The Dzibilchaltun archeological site has many attractions but two stand out for their beauty and uniqueness. First there is the Xlacah Cenote, a two million year-old geological formation. Its importance as a water source is testified by the finding of over 30,000 ceramic water vessels left as offerings from the period between the mid-600s BC to the seventeenth century. Numerous wooden pieces have also been found, such as a scepter with a point shaped like a hand and labrets (an adornment worn on the lower lip), made from wood with geometric ornamentation. Other objects found include a stingray’s spine used in the self-sacrificial ritual of bloodletting. The offerings were left in the belief that cenotes were the portals of the underworld. Until the mid-1950s it was thought that the Xlacah Cenote was little more than a waterhole, but when it was dived by Jorge Urcelay Gutiérrez and Pedro Castillo Peniche, the pioneers of underwater archeology in the Yucatan peninsula, it was found to be a 130-foot-deep underwater cave.

The Templo de las Siete Muñecas ("Temple of the Seven Dolls"), built in the Middle Classic around 750 AD, is another highlight. It was probably a religious building also functioning as an astronomical observatory. The architecture of the building is in a category all its own. On top of a quadrilateral base consisting of two superimposed trapezoidal shapes there is another quadrilateral structure with a central chamber that rises like a tower to approximately 33 feet. It is surrounded by a walkway which has an overhanging circular vault. This walkway, or peripheral corridor, has four doorways, each oriented to a cardinal point, giving access to the building via wide stairways located on each side of the plinth. In ancient times the friezes on the four facades of the temple bore a decorative stucco relief with water snakes displayed at each side of a central figurehead; the latter are still preserved above each of the doorways. Alongside the snakes may be found aquatic and sea creatures such as a stingray, a heron and various species of fish. If we add to this interesting iconographic concept the fact that on the equinoxes, the sun is aligned with the east and west facades of this building, we might conclude that the temple was dedicated to the watery environment from which the sun rises in the east. During the Early Classic period certain of the leaders of Tikal bore the title of U Naabal K’inich, which translates roughly as “The watery place of the Lord radiant as the Sun.” It would appear that the building known today as the Temple of the Seven Dolls was the symbolic representation of this place.

In the mid-Late Classic period (900 AD), the building was buried by the infill of a new structure which eventually covered it completely. Each of the four sides of this new building also had wide stairways which rose to the top, where there could have been a religious shrine. This structure remained until the start of the Postclassic (1100 AD), although it was soon left in ruins with the abandonment of the site. With the arrival of a new group of inhabitants two centuries later, the building which had been buried reappeared in the midst of eroded debris. Dzibilchaltun’s new inhabitants rescued it and removed part of the filling that had hidden it for more than 500 years. These were the people who left an offering of seven ceramic figures beneath the floor of the old temple, giving rise to the building’s present-day name. It is important to mention that these figurines might represent an ancient rite, namely the power of certain individuals to transform themselves into their spiritual animal known as a nagual or way. This interpretation is based on the fact that some of the figures represent a human being with the features and shell of a turtle, while others do not even have human features. Both structures were abandoned at the end of the sixteenth century, until the 1950s when a group of US archeologists directed by Edward Wyllys Andrews IV of the University of Tulane in New Orleans began their archeological survey and excavations.

The open chapel built by the Spanish at the end of the sixteenth century is also an outstanding feature of the Central Plaza. The enclosed part consists of a great stone apse covered by a barrel vaulted roof housing the Christian altar, as well as a lengthened platform which finishes in a semi-circle before the altar. This platform was covered by a pitched palm and timber roof which ended in a half cone shape. The building also has a side wall which connected to a sacristy. The remains of the temple located at the top of Structure 36 (the pyramid at the northwest corner of the Central Plaza) were dismantled for the construction. This pyramid previously had a temple with masks carved in stone similar to those in the Puuc region, although with more influence from the sculptural tradition of Chichen Itza. Structure 44, one of the longest buildings of the Maya region, is at the other end of the plaza.