Archaeologists and epigraphers said Thursday that inscriptions on a vaulted stone recovered at the Ek Balam archaeological zone in Yucatan confirm the eastern wing of the site’s acropolis was in use in the late 8th century, shedding fresh light on the reign of a king (or ruler) long associated with the city’s apogee.
Researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said the inscribed vault lid, cataloged as TB 29 and recovered from room 85, bears an incomplete inscription that epigrapher David Stuart of the Boundary End Archaeological Research Center dated to Sept. 18, 782. The carving also includes the name of the ruler Ukit Kan Lek Took, the team said.
The study and consolidation of the Plaza Elevada Este (East Elevated Plaza) of the Ek’ Balam acropolis was carried out under the INAH program Promeza, part of the work connected to the Tren Maya project, from December 2022 to January 2024. Leticia Vargas de la Peña and Víctor Rogerio Castillo Borges co-directed the field project, INAH said.
The surface of the recovered vaulted stone at Ek Balam in Yucatan has Maya iconography on it
The vault lid is a slab of stone 77 centimeters long (30.3 inches), 49 centimeters wide (19.3 inches), and between 5 and 8 centimeters thick (2.0 to 3.1 inches); the stucco fragment measures 49 by 46 centimeters (19.3 by 18.1 inches) and is about 3 millimeters thick (0.12 inches), the researchers reported. The surface includes a painted representation of the deity K’awiil, a numen associated in Maya iconography with lightning, power, and rulership.
“The inscription confirms that Ukit Kan Lek Took lived in this sector and provides a secure date for the whole complex,” the INAH archaeologists said in summaries of their findings presented this week during the institute’s virtual lecture series “The Maya at INAH.” The team also recovered a second vault lid, TB 28, from room 80, bearing the name Ukit Winik Kan Lek Took. Stuart said the variant could be an honorific for the same ruler or might refer to a different individual; he called for further analysis.
Field reports describe an elaborate, decorated complex on the site’s third construction level, a platform roughly 40 meters long by 10 meters wide (about 131 by 33 feet). During consolidation work, the team stabilized collapsed room walls and recovered eight vault lids while restoring nine chambers. Decorations on the east plaza proved more abundant than those on the west and included modeled stucco friezes, benches, and representations of captives and warriors, as well as turtles, suns, jaguars, and monkeys linked to Maya concepts of life and death.
Conservators say the fragile stucco façade cannot be left exposed
The archaeologists highlighted a teratomorphic, monster-like stucco façade from room 79 discovered in 2012. Only the lower portion of that modeled mask survives, but it shows a projecting jaw similar to the entrance motif of the Sak Xok Naah, or “white house of reading,” a funerary building later identified as the mausoleum of Ukit Kan Lek Took. The mask, once estimated at about three meters tall, may have been an architectural test or prototype for the later funerary structure, the team said.
Conservators said the fragile stucco façade cannot be left exposed and has been protected by walls and coverings; during the latest season, the protective barrier was temporarily removed for monitoring, and the element was judged stable but will remain protected to ensure long-term preservation.
Researchers said the iconographic program and the inscriptions together point to a vigorous display of elite religious and political identity at Ek’ Balam during the Late Classic period, roughly between A.D. 770 and 890, and underscore the role of K’awiil-associated imagery in projecting royal authority.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
