Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, México: 2002 Field Season Report

Balakbal
Several persons, replying to our inquiries about the archaeological sites lying within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, mentioned some large ruins known as Jerusalén. Comparing their indications about the site’s location with the data given by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 65; Ruppert 1934: 95) for Balakbal and the nearby aguada of Jerusalem, we began to suspect the latter site and the one our informants were talking about were one and the same. In order to check its location and the present state of architecture and sculpted monuments, we decided to visit it.

We did get to the aguada of Jerusalén, which has some 50 m in diameter, but the attempts of the persons who accompanied us to find the ruins in the surrounding jungle were futile. So we decided to search for the coordinates given for the site by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 65). Employing a GPS navigator, we headed southwest, passed by several low mounds and a chultun and, at a distance of about 1300 m from the aguada, came upon a massive construction we soon identified as Structure VIII of Balakbal. The coordinates determined by Ruppert and Denison proved to be surprisingly accurate, falling barely some 400 m south-southwest of Structure VI (the highest pyramid of the site).

Since a map of the site and a detailed description of structures and monuments were published by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 65-68, 144f, Figs. 80-84, pls. 25-27, 69), I will only report on the alterations the site has suffered after their visit. It has been badly looted, but the sculpted monuments are fortunately still there; we took photographs of all of them.

Stela 1 is lying at a looters’ trench in the plaza in front of Structure VIII, i.e. on the spot reported by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 67, 144f, pl. 69). Likewise, Altar 1, though fragmented, is still in its place, a few meters west of Stela 1 (cf. ibid.).

Stelae 2 and 3 are still in Structure V (Figures 17 and 18), but the former was slightly moved from the position documented by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 67, 144f, Fig. 83, pl. 26 c & d). The west wall of the passageway connecting the north and south rooms of the structure is traversed by a vaulted entrance unearthed by looters (Ruppert did not see it, cf. ibid.: 67, Fig. 83), and two round altars can be seen partially exposed just below it (Figure 19); their placement under the floor corroborates Ruppert and Denison’s (1943: 67, 144) conclusion, based on the conditions of the carved faces of the two stelae and their positions with regard to the walls, that Structure V is secondary and that both monuments had stood there for a long time before it was constructed. It is now evident that both stelae had their respective altars and that, at some point, the four monuments were covered by Structure V.

Structures II and IV have been severely damaged by looters’ trenches, and only few of the architectural details observed by Ruppert and Denison (1943: 65f, Figs. 80 & 81, pls. 25a, 26a, 69) remain visible. Parts of the masonry construction at the southeast corner of Structure VI, the highest pyramid of the site, are still exposed (cf. ibid.: 66f, Fig. 82, pls. 25 c & d).

Stela 4 and the corresponding altar, which were on the plaza immediately north of Structure XII (ibid.: 67f, 145, pl. 69), either disappeared or (more likely) remained concealed under the material extracted from a huge looters’ trench excavated in the north slope of the adjacent building. Stela 5, the largest and best preserved of the site, originally stood in a room upon Structure XII (ibid.: 68, 145, Fig. 84, pls. 57 and 69), but was shoved down by the looters and is now lying on the south slope of the structure near its base. The inscriptions, for which Stela 5 is particularly important (cf. Thompson 1940), are on the exposed lateral faces and apparently have not suffered major damage (Figure 20).

Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Return to top of page