Río Bec

Río Bec is the name of a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, and also the name of a local architectural style ( Rio Bec style), which is typical in the area. The coordinates are for the locality Río Bec B.

History of Research

As the first group of Río Bec Río Bec A 1895 visited and described by Karl Sapper, although under the name Ixtinta. He reported the same time traveling in this region Teobert painter, who, however, had to return empty-handed, but the place according to various informants for the first time called as Rio Bec. In 1907, Count Maurice Perigny visited the area and described the same ruin in a publication, which earned him the honor of the discoverer. For his unpublished dissertation of 1913 at Harvard University, RE Merwin described this and more, especially further east Río Bec ruins. Through him, in particular the well-preserved Río Bec B was known, but that could be found despite numerous attempts in the densely forested hilly terrain until 1972 again. Other groups were now been discovered in various expeditions, particularly by Karl Ruppert and John H. Denison, where already known groups were not always recognized as such. This situation also led to the confusing names. First excavations ( in the Río Bec groups A and B) and detailed ruin recordings were made from about 2003 through the French Archaeological Mission in Mesoamerica.

Mark

Río Bec was not an enclosed village, but one with a more than 100 km ² scattered collection of relatively small groups of buildings, most of which were situated on higher ground arranged around little courtyards clearly defined. Most notable are palatial buildings that are dominated by its massive towers, which lead up stairs bill that are not accessible because of its steepness. Likewise, it is in the small buildings at the top of these towers just to note building without interior, the entrance is rather only a shallow niche. The towers are stepped, at the top of each stage, a slightly cantilevered cornice is seen. The corners of the towers are clearly rounded. For Rio Bec B, it was assumed that the towers were added later to the already finished building.

A special feature is the excellent stone. The small casing stones are always the same height in one of the most accurately maintained positions, they are working so precise that only between them remains minimal space.

Second characteristic are the key inputs to the palace, which are designed as a snake mouth, where one comes across a wide platform that represents the advanced mandible with upstanding teeth in the input shown as throat. Other inputs are accompanied laterally by some sunken fields with checkerboard pattern. Often shallow cascade of masks can be found. Typical are also to place in the interior of many towers, but also in the lower buildings, narrow stairs, which granted a difficult to observe from the outside access to the roof level or higher parts of the building. In some cases, as in group B, a perforated roof comb is still preserved.

Dating

Although in the different groups of Río Bec a number of stelae were found with inscriptions, a reading because of the bad state of preservation only in very rare cases is possible:

Access

The different groups of Río Bec located in a nature reserve. You are either with all-terrain vehicle or on foot and always accessible only with a guide. The starting point is the small town of Veinte de Noviembre (east of Xpujil south of the main road MEX 186).

18.373333333333 - 89.358888888889Koordinaten: 18 ° 22 ' 24 "N, 89 ° 21 ' 32 " W

• Archaeological sites in Mexico
• Place of Maya
• Campeche (State)
• Precolumbian Mesoamerica