Palenque

Palenque, anciently known in the Itzaʼ language as Lakamha, meaning big water, was a Maya city-state in southern Mexico that perished in the 8th century. Its ruins date from about 226 BC to about 799 AD and lie near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, beside the modern town of Palenque. It was a medium-sized site, smaller than Tikal, Chichen Itza or Copán, but it holds some of the finest architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings that the Maya produced. Much of its history has been reconstructed from the hieroglyphic inscriptions on its monuments, which give historians a long sequence of its ruling dynasty and extensive knowledge of its rivalry with other states such as Calakmul and Toniná. Its most famous ruler was Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal, or Pacal the Great, whose tomb was excavated in the Temple of the Inscriptions.