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Sayil was a pre-Columbian Maya city of the Terminal Classic period. It is located in the Mexican state of Yucatán, in the southwest of the state, south of Uxmal. Sayil, Kabah and Labna were incorporated together with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Sayil flourished principally, albeit briefly, in the Terminal Classic period. The city reached its greatest extent c. 900 and had a population of 10,000 with an additional 5,000–7,000 living in the surrounding area. A number of badly damaged monuments suggest that Sayil was governed by a local royal dynasty,Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.545. with wealth among lineages based, at least in part, upon control of the best agricultural lands.Carmean et al. 2005, p.435 The ruins of Sayil include a prominent example of monumental Puuc style architecture, the partially ruined Grand Palace of Sayil.
Sayil is located south of the contemporary Puuc archaeological site of Kabah, from in Xlapak and from Labna.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.546; Toscano Hernández & Huchim Herrera 2004, p.84. Carmean & Sabloff 1996, p.322. It was built in a shallow valley among low, steep hills.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.546.
The Puuc region that includes the site of Sayil possesses well defined wet and dry seasons and is characterised by a near absence of surface water due to the porous limestone bedrock.Smyth & Dore 1992, pp.4, 6.
At the height of the city's occupation, the population reached the limits of the agricultural carrying capacity of the land, with crops grown in gardens and fields among the residential complexes and irrigated from artificial cisterns built to store water from the seasonal rains, and more distant fields in neighbouring valleys, probably were cultivated.Carmean et al 2005, p.435 Additional agricultural produce probably was supplied from nearby satellite sites.
Sayil began to decline c. 950 and the city was abandoned by c, AD 1000, a pattern of rapid growth and decline that probably was typical of the Puuc region.
Archaeologists have surveyed 2.4 km2 of the site, revealing an average structural density of 220 structures/km².Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.686. Population estimates have been produced based on a count of structures, giving a result of 8,000–10,000 spread over an area of approximately 3.5 km2.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.688. Population estimates based on a count of subterranean storage chambers known as produce a figure of 5,000–10,000. Both estimates refer to the maximum population in the Terminal Classic.
Political, economic, social, and religious leadership at Sayil appears to have been distinct and relatively decentralised.Carmean & Sabloff 1996, p.320. Economic rank has been analysed based on architectural scale, while political leadership was determined on the basis of the distribution of so-called altars, tall cylindrical stone features with elite associations. The distribution of religious leadership was determined by the distribution of ceramic incense vessels and social leadership by the presence of rare ceramics obtained via intercommunity social alliances.
Smaller sites around Sayil, such as Sodzil, Xcavil de Yaxche, and Xkanabi, may have been tributary communities.
Various C-shaped structures around the Mirador Complex and the structure of the terrace of the Great Palace are evidence of continued occupation after the abandonment of the monumental structures of the site core and there was a brief period of continued occupation in the residential parts of Sayil. The primary phase of occupation at the site appears to have been 800 to 950 AD (Late to Terminal Classic) with some kind of reoccupation after the abandonment of the city.
The site features abundant and widely distributed surface artifacts and to study the organization of the community, from 1990 to 1992, Michael P. Smyth and Christopher D. Dore conducted a systemic large-scale surface collection of artifacts at a 25-meter interval across the entire site area.Smyth & Dore 1992, pp.5-7. Nearly 30,000 ceramic fragments were recovered (representing 99% of all artifacts recovered) and 155 lithic artifacts, of which 90% were chert with the remainder being basalt, obsidian, and limestone.Smyth & Dore 1992, p.8. The obsidian artifacts recovered from Sayil derive largely from the El Chayal source in what now is southwest Guatemala, a distant site in Mesoamerica situated in the volcanic highlands on the Pacific coast that conducted extensive trade of the material throughout Central America.Lambert, Joseph P., Traces of the Past, pages 13-14
The Great Palace has an 85-meter-long facade and is built upon a two-terraced platform, giving the impression of three stories. Various rooms are arranged around the four sides of each terrace. The uppermost terrace supports a long structure with a single range of rooms. The palace was built in various phases through an unknown period of time in the Terminal Classic; wings were added and platforms were designed, which were filled with stones and mortar to increase stability. The palace has a central stairway on the south side, giving access to the upper levels of the building.
The first and second levels of the Great Palace contain substructures that were demolished to build the surviving building. The first level overlies a substructure that dates to the Late Classic.
The causeway runs south from the Great Palace to a complex located to the south, which consists of a group of structures with multiple rooms. The building known as El Mirador is located in this complex. It is a badly damaged temple pyramid with a prominent crest, it faces southward.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.546. Toscano Hernández & Huchim Herrera 2004, p.85. It consists of a half-collapsed two room building on top of a substructure. There is a phallic sculpture of unknown date near the Mirador Complex.
From the Mirador Complex another causeway runs south-east, then turns south to continue to a major group containing a ballcourt and several palaces, some south of the main palace. Close to the half-way point of this section of causeway there is a small platform upon which were found the remains of eight stelae and seven plain altars. This stela platform represents a type of structure common among major sites of the eastern Puuc region.Carmean et al 2005, p.429.
The remains of various other structures lie to both sides of the causeway system, with the majority located to the west. Structure 3B1 (Temple of the Hieroglyphic Doorway) is notable for an interior doorway decorated by a band of hieroglyphs. Structure 4B1 has a central doorway with two carved columns supporting carved capitals and three sculptured lintels. Puuc-style columns are a recurring motif at the site.
Another palace group stands on a hilltop to the north of the causeway system, overlooking the site core.
Domestic architecture at the site consisted of over 300 perishable structures built upon underlying masonry foundations, some of which have been excavated.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.547. Carmean & Sabloff 1996, p.319.
The site is managed by Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), and is open to visitors.
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