Aguada Fénix is a large Preclassic Mayan ruin located in the state of Tabasco, Mexico, near the border with Guatemala.

[6] It was initially mapped from the air using LIDAR technology deployed by the Mexican government for the entire study area of roughly 3000 km2.

After identification of the site, excavation began, resulting in insights as to when and how the Aguada Fénix structure was built and in the discovery of artifacts such as pottery and jade axes.

[2] Archeologists mapped and excavated the site as part of the Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project, whose purpose is to examine the relationship between the residents of the Maya lowlands and those of the Olmec region and to trace social change during the Pre-classic period.

The archeologists who excavated the site state that although "the ceramics do not necessarily indicate that the builders of Agauda Fénix were speakers of a Mayan language, they appear to have had closer cultural affinities with the Maya lowlands than with the Olmec area.

[1] Archeologists also hypothesise that social inequality at Aguada Fénix was less pronounced than at such Olmec sites as San Lorenzo and La Venta.

From this finding, archeologists surmise that the site was a ceremonial destination, probably involving large numbers of people coming from the surrounding areas.