DZIBANCHÉ ARQUEOLÓGICA ZONE

Systematic excavations of the site did not begin until the 1980s, under the leadership of the Spanish archaeologist Enrique Nalda. Although the excavations are far from complete, it is known that the construction of the site began in the 3rd century BC with the building of platforms topped by constructions of perishable materials. It was during the Classic period, from the beginning of the 3rd century to the beginning of the 7th century AD, that Dzibanché underwent its transformation into a great city, with the development of architectural projects of impressive magnitude, some of whose characteristics are reminiscent of the style of the Petén: the Acropolis of the site of Kinichná, the Templo del Búho , and the first stage of the Templo de los Cormoranes (located in the Plaza Xibalbá).

In the Early Classic period, between 600 and 800 AD, there was an unprecedented expansion of the city, which manifested itself in the construction of a large number of public buildings, temples and residences grouped into neighbourhoods that corresponded to economic and productive units. Here appears a new architectural style of its own: facades decorated with inlaid columns (reminiscent of the Río Bec style), vaults covering narrow galleries and the use of the talud-tablero (oblique wall surmounted by a vertical panel framed by a projecting cornice, typical of the architecture of Teotihuacán in the centre of the country). Beautiful stelae decorated with hieroglyphics found on the Templo de Los Cautivos evoke the military conquests of the reigning dynasties, while the tombs contain majestic offerings (including earrings and a shell encrusted with jade chips, considered to be one of the finest pieces of classical Maya art found to date). The surrounding landscape also changed, the result of developments and modifications intended for the agricultural tasks essential to feed the population.

It is at the turn of the first millennium that we finally imagine a rupture and a socio-political disintegration of the area, which marks the end of the time of expansion and the progressive abandonment of the site. From 1200 onwards, a part of the population, once again scattered and rural, reintegrated the site, settling in its squares, dismantling some of the ancient buildings to build their own residences. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the descendants of the city of Dzibanche only went to the ruined temples to make offerings to their gods.