Mayapan is a Pre-Columbian Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west of Chichen Itza; in the state of Yucatán, Mexico. Mayapan was the political and cultural capital of the Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula during the Late Post-Classic period from the 1220s until the 1440s. Estimates of the total city population are 15,000–17,000 people, and the site has more than 4,000 structures within the city walls, and additional dwellings outside.
Uxmal is an ancient Maya city of the classical period located in present-day Mexico. It is considered one of the most important archaeological sites of Maya culture, along with Palenque, Chichen Itza and Calakmul in Mexico, Caracol and Xunantunich in Belize, and Tikal in Guatemala. It is located in the Puuc region of the eastern Yucatán Peninsula, and is considered one of the Maya cities most representative of the region's dominant architectural style. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its significance.
Coba is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and sculpted stelae that document ceremonial life and important events of the Late Classic Period of Mesoamerican civilization. The adjacent modern village bearing the same name, reported a population of 1,278 inhabitants in the 2010 Mexican federal census.
Tulum is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on 12-meter-tall (39 ft) cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya; it was at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries and managed to survive about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico. By the end of the 16th century, the site was abandoned. One of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites, Tulum is today a popular site for tourists.
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 1996.
Puuc is the name of either a region in the Mexican state of Yucatán or a Maya architectural style prevalent in that region. The word puuc is derived from the Maya term for "hill". Since the Yucatán is relatively flat, this term was extended to encompass the large karstic range of hills in the southern portion of the state, hence, the terms Puuc region or Puuc hills. The Puuc hills extend into northern Campeche and western Quintana Roo.
Kabah is a Maya archaeological site in the Puuc region of western Yucatan, south of Mérida.
Sayil is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán, in the southwest of the state, south of Uxmal. It was incorporated together with Uxmal as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
La Pirámide, known as the Temple of Kukulcán, is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán. The pyramid building is more formally designated by archaeologists as Chichen Itza Structure 5B18.
Mesoamerican architecture is the set of architectural traditions produced by pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica, traditions which are best known in the form of public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures. The distinctive features of Mesoamerican architecture encompass a number of different regional and historical styles, which however are significantly interrelated. These styles developed throughout the different phases of Mesoamerican history as a result of the intensive cultural exchange between the different cultures of the Mesoamerican culture area through thousands of years. Mesoamerican architecture is mostly noted for its pyramids, which are the largest such structures outside of Ancient Egypt.
The Pyramid of the Magician is a Mesoamerican step pyramid located in the ancient Mayan city of Uxmal, Mexico. It is the tallest and most recognizable structure in Uxmal.
The Sacred Cenote is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula. It is located to the north of Chichen Itza's civic precinct, to which it is connected by a 300-metre (980 ft) sacbe, a raised pathway.
Chicanná was a Maya town that was built during the Classic period. The site was named after its most famous building, Structure II, which means "House of the Serpent Mouth" in Mayan. In the Mayan language chi means "mouth", can means "serpent" and na means "house". The site is located two kilometers west of Becán in the Mexican state of Campeche on the Yucatán peninsula. It is one of 45 other ruin sites located within that area.
Chichen Itza was a large pre-Columbian city built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The archeological site is located in Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán State, Mexico.
The Akab Dzib is a pre-Columbian structure at the Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, located in the central-northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula of present-day Mexico.
Xlapak is a small Maya archaeological site in the Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico. It is located in the heart of the Puuc region, about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the archaeological site of Labná and a similar distance from Sayil, lying directly between the two sites. It consists of three main groups in a valley of the Puuc Hills in Yucatán State, a region of karst limestone forming the only major topographical feature of the peninsula. The closest town is Oxkutzcab, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the northeast.
Ik Kil is a cenote outside Pisté in the Tinúm Municipality, Yucatán, Mexico. It is located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula and is part of the Ik Kil Archeological Park near Chichen Itza. It is open to the public for swimming.
Balankanche is an ancient Maya cave site lying at short distance from the archaeological Maya-Toltec city of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. For more than two thousand years, it has been the focus of rituals dedicated to the Maya rain god, Chaac, and, in the Post-Classic period, also to his Toltec counterpart, Tlaloc. The cave complex was visited by Edward Thompson and Alfred Tozzer in 1905 and has since 1932 been explored and studied by various Mexican and US scholars. Small buildings and platforms surrounded the cave's entrance; inside, stairs, walls, altars and ritual displays of ceramics and small stone implements were discovered. The site has been made accessible for tourists.
Hacienda Chichén is located within the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza, in the county of Tinum, Yucatan, Mexico. It was one of the first haciendas established in Yucatán and was in ruins by 1847. Edward Herbert Thompson, U.S. consul in Yucatán, purchased Hacienda Chichén, including the archaeological site visited today in 1894. He excavated, explored and exported goods from the site to the Peabody Museum for over 3 decades. In 1926, he was charged with trafficking of antiquities but the charges were later dropped and his heirs sold the site. The purchaser, Fernando Barbachano Peon is credited with beginning the tourism industry of Yucatán and being the first hotelier to change a hacienda into a hotel.
E. Wyllys Andrews IV (1916-1971) was a noted researcher of Maya civilization. During his career with Tulane University's Middle American Research Institute, Andrews focused on Mayan ruins, rediscovering several sites and leading investigation into Balankanche, Kulubá, Coba, and more.
