Franz Bloom was a young man when he arrived in Palenque for the first time, in the spring of 1922. Palenque was his first experience with archaeology. In atumn that year he returned to Palenque with the Mexican archaeologist Manuel Gamino, from the Direccion de Antropologia in Mexico City, where he was offered a job as archchaeological "attendant" in Palenque. He cleaned the buildings from the overgrowing plants and made descriptions of the buildings. He returned to Mexico City and turned his report in to Gamino. It was excellent. The INAH did not pubished it until 1982.

Later the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier worked in Palenque. He found the entrance to Pacal's grave in the Temple of the Inscription in 1949. And in 1952 he and his team opened the sealed doorway to the tomb. With this finding it became clear that the Maya also buried their dead kings in pyramids. Before this finding scientist believed that the Maya pyramids were only used as observatories.

Since 1996 Palenque has been excavated and studied by the Palenque Project.

This Project is a joint venture of the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute (PARI) and Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropologia y (INAH). They started in 1996 with a Ground Penetrating Radar study from Palenque. The actual archaeology began in May 1997, armed with the results of the GPR study, they began with excavations on the western face of the Temple of the Cross. During the course of reserach Terraces 7, 8 and 9 were found to extend across the entire west side of the base of the Temple of the Cross, whereas Terraces 6 and 5 do not.

At a depth of approximately 80 centimeters they found fragments of modeled, painted stucco in the rubble. These modelled stucco fragments were painted red, blue, and tan.

At a depth of 1.2 meters below the surface, they found remains of the stucco panel in situ. The panel apparently depicts an young man, standing in profile, right leg to the front, as if the figure were walking or perhaps dancing. They also discovered the lower portion of a carved limestone tablet. The stone carving is low relief, intricately detailed, and nearly perfectly preserved. The iconography of what remains of the tablet depicts the lower legs and feet of a standing figure. The knees, feet and thighs of two kneeling, barefoot figures are shown at either end of the standing figure.

The hieroglyphic text of the stucco relief, the architectural style, and the ceramic evidence suggest that Structure XIX was probably built and used some time during the life of K'inich Ahkal Mo' Nab III (also named as Akul Anab III or Chaacal III).

In 1999 their investigations have been focused on Temples XIV in the Cross Group and Temples XIX and XX of the Southern Acropolis. On February 19 they found a carved stone tablet with a hieroglyphic text of the uppermost stairway of Temple XIX . On March 15 they discovered a beautiful rectangular carved stone bench or throne.

In 1999 they also found a towering limestone tablet that greeted visitors to Temple XIX. The building was dedicated in 734 A.D. and you can see it in the Museum.

In the temple's floor they found three steps. This appears to be a type of drain that enters on the east side of the building and then passes under it, changing direction after the opening and then turning to the south.

That same year they also found a buried structure with plaster floor and a portion of a plastered staircase below Temple XX's surface. This building now bears the name of Temple XX-sub. The staircase is 1.44 meters high by 1.2 meters wide and has five steps. On March 1st, 1999, at a depth of 1.9 meters below Temple XX-sub's plaster floor and 2. 8 meters below Temple XX's floor, they found a tomb. On the tomb's wall were painted murals on the stucco, at least 11 ceramic vessels and several concentrations of jade beads and other materials.

During the next field season they found offerings such as obsidian, ceramics, and stingray spines in Temple XIX. Some of the pieces may have been part of the façade's décor, as was the head of a jaguar modelled in stucco.

In the spring of 2001 they made a new examination of Temple XX. Under the temple they found a stone coffin or cist tomb. Inside they found remains of a red pigment, probably cinnabar and eleven jade beads and two earflares. This stone box was denominated Tomb 1.

It was not the only tomb they found. Approximately 40 centimeters below the temple's floor they found another cist in which there was skeletal material but it was badly preserved. Four teeth with jade incrustations and a small jade head were found as well. In the south part of the room ceramics were found corresponding to the Murcielagos phase, (between AD 700 and 770). They also examined the psychoduct that originates in the tomb within the substructure. (A "psychoduct" is a tube connected to a tomb, such as the one that extends from the crypt of Pakal to the outer part of the structure. Maybe this duct provided a connection to the heavens above for the spirit of the deceased).

The Project has recently undertaken new mapping at Palenque. Before they started working 541 structures were known to exist at the site. By June 1999 they had identified over 750. Based on their progress they expected to map over 1500 structures by project's completion.

If you wish to have more detailed archaeological information about Palenque we recommended you take a look at:

http://www.mesoweb.com/palenque/current_dig.htm

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