| With me is David Graff, a German journalist and guide at Palenque Tours in Colombia, who is acting as my translator. |
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| Palenque and Yaxchilan were the most powerful cities in the Usumacinta region. |
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| Mosaic funerary masks could also be fashioned from jade, such as that of K'inich Janaab' Pakal, king of Palenque. |
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| Stone sculpture also took other forms, such as the limestone relief panels at Palenque and Piedras Negras. |
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| Large palaces, such as at Palenque, could be fitted with a water supply, and sweat baths were often found within the complex, or nearby. |
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| Cities took advantage of the hillsides to support their major architecture, as at Palenque and Yaxchilan. |
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| The Mayan city developed between 800 and 1100 AD, contemporary with Palenque and Yaxchilan. |
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| What is staggering is that there are an estimated 1,500 buildings in the Palenque area of Mexico which remain covered by dense jungle. |
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| My site is Palenque, Mexico, and the great majority of the artefacts of that 'city of inscriptions' are simply no longer there. |
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| Many sites erected stelae, but Palenque instead developed finely sculpted panelling to decorate its buildings. |
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| For a quick lunch, Juan Pablo Gutierrez of the Mission Cultural Center dashes across the street to tiny El Palenque for the daily caldo. |
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| I caught a bus to Palenque, in the south, to see its famous Mayan ruins. |
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| It is also interesting because it is from an early time in Maya history, before the glory days of the more spectacular cities of Palenque, Dos Pilas, Copan and Tikal. |
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