Altun Ha Mayan Ruins

Located 34 miles north of Belize City, Altun Ha is the easiest Mayan ruin to get to. Many day tours visit this site due to its proximity and easy access. Occupied for over 1200 years until the Classic Maya collapse around 900 AD, Altun Ha’s population peaked at about 10,000; about triple current populations within a 20 mile radius of the site today. Trade was likely an important aspect of the daily life here, as this site is one of the most accessible to the sea. The core of the site consists of two plazas and 13 structures, although over 500 buildings have been found associated with Altun Ha. The core structures have been extensively restored, and a magnificent tomb was discovered beneath one of these structures. Dating from approximately 550 AD, the Temple of the Green Tomb is a burial chamber containing jade pendants, beads, and earrings, stingray spines, obsidian rings, and jaguar hides. The most exciting find so far has been the remains of a Mayan codex. The Temple of the Masonry Altars is the largest structure at Altun Ha 52feet high. This temple is especially famous because it is featured on the Belikin Beer label (Belize’s own beer). This structure had been covered over with an even larger building, and expanded a least 8 times since it’s initial creation in 500 A.D. Seven layers were found, with the most impressive being the earliest tomb within the center of the ruin. Within the crypt a jade head which represents “Kinich Ahau” the Mayan sun god was found along with the remains of the body entombed there. This priceless jade object weighs about 10 pounds and is 6 inches in height. A replica can be seen in the Museum of Belize in Belize City. It is the largest jade object ever found in the Maya world. Visitors can easily walk along a short trail from the ruin south to Rockstone Pond, the village that gives the ruin it’s name. In Maya times the drainage was dammed to form a reservoir, and nearby stands the oldest structure at Altun Ha, a repository for a cache of antiquities imported from the city of Teotihuacan near Mexico City. These artifacts are evidence of the extremely early contact between the Belize Maya and Teotihuacan.