Acanceh is an ancient Maya archaeological site located in Mexico's Yucatán state. The modern town of Acanceh, where the ruins are located, is 21 kilometers from Mérida, the capital of Yucatán. Acanceh means "groan of the deer" in the Yucatec Maya language. Acanceh was founded sometime between 200 and 300, during the Early Classic period. The ancie...

Altun Ha is the name given ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 30 miles (50 km) north of Belize City and about 6 miles (10 km) west of the shore of the Caribbean Sea. The site covers an area of about 5 miles (8 km) square. The ruins of the ancient structures had their stones reused for residential construction of the agricultu...

Bonampak is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately 30 km (20 miles) south of the larger site of Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the border with Guatemala. While the site is not overly impressive in terms of spatial or architectural size, it is well-known for a number of murals, most especial...

Calakmul (Kalakmul) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the largest and most powerful ancient cities ever uncovered in the Maya lowlands. Calakmul is a modern name, in ancient times the city core was know...

Caracol is the name given to a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. It is situated approximately 40 kilometres south of Xunantunich and the town of San Ignacio Cayo, and 15 kilometers away from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau at an elevation of 500 meters above sea-level, in the foothills of the Maya...

Comalcalco is an ancient Maya 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 Maya civilisation. Covering an area of 7 km2 (2.7 sq mi), Comalc...

Dzibilchaltún is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán, approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of state capital of Mérida. In the view of modern researchers, the ancient builders of Dzibilchaltún may have chosen the site of the city to be as close as possible to the coastal salt-producing region (about 22 km (13.7 mi) awa...

Edzná is a Maya archaeological site in the north of the Mexican state of Campeche. Today, the site is open to visitors. The most remarkable building at the site is the main temple located at the plaza. Built on a platform 40 m high, it provides a wide overview of the surroundings. Another significant building located in the plaza is a ball court. Two parallel s...

Edzná is a Maya archaeological site in the north of the Mexican state of Campeche. The most remarkable building at the plaza is the main temple. Built on a platform of 40 meters high, it provides a wide overview of the surroundings. Another significant building located in the plaza is a ball court. Two parallel structures make up the ball court. The top rooms o...

Ekʼ Balam is a Yucatec-Maya archaeological site within the municipality of Temozón, Yucatán, Mexico. It lies in the Northern Maya lowlands, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of Valladolid and 56 kilometres (35 mi) northeast of Chichen Itza. From the Preclassic until the Postclassic period, it was the seat of a Mayan kingdom. The site is noted for the preservat...

El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala. El Mirador was first discovered in 1926, and was photographed from the air in 1930, but the remote site deep in the jungle had little more attention paid to it until Ian Graham spent some time there making the first map of the area in 1962...

El Pilar is an ancient Maya city center located on the Belize-Guatemala border. The site is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of San Ignacio, Belize and can be accessed through the San Ignacio and Bullet Tree Falls on the Belize River. The name "El Pilar" is Spanish for "watering basin", reflecting the abundance of streams around the site and below its escarpment, ...

Joya de Cerén (Jewel of Cerén) is an archaeological site in El Salvador featuring a pre-Columbian Maya farming village preserved remarkably intact under layers of volcanic ash. It is often referred to as the "Pompeii of the Americas" in comparison to the famous Ancient Roman ruins. A small farming community inhabited as early as 900 BC, Cerén was ...

Kabah (also spelled Kabaah, Kabáh, Kahbah and Kaba) is a Maya archaeological site in the Puuc region of western Yucatan, south of Mérida. Kabah is south of Uxmal, connected to that site by a 18 kilometres (11 miles) long raised causeway 5 metres (16 feet) wide with monumental arches at each end. Kabah is the second largest ruin of the Puuc region after U...

Labna is a Mesoamerican archaeological site and ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Puuc Hills region of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is situated to the south of the large Maya site of Uxmal, in the southwest of the present-day state of Yucatán, Mexico. It was incorporated with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 19...