Palenque

In 1952, Alberto Ruz Lhullier discovered Palenque in the foothills of the Sierra Oriental de Chiapas, southern Mexico at the eastern edge of the Rio Usumacinta Basin. Situated nearly 3000m above sea level, the site is rich in plaster and bas-reliefs of limestone. It reached its peak around 600AD, during which the most famous ruler of Palenque reigned. He was Pacal, and his rule lasted 80 years from 603AD.

The Temple of Inscriptions; photo by Ed Dawson

Aligned with the sun, the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque is 75 feet above the main plaza level. It is the highest and most stylistically built. In true Indiana Jones style, Lhullier found a mysterious staircase filled with rubble after lifting one of the large slabs in the floor of the temple (photo at lower left). It took Lhullier 4 field seasons to excavate the blocked inner stairs 80 feet down where he made the explosive find of Pacal's tomb (the crypt was identified by hieroglyphics on the walls as belonging to Lord Pacal). The location of the tomb was 5 feet under a stone marker on the plaza in front of the pyramid.

As the sun moves across the sky , light rays hit the wall behind the staircase and slowly move into the stairway leading down to Pacal's tomb. At winter solstice, the Sun sets behind the high ridge beyond the temple, in line with the centre of the temple roof. It disappears behind the ridge at 2.30pm, while the last light of the sun lands at the feet of a wall relief of God L, a main god of the underworld, forming a link between Pacal's and the sun's death.

Intrinsically carved, Pacal's sarcophagus was the first instance in Mesoamerica where a pyramid was found to have been used as a tomb. A flurry of interpretations of the carvings have been made, from Erich von Daniken who saw in it an astronaut taking off in a rocketship. Left: Carving on Pacal's sarcophagus from Horizon Arts. You can take a virtual tour of Palenque here.