[Si]
Capital of the Maya-dominated state in northern Yucatán, established by the Cocom dynasty of the Itzá after the Classic Maya Collapse and the final abandonment of Chichén Itzá in the 13th century ad.
Mayapán is enclosed by a stone wall, a testimony to the unrest at the time, and covers about 6.5 square kilometres. There are over 2000 dwellings within the walls, and its population may have been as high as 12 000. Most lived in thatched houses of no great pretention.
Mayapán's temples, including the centrally placed Temple of Kukulcan, and palaces were poor imitations of those at earlier centres, perhaps a sign of cultural decline or growing disinterest by the population in impressive public architecture.
Mayapán was destroyed by its own inhabitants around ad 1450 during a rebellion against the Cocom rulers who dominated the territory.
[Rep.: H. E. D. Pollock, R. L. Roys, T. Proskouriaroff, and A. L. Smith, 1962, Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico. Washington DC: Carnegie Institution]
