Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful Mayan cities.
Calakmul was a major Maya power within the northern Petén Basin region of the Yucatán Peninsula of southern Mexico. Calakmul administered a large domain marked by the extensive distribution of its emblem glyph of the snake head sign, to be read "Kaan". Calakmul was the seat of what has been dubbed the Kingdom of the Snake or Snake Kingdom. This Snake Kingdom reigned during most of the Mesoamerican Classic period. Calakmul is estimated to have had a population of 50,000 people and had governance, at times, over places as far away as 150 kilometers (93 mi). There are 6,750 ancient structures identified at Calakmul, the largest of which is the great pyramid at the site. Structure 2 is over 45 metres (148 ft) high, making it one of the tallest of the Mesoamerican pyramids.
Four tombs have been located within the pyramid. Like many temples and pyramids within Mesoamerica, the pyramid at Calakmul increased in size by sequentially building upon the existing pyramid until it reached its final size. The size of the central monumental architecture is approximately 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) and the whole of the site, mostly covered with dense residential structures, is about 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi).
Throughout the Classic period, Calakmul maintained an intense rivalry with the city of Tikal to the south, and the political maneuverings of these two cities have been considered to be a struggle between two Maya superpowers.
Rediscovered from the air by biologist Cyrus L. Lundell of the Mexican Exploitation Chicle Company on December 29, 1931, the find was reported to Sylvanus G. Morley of the Carnegie Institute at Chichen Itza in March 1932.
Calakmul is a modern name; according to Cyrus L. Lundell, who named the site, in Maya, ca means "two", lak means "adjacent", and mul signifies any artificial mound or pyramid, so Calakmul is the "City of the Two Adjacent Pyramids". In ancient times the city core was known as Ox Te' Tuun, meaning "Place of Three Stones". Another name associated with the site, and perhaps a larger area around it, is Chiik Naab'. The lords of Calakmul identified themselves as k'uhul kaanal ajaw, Divine Lords of the Snake, but the connection of the title to the actual site is ambiguous.
Calakmul is located in Campeche state in southeastern Mexico, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of the border with Guatemala and 38 kilometres (24 mi) north of the ruins of El Mirador. The ruins of El Tintal are 68 kilometres (42 mi) to the southwest of Calakmul and were linked to both El Mirador and Calakmul itself by causeway. Calakmul was about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the contemporary city of Oxpemul and approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of La Muñeca.
The city is located on a rise about 35 metres (115 ft) above a large seasonal swamp lying to the west, known as the El Laberinto bajo (a Spanish word used in the region to denote a low-lying area of seasonal marshland). This swamp measures approximately 34 by 8 kilometres (21.1 by 5.0 mi) and was an important source of water during the rainy season. The bajo was linked to a sophisticated water-control system including both natural and artificial features such as gullies and canals that encircled a 22-square-kilometre (8.5 sq mi) area around the site core, an area considered as Inner Calakmul. The location of Calakmul at the edge of a bajo provided two additional advantages: the fertile soils along the edge of the swamp and access to abundant flint nodules. The city is situated on a promontory formed by a natural 35-metre (115 ft) high limestone dome rising above the surrounding lowlands. This dome was artificially levelled by the Maya. During the Preclassic and Classic periods settlement was concentrated along the edge of the El Laberinto bajo, during the Classic period structures were also built on high ground and small islands in the swamp where flint was worked.
At the beginning of the 21st century the area around Calakmul remained covered by dense forest. During the 1st millennium AD the area received moderate and regular rainfall, although there is less surface water available than further south in Guatemala. Calakumul is now located within the 1,800,000-acre (7,300 km2) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The area conserved within the Reserve was conceptualized by the Centro de Investigaciones Historicas y Sociales de Universidad Autónoma de Campeche (CIHS/UAC).
At its height in the Late Classic period the city is estimated to have had a population of 50,000 inhabitants and to have covered an area of over 70 square kilometres (27 sq mi). The city was the capital of a large regional state with an area of about 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi). During the Terminal Classic the city's population declined dramatically and the rural population plummeted to 10% of its former level.
The Late Classic population density of Calakmul has been calculated at 1000/km2 (2564 per square mile) in the site core and 420/km2 (1076 per square mile) in the periphery (an area of 122 square kilometres (47 sq mi). Calakmul was a true urban city and not just an elite centre surrounded by commoner residences. The site core of Calakmul was known in ancient times as Ox Te' Tuun ("Three Stones") which may have been because of the triadic pyramid Structure 2.
The Calakmul kingdom included 20 secondary centres, among which were large cities such as La Muñeca, Naachtun, Sasilha, Oxpemul and Uxul. The total population of these secondary centres has been estimated at 200,000. The kingdom also included a large number of tertiary and quaternary sites, mostly fairly small and consisting of a number of groups arranged around courtyards, although there are also larger rural sites situated on ridges along the edges of the bajos that include temples, palaces and stelae. The total rural population of the kingdom is calculated at 1.5 million people. The entire population of the Calakmul kingdom, including the city itself and the rural population in the 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi) area of the regional state, is calculated at 1.75 million people in the Late Classic period.
The Emblem Glyph of Calakmul has a greater distribution than the Emblem Glyph of any other Maya city. The Glyph is also found in more hieroglyphic texts than any other Emblem Glyph, including that of Tikal. Calakmul administered a large domain marked by the extensive distribution of their emblem glyph of the snake head sign, to be read "Kaan". Calakmul was the seat of what has been dubbed the Snake Kingdom. At times the city had governance over places as far away as 150 kilometers.
At Calakmul's peak in the 7th century, the polity was known as Kaan. The Preclassic political state in the Mirador Basin also used the title Kaan. There is the idea that, after the collapse of the Mirador state, its refugees migrated north towards Calakmul, where they founded a new Kaan polity. However, epigraphical studies of the monuments at Calakmul show that prior to the 7th century AD the emblem glyph of Calakmul had nothing to do with a snake, but with a bat. It seems that a different polity ruled there. The Kaan emblem glyph, before being associated with Calakmul, is found (once) at Dzibanché, a site more towards the east. Perhaps during the late 6th/early 7th century, the polity at Dzibanché moved to Calakmul in order to establish a more strategically placed capital. After Calakmul's power dwindled in the 8th century, after the rule of Yuknoom Took K'awiil, it appears that the bat emblem glyph made its resurgence. Still, many uncertainties remain and new epigraphical studies have to be done to fill the gaps.
Calakmul has a long occupational history and excavations have revealed evidence from the Middle Preclassic right through to the Postclassic. The causeway network that linked Calakmul with the cities of El Mirador, Nakbe and El Tintal suggest strong political links between the four cities that may have begun in the Preclassic, when both Calakmul and El Mirador were important cities, and continued into the Classic period when Calakmul itself was the most powerful city in the region. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands.