This site is located in the central/southern portion of Campeche, in southern Mexico inside the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the second largest expanse of tropical forests in America, only surpassed by the Amazon jungle in South America.

Remains of dozens of other ancient settlements have been found in the area, including several major urban centers like Ramonal, Xpujil, Becán, Chicanná and Hormiguero. There are approximately 525 archaeological sites, with 6 250 structures, 108 steles, a 6 m high wall, an elaborate hydraulic system and two real tombs.

This site was contemporary of Tikal and Palenque, its peak dates from around 431 to 790 A.D. It was an important political-religious center of the Classical Period and became the capital of a regional state with sixty thousand inhabitants and an extension of approximately 13,000 km², having been, together with Tikal and Palenque, one of the great regional powers, during the classical period of the Mayan culture.

The site is characterized by well-preserved structures. Excavations at Calakmul have revealed stucco friezes and mural paintings in some of the massive temple pyramids and palaces, as well as burials of kings and other members of nobility. Here you can experience a vivid impression of what it was like in the ancient Mayan city.

Calakmul is dotted by 120 stelae amid the monumental structures and pyramids. The site covers 70 square kilometers and the temples and different structures are scattered in five large complexes organized around The Grand Plaza connected to other sections by sacbés. The Plaza is surrounded by several buildings: Structure VII, to the north, Structure VI, to the west, Structure II to the south, Structures IV and III to the east, Structure VIII at the northeast end.

It is especially noteworthy for the large number (120 to date) of stelae that have been found on the site. These commemorative stelae with relief carvings, including hieroglyphic inscriptions with important information on regional political history and territorial organization.

Calakmul also houses an important sanctuary of biodiversity of Mesoamerica, constitutes a biological corridor for the passage of species of northern Yucatan to the south and of the species of wet and subhummed climates of Chiapas and the petén to the north and Caribbean.

Its great biological diversity includes more than 80% of the plant species of the entire Yucatan Peninsula, in addition to 350 species of birds, 50 species of reptiles, 400 species of butterflies and almost 100 species of mammals.

Archaeological Site 

Reserva de la Biosfera (Biosphere Reserve)