Temple of the Owl

The Temple of the Owl is a Maya temple located in the ancient city of Dzibanche in Quintana Roo, Mexico, the first capital of the Kaan kingdom. The Temple of the Owl was built in the classic period of the Maya civilization around the 5th to 6th century as a funerary structure in wich inside its pyramidal base contains a three-level staircase leading to a burial chamber where the tomb of a royal woman of the Kaanu'l dynasty was found, which included a rich and extensive funerary trousseau of vessels, ceramics, bowls, obsidian blades and a large white shell (spondylus) inlaid with jade and carved with the image of a ruler. It receives the name of Temple of the Owl in reference to a polychrome ceramic vessel found inside the tomb of the temple decorated with a lid in the shape of the head of an owl, a bird that in the ancient Maya mythology was related to the night with the ability to travel between the world of life and death and that could guide the souls through their journey in the underworld. Archaeologically it is also known as the Temple I, Building 1 or E1 of Dzibanche.