page_title: Pre-Columbian Belize
section_title: Xunantunich
hierarchical_section_title: Pre-Columbian Belize / Maya civilization / Classic period (c. 250—900 AD) / Xunantunich
caption_attribution_description: Main temple in Xunantunich, a maya site in Belize
context_page_description: The Pre-Columbian Belize history is the period from initial indigenous presence, across millennia, to the first contacts with Europeans - the Pre-Columbian or before Columbus period - that occurred on the region of the Yucatán Peninsula that is present day Belize.
  Belize's history begins with the Paleo-Indians. They were nomadic people that arrived in the Asia to the Americas migration across the frozen Bering Strait, perhaps as early as 35,000 years ago. In the course of many millennia, their descendants settled in and adapted to different environments in the Americas, creating many cultures in North America, Central America, and South America. The Mayan culture emerged in the lowland area of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands to the south, in what is now southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, and Belize. Between about 2500 BC and AD 250, the basic institutions of Mayan civilization developed. The peak of this civilization occurred during the Classic Period, which began about AD 250.
  Many aspects of this culture persist in the area despite nearly half a millennium of European domination.
context_section_description: Xunantunich, meaning "Lady of the Rock," was occupied perhaps as early as 300 BC, but most of the architecture there was constructed in the late classic period. As in all the lowland Mayan centers, the inhabitants continually constructed temples and residences over older buildings, enlarging and raising the platforms and structures in the process. The views are breathtaking from Xunantunich's "El Castillo," which, at thirty-nine meters, is the tallest man-made structure in Belize.
  Lamanai, less accessible to tourists than Altún Ha or Xunantunich, is an important site because it provides archaeological evidence of the Mayan presence over many centuries, beginning around AD 150. Substantial populations were present throughout the classic and postclassic periods. Indeed, people living in the area were still refacing some of the massive ceremonial buildings after the great centers, such as Tikal in neighboring Guatemala, had been virtually abandoned in the tenth century.
caption: A Mayan temple 'pyramid' at Xunantunich, in Cayo District, Belize.
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