dimensions day by day expand as new secrets are revealed about this capital city that once dominated a grand horizon.

It is located in the southeast of the state of Campeche, almost at the boarder of Guatemala, which shares the dense tropical forest that surrounds it and that makes the site most important for the quantity of life that flourishes and is protected there. Its name signifies “adjacent mound”. Its inception dates back to almost 300 years BCE. From the year 250 to 750 CE it was called Kingdom of the Head of the Snake, and indisputably dominated the region of the low lands of the Mayan area. Smaller areas were known as “Two Basins”, “Orange”, and “Coral” close to the year 500 CE, when they were the most important ally of Calakmul in its eternal clash with Tikal, the powerful Mayan city in the territory of what is now Guatemala. Today, more than 120 monolithic carved traces have been found in the city of Calakmul with historic information about this central city. Its two principal buildings, those that gave the name to the site, are elevated by more than 50 meters atop large stone platforms with staircases, surpassing the tree line of all the vegetation of the jungle.

The archeological zone is immersed in what is today the Biosphere Reserve of Calakmul. From the city of Campeche travel toward the region of Río Bec, from there go to km 186 close to the population of Conhuas, where a paved exit of 60 km leads to the archeological zone.

Calakmul is one of the most structure-rich sites within the Maya region. The site contains 117 stelae, the largest total in the region. Most are in paired sets representing rulers and their wives. However, because these carved stelae were produced in soft limestone, most of these stelae have been eroded beyond interpretation. Also many elaborate murals were discovered at Calakmul. Strangely, these murals do not represent activities of the elite class. Rather, they depict elaborate market scenes of people preparing or consuming products such as atole, tamales, or tobacco as an ointment. Also items being sold were textiles and needles. These murals also have glyphs within them describing the actions occurring.

The most prominent figure in these murals is identified as Lady Nine Stone; she appears in many scenes. This brings a world of the Maya marketplace to vibrant life for archaeologists. Another highly beneficial resource to Maya archeological understanding at Calakmul is the ceramic remains. The composition of the ceramic materials identifies the region or more specifically the polity that produced them. Ceramics with the snake emblem glyph found at several sites also give more evidence to identify ties or control over that site by Calakmul.