Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque

• Official name: Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque
• Location: Chiapas, Mexico
• Type: Cultural
• Year of inscription: 1987

Description

The archaeological site of Palenque, located in the Mexican state of Chiapas, represents one of the most outstanding Maya sites from the Classic Period (200–900 CE) and is one of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico. Palenque reached its height from 500 to 700 CE and is known for its impressive, well-conserved architectural and sculptural ruins. The site, located in the lush basin of the Usumacinta River, illustrates the creative genius of the Maya in terms of architecture and sculptors. Although not a large city compared to others, such as Calakmul and Tikal, Palenque prospered as an important trade center, which enabled it to control a large territory and forge important alliances with other powerful cities.

Extensively studied, the city’s urban layout, featuring monumental buildings and some of the largest clearings in the Maya region, makes it one of the most significant human achievements in the Americas. At least 1,400 buildings have been recorded in Palenque, and only 10 percent of these have been explored. One of the most impressive features of Palenque is the grave of the Maya king Pakal, which is located inside the Temple of Inscriptions. The grave, discovered in 1952, can only be accessed via a long stone staircase. Palenque is also famous for its innovative architecture, such as corbeled roofs. The city is also known for its grand palaces, expansive administrative buildings, and temples filled with sculptures. Unlike other Maya cities, a royal residence is the central focus of the city rather than a temple.

History

The Maya Empire reached its peak in the sixth century. The Maya were known for their skill in agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics. Their reach extended into Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas. Inhabiting such a concentrated area protected the Maya from invasion by other Mesoamerican groups.

The earliest Maya settlements date to about 1800 BCE. The Maya civilization was agricultural then, producing crops like corn, beans, squash, and cassava. During the Middle Preclassic Period (c. 2000 BCE–250 CE), Maya farmers began to expand their presence in both highland and lowland regions. Preclassic Maya also began integrating more advanced cultural practices, such as the construction of pyramids, city construction, and the carving of words into stone monuments.

The Classic Period, which began around 200 CE, was the golden age of the empire, which grew to include about forty cities, including Tikal, Copan, Dos Pilas, and Palenque. At its peak, the Maya civilization may have reached anywhere from two to ten million people. The civilization began its decline from the late eighth century through the end of the ninth century, but historians still do not know why. One by one, cities like Palenque were abandoned.

Some historians theorize that the Maya had exhausted the natural resources in their environment by the ninth century, making it impossible to sustain their population. Other scholars believe that constant warfare between competing city-states caused a collapse in military, family, and trade alliances. Another possibility is that a catastrophic event such as a long-lasting drought played a part in the decline of the Maya civilization.

Palenque

Palenque was founded in the late Preclassic Period, which corresponds to the beginning of the Christian Era. Historians hypothesize that the city’s first residents migrated from other nearby sites. K’uk’ Bahlam I was Palenque’s first king, ruling from 431 to 435 CE. Palenque eventually grew into a powerful capital and regional political stronghold by 500 CE and peaked between 600 and 750 CE. It was during this time that the Maya constructed great structures such as a pyramid with nine levels.

According to historical records, Palenque was attacked by another great Maya city, Calakmul, in 599 and again in 611. After the second attack, a twelve-year-old boy named K'inich Janaab Pakal I, also known as Pakal the Great, became ruler and initiated a rebuilding phase of the city from 615 to 683 CE. Two later rulers continued this era of rebuilding: his son K’inich K’an Bahlam and Akuul Mo’ Naab, who may have been Pakal’s grandson.

Yet another attack occurred in 711 CE when Palenque was sacked by Toniná. This shifted the city’s ruling dynamics and may have even de-concentrated power from the king to a shared power between nobles and the king. Construction of the city ended after 800 CE, and this began a gradual population decline. After this, Palenque disappeared for hundreds of years, hidden by jungle growth. It was discovered in the 1700s and excavated in the twentieth century. In 1952, archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier removed a stone from the back room of the Temple of the Inscriptions. In doing so, he discovered a passageway that led to the tomb of Pakal the Great, who was buried wearing an elaborate jade death mask.

Integrity and Authenticity

Palenque was buried by jungle growth by the ninth century, which protected the city’s temples and palaces from looting. Because the site was abandoned until the Colonial Period, this also helped protect its integrity. Many buildings were conserved in their original setting, turning the site’s residences and other buildings into a living museum. However, threats remain in the twenty-first century, such as the decay of fabric and tourism. Visitation to the site exceeds six hundred thousand visitors each year.

The authenticity of the site also benefitted from the dense vegetation that covered it for hundreds of years. The Maya’s choice of durable raw materials and high-quality manufacturing techniques also helped conserve the culture, form, and design of the property. The first maintenance work at Palenque took place in 1940. However, it has since been ongoing to mitigate the negative impacts posed by weather and vegetation. Conservation measures have largely used original materials and thus have not made a sizable impact on the authenticity of the site.

Significance

Palenque is an example of extraordinary achievement in Maya art and architecture. For example, structures are characterized by a thinness that resulted from new construction techniques and drainage methods that were designed to reduce the thickness of walls. This gave buildings more interior space, which, combined with multiple openings and galleries, portrayed elegance. Galleries were richly decorated with sculptures and a new type of stucco. The many sculptures found on the interior walls of palaces and temples also give insight into the ancient Maya’s mythology and ceremonies.

The sophisticated architectural designs found at Palenque, along with its richness in decoration, tell the story of the ancient city’s ruling class and incorporate their writing and calendar systems. Palenque’s abundance of inscriptions and recorded history has helped archaeologists to understand hundreds of years of Maya history, including the line of rulers in the city. Pakal the Great (603–683 CE), his son, K’inich Kan Bahlam (635–702 CE), and K’inich Akuul Mo’ Naab (678–736 CE) commissioned lengthy glyphic texts, which researchers have used to decipher the Mayan written language. The three also commissioned the Temple of Inscriptions, one of the most abundant sources of glyphic text from the Maya world. The glyphs map out nearly two hundred years of Palenque history. The “Group of the Cross” temple collection includes the Temple of the Sun, the Cross, and the Foliated Cross. These three temples also feature inscriptions, which explain that they were built in honor of three Palenque gods, known as GI, GII (often written as G2), and GIII. Tablets within the temples reveal King K’an Bahlam’s accession. Hieroglyphs found at Palenque also describe alliances, trade, wars, and marriages between individuals from various Maya cities.

Imagery and symbolism throughout Palenque’s temples give insight into Maya life and beliefs.

Inside the Temple of the Sun’s inner shrine is imagery of the Jaguar God of the Underworld. The shrines found at the Temple of the Cross and Foliated Cross feature a World Tree with a quetzal bird above it. These temples held ceremonial importance, especially before and after childbirth. Hence, it is hypothesized that the temples could be representative of the gods’ birth and the creation of individuals.

Palenque was important in the region at the time, exerting a considerable influence throughout the Usumacinta River Valley. The city’s power extended as far away as Comalcalco, a city on the western border of the Maya cultural zone. Palenque was also ahead of its time: A group of ceremonial buildings in the city pre-date those in Tikal (another ancient Maya city) by a hundred years. This makes Palenque an extraordinary example of a ceremonial and civic site during the middle of the Maya Classic Period.

Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. “Palenque.” World History Encyclopedia, 7 Oct. 2014, www.worldhistory.org/Palenque. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Hearn, Kelly. “Palenque Prized for Unlocking Maya Mysteries.” National Geographic, www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/palenque. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Maya.” History, 11 Aug. 2023, www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/maya. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Palenque.” World Heritage Site, www.worldheritagesite.org/list/Palenque. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Palenque: The Maya Legacy in Stone and Nature.” Latin America and Caribbean Geographic, 15 Oct. 2024, lacgeo.com/palenque-pre-hispanic-city-national-park. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Pre-Hispanic City and National Park of Palenque.” UNESCO World Heritage Centre, whc.unesco.org/en/list/411. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

“Why Mexico's Jungle-Covered Ruins of Palenque Are Worth Visiting, & What It's Known For.” The Travel, 19 Mar. 2023, www.thetravel.com/what-is-palenque-mexico-known-for. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.