Ek' Balam

There are 45 structures at the site. Structure 1, the Acropolis on the north side, is the largest and is believed to contain the tomb of Ukit Kan Leʼk Tokʼ; excavations on it began in 1998, when it was just a mound. The temple in which he was buried is called El Trono ('The Throne'), and its doorway is in the shape of a monster-like mouth, possibly depicting a jaguar. Other structures include the Entrance Arch, which stands on four legs over the road into the city and was probably ceremonial in purpose, the Oval Palace, whose alignment is assumed to be connected to cosmological ceremonies, Structure 17 or The Twins, with two mirroring temples on top, and a ballcourt completed in 841.

The site is surrounded by two concentric walls. The inner wall encloses an area of 9.55 hectares (23.6 acres); its carved stone is 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide and is covered in plaster. These were the largest walls in the Late Classic Yucatan. Only the centre of the site has been excavated. Sacbé roads lead from the centre in the four cardinal directions.

Ekʼ Balam was occupied from the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic, although it ceased to thrive as a major city after the Late Classic. It eventually became the capital of the polity that controlled the region around the beginning of the Common Era. At its height, from 770 to 840 CE, it dominated by the Late Yumcab ceramic complex (750-1050/1100 CE). The king Ukit Kan Leʼk Tok' ruled from 770 to 797 or 802 CE. During the Postclassic period the population decreased to 10% of its highest as the city slowly emptied, and there are several theories on why and how hastily it was abandoned. A fourth wall inside the city, less than a meter wide and of poorly constructed rubble, is taken to support the theory of hasty desertion.

The site is mentioned in a late-sixteenth-century Relación Geográfica, which reports that it belonged to a kingdom called 'Talol', founded by an Ekʼ Balam, or Coch Cal Balam, who had come from the East. Later the region was dominated by the aristocratic Cupul family.