Komchen is an important ancient Maya site, and one of the larger Preclassic center known so far in the Yucatan peninsula.
Komchen is located in the northwestern Yucatan peninsula, about 20 km from the coast. The site arose as a small, nucleated agricultural village in the Middle Preclassic, about 700-600 BC. No stone buildings are known for this period, and the site was probably composed of small perishable structures on top of earthen platforms.
Komchen's History
As has been documented for other early Maya site, such as Cerros in Belize, Komchen expanded during the Late Preclassic, and became a large settlement with a central core consisting of several ceremonial complexes, and a surrounding dwelling area. This transition is marked by an increase in population, and by the use of masonry architecture.
Komchen lies only five meters above the sea level, but it lies in a particularly dry area where it is difficult to obtain fresh water. Water could be reached only through artificial wells and through natural wells called cenotes.
Architecture at Komchen
Archaeological research at Komchen has been carried out since the early 1980s by Wyllys Andrews V, from Tulane University, and other archaeologists. Despite the fact that the site has been heavily borrowed by locals for reuse as construction materials, these investigations recorded a total of 1000 structures distributed over an area of about 2 square km. Within the site core there are five large platforms surrounding a central plaza, each platform supporting a building. A large ramp and a stairway connect one of the platforms to the plaza and a stone causeway runs more than 200 meters northeast of the site linking two of the main platforms.
Archaeologists believe that because it is located on the Caribbean seashore, Komchen played an important role in the Late Preclassic period as a specialized center for the production and trade of marine salt. Salt was both a precious commodity and a necessary item in ancient Mesoamerica, and the coast of Yucatan was one of the major production areas.
By the end of the Preclassic period, around 100 BC and AD 200, Komchen suffered a decline in construction and the site was slowly abandoned. During the Late Classic period, portions of Komchen were reoccupied, probably by people living in the nearby center of Dzibilchaltun, a center that inherited the role of Komchen as important trade node of the region, and whose settlement was then expanding.
Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the About.com guide to Mesoamerica , and the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Andrews, E. Wyllys, V, Ringle William M., Barnes P.J. 1984, Komchen, an Early Maya Community in Northwest Yucatán. In Investigaciones recientes en el área maya,XVII Mesa Redonda, vol. 1, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologia, Mexico City, pp: 73-92.
Ringle III, Williams M., and E. Wyllys Andrews V., 1988, Formative Residence at Komchen, Yucatan Mexico. In Household and Community in the Mesoamerican Past, edited by Richard R. Wilk and Wendy Ashmore, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, pp. 171-199
Sharer, Robert J., and Loa P. Traxler, 2006, The Ancient Maya. Sixth Edition, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.