Naachtun: A Lost City of the Maya

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• 1. An abandoned city
• 2. Wartime affiliations
• 3. History of investigations
• 4. Gathering the evidence
• 5. The Kingdom of Masuul
• 6. Traces of ritual
• 7. Changing allegiances
• 8. Defensive fortifications
• 9. Find out more
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An abandoned city

The Maya of the Classic period, which begins at approximately AD 250, lived in an area that now includes Guatemala, Chiapas and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, western Honduras, Belize, and El Salvador. The Classic period Maya were organised into numerous small city-states, each with their own king. Within the large cities that served as the capitals of these kingdoms, the Mayan people erected grand public buildings, including palaces and temples, large plazas, and reservoirs to collect water. They also recorded history in hieroglyphic writing, which was carved onto stone monuments called 'stelae', and documented events in the lives of their kings. However, the Classic period was also plagued by continuing warfare between the various kingdoms and their allies. Ultimately the endemic warfare was an important factor in the downfall of the Classic period Maya, that resulted in the abandonment of most cities and their surrounding territories by AD 900.

'...control of the city must have been seen as a necessary prologue to any attempt by Tikal or Calakmul to attack the other.'

The ancient city of Naachtun is situated in the heart of the Maya region, just one kilometre south of the Mexican border, in far northern Guatemala. It was rediscovered by western archaeologists in 1922, and remains one of the most remote sites in the Maya area. In fact, it has been the subject of only a few fleeting visits over the past 80 years.

Despite its present-day isolation, however, Naachtun was very much in the thick of things during the Classic period (AD 250-900). The site lies about 44km (27 miles) south-south-east of Calakmul, and 65km (40 miles) north of Tikal - these being the two 'superpowers' of the Classic Maya world. Lying directly between two such powerful entities, Naachtun held not only a strategic position, but also a vulnerable one during the frequent wars of the time, and control of the city must have been seen as a necessary prologue to any attempt by Tikal or Calakmul to attack the other.

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