Landmark North America
Calakmul
Calakmul is an old city with stone pyramids, hidden deep in a green forest in Mexico. Wild animals live all around it!
Calakmul is the ruin of a great Maya city in the rainforest of southern Mexico. People lived in this region for about 1,500 years, from about 500 BCE to about 1000 CE, and UNESCO calls Calakmul the largest site in the area. Today the city and the forest around it are a World Heritage Site.
Calakmul, in the state of Campeche on the Yucatán Peninsula, was a major Maya city that played a key role in its region for more than twelve centuries; in the Late Classic period it was the seat of the Kaan, one of the most powerful Maya royal dynasties. Inscribed in 2002 for the city alone, the site was extended in 2014 into a mixed cultural and natural property of 331,397 hectares that takes in the surrounding tropical forest.
Photo: Pavel Kirillov from St.Petersburg, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Calakmul
Calakmul is in Mexico. Long ago it was a big city of the Maya people.
Now it is surrounded by a huge green forest, and the tops of its stone pyramids peek out above the trees.
Calakmul lies in the state of Campeche, on the Yucatán Peninsula in southern Mexico. It was built by the Maya, and UNESCO says it played a key role in the history of its region for more than twelve centuries.
The city is set deep in tropical forest. Its buildings are well preserved and give a vivid picture of life in an ancient Maya capital.
UNESCO describes Calakmul as an important Maya city set deep in the tropical forest of the Tierras Bajas (lowlands). Its well-preserved structures and characteristic overall layout give a vivid picture of life in an ancient Maya capital.
It was inscribed in 2002 as a 3,000-hectare cultural site. In 2014 the property was extended to 331,397 hectares, ringed by a buffer zone of 391,788 hectares; together they cover the whole Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.
- Where
- Campeche, Yucatán Peninsula, southern Mexico
- People lived here
- about 500 BCE to about 1000 CE
- Carved stone monuments
- 120 stelae
- World Heritage
- inscribed 2002, extended 2014
A powerful Maya city
The Maya people built Calakmul a very long time ago. Many people lived here.
Later, everyone left, and the forest grew over the city.
UNESCO says people in this area grew in number and built cities for at least 1,500 years, from about 500 BCE to about 1000 CE. In the Late Classic period, Calakmul was the capital of the Kaan, one of the most powerful Maya royal families.
In the 800s and 900s CE, almost all the settlements were left empty. The area has been almost empty of people ever since, and the ruins are now covered by tropical forest.
ICOMOS reports that excavations inside Structure II, the city's dominant building, found a monument some 12 meters high built between 400 and 200 BCE. Calakmul grew into one of the two dominant cities of the Maya heartland, the other being Tikal, and the two were rivals. Its high point is placed in the Late Classic period, from 542 to 695 CE, when the Kaan dynasty, according to UNESCO, moved its capital here from Dzibanché.
By around 900 CE the city had lost its influence. UNESCO notes that after the abandonment of virtually all settlements in the 9th and 10th centuries, the area has remained practically uninhabited, which is why it offers such an exceptional record.
Pyramids, plazas and carved stones
Calakmul has big stone pyramids with long stairs.
In front of the stairs stood carved stones called stelae. They have pictures and writing on them.
The center of Calakmul is a square area about 400 meters on each side, with large open plazas. The main building, called Structure II, is a huge pyramid. Another pyramid, Structure I, is a little smaller, but it stands on a natural rise, so it reaches about the same height.
Calakmul is known for its many stelae: 120 have been found. These carved stones stood in rows in front of the stairs and main fronts of the pyramids.
ICOMOS describes the central zone as roughly 400 by 400 meters, built around very large public open spaces and the dominant Structure II. Structure I is slightly smaller, but because it stands on a natural eminence it reaches more or less the same height. A group of buildings frames the Plaza Grande, an open space of 120 by 60 meters.
UNESCO counts 120 commemorative stelae with relief carvings, many with hieroglyphic inscriptions that record the region's political history. At Calakmul, ICOMOS notes, the stelae were set in regular lines or groups in front of the stairways and main facades of the pyramids.
A city inside a rainforest
The forest around Calakmul is full of animals. Jaguars and pumas live here, and so do monkeys and parrots.
The Maya painted animals like these on their pots and walls.
Calakmul sits in the middle of the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas; only the Amazon is bigger. Five of Mexico's six kinds of wild cats and two of its three kinds of monkeys live here, and the forest gives big hunters such as the jaguar and the puma room to roam.
UNESCO says the forest itself partly comes from the Maya, who farmed and managed it for more than 1,500 years. The Maya showed many of its animals in their paintings, pottery and sculpture.
UNESCO places the property at the core of the second largest expanse of tropical forest in the Americas, surpassed only by the Amazon. Its forests grow under seasonal dry conditions on karst soils, with little water, fires and hurricanes, and their structure and plant mix largely result from ancient Maya farming and forestry. The area has the highest diversity of mammals in the Maya region: two of Mexico's three primate species, two of its four edentates and five of its six wild cats.
The forest links reserves in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, giving wide-ranging animals such as the jaguar, puma and birds of prey room to move. The Maya represented this wildlife in their paintings, pottery and sculpture.
- Protected area
- 331,397 hectares
- Wild cat species of Mexico found here
- 5 of 6
- Monkey species of Mexico found here
- 2 of 3
Above the treetops
In this photo, a stone pyramid rises out of the green forest. Can you see its long stairs going up to the top?
This photo was taken in July 2011 from high above the forest. A great stone pyramid rises out of the trees, with a long stairway climbing its front.
Beyond it, flat green forest stretches all the way to the horizon, under a blue sky with white clouds.
The photograph (July 2011, by Pavel Kirillov) looks across the forest canopy to a stepped stone pyramid, its stairway climbing between trees that still grow on its sides, with unbroken forest to a flat horizon.
It shows what UNESCO stresses: a city almost uninhabited since its abandonment, now covered by tropical forest, offering chances for both archaeological and ecological research.
Amazing facts
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People found 120 carved stones at Calakmul!
Calakmul has 120 stelae, carved stone monuments, many with Maya writing about the region's history.
UNESCO counts 120 commemorative stelae at Calakmul, with relief carvings and hieroglyphic inscriptions on the region's political history.
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Calakmul was found again in 1931 by a scientist who was studying plants!
The ruins were recorded in 1931 by Cyrus L. Lundell, who was on an expedition to study plants.
The site's existence was first recorded in 1931 by Cyrus L. Lundell during a botanical expedition; he also gave it its present name.
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The forest around Calakmul is so big that only the Amazon forest in the Americas is bigger!
Calakmul is in the middle of the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas, after the Amazon.
The property lies at the core of the second largest expanse of tropical forest in the Americas, surpassed only by the Amazon.
Words to know
- Maya
- a people of Mexico and Central America whose ancestors built great cities long ago
- stela
- a tall stone slab carved with pictures or writing (more than one are called stelae)
- pyramid
- a big building with sloping sides that get narrower toward the top
- plaza
- a large open square in a town or city
- hieroglyphs
- writing made of picture-like signs
- canopy
- the top layer of a forest, made by the leaves and branches of the tallest trees
Discovery challenge
-
Which people built Calakmul?
Calakmul was a great city of which people?
Calakmul was a seat of which civilization's Kaan dynasty?
- The Maya
- The Romans
- The Vikings
Show the answer
The Maya
The Maya!
The Maya.
The Maya.
-
What grows all around Calakmul now?
What covers the land around Calakmul today?
After the 9th and 10th centuries the area stayed almost uninhabited. What now covers it?
- Tropical forest
- Desert sand
- Ice
Show the answer
Tropical forest
A big green forest!
Tropical forest.
Tropical forest.
-
What are the tall carved stones at Calakmul called?
Calakmul has 120 carved stone monuments. What are they called?
What are the 120 carved commemorative monuments at Calakmul, many with hieroglyphic inscriptions, called?
- Stelae
- Igloos
- Totems
Show the answer
Stelae
Stelae!
Stelae.
Stelae.
-
Which big wild cat lives in the forest at Calakmul?
Which big spotted wild cat lives in the forest around Calakmul?
UNESCO names which large cat, with the puma, among the predators that roam the forests linked to Calakmul?
- Jaguar
- Lion
- Tiger
Show the answer
Jaguar
The jaguar!
The jaguar.
The jaguar.
-
In which country is Calakmul?
In which country is Calakmul?
Calakmul lies in the state of Campeche in which country?
- Mexico
- Peru
- Egypt
Show the answer
Mexico
Mexico!
Mexico.
Mexico.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe what is left of an ancient Maya city: pyramids, plazas and carved stelae.
- Explain how a city can be abandoned and covered by forest, and how archaeologists find it again.
- Explain why Calakmul is protected both for its history and for its forest and wildlife.
Recommended ages: 4 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Calakmul is protected for its ruins and for its forest. Why might it make sense to protect both together?
- Carved stelae told the history of the city. How do people record history today?
- Why might people leave a city they had lived in for a very long time?
Try at home or in class
- Design your own stela: draw a tall stone slab and fill it with pictures that tell a story about your family or your town.
- Build a stepped pyramid from building blocks, with a stairway up the front.
Key vocabulary: Maya, stela, pyramid, plaza, hieroglyphs, canopy
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche (World Heritage List) , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Calakmul (Mexico), No 1061 (Advisory Body Evaluation) , ICOMOS
- File:In Calakmul, Mexico (8726963632).jpg , Wikimedia Commons
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.