Mexico's Mysterious Mayan Ruins at Palenque, Now Accessible By Air Maya Kroth - The Washington Post
go to original June 21, 2014

Visitors to Palenque, Mexico, in the southern state of Chiapas, can explore Mayan ruins. (National Institute of Anthropology and History/Reuters)

Palenque made international news in the early 1950s, thanks to an unprecedented discovery by Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier. He was excavating a temple buried deep in the rain forest when he removed a stone slab from the floor and discovered a secret staircase, packed with rubble and leading down into the heart of the pyramid.

For four long years, Ruz and his team meticulously cleared the passageway, at the very bottom of which was a narrow opening that appeared to lead to a room beyond. Squeezing into the vaulted chamber, Ruz found himself staring at a massive carved-stone sarcophagus. Inside lay the remains of the greatest ruler of one of the greatest cities of one of the ancient world’s greatest civilizations.

Ruz’s remarkable discovery of the intact tomb of the Mayan king Pakal, who ruled Palenque in the 7th century, is often touted as the greatest archaeological find ever made in the Americas. It even earned Ruz the nickname “the Hitchcock of archaeology.” The elaborate carvings on Pakal’s sarcophagus lid have captivated many; some of the more out-there theorists have interpreted them as proof that the king was, in fact, an extraterrestrial. (The Maya were expert astronomers, mathematicians and engineers, after all. Why not space travel?)

Until now, Palenque always seemed painfully out of reach, hours by bus from the nearest town. But even Chiapas’s winding mountainous roads haven’t stopped generations of archaeologists, history buffs and New Agers from making the pilgrimage to this extraordinary place, in an attempt to unlock the mysteries of the Maya.

With the opening of the new airport, there’s a palpable sense of momentum in Palenque town: Roads are being repaved, new public art has been erected and the central square has been dug up as the city prepares to unveil a new and improved look for the expected influx of tourists.

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