No. 138

Sacred Cenote

Where

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Built by

Maya

Era

800-1500s

Known for

Offerings of gold, jade and human remains.

How it went under

Thrown into the sinkhole as offerings.

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Background

The Sacred Cenote (Spanish: cenote sagrado, Latin American Spanish: [ˌsenote saˈɣɾaðo], "sacred well"; alternatively known as the "Well of Sacrifice") is a water-filled sinkhole in limestone at the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site of Chichen Itza, in the northern Yucatán Peninsula.

According to both Maya and Spanish post-Conquest sources, pre-Columbian Maya deposited valuables and human bodies into the cenote as a form of sacrifice to the rain god Chaac. Archaeologists and explorers confirmed these accounts by means of a series of 20th century excavations of the Sacred Cenote.

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