Nixtun-Ch’ich

An Itza Maya archaeological site on a peninsula extending into Lake Peten Itza in Guatemala's Peten Department, covering approximately one square mile. It features the only known orthogonal urban grid in the Maya world, with streets running nearly east-west intersected by north-south avenues at near-perfect right angles. Excavations by Timothy Pugh and Prudence Rice determined the grid was established before 500 BC in the Middle Preclassic period, making it the earliest known rectangular urban grid in the Americas. The site includes an E-group ceremonial complex aligned with solar events and evidence of a cenote possibly representing the Maya underworld.