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Archaeological Sites
Palenque
 Palenque is considered to be the most beautiful ancient city in the entire Mayan world. It is nestled in
the highland rain forest of Chiapas and looks out over coastal plains running north to the Gulf of Mexico.
No one knows the original ancient name for Palenque, but some have speculated that it was Lacamha, meaning “big water”.
The ruins now bear the name of the local Spanish town that was established early
in the 16th Century. As an indication of how thick the vegetation was the inhabitants
of the town of Palenque, as well as local Maya Indians, lived in the area for nearly 250 years before discovering the
ancient ruins.
 The best way to enter the city is by climbing the path that leads from the Museum parking lot. As you climb the hillside towards the city you will pass through an area with beautiful pools and waterfalls known as the queen’s baths. Local residents still come here today to bath in the pools. Here and there nestled amongst the waterfalls and huge jungle trees are housing areas which once were the homes of the city’s elite.
Recent testing has established that buried beneath the current ruins of Palenque lays a Pre-classic city dating to as early as the 2nd century B.C. Mysteriously this city came to a sudden and abrupt end in the early 1st Century A.D., perhaps as a result of volcanic activity that may have burned the city and left it covered in ash. It was later rebuilt, but again came to a sudden end in 800 A.D., when the city was covered by more than two feet of ash and was subsequently never rebuilt.
 Palenque is best known today for its magnificent temple groups, built during the classic Maya era (300-900 AD). It is also one of the best preserved of the Mayan sites with some of the most beautiful calligraphy. In addition, Palenque is world renowned for its royal sepulcher, the tomb of Pakal. Within the tomb, discovered in 1952, were the remains of Pakal surrounded by a rich collection of jewelry and jade, laid inside a sepulcher and covered with a sculptured slab lid, upon which is sculptured the tree of life with the quetzal bird perched on top.
 Pakal, who lived to be 80 years old and ruled from 615 to 683
AD recorded in great detail his lineage on the Temple of the Inscriptions. His son Kan–Balam
II likewise record his lineage only this time on the Temple of the Foliated
Cross which is one of three temples which make up the cross group built by Kan-Balam II.
Pakal in his lineage tells about an early ruler of ancient Palenque named Kuk-Balam or Quetzal Jaguar. He ascended to the throne in March of 431 AD at the age of 34. Pakal’s son however, traces in the Cross group temples, his ancestry back to a supposed first king of Palenque, named Kish, who ruled from 967 BC.
Kish descended from three gods known as the Palenque Triad, all born in 2360 BC to the First Mother herself.
 At its height, Palenque was one of the largest Mayan cities. Its population probably exceeded 70,000 and its empire extended across much of the Yucatan from the ancient city of Comalcalco to the jungles of the Peten Rainforest in Guatemala. Under Pakal, Palenque was united with the ancient city of Tikal in war against its traditional enemy Calakmul. And under Pakal’s son Palenque went to war against Tonina.
The City covers some 6 square miles with thousands of buildings, of which only about 40 have been uncovered or restored.
 Palenque’s majesty lies not just in its magnificent buildings and palaces, but also in the way it was terraced into the side of the mountain.
Covered in the early morning mist, it is truly a mystic city of kings rising out
of the emerald green rainforest.
Today Palenque is the site of ongoing archaeological excavations. At the heart of the excavations is temple 20, buried in the hillside and still covered with vegetation.  A tiny camera has been lowered down into the temple revealing an undisturbed royal burial chamber of perhaps the classic era founder of the city. Unfortunately, the government of Mexico has not yet given permission for the tomb to be opened. The potential for new discovery when that happens will be tremendous.
Interesting Historical Notes: The first Spaniard to see the ruins was Friar Ramon de Ordonez y Aguiar, who in his report stated that he was sure that these ruins were those that had been spoken of in an account he had seen in reproduced pages from a Mayan codex, destroyed by his predecessor.  The account spoke of a people who came from an area that may have been the Middle East, traveled through the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and established cities many centuries before Christ.
Fifty years later Count Waldeck moved into the ruins and for more than a year studied its architecture and inscriptions. His works were later published in Europe and created great excitement about the Mayan world.  Today the temple where he lived during his time in Palenque is known as Templo del Conde or Temple of the Count.
One interesting side bar is that when John Lloyd Stephens, the great early explorer who uncovered much of the Mayan world, arrived here in 1840, the local Prefect offered to sell him the entire ruins for $1500. The hitch was that in accordance with the law he had to be married to a Mexican woman. Stephens checked into it and found that the oldest local girl was only 14 and not very pretty. He later commented that the only girl he would have considered marrying and the prettiest woman he
knew, was the woman who made his cigars and she was already married.
Site Information: The ruins are open daily 8-5. The entrance fee is 38 pesos. When coming from the city of Palenque to the ruins, take the road to the ruins to the very end. You will have to pay a toll of 20 pesos to enter the park area.  The road ends at a parking lot where there are lots of local vendors and the cashier station where you can purchase your entrance ticket. We would recommend that you purchase your entrance ticket here and then drive back down the hill to the museum which sits at the base of the hill. Park in the Museum parking lot and walk up to the ruins through the rain forest. The trail is paved and there are waterfalls, pools and housing areas to see along the way. The trail forks about half way up, so you can take one fork going up and the other when you return to your car. The entrance fee for the museum is included in the price of entrance to the ruins. It should not be missed. Inside the museum are recent discoveries of incense burners. Their equal is not found anywhere else in the Mayan world.
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