The Pomoná Kingdom and its Hinterland

Previous Archaeological Research in the Region

The region has been subject of several archaeological surveys, from which we have partial knowledge of the settlement pattern and the chronology of sites in the area. Teobert Maler in (1903) was the first to mention the existence of sites in the vicinity of Pomoná and Panhale, although he never actually knew of the existence of either site. E. Wyllys Andrews IV (1943) and Heinrich Berlin (1953a; 1953b; 1955; 1956; 1960) carried out surveys and some limited test pitting of sites in the region in the 1940s and 1950s respectively. Robert Rands (1967) and colleagues made extensive investigations of small sites around Palenque, his main objective being to identify ceramic affiliations in the area. Perhaps the most ambitious archaeological reconnaissance was the one directed by Lorenzo Ochoa (1978), in a project that attempted to develop a socio-economic model of the area with particular reference to the settlement patterns in relation to sources of raw materials and trade routes.

INAH archaeologists Roberto García Moll and Daniel Juárez Cossió, between 1986 and 1988 García Moll & Juárez Cossío 1987, have investigated Pomoná itself. The project focussed on the excavation of one of the architectural groups of the ceremonial heart of the site, and uncovered various monuments with hieroglyphic texts that have been crucial for our understanding of our changing politics of the region during Classic times.

Archaeologically speaking Panhale is still quite an unknown site. Formal accounts of Panhale are scanty, being limited to brief unpublished reports. Until last year, Panhale had not been the subject of a more systematic archaeological investigation. García Moll briefly inspected the site in the early 1970s to assess the damages caused to it by a local lime-producing plant. The site was inspected again between 1985 and 1987, by members of the Atlas Arqueológico project, who officially recorded it as site 081 in the archaeological site register of Tabasco. Between 1990-1991 Panhale was the subject to a brief survey by México’s Federal Electric Commission (CFE), which has plans of constructing a hydroelectric plant at Boca del Cerro. In Delgado’s map Panhale appears as a site of "macro-regional importance,…measuring more than 5 sq. km" (Delgado, n.d.). To date, a single monument is known to have come from Panhale, a stela now in México National Museum of Anthropology. The stela includes a date of A.D. 770 and a reference to the then reigning king of Pomoná, thus suggesting Panhale’s political affiliation to Pomoná at the time.

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