Loltún
Archeological site
Loltún
These caves provide a fascinating experience. Galleries and natural formations, with stone paintings and carvings, allow visitors a vision of primitive people in the region, and the domestication of plants and animals, until they became sedentary. The site dates back to 9000 BC.
To date the Loltún caves have the longest chronological sequence of any site discovered in the north of the Yucatan peninsula. The evidence found in these caves suggests that they were used as an encampment in earliest times and then subsequently as a dwelling place. The process of occupation began towards 9000 BC with material remains showing from the early presence of man in this region. The caves’ occupation ran parallel to the domestication of plants and animals and up to the incorporation of architectural design and sculpture into everyday life, illustrating the development of society from nomadic to settled living. From the Classic period the caves ceased to be used as dwellings and it is only certain that they were used for water storage. Other important features are the 145 mural paintings and the 42 petroglyphs found to date. The caves were used most intensively in the Late Preclassic period from 400 to 200 BC.
In 1886 and 1892, Teoberto Maler, a well-known Mayan scholar born in Italy of German parents, visited Loltún and made a few prints and paintings of what he found inside the cave. Shortly afterwards, between 1888 and 1891, the US archeologist and diplomat Edward H. Thompson undertook excavations at Loltún financed by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Thompson, who was working as the United States vice-consul, was also behind the dredging of the sacred cenote of Chichen Itza. In 1895, Henry C. Mercer of the University of Pennsylvania visited 29 caves and excavated 10 in the Puuc mountain range with the aim of studying the social and anatomical development of man in the Americas, but he failed to find caves of similar antiquity to those in Europe. Into the twentieth century, the first map of the caves was made by Jack Grant and Bill Dailey, and they discovered the sculpture known as the Loltún Head.
The first excavations by the INAH were carried out in 1978, under the guidance of archeologist Ricardo Velázquez Valadez. The material found in the explorations of the 1970s and 1980s revealed that the Loltún cave had been occupied as far back as 9000 BC, and that at that time the cave must have been an abundant source of natural resources used by groups of hunter gatherers, as evidenced by the finds: stone material with possible marks of wear, pictorial motifs and bone remains of now extinct fauna. This important evidence positions Loltún as a unique cave in northern Yucatan, with archeological finds from the archaic period.
The cave provided suhuy ha’ (virgin water) for everyday use and divination ceremonies, clay for making pots and stone as a raw material. It was a place of veneration and offerings.
Document
- Dirección del Centro INAHVictor Arturo Martínez Rojasvictor_amartinez@inah.gob.mx+52 (999) 913 4034Administración del Centro INAHFelipe de Jesús Flores Lagunafelipe_flores@inah.gob.mx+52 (999) 913 4034, ext.398006
Entrada Nahkab o de la Colmena
On the wall is represented in bas-relief a well-dressed warrior, standing, barefoot, in an attitude of walking and with a spear in vertical position in the right hand. In the upper left corner there is a cartouche of glyphs that ends with a numeral three. The character has a clear Mayan profile.
Entrada Nahkab o de la Colmena
On the wall is represented in bas-relief a well-dressed warrior, standing, barefoot, in an attitude of walking and with a spear in vertical position in the right hand. In the upper left corner there is a cartouche of glyphs that ends with a numeral three. The character has a clear Mayan profile. However, the thick lips recall Olmec sculptures and Chalcatzingo reliefs. The warrior has an antiquity of 2200 to 2250 years, and comparatively it is similar to stela 11 of Kaminaljuyú, in Guatemala.
Cuarto del Infante
Towards the north side is the Room of the Musical Columns, so called because one of them emits a low-pitched sound and the other a high-pitched sound. Then it is continued toward the gallery known as Room of the Infant, for having been found in the place the burial of a boy of 10 years old.
Cuarto del Infante
Towards the north side is the Room of the Musical Columns, so called because one of them emits a low-pitched sound and the other a high-pitched sound. Then it is continued toward the gallery known as Room of the Infant, for having been found in the place the burial of a boy of 10 years old. It is not known how old it is because no object associated with it was found. In the same area is the Mural of the Black Hands, elaborated with the technique of painting in negative, whose purpose is to transcend in time and space, and is related to religious and cosmogonic conceptions. The route continues to the gallery of the Chultún or cistern, where the rough and irregular ground seems to indicate that it was an area from which clay was extracted.
Galería del Gran Cañón o Lubaan tunil
It is the most spacious of the galleries; its surface shows huge boulders that have fallen from the ceiling. The space measures approximately 100 m long by 45 m wide. To the right of this gallery there is communication with four antechambers and the Grand Canyon Complex.
Galería del Gran Cañón o Lubaan tunil
Cámaras 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, y 6
Each of them has different characteristics, such as barricades built during the caste war, huge barricades with some inscriptions and paintings, landslides, evidence of water erosion, archaeological remains such as jaltunes with reddish walls and vault.
Galería Principal
To 31 m of the entrance Nahkab, and in the left wall, there is an engraving called Rosette, and between this engraving and the entrance four petroglyphs of linear form are noticed. In this gallery, and throughout the grotto, haltuno'ob or sartenejas can be found, in which water is stored.
Galería Principal
La mazorca de maíz
Because of its shape and texture, one of the stalactites resembles an ear of corn. Towards the west side is located the Cathedral or Noh K'unah, which is the most impressive vault for its magnificence, because it reaches 30 m in height.
La mazorca de maíz
Because of its shape and texture, one of the stalactites resembles an ear of corn. Towards the west side is located the Cathedral or Noh K'unah, which is the most impressive vault for its magnificence, because it reaches 30 m in height. In the center of the Cathedral is El Altar, because this natural rock has traces of having been modified by man. At the end of the Cathedral, located among a group of stalactites, is the Gallery of the Haltuno'ob or “sartenejas” overflowing with water.
Paso del viento
It is a narrow passage through which a current of air flows, which is sometimes perceived with great force. During pre-Hispanic times it could have been used or channeled. It could also have served to delimit the area of clay exploitation.
