Tulum
Archeological site
Tulum
A powerful walled city on the coast, with some of the best preserved mural paintings in the Mayan area. Its monuments exemplify the particular style of the East Coast, where the ancient pointed arch gave way to flat roofs supported by columns.
The buildings that can be seen in Tulum today are from the Middle and Late Postclassic (1250-1550), the final period of pre-Hispanic occupation of the Yucatan peninsula. The presence of some elements corresponding to previous stages, such as Stela 1 which dates to 564, as well as Structure 59, which has some stylistic elements from the Terminal Classic, indicate that the city could have been founded in an older period, possibly under the control of nearby Tancah.
Archeological studies have consistently shown that Tulum was one of the principal Mayan cities from the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries. Its strategic location between the “kuchkabaloob” (Maya for provinces) of Cochuah and Cozumel, its setting at the highest point of the region and its effective defensive position ensured that it was a nodal point, well positioned to exploit the rich marine resources of the coast of Quintana Roo. Tulum might have been a “batabil” (Maya for independent city), free from the control of other states, practically until the arrival of the Spanish in the fifteenth century, when it was finally abandoned.
The architecture of its earliest buildings features some Puuc-style elements, but like the other structures of the east coast of Quintana Roo, Tulum is free from jonquils (semi-rounded Puuc columns) and mosaics. On the other hand it presents some unique features such as smooth surfaces, which were undoubtedly decorated with beautiful wall paintings, now lost.
The Tulum region seems to have experienced significant population growth after the year 1200. At this time, the architects of the region perfected their own building style which later became very popular. It was certainly not until after 1400 that the majority of the area’s architectural projects were carried out, and when the style known by the archeologists as “East Coast” came into its own. This style is typified by the use of miniature temples, shrines within shrines (small buildings inside larger ones), buildings with intentionally collapsed walls, as well as palaces with colonnades and flat roofs, which replaced the vaulted coverings of the Mayan buildings of previous eras.
The adornment of the Tulum buildings includes niches over the door lintels, which nearly always featured a stucco representation of the diving god. The technique and religious content of the Tulum mural paintings were immensely complex. The outstanding feature is the presentation of human and animal figures in profile, whilst objects were presented from the front. According to some authors, the symbolic content of the Tulum paintings is concerned with cosmological themes linking to rebirth and the passing of beings from the underworld to a middle earth, where human and mythical traits come together, and where Venus and the Sun play very important roles. The researcher Arthur Miller has suggested that the sanctuaries of Tulum were dedicated to cosmological rituals in which pilgrims from various locations participated, and which were possibly related to long distance trade, the city’s principal source of wealth.
If this hypothesis is true, the sacred and the profane would have been indissolubly linked to the design and features of the walled city of Tulum, since trade would have been the basis for this city becoming a highly important ceremonial center and a notable seat of political power.
It appears that the name “Tulum” is relatively recent. It means a protective wall, enclosure or palisade, in allusion to the still-intact walls which encircle the group of monuments. The name Tulum seems to have been given to the city after it was abandoned or already in ruins.
The story of Tulum’s discovery is long and complex. In 1518, during Juan de Grijalva’s second expedition to the Mexican coast, the expedition’s chaplain and chronicler Juan Diaz wrote about having seen a city “as large as Seville,” which might well have been Tulum, which in those times was densely populated and was apparently the principal city of an independent province, a Mayan “batabil,” as mentioned above. The beginnings of the conquest, and eventual Spanish colonization of the Yucatan peninsula, had such a devastating impact on the region that when the “Relaciones de Yucatán” (Accounts of the Yucatan) were written by Juan de Reigosa in 1579, Tulum was described as a ruined settlement, and its splendor was a thing of the past.
- Dirección de la Zona Arqueológica y Museo de SitioJosé Manuel Ochoa Rodríguezmanuel_ochoa@inah.gob.mx+52 (998) 885 3542
Muralla
It delimits the main complex on its north, south and west sides, since the eastern sector faces the Caribbean Sea; it has five accesses and two watchtowers.
Grupo Central
Following the sidewalk immediately after the access to the archaeological zone, a first group of palace-type buildings can be observed, arranged along the so-called main street. It is an example of the architectural order that is manifested in Tulum.
Grupo Central
Following the sidewalk immediately after the access to the archaeological zone, a first group of palace-type buildings can be observed, arranged along the so-called main street. It is an example of the architectural order that is manifested in Tulum.
House of Chultún: It is considered that it functioned as a room for an important personage. The portico stands out, with an entrance provided with two columns and a spacious room or interior corridor, which has a small altar or sanctuary in the center. Towards the north side there is another room, added later. Its name is due to the association that is made of this building with the chultun (Mayan term that designates a subway cavity conditioned for the storage of water) located near its southwest corner.
Temple of the Frescoes: It is a construction of two floors, that conserves mural paintings of exceptional quality, in which a series of supernatural deities that inhabit the underworld can be appreciated, that is to say, between the light and the darkness; it builds one of the most important testimonies of the Mayan mural painting. The corners of the building are ornamented by masks with serpentine elements associated with Itzamná, main god of the Mayas of the Postclassic period, identified as an old man with an aquiline nose who is related to life and creation. By its general characteristics, it is inferred the importance that this building had. It shows several attachments of which only one room belongs to the first moment of construction; this room is profusely decorated with frescoes (paintings that decorate the walls), with access to the west, where a small altar is observed in the background.
House of the Columns: Palace-type building consisting of two rooms and two more attached on the west side. The structure is one of the widest and was built on a large “L” shaped foundation. The main entrance is located to the south and it is formed by five spaces divided by four columns that support the roof of the great room; in addition, it shows in the center a roofed sanctuary.
House of the Halach Uinic - Great Lord: Building formed by two central rooms or bays and a lateral one. The access is from the south side and leads to a portico with columns and a pilaster. In the interior it is observed, to the center, a small sanctuary and on him a niche with a descending deity that shows painting remains.
Altars-Adoratory: They are very small constructions, of less than one meter high and square plan, which are very common in the sites of the eastern coast. It is considered that they were used for the placement of sculptures of their deities.
Sector Noroeste
It consists of a palace-type building, a shrine and platforms.
La Casa del Cenote: Its name is due to the fact that the building rises over the natural deposit of brackish water or cenote. Like the other palaces, its layout is similar and shows an internal shrine in the back room; a rectangular tomb was located in this building.
Grupo Kukulcán
It consists mainly of small structures that possibly functioned as altars-adoratories, as well as a small temple.
Grupo Kukulcán
It consists mainly of small structures that possibly functioned as altars-adoratories, as well as a small temple.
Temple of the Wind: Architecturally it is characterized for being a square temple built on a base with rounded corners. These features are associated to Kukulkán in his invocation of the god of the wind, that is to say, the deity Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl for the Nahua groups.
La Caleta: The cliff that delimits the site is interrupted by the formation of a sandy cove of easy access from the sea, in this place is the so-called Interior Precinct. It is possible that the cove was used for activities of embarkation and arrival of the canoes of fishermen and merchants.
Inner Enclosure: It is the most important part of the site, it is located with the central point and attached to the east of the settlement. It consists of 12 structures such as pyramidal bases, temple, shrines and platforms, distributed around a square and arranged in such a way that the walls of the same, aligned with a wall of low dimensions, separate this set of the rest of the buildings.
The Castle: It is the tallest structure; it was built taking advantage of the rocky cliff, a point from which the landscape of the Caribbean Sea and the mainland is dominated. It is located in the center of the religious space, which highlights its importance. This temple shows several moments of construction and attachment to the original building; the upper temple shows two vaulted rooms with three entrance openings; the lintel is supported by two snake-shaped columns; the facade has three niches, the center one preserves the remains of the representation of a descending deity and in the corners of the frieze there are two zoomorphic masks made with stucco.
Temple of the Descending God: It is located toward the north side inside the enclosure; it consists of a platform that sustains a temple of a single piece or bay that shows benches attached in its lateral walls, some with remains of painting as decoration; its access is by means of a stairway limited by alfardas. In their facade they have a niche on the access where the descending deity is observed again.
Structure 5 or Temple of the Descending God: Structure 5 in Tulum is a platform with access stairway in the west; on its top stands a rectangular temple in whose interior there is a sidewalk on each side of the entrance opening; above it has been placed a representation of the descending god with a rich plumage and a chalchihuites diadem. The upper temple was erected on the back of the cusp of the platform, which was formerly a flat-roofed building that was filled in to support the temple.
In the interior of the temple, on a rear wall, a beautiful mural was painted in blue, white and black tones, representing several deities framed in a starry sky. At the ends of the celestial band, which contains solar rays, stars and the planet Venus, appear two birds with a long beak with which they hold a kind of sharp bone. The deities are framed by the body of multiple rattlesnakes; the floor is formed by a long band of jaguar skin that separates the celestial sphere from the aquatic one where various animals appear. The deities appear in pairs, a feminine one, Ix Chel and a masculine one, the solar god; they are presented alternately as young and old deities. On the back wall there is a narrow window at a medium height and almost centered.
Temple of the Initial Series: In the external part of its access it shows a stone lintel and another one of wood in the interior. Currently it is possible to appreciate stucco figures that adorned the facade. In the interior there is a small altar where the stele that marks the earliest date for Tulum was located.
Sector Sureste
It consists mainly of a platform and a small temple consisting of a single room with entrance from the sea side; it also houses an altar at the back of the room.
An exceptional site with well-preserved buildings, ornate wall painting and a striking setting overlooking the Caribbean
