Yaxhá

The third-largest Maya city in Guatemala, located on the north shore of Lake Yaxha in the Peten Basin. The name means "blue-green water" in Mayan. Occupied from around 500 BC, the site expanded over the following millennium, peaking with a population exceeding 40,000. It contains over 500 structures including temple pyramids, approximately 40 stelae, two ballcourts, and a network of sacbeob causeways. Unusually, Yaxha welcomed refugees during the Classic Maya collapse around 900 AD rather than declining rapidly like its neighbors. First rediscovered by explorer Teobert Maler in 1904.