Wondering where Cancun’s obscure Mayan wonder is? That would be Playa San Miguelito. Tucked between five-star resorts along Cancun’s hotel zone sit the remains of the Prehispanic settlement of San Miguelito. Though Playa San Miguelito opened to the public in 2012, it is rarely visited. Most tourists and even locals are unaware of its existence.
Playa San Miguelito got its name from a coconut plantation. This plantation existed in the same spot in the 1950s. The settlement’s original name has been lost to time. Playa San Miguelito dates to the late post-classical period. Its structures are estimated to have been built between the 11th and 13th centuries.
As with older settlements in the region, Playa San Miguelito’s architecture is consistent with the Costa Oriental style. One interesting aspect of Playa San Miguelito’s architecture is that most of its structures show evidence of having been topped by thatched roofs. This is instead of the more laborious corbel arched ceilings of previous eras.
While one could perhaps see this as a sign of a loss of architectural sophistication, remember that Yucatán’s northeastern coast is hurricane-prone. Maintaining stone and mortar roofs would have been tremendously difficult for a settlement of this size. By the 10th century, most of the major regional city-states in northeastern Yucatán had begun to lose the ability to control vast swaths of territory. As a result, smaller chiefdoms began to emerge to fill the power vacuum.
Both Playa San Miguelito and nearby El Rey belonged to a chiefdom known as Kuchkabal or Ekab. This roughly translates to “dark soil”. Given the amount of salt in the soil along the coast, it is unlikely that the surrounding Playa San Miguelito area was suited for traditional Mesoamerican crops like maize, squash, and beans. Though it’s possible, and even likely, that the settlement cultivated these staples further inland, the community likely relied largely on seafood for their own consumption and trade.
Visiting the archaeological site of Playa San Miguelito today, one follows a reasonably straightforward looping circuit of roughly 15 surviving structures divided into five main architectural groups. The first group one sees when following the path is the Chaac Group. This is named after the architectural allusions to the Mayan rain god of the same name.
Next found on the path at Playa San Miguelito is called the Dragon’s Group. This is because the figures of the mighty feather serpent Kukulkán were first mistaken for dragons. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Dragon’s Group is the surviving, though highly damaged, murals found within the largest structure of the complex at Playa San Miguelito.
As one approaches the end of the path laid out by INAH, a large pyramid comes into view. Playa San Miguelito’s pyramid is a five-level tier construction topped with a ceremonial altar, likely covered with a thatched roof. Though historical records regarding Playa San Miguelito during the 16th century are scarce, there is good reason to believe the settlement was still going strong by the time the first Europeans began to arrive in the western Caribbean.
The entrance to Playa San Miguelito is through the contemporary Museo Maya de Cancún. Passing through the museum’s stark white lobby and into its gardens, you’ll find a winding jungle path that leads to the archaeological site. The ruins themselves sit on the west side of the 80-hectare property.
The site is divided into four groupings. These are the North Complex, Chaak Palace Grouping, Dragon Complex and South Complex. A pleasant path connects them in a north-south line, shaded by towering trees and thick tropical plants. The North Complex was a residential area. It had five raised platforms serving as foundations for thatch-roofed homes.
The structures in the Chaak Palace Grouping served administrative functions. The most intact edifice is the namesake palace. If you look closely, you’ll see original stucco on some of the columns. The main stairway also contains stone etchings of Chaak, the Mayan god of rain. The South Complex is the most impressive grouping of the site. Just south of the palace is Playa San Miguelito’s imposing pyramid. Its stairway faces south towards the El Rey ruins further along the strip.