Acanceh,_Yucatan,_Mexico,_Diciembre_2017_07

Acanceh () is a town and ancient

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

located in Mexico's Yucatán State, 21 kilometers from Mérida, the capital of Yucatán. It is the seat of

Acanceh Municipality Acanceh Municipality (In the Yucatec Maya language, Yucatec Maya Language: “Where the deer moans”) is one of the 106 Municipalities of Yucatán, municipalities in the Mexican state of Yucatán (state), Yucatán containing (153.29 km2) of ...

. The modern town of Acanceh, is partially atop the pre-Columbian site, and occupation seems to have been continuous. Acanceh means "groan of the deer" in the

Yucatec Maya language Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic com ...

. The population of Acanceh about, 11,000 people, is mostly

, with the Mayan language predominantly spoken, although basic Spanish is generally understood.

Ancient Acanceh

Acanceh was founded sometime between 300 and 500 AD, during the Early Classic period, possibly by the Itzaes in their first migration from the east to the west of the Yucatán peninsula, having come from the lake area of

Bacalar Bacalar () is the municipal seat and largest city in Bacalar Municipality (until 2011 a part of Othón P. Blanco Municipality) in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, about north of Chetumal, at 18° 40' 37" N, 88° 23' 43" W. In the 2010 census ...

and having founded Chichen Itzá,

Izamal Izamal () is a small city in the Mexican state of Yucatán, east of state capital Mérida, in southern Mexico. Izamal was continuously occupied throughout most of Mesoamerican chronology; in 2000, the city's estimated population was 15,000 peop ...

and T'Hó (currently Mérida.) In more recent times, before the arrival of the Spaniards, Acanceh was located within the jurisdiction (

Kuchkabal A ''kuchkabal'' ( , ''kuchkabalo'ob'', 'province'), also known as an ''ah kuch-kab'' or ''ah cuch-cab'', was a system of social and political organisation common to Maya polities of the Maya Lowlands, in the Yucatán Peninsula, during the ...

) of the chakanes. The ancient Maya city covered more than 4 square kilometers, and had about 400 buildings. Three of these buildings have been restored and are open to the public, although recent

excavations In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

have uncovered more structures. The three-leveled

step pyramid A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid. Step pyramids are structures which characterized several ...

in Acanceh is 11 meters high. One of the older layers of the pyramid has been uncovered revealing several distinctive carved

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and pra ...

s as part of the pyramid's decoration. The "Palace of the Stuccos" is 50 meters wide, 6 meters high, and contains many elaborate

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s. This building's design is very complex, with many rooms and detailed carvings. The

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

of the structures at Acanceh show a

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as t ...

o influence, leading some to believe it was a "colony" of Teotihuacan.

References

Maya sites in Yucatán Populated places in Yucatán Maya sites that survived the end of the Classic Period {{mesoamerica-stub