Xcaret

Xcaret (Mayan pronunciation: [ʃkaˈɾet]) is a Maya civilization archaeological site located on the Caribbean coastline of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico.

[2] Its name comes from its situation next to a small inlet that in the past served as a strategic location for navigation and commerce for the Maya.

According to the research by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)[1], the first buildings of the site can be dated to 200 to 600 A.D., but the majority of them are from the period from 1200 to 1550 A.D.

[citation needed] Xcaret was inhabited at the time of the first stage of the Spanish incursion of Alonso Dávila and Francisco de Montejo into the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula (1527 to 1529).

There are documents which suggest that Xcaret was one of the most active and economically significant Maya ports on the east coast.