East Coast of Quintana Roo

The Maya sites of the East Coast share common architectural elements and characteristics that encompass the East Coast style of Maya architecture. One feature implemented in the region is the flat roofs inside temples and buildings, unlike the traditional arched vaults used in Maya buildings in other regions during earlier times.^[4]

One of the most distinctive and representative constructions of the region are the unique adoratories or shrines dedicated to different deities, mostly to the goddess Ixchel who represented the moon and fertility. the Maya shrines are small square buildings with a single entrance, found on the shores of the sea or bodies of water near the site to which they belong, this structures have also been found inside temples or inside cenotes.^[5]

Evidence of human presence on the coast of Quintana Roo dates back to before the start of the Preclassic period of Mesoamerica. The earliest settlements on the East Coast date back to the middle-late Preclassic period in places like Yox Xixim and Kocholnah, this development continued during the Classic period although, during that time this were only small fishing communities settled facing the sea and dependent on larger sites in the interior of the Yucatán Peninsula such as Coba. After the Classic Maya collapse, with the establishment of Mayapan as a hegemonic power at the beginning of the Postclassic period and under the control of Chichén Itzá, the East Coast had a major development due to its maritime trade network. For navigation, the ancient Maya used dugout canoes; this type of transport is documented in the murals and the Dresden Codex of Chichén Itzá and several later colonial Spanish documents. Between 1517 and 1518, the first Spanish expeditions arrived on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, beginning a period of decline in the cities of the East Coast. The sites slowly decreased their populations due to wars and diseases until they were completely abandoned between 1550 and 1600 when only a few inhabitants remained in the region and the cities were left in ruins.^[6]

• Archaeology of the East Coast of Quintana Roo
• 
  El Castillo of Tulum
• 
  Temple of the Frescoes, Tulum
• 
  Stucco mask, Tulum
• 
  Temple at Xlahpak
• 
  Temple at Xcaret
• 
  Shrine at Tankah
• 
  El Castillo of El Meco
• 
  Temple at Xelha
• 
  El Caracol, Cozumel