How I Mapped Palenque – Part 4
The year was 1999. Ed and his crew started year two of the Palenque Mapping Project. Ed recounts the story – snakes, pyramids, tombs, and a visit from the President of Mexico! Season 6, Episode 1 – aired September 1, 2024.
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Dr. Barnhart is the director of Maya Exploration Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to the study of ancient civilizations in the Americas and beyond. MEC shares their knowledge with the general public through publications, public lectures, and educational travel programs. https://www.mayaexploration.org
Dr. Barnhart has four lecture series available through Great Courses – a total of 104, 30 minutes lectures on the ancient Americas. You can view all the lectures on the Great Courses streaming platform, Great Courses Plus:
https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/edwin-barnhart
Dr. Barnhart’s Great Courses are also available through Audible:
https://www.audible.com/search?searchNarrator=Edwin+Barnhart
His newest Great Courses series on Olmec Civilization comes out in Spring of 2025.
The ArchaeoEd Podcast is about the civilizations of the ancient Americas. It’s just Ed, explaining what he’s learned in over 30 years as an archaeologist, an explorer, and a seeker of esoteric knowledge. https://www.archaeoed.com
The ArchaeoEd Podcast is supported primarily through Patreon. Consider supporting Ed’s independence as an archaeologist through: https://www.patreon.com/archaeoEd
Maya Calendar Learning Resources
Dr. Barnhart has developed several tools to help people understand the Ancient Maya Calendar systems.
An annual wall calendar that shows both the Maya and Gregorian (Christian) dates for each day of the year. The 2025 Mayan Calendar is available for purchase at: https://www.mayan-calendar.com
Maya Calendar iPhone App by Edwin Barnhart. It can calculate your Maya birthdate, giving you information about your personality and destiny according to modern Maya wisdom. Find it on the Apple Appstore here:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/maya-calendar/id305642777
Bars and Dots is Maya calendar calculator program available at https://www.barsanddots.com . Created by Dr. Barnhart and software engineer Matt Neel, it’s the most sophisticated Maya calendar calculation tool ever created. And it’s FREE!
Mesoweb.com is a great source for in depth information about Mesoamerica
Great stories, Ed–looking forward to Parts 5-9!
In the meantime, congratulations on attracting some new sponsors.
Two suggestions: (1) Post a link to the finished map in each episode’s show notes; very helpful for following the project’s (and the tale’s) progress. (2) More photos! I’ve been wallowing in Alfred Maudsley’s atmospheric old photos of the most famous structures before they were fully cleared and restored, and it is wild to imagine your similar experience a century later, just a few hundred yards away.
Good suggestions Larry! I’ll get the map linked this week and see if I can add a few more photos to the show notes, but I only want to post ones from 1999 right now.
I wish I had visuals to go with this story, so good !
Me too! I’m teaching myself how to make videos on YouTube. Then I’ll go back and turn every one of my podcast episodes into YouTube videos. I just need to find the time to get it done…
Another great episode! I was able to find and view the site map and attempt to follow along. I’m confused about which waterfall is where. Everyone’s favorite was the one just down the hill from where the old site museum was located. On my last visit to Palenque in 2022 the waterfall pools were not swimable, and being no longer allowed to explore off-trail seemed a painful reminder of how much has changed. Next time my horse has muscle pains I will know where to purchase marijuana and mushroom medicinals…glad you have gotten some sponsors. Keep up the great work!
The falls and pool you’re talking about is the Queen’s Bath. Multiple rivers in Palenque have waterfall-fed pools, but the Queen’s Bath is the only one along the main tourist trail. Pakal’s Pool is accessed from a trail that begins at the first curve of the road leading to the ruins parking lot. It’s part of the Motiepa River, around the top-middle of my map.
The relationship between buildings and the landscape and watercourses is something I wanted to understand. (I was doing a Masters In Architecture and arranged a project through George W. Andrews and Moises) I noticed that even for the buildings immediately adjacent to the river courses, the doorways usually faced away from, not toward, the waterfalls. I’ve always wondered why there weren’t buildings near the more spectacular waterfalls at Roberto Barrios and at Agua Azul. Maybe there were buildings that have since been buried by the river changing course.
I came upon a buried vault one morning near Palenque with a small hole opening in the roof and was totally thrilled to go inside a small room, and thrilled to find springs coming out of the ground with somewhat decorated openings, so I could pretend to have an indiana jones like experience. I would imagine the thrill of putting the camera inside the tomb of temple 19 must have been very special, perhaps an episode about that day would be fun.