Kulubá Archaeological Project 2001 Field Season
Yun Ak
UTM Coordinates: N2330254, E0409496
Distance to Kulubá: 5.47km at 62º
The previously unregistered site of Yun Ak is located southwest of Kulubá and 4.6km NW of the modern pueblo of Tixcancal (Figure 1.2). The site is accessed by a dirt road that begins at the paved road that connects Tixcancal with the Tizimín-Colonia Yucatán highway. The dirt road runs west and forks a kilometer or so from the paved highway. The right fork veers northward and Yun Ak is adjacent to this bumpy dirt road. In 2001, the site of Yun Ak was privately owned by a man from Tixcancal.
Mapping at Yun Ak suggests it was a small site (Figure 4.1). We mapped a large milpa some 68,384m2 in area south and west of the site center and found no structures within it. Either Yun Ak was a small site with very little residential settlement or the residential settlement is so dispersed that none of the platforms fell within our large milpa.
There is a large 50m diameter cenote associated with Yun Ak. It is found in thick monte alto and we lacked the time to tie the cenote into our base map of the site. However, a GPS reading at the cenote gives a reasonable accurate picture of its location relative to the ruins we mapped. The Yun Ak cenote is about 260m NW of Structure 1.
Structure Descriptions
Structure 1
This is the main civic structure at Yun Ak. The basal platform of Structure 1 is quite substantial (41.5m E-W × 37.4m N-S) as it is some 4.5m in height. Its appearance is almost circular although it is impossible to tell if it was constructed as a circular platform or if this is just the effect of the basal platform collapsing through time. No intact retaining walls were noted which would help in determining the platform’s shape. Two saqueos are found on the platform. One seems to be an area where stone-robbing took place, it is found on the north side of the platform. The other saqueo appears to be from looter activity as a meter-deep trench is cut into the basal platform in the NE area of the upper platform surface. A scan of the trench’s profile revealed no exposed substructures. Two superstructures are found on the voluminous platform. The first is a rectangular rubble scatter on the south edge of the platform. It measures 2.8m N-S × 5.1m E-W although the NE corner has been disturbed by a large tree. While no walls were seen, its dimensions are suggestive of a two-roomed perishable structure. The second superstructure is a large secondary platform that is found in the center of the basal platform. It is 9m N-S × 11.6m E-W and some 2m in height. The west side of the secondary platform features a narrow terrace about halfway up that is 6m N-S × 1.9m E-W. Atop the secondary platform is a small area 1.7m N-S × 2.5m E-W. The south side of this summit area features an intact wall that consists of five roughly shaped stones that are faced on their northern sides. This was most likely an interior wall and since there is no doorway on this wall it suggests that this is a back wall and the room originally faced north. Some small pieces of stucco were found on the western side of the room.
Lot Number: 03001
Area: 1,122m2
Volume: 3,518m3
Structure 2
Structure 2 is found within a small (12,908 m2) milpa. This milpa was freshly burned when we arrived at Yun Ak so the visibility within it was excellent. The structure is a large mound some 3.3m in height but with little surface details. The basal platform consists entirely of rubble slump as no retaining walls were spotted. One interesting feature associated with the basal platform is what appears to be a broken stela some 4m east of the structure. The stela is in two pieces and appears to be lying on its side. It is 1.05m in length, 60cm wide, and has a maximum thickness of 20cm. Upon close inspection of the stela, no relief sculpture could be identified. The basal platform was probably square in its original form but the slump is now almost circular in shape, measuring 21m N-S × 21.9m E-W. The west side of the platform has a 5.7m N-S × 3m E-W terrace on it and the upper platform surface is a very small area measuring 2.8m E-W × 1.5m N-S. No intact architecture was found on Structure 2.
Lot Number: 02901
Area: 351m2
Volume: 676m3
Structure 3
This platform is 19.8m N-S × 16.8m E-W and was built on an altillo, the north side of which is exposed. A possible corner stone is in the SE part of the platform and is the only hint of a retaining wall. The basal platform has been heavily looted. A saqueo has gouged into the NE corner from the ground level and a trench originating in the NE corner area (just north of the first) continues nearly 10m south into the basal platform. The trench is 2-4m wide and a meter deep. No stucco floors or substructures were noted upon examining the trench’s profile. Another saqueo is found in the NW corner area; it is an oval-shaped hole some 3.5m in diameter and a meter deep. The only remnant of a superstructure can be found along the west wall of the upper platform surface. Centered on the west edge are three roughly shaped stones that are aligned N-S. These may have been the back wall of a house of some sort that probably faced east.
Lot Number: 02801
Area: 295m2
Volume: 303m3
Click on image to enlarge
Structure 4
Structure 4 is quite enigmatic. It is a large rectangular rubble mound measuring 22m N-S × 17.4m E-W that bulges slightly on its eastern side. The structure is aligned parallel with Structure 3 and in fact the area between the two structures is solid chich with some sherds and seems to indicate that a plaza floor was once laid down between the two. The rubble that makes up the structure is extremely low, no more than 30cm in height and gives the impression of being an unfinished platform. Yet the eastern side of the structure features a higher density of rubble than the western side. A possible line of roughly shaped stones was found originating in the SE corner area and continuing 8m north. At the terminus of this alignment is a stone oriented E-W and has the appearance of a jamb. The possibility of there being a superstructure isn’t consistent with the interpretation that it is an unfinished platform. Perhaps the builders originally had planned to build a large basal platform and then reconsidered and went ahead and built a house on the unfinished platform.
Lot Number: 02701
Area: 352m2
Volume: 106m3
Structure 5
This large platform has suffered from much collapse, leaving its original square shape with an almost circular appearance. The platform measures 26m E-W × 25m N-S and is a full meter in height. The lone superstructure appears to be a secondary platform some 80cm in height and found in the SE quadrant of the platform. The upper surface of this superstructure is about 5m × 5m square and has no in situ architecture. The only stone alignment spotted on the entire structure was found on the eastern side of the secondary platform. It is a 2.2m N-S line of four pillow-shaped stones and could be a segment of retaining wall for the secondary platform.
Lot Number: 03101
Area: 597m2
Volume: 479m3
Structure 6
Structure 6 is easily the best-preserved structure we mapped at Yun Ak (Figure 4.2). It is a residential platform that is 19.4m N-S and its maximal E-W width is 20.5m. Its NW and SW corners are essentially square but its NE and SE corners are more rounded. The basal platform is on average 60cm above the ground with the west side higher and the east side lower. No stairways were found on the basal platform but three superstructures are found on its surface. The first is a rectangular (6m N-S × 4.3m E-W) conglomeration of rubble centered on the west side of the platform. This was probably a two-roomed house that may have had some masonry walls and a perishable roof. This would explain the high quantity of rubble but absence of vault stones. More rubble is found in the northwest corner area of the basal platform. The second superstructure is a small (3.3m N-S × 4.8m E-W) house foundation found along the south edge of the basal platform. This second superstructure definitely has an interior partition, dividing the house into west and east rooms. The outline of the house is fairly clear and there is more rubble found on the west wall than any other. No doorjambs were noted but a 2.9m long terrace is found 1.1m north of the house. This terrace is formed by six stones laid E-W that form a raised up area behind them (to the south). The third superstructure is the most curious of the three. It consists of a rectangular arrangement of megaliths that are sunk into the basal platform. That is, the tops of these stones are level with the surface of the basal platform. The rectangle is 9m E-W × 1.8m N-S and no evidence of interior partitions was noted. The west, south, and east walls are almost entirely intact but the north wall is missing a good number of stones on its west side. It seems like the doorway to this presumably residential structure was probably centered on the north wall since the south wall consists of continuous megaliths. Found a few meters north of where the conjectured doorway is a square slab measuring 46cm wide, 48cm long, and 16cm thick. The slab could have been a doorjamb but the stone seems more finely cut than the more roughly cut megaliths of the associated superstructure. A metate, the only one found at Yun Ak, was found in the megalithic superstructure’s SW corner area.
Lot Number: 03201
Area: 406m2
Volume: 210m3
Structure 7
This is a low, three-roomed house foundation that was built directly on the ground surface. Its overall dimensions are 11.6m E-W × 4.4m N-S. There is little in the way of in situ walls but there are differences in rubble concentration that seem to divide the structure into west, central, and east rooms. The west room consists of heavy rubble and is 4.1m E-W. The central room is 4.7m E-W and is largely devoid of rubble but instead smaller chich. The east room has more rubble than the central room but less than the west room and it is mostly concentrated in the southern half. The only other thing of note for Structure 7 is a small step found about 2m south of the central room. It consists of four megalithic stones oriented E-W and is nearly 2m in length.
Lot Number: 03301
Area: 41m2
Volume: 8m3
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