HOME Travel Guide Common Sense Travel
decorative font style

Copalita Eco‑Archaeological Park – Mexico’s Pacific Archaeological Treasure

The only archeological zone in the Mexican Pacific

For more than 20 years, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has invested in continuing the excavation work of the archaeological site Bocana de Copalita, where the Mixtec ruling class is believed to have lived during the first six centuries, before our era.

 

Walking through the vestiges of the Templo Mayor, the Templo de la Serpiente and the ball court is one of the reasons to get out of downtown Huatulco (8 kilometers / 26 miles away). In addition, it is the only archaeological zone that has been discovered along the Mexican Pacific coast.​The tour takes you along cliffs that make you notice that La Bocana was also a site that controlled navigation, mainly by a stele that served to guide the canoes that entered the open sea. Other treasures you may find are fragments of clay figures in the shape of a woman and a shell necklace associated with a female burial.

 

There are also polished stone axes and artifacts that were used to treat leather, fish, and process fibers. The site is surrounded by jungle, therefore, there are tours to watch birds and learn about aromatic plants which were used by the ancient inhabitants to cook or to cure diseases.
Tourist Attraction
  • -

    The day is sunny, there is good weather to visit and know every part of the Zona Arqueológica Dzibanché, located more than 80 kilometers from Chetumal. Its establishment dates back to 200 BC. Dzibanché means in Maya “writing on Wood”. The name refers to the wooden lintels with calendar inscriptions in the structure known as Temple VI. When you get to the place you can see the buildings which seem proud to stand upright for more than two thousand years. The site occupies an area of abou

  • -

    The largest pre-Hispanic city in the Bay of ChetumalWithin Chetumal Quintana Roo, you will find the Oxtankah Archaeological Zone, a place that reveals the monumental architecture of an ancient civilization that once blessed the land that thousands of tourists pass through today. The Mayan culture is huge, extensive and mysterious, even today you can still feel the magic in the land of Chetumal, that is why this is a unique tourist attraction. Enrich your trip by exploring the greatness of t

  • -

    The biggest Mayan settlement in the south of Quintana Roo was Chacchoben, a region that is conformed with small villages that enjoyed its heyday in the year 300 b.C. When you visit the Archaeological zone of Chacchoben, you will be amazed by the Gran Basamento that is trapped in the jungle. We are talking about a staggered pyramid that used to work as a place for religious activities and public gatherings. One of the stairs allows the access to the basement where the Monumento 1 is located.