Edzná

How to get thereBy bus from Campeche, by car from Campeche follow the route signposted "Mérida via Ruinas", driving east on the MEX 180 and then 261 through Chencoyl (42km/26mi) to Cayal where turn south on the MEX 261 for a further 19km/12mi.The excavation site at Edzná is located on the edge of an area known to archaeologists as the "Chenes" region, the name deriving from the "chén" ending (meaning "well") characteristic of many of its place-names. This Mayan site lies in a large scrub-covered valley partly under cultivation, enclosed to the north and east by a chain of low hills.History Recent excavation and research has shown Edzná (Mayan: "house of grimaces") to have been settled as long ago as 400 BC. For example, fortified ditches from the pre-Classic period were found. The city's heyday, however, was undoubtedly during the Mayan Classic period. Stelae uncovered bear dates ranging from ad 435 to 810. No post-Classic development (i.e. post ad 1000) has yet been recorded.In the 1920s the American Sylvanus Morley and the Mexican Enrique Juan Palacios both completed important work on the site. Further research was undertaken in the 1940s by the Mexican archaeologists Alberto Ruz l'Huillier and Raúl Pavón Abreu, the latter continuing with restoration work into the 1950s and 60s. Most recently excavations have been carried out by the New World Archeological Foundation and scientists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Between 1986 and 1989 the latter in particular were active here under the direction of Pavón Nabreu and Luis Meller Camara. Guatamalan refugees helped with the excavations assisted by funds from the UN.The RuinsThe Edzná archaeological zone covers an area of about 6sq.km/2.25sq.mi. Most of the structures remain unexcavated or have become overgrown again after the original investigations. As occurs frequently in old Mayan architecture, some buildings have had others superimposed - in some cases several times - making them extremely difficult to date. As far as sightseeing is concerned, priority should be given to the structures grouped around the Plaza Central, in the middle of which stands a square altar with a small altarpiece known as "La Picota" on its west side.