Ek' Balam (20.9 degrees N, 88.1 degrees W) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in municipality of Temozón in Yucatán, Mexico, which is in the Mideast of the Northern lowlands. The people who lived in and built this city belonged to those of the Maya civilization. The site is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Valladolid, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) away from a small Maya village by the same name. It is 51 kilometres (32 mi) northeast of Chichen Itza, another Maya site that flourished in the Late Classic. In Yucatec Mayan the name means "Dark (Black) Jaguar". In its time, it was a large city, controlling a populous and prosperous countryside. Its impressive architecture dates, for the most part, to the Late Classic..

Ek’ Balam (also called Talol) was occupied from the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic, although it ceased to thrive as a major city past the Late Classic. Beginning in the Late Preclassic, the population grew and the city expanded throughout the following periods. It eventually became the capital of the polity that constituted the region around the beginning of the Common Era. Ek’ Balam, at its height from 770 to 840 CE, provides a rich resource of information for understanding northern Classic cities, due to the poor preservation of many other notable northern Maya sites (e.g. Coba, Izamal, and Edzna). It was during this height that the Late Yumcab ceramic complex (750-1050/1100 CE) dominated the architecture and pottery of Ek’ Balam . The population decreased dramatically, down to 10% of its highest, during the Postclassic period as Ek’ Balam was slowly becoming vacant. There are several theories to why it was eventually abandoned and to the degree of haste at which it was abandoned (see: Defensive Walls).