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The city in the trees: Palenque

By Brian Rogers | 3 Comments » January 14th, 2008

After centuries of abandonment, the “Land of Strong Houses” was re-discovered under a thick tropical forest in the late 1500’s by a Spanish priest in what is today the state of Chiapas. Years later the ancient city was excavated by archaeologists to reveal towering pyramids, aqueducts, and bas-relief carvings—all constructed without metal tools or the invention of the wheel. Explore the ancient Mayan ruins of Palenque in today’s photo gallery…

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3 Responses to “The city in the trees: Palenque”

  1. Smellizzari Says:
    January 16th, 2008 at 7:45 am

    Ancient ruins are fascinating. I remember when I saw Machu Picchu for the first time, chills ran through my body. It was as though we could feel the presence of the Incas watching over their sacred land.

    You said that 95% of the ruins are still buried in the forest – are there plans to excavate these as well?

  2. Brian Says:
    January 16th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    There seems to be no hurry to excavate more of the ruins at Palenque. The government makes a good deal of money from tourism to the site and has no real incentive to dig up more. Not until some renewed academic interest, I imagine, will there be any more digging.

  3. Donna Says:
    January 19th, 2008 at 9:34 am

    This is my favorite spot so far. I also LOVE the sunsets… so keep those pics coming.

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Thushan Amarasiriwardena

, former Senior Multimedia Producer at The Boston Globe, has always loved telling a great story. Combining his eye for visual story telling and his technical background in computer science at North Carolina State University, Thushan has reported on business, sports and travel for The Globe. You can find his site here.

Michael Kurtz

, graduated with a degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His thesis research focused on the intersection of race and music in Northeastern Brazil. He worked previously as A&R and Production Coordinator for Putumayo World Music, an international music record label based in New York City. You can find his site here.

Brian Rogers

graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies, and has traveled extensively in Latin America.

Alicia Conway

is LongJaunt's home base chief and a Technical Producer for The Boston Globe. She joined and contributed with the team out in England, Kenya, Tanzania, The Netherlands and Thailand.