Comalcalco (archaeological site)
Comalcalco Temple I
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| Location | Comalcalco, Tabasco,  Mexico
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| Region | Tabasco |
| Coordinates | 18°16′46″N 93°12′04″W / 18.27944°N 93.20111°W |
| History | |
| Founded | ca. 550 CE |
| Abandoned | ca. 1000 CE |
| Periods | Late Classic |
| Cultures | Maya |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 1892, 1950s, 1960, 1994 |
| Archaeologists |
Désiré Charnay, Frans Blom, Oliver LaFarge, George F. Andrews, Ponciano Salazar Ortegón, Gordon Ekholm, Román Piña Chan, Ricardo Armijo University of Tulane, American Museum of Natural History, INAH |
| Architecture | |
| Architectural styles | Late Classic Maya |
| Architectural details | Number of temples: 9 |
| Responsible body: INAH | |
Désiré Charnay, Frans Blom, Oliver LaFarge, George F. Andrews, Ponciano Salazar Ortegón, Gordon Ekholm, Román Piña Chan, Ricardo Armijo
Comalcalco is an ancient Mayan archaeological site in the State of Tabasco, Mexico, adjacent to the modern city of Comalcalco and near the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. It is the only major Maya city built with bricks rather than limestone masonry and was the westernmost city of the Mayan civilisation. Covering an area of 7 square kilometres (2.7 sq mi), Comalcalco was founded in the Late Classic period and may have been a satellite or colony of Palenque based on architectural similarities between the two. The city was a center of the Chontal Maya people.
The name is linked to the adjacent modern city of Comalcalco and derives from the Nahuatl words comalli (comales) calli (house) and the locative co, literally meaning "At the House of the Comales" or "Place of the House of the Comales". This name is a reference to the bricks of the ruined Maya site, which later people thought resembled comales. The ancient place name associated with Comalcalco is Joy Chan pronounced [hoj tʃan], (also spelled Hoi Chan), which means "round sky" or "clouded sky".
Located in the Chontalpa region on an extensive alluvial plain once covered by low evergreen rainforest interspersed with mangrove swamps, Comalcalco lies2 km (1.2 mi) west of the modern city of Comalcalco on a small rise surrounded by lowlands. It is 51 km (32 mi) from the city of Villahermosa, and approximately 100 mi (160 km) north of Palenque. Before modern times the important Mezcalapa River flowed 900 m (3,000 ft) east of the main buildings in the site.
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