Chacchoben Mayan Pyramids: The History of an Ancient Maya City Hidden in Mexico’s Jungle
Hidden in the low jungles of southern Quintana Roo, not far from the modern border with Belize, the Mayan site of Chacchoben offers a quieter, more intimate encounter with the ancient world. Long before cruise ships docked at Costa Maya or highways cut through the Yucatán Peninsula, this was a thriving Maya city. Chacchoben—likely meaning “place of red corn”—began as a small settlement around 200 BCE and grew into an important regional center during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods, when Maya civilization was laying the foundations of its power, religion, and monumental architecture. The Mayans were ancient masters of science, mathematics, and astronomy. A U.S. archaeologist, Peter Harrison, is credited with finding Chacchoben. According to a guide I took to tour the site, Dr. Harrison found 110 ancient cities (depicted aerially by mounds) in 1972, but only five of these ancient cities remain to tell us about Mayan history.
When you arrive to the place of red maize, you are first greeted with what I’ve come to recognize as a hallmark of these great ancient sites—a parking lot filled with tour buses and a gift shop. Just joking. But the gift shop and parking lot are true. Leaving modernity behind, you walk through a tropical forest to find archaeological ruins punctuating the forests. The first pyramid you encounter at Chacchoben is Temple 24 with its broad staircases still standing tall and strong beneath the tropical sun. These structures were not tombs but platforms for ritual, ceremony, and authority. From their summits, elites and priests would have overseen public gatherings, religious observances, and calendrical events that tied the city to the rhythms of the cosmos. Chacchoben served as a ceremonial center, astronomical observatory to track, the sun, moon, and stars, and a political hub. The site’s largest structure, known today as Temple I, anchors the ceremonial core and reminds visitors that Maya cities were sacred landscapes as much as they were political ones. Other structures include the smaller pyramid, the Temple of the Vessels.
After centuries of use, Chacchoben was gradually abandoned, its temples reclaimed by vines and ceiba trees until its rediscovery in the 20th century. Excavations beginning in the 1990s revealed not only pyramids but evidence of daily life—ceramics, altars, and burials—bringing the city’s human story back into focus. Walking among Chacchoben’s pyramids today, you are reminded that long before modern Mexico, this jungle was home to one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the Americas.
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Amy French, Ph.D., is the voice behind Roaming Historian. A professional historian and seasoned traveler, she shares stories that blend history and travel to give readers a deeper understanding of the places they explore.
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