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Kohunlich
 Kohunlich
is a corruption of the name "Cohune Ridge".
Cohune is a species of fruiting palm common to the area.
It's a large site about 25 kilometres east of the Rio
Bec region, and about 65 kilometres west of Chetumal
on Highway 186, It covers approx 21 acres, & is
surrounded by dense sub-tropical rainforest, and it
contains almost 200 mounds, that remain largely unexcavated.
The city was elaborately planned and engineered, with
raised platforms and pyramids, citadels, courtyards
and plazas surrounded with palace platforms, all laid
out to channel drainage into a system of cisterns and
an enormous reservoir to collect rainwater.
 The
site was settled by 200 BC, but most of the structures
were built in the Early Classic period from about 250
to 600 AD. Many of them are still covered with thick
vegetation and overgrown by trees. The city appears
to have functioned as a regional centre & resting
place, along the trade routes through the southern Yucatan
from Campeche and Rio Bec area to the west, and the
cities along the east-coast and to the south, in the
Peten region of Belize and Guatemala.
The road approaches the site from the north and leads
into an enormous central plaza ringed by pyramids and
temple platforms. To the north there is a massive, raised
acropolis, or citadel, with a palace complex around
a courtyard to the north-west. Further east there is
the Pyramid of the Masks, built in honour of the sungod,
with 6 gigantic stucco masks flanking it's central staircase.
And south of the main plaza lies the marvelous, sunken
Plaza Mervin, on the west side of the site, and a small
ballcourt further to the east.
 Near
the entrance at the northern end of the site, there
is a large palace complex around a plaza west of the
North Acropolis. This contains multiple structures on
platforms lining the north and west sides of the space.
The superstructure of most of the buildings has been
destroyed, as it was made of perishable materials, what
remains are the lower parts of the walls and the doorjambs
facing the plaza. Most of the palaces have two interior
chambers, between three parallel walls, and multiple
doorways facing the plaza and in the interior walls
behind them.
East of the North Palace is the North Acropolis, a somewhat
later, fortified structure, which contains a raised
interior courtyard that sits some 9 meters above the
level of the plaza below. The Acropolis complex faces
south into the Main Plaza, a very large square space
at the center of the site. This view shows the broad
stairway that leads to the upper courtyard of the citadel.
 The
Ballcourt lies south of the Main Plaza, with low, sloping
side walls running parallel east to west, and framed
access areas at the east and west ends. At the north
and south sides, the sloping terraces are terminated
by flat platforms that must have supported buildings
or pavilions of some kind.
The Plaza Mervin is a large rectangular space that runs
roughly east to west, on the west side of the site,
and south of the central plaza. It is a large, sunken
space surrounded by long, flat platform mounds, that
are completely overgrown by thick, green moss. The center
of the plaza contains more low platforms, in two rows,
and the space is interspersed with slender palm trees
forming a thick canopy overhead. Gaps in the trees make
holes in the canopy, which throw bright circles of light
on the soft floor of the somber and magical place.
All of the platforms around the Plaza Mervin form low,
one-story terraces that are accessed by broad stairways
at the center. These probably supported palace structures
similar to those seen at the North Palace complex. The
platforms in the middle of the space are lower and smaller,
typically square, and may have been altar or ceremonial
temple platforms.
 The
Pyramid of the Sun, also known as the Pyramid of the
Masks, is a three-tiered temple mound at the east end
of the site, and on axis with the central plaza to the
west. The west facade of the pyramid displays the form
of six gigantic stucco masks, each about 3 meters high,
which flank both sides of the central staircase on three
levels, to symbolize the Sun and Venus at the equinoxes
and the solstice.
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