Palenque, Mexico

Palenque is located in Mexico. Search, find, choose and compare our list of luxury five star Palenque, Mexico, resorts, comfortable four star Palenque, Mexico, hotels, clean three star Palenque, Mexico, lodges, convenient two star Palenque, Mexico, inns, and budget one star Palenque, Mexico, motels to find rooms available for lodging accommodations in Palenque, Mexico. Book a Mexican hotel room and make reservations in Palenque, Mexico.

Palenque is a Maya archeological site near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen. It is a medium-sized site, much smaller than such huge sites as Tikal or Copán, but it contains some of the finest architecture, sculpture, and stucco reliefs the Maya produced.

The site was already long abandoned when the Spanish arrived in Chiapas. The first European to visit the ruins and publish an account was Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada in 1567; at the time the local Chol Maya called it Otolum meaning `Land with strong houses,` de la Nada roughly translated this into Spanish to give the site the name Palenque, meaning fortification.

Palenque is perhaps the most studied and written about of Maya sites.

Juan Galindo visited Palenque in 1831, and filed a report with the Central American government. He was the first to note that the figures depicted in Palenque`s ancient art looked like the local Native Americans; some other early explorers, even years later, attributed the site to such distant peoples as Egyptians, Polynesians, or the Lost Tribes of Israel.

In 1973 the first of the very productive Palenque Mesa Redondas (Round tables) was held here on the inspiration of Merle Green Robertson; thereafter every few years leading Mayanists would meet at Palenque to discuss and examine new findings in the field. Meanwhile Robertson was conducting a detailed examination of all art at Palenque, including recording all the traces of color on the sculpture.

The 1970s also saw a small museum built at the site.

In the last 15 or 20 years, a great deal more of the site has been excavated, but currently, archaeologists estimate that only 5% of the total city has been uncovered.

Palenque is located in Mexico. Search, find, choose and compare our list of luxury five star Palenque, Mexico, resorts, comfortable four star Palenque, Mexico, hotels, clean three star Palenque, Mexico, lodges, convenient two star Palenque, Mexico, inns, and budget one star Palenque, Mexico, motels to find rooms available for lodging accommodations in Palenque, Mexico. Book a Mexican hotel room and make reservations in Palenque, Mexico.

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