Southern Belize boasts a site that goes by the Maya name Nim Li Punit. Translated, it means “Big Hat”. This was an easy name to name this site because there are a few of its 26 stelae adorned with the carved image of their king whose headdress is an ornate one that fit like a large hat on the head of the king. That was easy, in our opinion. With a population of between 5,000 and 7,000 souls it was a classic period city which was perched on a higher elevation in a swamp land between the Sarstoon and the Temash Rivers in Southern Belize.
Ball Court At Nim Li Punit. Picture Courtesy: The Belize Hub
The sites tallest building was close to 40 feet tall and its plazas and terraces were made of dry sand stone w which more than likely came from the rivers that were not too far away. The city was organized so that the main building in the site (almost in its center) was designed for its rulers. The Northern side of the site had buildings that were shrines and burial acropolis for the royalty of the city. On the Eastern flank of the site sits an Eastern Group (E-Group) which was used for astronomical purposes. From this set of buildings the Maya could know the changes of the seasons and mark the time throughout the year from studying the equinoxes and the solstices.
One of the stelae of the site suggests a date between 721AD and 790AD thereafter there are no more dates at the site, which normally reflects a collapse that happened more-than-likely sometime in the 800’s AD.
Southern Belize awaits you. The Maya once lived in abundance throughout the country of Belize. Archaeologists suggests that at the height of the classic period (700AD) there were approximately one million people living in Belize of indigenous roots. Today, approximately 370,000 people live on 8.867 square miles of real estate and archaeologists have mentioned that today there are still more mounds (unexcavated buildings) in the country than there are houses.
Its time to come to Belize.
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