Area M: Chiapas

There are no roads of any kind to Yaxchilán and no settlement for a considerable distance. Fortunately, however, we no longer need a week's jungle hike to enjoy the ruins. Any hotel at Palenque town will have information about the many tours that are offered. One can actually fly directly to the site, or a cheaper, if longer, option is by road and then boat up the Usamacinta. These ground-based tours often offer a visit to Bonampak too, an opportunity not to be snubbed. The total trip is fitted into one day.

History

Culture: Classic Maya

After Palenque, Yaxchilán was by far the most important ancient city of this Area. At its apogee, it vied for power with the super-states of Palenque itself, Calakmul and Tikal in Guatemala, with all of which it formed political allegiances at varying times.

The flat and fertile riverbank offered a good habitat for the first settlers in 300BC and within six hundred years, a ruling lineage was established that would survive for another six centuries. From 600, there began an aggressive new growth of the city and a massive expansion of monumental buildings. Several brilliant rulers established prestige with military success and temple erection such as Shield Jaguar and Bird Jaguar in the seventh and eighth centuries. Many of the most magnificent edifices owed their construction to them.

But after 800, Yaxchilán began to go the way of every other Mayan city of the Classic era. By 900, probably as a combined result of war, over-population and natural disaster, the city was abandoned and left to the encroaching jungle. It was an incredible thousand years more before it was re-discovered and described to the world in 1881.

For more about other Cities of the Classic Maya, see  Cultural History.

Tour. (Scroll down to follow complete tour, or click on feature below and use your BACK key to return to map)

The Main Plaza is located on the riverbank, but for the other buildings, some trampling through jungle is necessary. It takes three hours to really do service to the site.

If coming up the river, the excitement mounts as we glimpse the backs of temples through the undergrowth, but the overall picture is obscured.

Once through the official entrance, guides will bring us to the back of a solid, squarely shaped building, which is actually Building 18 and 19 joined together. We will need to proceed into the structure itself through a series of passageways filled with bats and tarantulas, and it is for this that the complex is often called the Labyrinth. When we emerge into daylight once more, we see that the front of the building is far more interestingly decorated, with what we will soon discover to be the typical Yaxchilán design: wide upper wall panelling and short roof comb.

    Labyrinth   

We are now inside the heart of Yaxchilán's Main Plaza that snakes along the riverbank for about three hundred metres or so. The very low platform of Building 17 can be seen bordering the river. We will explore this side of the plaza nearest the river to begin with and then double back and study the ones on the opposite side.

We first come to Building 16 which is a small, partly roofed building noted for the decorated lintels of Bird Jaguar and his wife above its two doorways. This is another feature of Yaxchilán, which we will spot again and again.

    Building 16

A short way further, we come to Building 14, a low, stepped platform that forms the back of Yaxchilán's small Ball Court, interesting because of its five stone, carved markers.

Ball Court   

Just beyond the Ball Court, is a cluster of small buildings upon a platform labelled, from left to right, Buildings 13, 10 and 74. This section of the city is one of the earliest and dates from the seventh century before Shield Jaguar's reign.

    Buildings 13, 10 and 74

At this point we will notice several upright stelae standing around. These offer some of the best historical evidence for events in the city. The largest, Stela 1, shows Bird Jaguar mutilating his penis in a ritual purification act.

Stela 1 and Building 7 (behind)   

In front, the long and unexcavated mound, Building 8, closes the Main Plaza. Around its left side, we pass Building 7, a square construction dating, as well, from the early period.

Beyond this, we come to Building 6, better known as the Red Temple, because of the coloured stucco still in evidence on the outer walls. It was this structure that we saw from the river. The Red Temple is another very old building and unique for this period because of the sprawling roof comb that is as high as the rest of the building itself. Around the upper part of the wall we also see the remains of detailed panelling with faces of Chac, the Rain God, grinning out.

    Red Temple

Further on, lies the enclosed East Plaza that is bordered on the north and east sides by the long, overgrown mounds of Buildings 5 and 4 respectively, similar to Building 8. But on the rising grassy ground to the south, we see the form of Building 20 that is a lot better preserved. It has three doorways that lead into a dark room housing a badly worn statue of a torso - identity unclear.

Building 20   

This natural, but artificially fortified terrace we find ourselves upon, houses a line of ruined temples that run back along the south side of the Main Plaza. The next one along from Building 20 is the half-ruined Building 21 that is nonetheless very interesting. Originally, the building contained three rooms, and we can still see on an interior wall the remains of an impressive frieze portraying a serpent-monster and five cross-legged figures. Standing before this is the vivid Stela 35, showing a woman holding a bowl.

    Building 21   

Beyond Building 21, we see a cluster of ruined temples comprising Buildings 22 and 23 with steps and doorways over which were once well-decorated lintels. Some of these now reside in the British Museum in London.

    Buildings 22 and 23 (left to right)

But the hillside to our left will have already drawn our attention. A semi-ruined, but once Grand Staircase leads up to probably the most famous and impressive structure at Yaxchilán, Building 33, which looks out over the whole of the lower part of the city. We may presume that because of its position, only the elite had access to it.

Grand Staircase   

Building 33 is a long, square edifice in the mould of other constructions here, but noted especially for its gigantic, largely intact roof comb. In the centre of it we see the remains of a throned figure, possibly Bird Jaguar IV, who incidentally commissioned this self-memorial, and even now seems to haunt it. Below this is a complicated patterned frieze running around the entire perimeter of the building. The top step to the temple has hieroglyphic markings showing Bird Jaguar playing the ball game.

    Building 33   

There are three doors giving access to a long corridor with alcoves and interior chambers. In one alcove sits a mysterious, headless statue, guessed to be of Bird Jaguar himself, with various body ornaments. The local Mayan Indians still believe that when the head is returned to the statue, the present cycle of the universe will come to an end.

    Headless Statue

Behind Building 33 there are numerous ruined structures comprising what is known as the Great Acropolis. But there are also some other well-preserved areas of interest. One of several paths winds in a southerly direction towards the South Acropolis which houses three main temples, Building 39, 40 and 41, set upon stepped bases that rise from a clearing on a hilltop.

Buildings 40 and 41 are slightly higher and face in a different direction, although both Building 39 and 40 are the best preserved. They follow the typical Yaxchilán style: square construction with elaborate roof friezes and traces of roof combs. This complex was another product of Bird Jaguar's period of expansion.

    South Acropolis   

For the last major set of ruins, we can trace the path back and then parallel to the river until we come to the West Acropolis. Here we find a complicated, stepped platform containing several temples, Buildings 42 to 48, that are mostly incomplete but retain the front doorways. Building 44 is central and separate and was erected by Shield Jaguar.

    West Acropolis

Building 44