Pre -Hispanic presence is omnipresent in Mexico. We are getting more and more about the past of cities such as Mexico City, but if we have to talk about seeing cities and constructions of the Maya, Yucatan is the power. It is where are the most relevant archaeological sites. And, among all, a proper name stands out: Chichén Itzá.
With much, it is the great Mayan power of tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula. But that crown jewel has just left a tough competition: Ichkabal, also known as the ‘Mesoamerican Egypt’.
Ikabal. In the state of Quintana Roo, a few kilometers from La Laguna de Bacalar, the Maya raised an older city than others as famous as the aforementioned Chichen Itzá. It is estimated that it began to populate at some point in 400 BC and was inhabited until 1500 AD was the most important administrative city of the Maya, something that is believed due to the imposing size of some of its constructions.
The problem is that, for centuries, the area was totally forgotten by the nature of nature, whose green opulence swallowed practically every trace of the buildings of the Maya except the main temple and some more construction. And, as is usually the case, its discovery was almost by accident.
Random. In 1995, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History was in the area looking for a much smaller archaeological territory known as ‘Las Higueras’ when they ran into something different and much larger. Thus, they ran into an imposing pyramid, but also with mounds of land and vegetation that covered different buildings.
They immediately realized the importance of the site, so a path was built that can be seen perfectly in Apps such as Google Earth -this link. In addition, in the application we can understand how the site had gone totally unnoticed due to that vegetation.
The Mesoamerican Egypt. But well, there was no doubt that they were facing something big. In Ichkabal, the Maya built several small and medium buildings, but also other colossal. For example, an open square of about 300 meters, a couple of small pyramids and the crown jewel: a building 46 meters high and a 200 -meter plant.
There is also a 60 X 8 -meter lagoon that could have supplied the population. And that proximity to a source of water and the ocean itself is what could have given Ichkabal the administrative importance that is estimated, had. Due to the size of these constructions, the Mesoamerican Egypt ‘has been called to the area.
Rivaling with Kukulcán. To get an idea of the size of that construction, the Kukulcán temple that is the main Mayan attraction of Mexico as part of Chichén Itzá and an indisputable protagonist of the spring and autumn equinox, has a height of about 30 meters and a base of 55.5 meters. The base of the main building of Ichkabal is four times larger and the height reaches 15 meters more.
Now, the state of conservation is not the same, something logical considering that restoration work in both places did not run the same fate. But this is something that changed relatively little thanks to the goal of converting Ichkabal into one of the key stop stops of the Mayan train.
Virtual trend. With this railway network, the previous Mexican president -manuel López Obrador- wanted to create a transport system that value the archaeological sites of the country, connecting them better with the municipalities and the most tourist areas in order to facilitate it would arrive from one point to another.
With that idea of revitalizing the cultural heritage, the opening of Ichkabal once the objects of cataloging objects, other elements and restoration was finished, it was linked to the Mayan train project. So much so that, from INAH and as we read in the nation, they consider that Ichkabal has potential to unseat other archaeological sites, at the tourist level, such as Chacchoben or Kohunlich.
Open to the public. And, after all the work of the archaeologists, Ichkabal is the pre -Hispanic archaeological site number 194. As Inhah himself reports, it can already be visited from Monday to Sunday and is located a certain distance from the seasons of the Mayan Train of Bacalar and Chetumal, since the path we commented on a few lines has about 23 kilometers.
And cruises. We It is where the famous beaches of Cancun and the Rivera Maya are located, with all those kilometers of beach occupied by large resorts and hotel complexes. The ports of Xcalac and Mahahual are crucial for the arrival of cruises and is something that, together with the Mayan train, the state hopes that allows a high influx of visitors to the new Mayan city.
Without a doubt, taking into account the dimensions of the archaeological site and the tourist magnet that is the state coast, Ichkabal has many ballots to be placed among the top of the most visited Mayan ruins in the country. We will have to be attentive to the list next year to see if the applicant can play the crown to Chichen Itzá and the Kukulcán temple.
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