 Tulum
means fence, trench or wall, and is the name
given to the site in recent times because of the
wall surrounding it, although its ancient name
was possibly Zama, a corruption of
Zamal (morning), associated with the dawn.
This is an ideal name for the site, as sunrise
in Tulumis a superb sight. The first mention of
this city was made by Juan Diaz, who was on Juan
de Grijalva's expedition that reached the coast
of the Yucatan peninsula in 1518. He wrote, "We
followed the coast day and night; on the
following day... we sighted a city or town so
large that Seville would not have appeared
bigger or better... a very tall tower was to be
seen there..." which no doubt refers to Tulum
and the building known as the Castle, standing
on the edge of the cliff.
In Juan de
Reigosa's Las Relaciones de Yucatan,
written in 1579, Zama is mentioned as a walled
site with stone buildings which included a very
large one that looked like a fortress. Pedro
Sanchez de Aguilar, author of Informe Contra
Idolorum Cultores del Obispado de Yucatan,
(Madrid, 1639) mentions the coast of Zama when
telling the story of ten shipwrecked Spaniards
who were taken prisoner by the chieftain Kenich.
Among them was Geronimo de Aguilar, who later
became Hernan Cortes' interpreter during the
Conquest of Mexico.
After this there are no other references to
Tulum until Juan Pio Perez in a letter dated
1840 says that Juan Jose Galvez had visited
Ascencion Bay, discovering that between there
and Cape Catoche there were two ancient cities,
Tancah and Tulum, the latter surrounded by
walls.
In 1842, John
L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood visited tho
site and later made it known to the world with
the book Incidents of Travel in Yucatan,
where Stephen's text is complemented by
Catherwood's magnificent illustrations. During
the Maya uprising of the War for the Castes,
which began in 1847 and lasted until 1901, Tulum
was occupied several times by rebels because of
the protection its wall afforded. In 1871 it
became one of the sanctuaries of the "Speaking
Cross" cult, led by the Indian woman Maria Uicab,
who was known as the patron saint or queen of
Tulumn.
Several expeditions rcached Tulum later. In
1895, W.H. Holmes made two drawings of the area
from his yacht, and in 1913 Sylvanus G. Morley
and J.L. Nussbaum paid a short visit to the
site.
The Carnegie Institution of Washington organized
expeditions in 1916, 1918 and 1922 led by Morley
and including other noted researchers. In 1937,
members of the Mexican Scientific Expedition
studied various sites on the east coast of the
Yucatan peninsula, including Tulum. The
following year Miguel Angel Fernandez began the
work of restoring and in investigating the site.
Finally, the National Institute of Anthropology
and History, through the Southeast Regional
Center is continuing investigation and
maintenance of this important Maya
archaeological site.
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