Naachtun

Situated in one of the areas most remote from contemporary settlements, the site was first rediscovered and documented in 1922 by the American archaeologist and Mayanist scholar, Sylvanus Morley.

Also during the beginning of the Late Classic period, a political shift occurred as Calakmul established their rule on the East Plaza of Group B.

The central area of Naachtun includes a “concentration of monumental buildings placed atop a limestone ridge bordering a seasonal swamp, or bajo, to the north and a series of residential compounds of different sizes and compositions to the south.”[2] The architecture of the monumental core covers approximately .29 km2 of land that is stretched on an east-west axis.

[1] Group A includes three large plazas: the north, south and west plazas, a large E-Group, Structure XXVII (a pyramid), “La Perdida” (another pyramid), and “a walled compound housing several palatial structures.”[3] There is also a ballcourt located next to Structures XIII and XIV.

One specific stelae-Stela 18- “presents a gigantic women crushing a confined Ox-Te-Tun captive beneath her.”[4] Stelae 18 is located on the terrace in front of Structure XXXVIII in Group B, on the east side of the main plaza.