Location: Northern Belize Map
Cerros Archaeological Site is an ancient Mayan archaeological site located in the North Belize on the border with Mexico. City state of Cerros established at the mouth of the New River before it empties its water into the Caribbean Sea. The site was established around 400 BC during the Late Preclassic Era. Original inhabitants of Cerros were fishermen and farmers. In the first century AD the city grew. It became an important trading post of the Mayan civilization. Several temples, two ball courts and many other political and religious structures were constructed in the centre of the city.
The first of the new constructions was the Structure 5C-2nd, which has become the most famous piece of architecture at the site. Aligned with its back at the edge of Chetumal Bay, it marked the northernmost point of the sacred north-south axis of the site, which was complemented by a ballcourt (Str. 50) which lies at the southernmost point. As kings died, others came along and new temples were constructed in their honor. The last of the substantial constructions at the site (Str. 3A-1st) occurred around AD 100, and many of the other structures appear to have been abandoned before then. During the Protoclassic, Cerros ceased to function as a locus of elitist activity but continued as a location for mundane domestic activity. From then on, any new construction was probably limited to the outer residential area, as the population began to decline severely.
The city was abandoned around 400 AD. Only in 1900 Thomas Gann identified the archaeological site, mistakenly calling pyramids that were covered by jungles as lookout mounds for the Mayans.