Kinichna was part of the Dzibanche settlement in the south of Quintana Roo. It could be said that Dzibanche was in reality an agglomeration of “sites” whose monumental architecture could be isolated from the residential continuum typical of the Mayan region.
The Kinichna group was built on a hill which formed part of the same area of higher ground occupied by the other groups of the archeological site. It was also the place where the first settlers of Dzibanche lived, owing to its proximity to a water source situated to the north. Over time the monumental center of the site moved towards the Escondido River which flanks Dzibanche.
The site was discovered in the early twentieth century by the archeologist Thomas W.F. Gann. Subsequently, in the 1970s, Peter Harrison viewed it as a separate archeological site from Dzibanche, and he gave it its present name; however several studies have led to Harrison’s theory being rejected.
The Kinichna group consists of a series of buildings around a plaza. Three of its sides were taken up by dwellings of very modest dimensions, while, by contrast, on the north side there is a monumental pyramid which dominates the landscape.
The two principal plinths of the Acropolis were built in the Late Preclassic. All the buildings which are currently visible are from the Early Classic. It would seem that there was an initial phase of construction in which temples were built from perishable materials on top of stonework platforms, and afterwards there were various stages of building platforms and new stone temples, all within the Early Classic.
The complex continued to operate during the Late and Terminal Classic, nevertheless it saw no significant modifications during these periods. Although it is possible to see the Peten style in its architecture, this was replaced in the middle of the Classic, approximately in the year 600, by temples with facades decorated with partially inset pilasters, very high double vaults with buttresses at the ends of the narrow galleries, and plinths with slope-and-panel construction, all of these characteristics belonging to a local style associated with the Kaan dynasty which was established during the Early Classic.
