The Maya Cities: Palenque to Chichén Itzá

Pakal ruled Palenque from 615 to 683, and the Temple of the Inscriptions is his funerary monument. He began it himself; his son Kʼinich Kan Bahlam II completed it. The tomb stayed hidden until 1952, when the archaeologist Ruz Lhuillier lifted a stone slab in the floor and found a stairway filled with rubble, which led to the king's tomb. The sarcophagus held the richest collection of jade seen in a Maya tomb, and its lid shows Pakal as the maize god rising from the maws of the underworld.

Para el visitante: The temple stands within the Palenque archaeological site in Chiapas, Mexico.

Tikal's Temple I rises 55 metres over the Great Plaza. It is dated to about 732 and honours the ruler Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I, who ruled from 682 to 734. The tomb was built first and the temple raised over it, in nine stepped levels that may stand for the nine levels of the underworld. Archaeologists found the tomb in 1962. Among its offerings were carved bones, and one text names Tikal's allies, including Copán and Palenque, tying this pyramid to the other cities on the route.

Precisión del lugar: The pin marks the centre of the Tikal site, which is where the Great Plaza and Temple I stand, not the temple itself.

Para el visitante: Temple I faces the Great Plaza inside Tikal National Park, Guatemala.

Copán lies in western Honduras, near the Guatemalan border. Its thirteenth king, Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil, took the throne in July 695 and filled the city with masterpiece stelae. In 738, just after dedicating a new ballcourt, he was captured by the king of Quiriguá, a former vassal, and decapitated six days later. No new monuments were raised for 17 years. Later rulers rebuilt: the Hieroglyphic Stairway was reinstalled and doubled in length, with five life-size seated rulers. UNESCO listed the site in 1980.

Precisión del lugar: The pin marks the Copán site as a whole; the events of 738 happened at Quiriguá and across the city, not at one spot.

Para el visitante: Copán Archaeological Park, Honduras, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Far to the north, in Yucatán, Chichén Itzá became a major regional capital in the Terminal Classic period. Its great pyramid, El Castillo, honours Kukulcán, the Feathered Serpent. Its last phase was probably built between 900 and 1000. Each side has about 91 steps, which may total 365 with the platform on top. Around the equinoxes, afternoon light casts shadows that make a serpent seem to crawl down the balustrade. The pyramid stands 24 metres high, plus 6 metres for the temple on top, and the site is the second-most visited in Mexico.

Para el visitante: The pyramid stands within the Chichén Itzá archaeological site, Yucatán.

Yucatán has no rivers, only sinkholes called cenotes that open onto the water table. The Cenote Sagrado is one of the most impressive: 60 metres across, with sheer cliffs dropping about 27 metres to the water. Ancient Maya made pilgrimages here, and ethnohistoric sources say they held sacrifices in times of drought. Thousands of objects have been recovered, among them gold, jade and copal. Whether the human remains prove sacrifice is still debated.

Para el visitante: The cenote lies within the Chichén Itzá archaeological site.