Ek' Balam

Ek' Balam was a Yucatec Maya city in the northern lowlands, northeast of Chichen Itza, whose kings ruled from around the start of the Common Era until its slow abandonment in the Postclassic. Its golden age ran from 770 to 840 under Ukit Kan Lek Tok', who reigned from 770 to about 800 and was buried in the great Acropolis.

His tomb temple, El Trono, opens through a jaguar-maw doorway and preserves fine Maya plaster sculpture. Two concentric walls ringed the city, while a rough inner wall across the Great Plaza suggests a desperate last defence before the population collapsed and the site was emptied.

A late sixteenth-century Spanish Relacion Geografica recorded local memory of the kingdom of Talol. It was said to have been founded by a chief named Ek' Balam from the east, before the Cupul family dominated the district.