Calakmul: The Three Stones and Two Pyramids of the Ancient Maya City

Calakmul is a genuinely lost ancient Maya city. It is located on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, deep within the Petén Basin's lush forests. The magnificent metropolis was quickly recovered by the jungle once it was abandoned.

Cempeche is the location of the archeological site. Calakmul was founded in 1931, and in the years that followed, some research was done there. But the site's exploration stopped, and it wasn't until the 1980s that it started up again. Archaeologists are still studying Calakmul, which is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Locating Calakmul

While doing studies in the Cempeche jungles in 1931, an American botanist named Cyrus Lundell discovered the remnants of a Maya city. In honor of the two pyramids that dominate the ruins, Lundell chose to name them Calakmul, which is Mayan for "City of the Two Adjacent Pyramids."

It was later found that the Maya called the city Ox Te' Tuun, which translates to "Three Stones." However, the place was still known by Lundell's name. In addition to his career as a botanist, Lundell had a strong interest in Maya archaeology. According to reports, Lundell found up to 16 Maya ruins between 1931 and 1933.

Sylvanus Morley of the Carnegie Institute of Washington surveyed the site the next year. Up until 1938, archeological research at Calakmul was ongoing; after that, it ceased for a number of decades.

Only in 1982 did construction at the location start up again, this time under the leadership of Universidad Autonoma de Campeche's William J. Folan. Folan worked at Calakmul until 1994, at which point the site's investigation was taken over by the Instituto Nacional de Antropň e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History).

The Power of Calakmul

We now know that the site was inhabited from approximately 600 BC to 900 AD according to the archaeological research conducted at Calakmul. By 250 AD, the majority of the structures on the site were finished, and the city peaked in the sixth century.

The city is thought to have had about 50,000 residents during this prosperous era, which ended in the ninth century AD. Furthermore, up to 1.5 million people may have been affected by Calakmul's influence over other far-off towns.

Nevertheless, Tikal, another significant Maya city situated to its south in what is now Guatemala, was Calakmul's principal adversary, thus it did not have complete authority over the area. Calakmul was mentioned at other Maya sites, including Yaxchilan and Naranjo, according to archaeologists.

These cities were situated, respectively, to the east and west of Tikal. It has been hypothesized that Calakmul formed agreements with these cities in the sixth century AD in order to encircle its competitor Tikal, which ultimately resulted in the city's defeat in 562 AD.

After this setback, Tikal was able to recover and, based on epigraphical evidence, beat Calakmul in 695 AD to exact revenge. However, this had no effect on Calakmul's hegemony in the area, and the city remained significant until the eighth century AD.

The City Falls

The history of Calakmul appears to have ended suddenly in the early years of the next century. Archaeologists believe that Calakmul was inhabited at least until the middle of the ninth century AD based on inscriptions found at Seibal, another Maya site in the area. Furthermore, Folan conjectured that the location was also inhabited between 1450 and 1550 AD, albeit most likely temporarily—for ceremonial purposes, for example.

Calakmul was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. This World Heritage Site encompasses the surrounding jungles, which are important as a Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot since the site was reclaimed by the forest after it was abandoned. As a result, in addition to the Maya remains, visitors to Calakmul may get a view of the local fauna, which includes howler monkeys, spiders, and a variety of bird species.