Playa del Carmen has a big secret to tell, and its name is Xaman Há
Playa del Carmen is best known for its party atmosphere, luxury resorts, and anything-goes (well almost) vibe. But like many spots in the Yucatán peninsula, this resort town hides a treasure trove of fascinating archaeological remains.
During Maya antiquity, Playa del Carmen was known as Xaman Há, which in the Yucatec-Mayan language, roughly translates as northern waters.
Like other Caribbean coastal urban centers including Isla Mujeres, El Meco, Tulum, and El Rey, Xaman Há was an important trading and transit post connecting the northern Yucatán Peninsula with city-states in what today is Central America.
Xaman Há is also notable for being located directly across from Cozumel, Mexico’s largest Caribbean island, which was host to important pilgrimage sites dedicated to the goddess Ixchel.
Architecturally, Xaman Há conforms to the Costa Oriental architectural style, which is characterized by relatively low-lying structures, masonry vaults, flat roofs, and single chambers (with notable exceptions, of course).
Though Costa Oriental architecture is not as obviously influenced by the architecture of Nahua-speaking civilizations from central Mexico, we can still observe several of these hallmarks including colonnaded halls, serpentine columns, and the use of decorative and trim recess lintels.
The channel surrounding Cozumel and Playa del Carmen is also notable for likey being one of the first geographical areas in which Europeans and the Maya established contact.
While circumnavigating Cozumel, the Spanish Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo described in 1519 the presence of several towns and villages of considerable size on both the island and the mainland, as well as making note of their encounters with Maya people aboard wooden canoes.
Playa del Carmen did not really begin to develop as a tourist destination until the late 1990s. As by this time protocols were already in place to protect Mexico’s cultural heritage, many ancient structures survived the transformation from small fishing village to tourism mecca.
But despite this fact, the archaeological remains found in Playa del Carmen are still fairly easy to miss, unless you know what you are looking for.
The surviving structures are split up into three main groups, which we will call Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3. (Note: not an official INAH designation.)
Because it sits in an open area surrounded by condominiums and tennis courts, Group 1 is the easiest architectural group to visit.
Group 1 features five structures arranged atop an artificial platform. All of the structures have been partially restored and can be seen up close, though climbing them (as with all the structures in Xaman Há) is forbidden.
The best preserved and most restored structure in Group 1 was likely an elite residence, featuring a large chamber, column, and remains of stucco.
Another of the most impressive structures in Group 1 features a beautifully restored entranceway that would have led through what is now a collapsed vault.
Xaman Há’s Group 2 is encircled by a tall chain-link fence which is almost always closed. This makes entering and exploring the site impossible, but it’s still possible to make out several of the structures from outside the gate.
The structures in Group 2 are notable for their positioning in what is called an “E grouping,” which suggests an astronomically significant alignment, often with reference to the planet Venus.
In Group 3 we find a beautifully restored lone temple in what is today Playa del Carmen’s 5th Avenue. The survival of this structure is all the more impressive given that this area is one of the most coveted corners of real estate in all of Mexico.
If you go
Getting to Playa del Carmen is extremely easy from just about every point on the Yucatán Peninsula.
Once in Playa del Carmen, visiting its ancient architecture dating to the Post-classic is quite simple and can be done entirely on foot.
Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer, adventure leader, and PhD candidate. Born in Mérida, Carlos holds multimedia, philosophy, and translation degrees from universities in Mexico, Canada and Norway.
