A Megalithic Mayan Site

I have a passion for megalithic sites, and have traveled to many countries to experience them, mainly Peru, the UK, Malta, and Egypt to name a few.  That is why I was thrilled to be visiting this very unique an sublime place.

A short distance east of Merida is the ancient Mayan site of Aké.  It is rarely visited, and there were just a few other people there the day we visited.  It sits next to the grounds of a ruined Spanish hacienda with its old sisal factory.

Sisal is harvested from the very fibrous agave sisalana plant to make rope and twine, which was a very important commodity for the Spanish conquistadors.  The local Mayan population was enslaved to work in the fields and factories here.  Today, there is still a working sisal factory on the grounds.

The interesting aspect of this site is that the structures are built almost entirely from multi-ton monolithic stones.  That makes it unique among all of the Mayan ruins.  You do find individual monoliths in the form of pillars and stelae throughout the Mayan world, but structures built mainly from monoliths are only at Aké.

The individual stones here were carved into a pillow-like shape before being used to create the structures.  Here are the stairs leading up to the top of the main temple.

It is easier to see how the stones are shaped and stacked from the side.

Notice how huge these stones are at the bottom of the stairs!  

Aké is dated from 250 to 900 AD, but I feel that the megalithic construction is possibly much older.  The mystery of how various cultures around the world could have carved and moved multi-ton monoliths always comes up.  We do not know how it was done here. Of course, I used my pendulum to check the energy at the bottom of the stairs. It felt great!  I could have easily spent the whole afternoon there.