| About
the place and its name: It is located in the South portion of the old Island
of Cancún, at the moment together with mainland through two bridges: The
original name of the site is not known, and only very recently it was baptized
to him with the name of "el Rey" because in the place the superior
portion of a sculpture was discovered that represents an ornamented human face
with touched elaborating, that surely a personage of high rank portrays. Today,
the head of "the King" is protected and exposed in the Archaeological
Museum of Cancún.
Direction
and routes of access: Kms is located 10. to the south of the convention center
of Cancún, in front of the Cesars hotel Park and closely together of the
airport.
Brief history of the site:
The pre-Hispanic occupation of the Island of Cancún and "El Rey"
in individual, seems to have initiated at a very early time (ca. 300 a.n.e.),
when surely there was small establishments with low platforms on which constructions
of wood rested and palm of which any evidence is not conserved. Later, between
200 and 1200 d.n.e., seems to have conserved like a reduced fire position area,
possibly involved in fishing activities and the salt commerce. It is not but until
the period known by the archaeological ones like delayed posclásico, that
the island zone cobra greater demographic and architectonic importance. The structures
that today can be seen in "the King" correspond to that time (1300 -
1550 d.n.e.) and they are typical examples of the known architectonic style like
Eastern coast, to which also well-known sites belong better, like "Tulum".
Like other coastal towns of the zone, "el rey" must
mainly have worked as the center of a small city dedicated to the marine commerce
and the fishing activities, because he is located in a privileged position that
allows the access as much to the Caribbean Sea, as to the Nichupté Lagoon,
places in where traditionally diverse eatable species have been obtained. This
apparent bonanza would have been destroyed to the arrival of the Spaniards in
century XVI, because it meant the disarticulation of the routes that had stayed
in the Caribbean during several centuries, later at this moment and the fled one
from the inhabitants of "el Rey" and other sites. Towards the
interior of the peninsula, the area was vacated and at the mercy of the pirates
who knocked down these seas throughout following the three centuries
Main
structures: At the moment the buildings located around two seats and one road
oriented on a North axis can be visited - South, that is a good example of the
advances of mesoamericano urbanism. Structure 2 is the more important piramidal
plinth, because he is the one of greater height and the only one that presents/displays
the classic adjustment of the religious buildings finished off by a temple. The
observed being, the building shows diverse architectonic stages, that document
the great constructive activity that characterized to the zone during centuries
XIV to XVI.
He is interesting to indicate
that in this building the burial of a personage of certain importance was located,
to say of the offering which it accompanied to him, that consisted of ceramics
objects, receives, jade, shell and bone, that today can be seen in the museum
of Cancún.
Structures 1 and
4 correspond to ample palaces conformed by great galleries to columns that maintained
a flat ceiling. Inside these elegant spaces, surely meetings of political type
were made and administrative which they attended the noble personages who governed
the city, the servants of these were based in the buildings smaller than they
are aligned throughout the surrounding spaces and of the road to which reference
has become above.
The main set complements
with the structure 3, that includes at least three buildings type palace, that
would seem to have worked like real rooms, because here glifo has been identified
ahaw, that denotes the nobility and sovereignty of its inhabitants.
General
performances: The site of "the King" is forced visit for that arrives
at Cancún; he is one of the few cultural spaces whereupon it counts the
tourist area and it is, at the same time, refuge of an important amount of birds
and reptiles that have found protection within the limits of the site. The quota
of $14,00 access is of and the schedule of visit from 08:00 to 17:00 hours of
Monday to Sunday.
Services that
are offered: The site counts on parking, toilets and an area of ticket expedition.
Some certified guides offer their services during the hours of visit and the archaeological
museum of Cancún organizes visits guided for scholastic groups and of people
interested in having greater information on the past pre-Hispanic of the zone.
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