Cerros
Cerros was an important Maya coastal trading center during the late pre-Classic period (350 BC to 250AD).Partially underwater, Cerros shows virtually no additions to its structures after this period, indicating an early demise. One temple is 72 feet high.
Cerros is a small but important site with an impressive location. Perched on a peninsula jutting out into the Bay of Chetumal, Cerros was abandoned early and never rebuilt. It is one of only two Pre-Classic sites with no later additions to its structures, and contains five temples, their related plazas, two ball courts and a canal system. Cerros started as a small self-sustaining village in approximately 300 BC. Due to its location at the mouth of the New River, it was able to take advantage of an increasingly active trade. Development followed and in 50 BC it grew explosively from a small fishing village to a major city in only two generations. It is speculated that trade routes again were the reason for the site’s decline as they shifted overland, although the decline of other sites during this same time period, while possibly coincidental, allow for other interpretations. By the years of the Early Classic the royal temples were abandoned and Cerros returned to a simple farming community before eventually being deserted altogether.
