• Balamcanché

    Cover image
  • Balamcanché

    Balamcanché
    INAH-Dirección de Medios de Comunicación
  • Balamcanché

    Detalle de un incensario
    Carlos Blanco / INAH-Coordinación Nacional de Arqueología
  • Balamcanché

    Group 2, Balamcanché
    INAH-Zona Arqueológica de Balamcanché
  • Balamcanché

    Piezas Balamcanché
    Mauricio Marat / INAH-Dirección de Medios de Comunicación

Visit us

Balamcanché

Aviso

Access is not recommended for people with cardiac or respiratory diseases or claustrophobia.

Opening hours
Monday to Sunday from 09:00 to 16:00 h
Fee
$75.00
Aditional Fees
  • (CULTUR) Foreign tourists $138 and nationals $90. Yucatan residents are exempt from payment.
Adress

Federal Highway No. 180 (Merida-Valladolid) Km 123 + 400 Balam Ka'anché, Municipality of Tinum, Yucatan.

Access

From the city of Mérida, follow Federal Highway 180 towards Valladolid and at kilometer 123 take the exit that leads to the site.

Services
Parking
Information module
Toilets
Guided tours
Important
  • Sundays free for mexican citizens
  • Free entrance for Mexicans under 13 years old
  • Free entrance for Mexican students and teachers
  • Free entrance for Mexican senior citizens
  • No entry with food
  • Pets not allowed

Balamcanché

Balamcanché

Balamcanché

The ancient Maya inhabitants of the region constructed a ceremonial center within a cavern. Most notable is a giant pillar made by the fusion of a stalactite with a stalagmite known as the Sacred Ceiba (silk-cotton tree).


This archeological site, located nearly four miles to the east of Chichen Itza, consists of a quadrangle of platforms and a cave system. It can be deduced that at some point it was part of the ancient pre-Hispanic city, and that it was in fact an important place for the worship of the rain god Chaac.

Six hundred and fifty feet from the entrance there is a geological formation, the product of the union of a stalactite and a stalagmite, whose form closely resembles the great ceiba: the sacred tree of the Maya. This is a place where ceremonial objects such as pots, incense burners and grinding stones where found. Also, at the bottom of the cavern where it meets the aquifer, an offering can be seen with incense burners and small grinding stones.

The site was discovered in 1932 but investigation began in earnest after September 15, 1959, when José Humberto Gómez, a tour guide and Mayan culture enthusiast, realized that one section of the cave chamber was man-made. Close examination revealed a stone wall with a stucco covering. Upon removal of the stones which sealed the access, it was proven that the space was connected to other chambers and that the cave was larger and more important than had previously been assumed.

Pottery finds indicate that the cave was used for ceremonies from 300 BC in the Late Preclassic up to 1200 in the Late Postclassic. The main materials used were from the Terminal Classic and the Postclassic from 900 to 1200, which would indicate that at this time the space was used intensively, when Chichen Itza was at its peak. It can be deduced that Balamcanché was very important in the sacred landscape of the city and was therefore a significant location in terms of the Mayan world view.


 


 

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Worship in Balamcanché

Marco Antonio Santos Ramírez

  • Dirección del Centro INAH
    Anna Goycoolea Artís
    anna_goycoolea@inah.gob.mx
    +52 (999) 913 4034, ext.398003

Contacto

direccion.yuc@inah.gob.mx
+52 (999) 913 4034
+52 (999) 944 0043

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