Pacbitun

Pacbitun
Partially excavated mound at Pacbitun
Location in Belize
LocationCayo District, Belize
Coordinates17°05′31″N 88°59′42″W / 17.092°N 88.995°W / 17.092; -88.995
History
Foundedc. 900 BCE
Abandonedc. 900 CE
CulturesMaya

Pacbitun is a Maya archaeological site located near the town of San Ignacio, Belize, in the Cayo District of west central Belize. The modern Maya name given to the site means “stone set in earth”, likely a reference to multiple fragments of stone monuments. The site, at about 240 m above sea level, is one of the earliest known from the southern Maya Lowlands, and was inhabited for almost 2000 years, from ca. 900 BCE to 900 CE. Strategically, it straddles a territory of rolling, hilly terrain between the Mountain Pine Ridge and the tropical forest covered lowlands of the Upper Belize River Valley.