Why go
The raised road linking Yaxuna with Cobá stretched about 100 kilometers, giving this city a place in a much wider landscape. Reading Yaxuna alongside Cobá and Chichén Itzá helps explain why roads were more than convenient paths: they connected communities whose alliances and rivalries changed over time.
The full story
Yaxuna's history reaches from the Middle Formative period into the Postclassic. Early groups of three principal structures were connected by roads running north to south. During the Early Classic, some larger pyramids were rebuilt and contained royal tombs, linking monumental architecture with dynastic burial. A later phase brought a different orientation. Cobá extended its power over Yaxuna and connected the two cities with a long sacbe, a raised road. New roads within Yaxuna ran east to west. The changing layout provides a physical way to think about the city's shifting relationships. In the Terminal Classic, conflict between Cobá and Chichén Itzá placed Yaxuna under pressure. A defensive wall belongs to this troubled history. Chichén Itzá appears to have conquered the city around 950, after which its population declined and construction largely became small additions to older buildings.