Dzibilchaltun Museum

Dzibilchaltun was one of the large urban centers that flourished in the northern Yucatan peninsula and is among the oldest Maya cities, as confirmed by evidence of its occupation between the year 500 B.C. and 1500 A.D. The city occupies an area of 17 km2, within which there must have been over 8,000 architectural structures, although few of them have been excavated. Given its location near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, its economy was based on the production and use of marine products (salt, shell tools, seafood) as well as on those produced inland, such as maize. There are still 12 "sacbes" (Maya for "white roads"), extending from the city's center to periferal settlements. One of these roads leads to the X'lacah sinkhole, from whose bottom archaeologists have retrieved bone, stone, wood and pottery artifacts.