Archaeological Sites in Belize
Actun Tunichil Muknal
Actun Tunichil Muknal ("Cave of the Crystal Sepulchre") is a Maya ceremonial cave near San Ignacio, Belize, discovered in 1989. Over 1,400 artifacts have been cataloged inside, including ceramics,…
Altun Ha
Altun Ha is the ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located about 50 km north of Belize City and 10 km west of the Caribbean Sea[1]. The site covers approximately 8 sq km[1]. Its tallest…
Baking Pot
Baking Pot is a Maya archaeological site in the Belize River Valley, 6 km downstream from Barton Ramie and Lower Dover, northeast of modern San Ignacio in Cayo District [1]. Excavations revealed…
Barton Creek Cave
Barton Creek Cave is a natural cave in Belize, serving as both an archaeological site and tourist destination[1]. Located in the upper Barton Creek area near San Ignacio in the Cayo District, the…
Cahal Pech
Cahal Pech is a Maya palace complex perched on a hill near San Ignacio in Belize's Cayo District [1]. Though most major construction occurred during the Classic period (250-900 AD), excavations have…
Caracol Natural Monument Reservation
Caracol is the largest Maya archaeological site in Belize, first occupied around 1200 BC with its epicentre settled by 650 BC. At its peak around AD 650, the city covered an area larger than modern…
Cerros
Cerros is a Maya archaeological site on a peninsula at the mouth of the New River in Corozal Bay, northern Belize, occupied from about 400 BC to 400 AD. At its peak it held roughly 2,000 inhabitants…
Chaa Creek
Chaa Creek is a tributary of the Macal River in the Cayo District of western Belize, with Maya ruins that remain largely unexcavated in its catchment basin. In 1997, a survey led by Anabel Ford of…
Colha
Colha is a Maya archaeological site in northern Belize, about 52 km north of Belize City near Orange Walk[1]. One of the earliest Maya settlements, it was occupied from the Early Preceramic period…
Cuello
Cuello is a Maya archaeological site in northern Belize, representing a farming village with a long occupational history dating to around 1200 BC [1]. Its inhabitants lived in pole-and-thatch houses…
El Pilar
El Pilar is an ancient Maya city center on the Belize-Guatemala border, 12 km north of San Ignacio [1]. Its name, Spanish for "watering basin," reflects abundant streams around the site and below its…
KaʼKabish
500 BC - 900 AD. KaʼKabish is a Maya temple complex in Belize's Orange Walk District, near Lamanai, El Pozito, and Blue Creek. Excavations have identified 90 structures in 8 groups, including two…
Kʼaxob
Kʼaxob is a Maya archaeological site in Belize occupied from about 800 BC to AD 900 [1]. Located in the wetlands of Pulltrouser Swamp near the Sibun River Valley, it was inhabited from the Late…
Lamanai Archaeological Reserve
Lamanai is a Maya temple complex in Belize with one of the longest continuous occupations in the Maya world, spanning roughly 3,000 years from the Early Preclassic period (c. 3000 BC) through the…
La Milpa
(500 BC - 850 AD) La Milpa is an ancient Maya city in the Three River region of northwest Belize, near the Mexico-Guatemala border [1]. Located between Rio Azul and Lamanai, it is one of Belize's…
Louisville
A Maya archaeological site in the Corozal District of northern Belize, occupied from approximately 400 BC to 950 AD. The site contains substantial artificial mounds representing the remains of an…
Lubaantun Archaeological Reserve
Lubaantun, meaning 'Place of Fallen Stones,' is a Late Classic Maya city in Belize's Toledo District, occupied from about 730 to 890 AD before being abandoned. Its architecture is distinctive:…
Marco Gonzalez Archaeological Reserve
Marco Gonzalez is a Maya archaeological site on Ambergris Caye, Belize. The site contains at least 49 structures, including low platforms and walls arranged around plazas at the northern end. Unlike…
Minanha
Minanha is a Maya archaeological site on the North Vaca Plateau of west-central Belize, at the nexus of the Belize River Valley, Mountain Pine Ridge, and Guatemala's Peten District. Discovered in…
Nim Li Punit
Nim Li Punit (Kekchi Maya for "Big Hat") is a Maya Classic Period site in Belize's Toledo District, located 50 km north of Punta Gorda near Indian Creek village [1][2]. The name references a…
Nohmul
Nohmul is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in northern Belize, on the eastern Yucatán Peninsula. The name translates as 'great mound' in Yucatec Maya [1]. It represents the most important…
Pacbitun
Pacbitun is a Maya archaeological site in the Cayo District of west central Belize, near San Ignacio.[1] The site name means "stone set in earth" in modern Maya, probably referring to fragmented…
Pusilha
Pusilha is a Late Classic Maya archaeological site in Belize [1]. Located along major east-west trade routes, it served as a key transfer point for regional economic activity [1]. The site contains…
San Estevan
The San Estevan archaeological site is located in northern Belize, 1 km from the modern community of San Estevan on the New River, positioned halfway between the Maya centers of Cerros and Lamanai…
Santa Rita
Santa Rita is a Maya archaeological site on the outskirts of Corozal Town, Belize, believed to be the ancient city of Chetumal. Occupation dates from the Preclassic Period (1200-900 BCE), with…
Santa Rita
(2000 BC - 6th c. AD) Santa Rita is a Maya ruin and an archaeological reserve on the outskirts of Corozal, Belize. Historical evidence suggests that it was probably the ancient and important Maya…
Tipu
Tipu is a Maya archaeological site along the Macal River in western Belize near the Guatemala border, occupied from 300 BC to AD 1707. It served as a major Maya political center and trading post,…
Uxbenka
Uxbenka, meaning "Ancient One," is an Early Classic Maya ceremonial center in Toledo District, Belize, and the earliest-known Maya polity in the southern Belizean lowlands with occupation dating to…
Xnaheb
Xnaheb (also spelled Xna Heb) is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, situated in the Toledo District of Belize[1]. The settlement dates to approximately 500-1000 AD and…
Xunantunich
Xunantunich ('Stone Woman' in Yucatec Maya) is a Classic Maya ceremonial center in western Belize that rose to prominence between 700-1000 AD. Its centerpiece, El Castillo, stands 40 meters tall --…
Xunantunich Mayan Ruins
Xunantunich is an ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, situated atop a ridge above the Mopan River in the Cayo District, approximately 70 miles west of Belize City and less than 1 km…