San Gervasio
Archeological site
San Gervasio
The principal Maya city on the island of Cozumel, founded 17 centuries ago, it was part of the intense trade and political network of Chichen Itza. The housing and religious complexes explored to date, together with the altars and pyramids, testify to its importance.
The chronicler Diego López de Cogolludo and the Chilam Balam of Chumayel mention various Mayan settlements on the island at the time the Spanish arrived. One such well-known place or neighborhood was Tantum or Tantun. However it is not known for sure whether it was one and the same as the ancient pre-Hispanic city we know today as San Gervasio.
Archeological work carried out on the site since the 1970s has enabled it to be dated to around the year 300. A rapid process of growth began nearly 300 years later, marked by the appearance of both perishable and higher quality buildings, and by the possible strengthening of ties with the coastal sites of the north coast of Quintana Roo.
San Gervasio seems to have grown significantly after 1000, and the fact that it flourished from 1200 up to the arrival of the Spanish may have been influenced by the rise of Chichen Itza as the great political and economic center of the peninsula. The settlement became the largest on the island during this final period, which saw the construction of the majority of the buildings visible today. At the same time a network of lesser towns emerged, possibly related to San Gervasio, and located across the whole island. Cozumel was densely populated when the Spanish arrived, and it played a key role in the first stage of the conquest.
- Dirección del Centro INAHMargarito Molina Rendónmargarito_molina@inah.gob.mx+52 (983) 837 2411Administración del Centro INAHWilliams Ferneli Tun Cabwilliams_tun@inah.gob.mx+52 (983) 837 2411 ext. 318005CustodioJavier Couoh Gutierrez
Manitas
It receives its name from the impressions of human hands that are preserved on the interior walls of the main building, built in the East Coast style during the Late Postclassic period (1250-1550).
Manitas
It receives its name from the impressions of human hands that are preserved on the interior walls of the main building, built in the East Coast style during the Late Postclassic period (1250-1550). This structure, of evidently residential function, preserves two galleries or enclosures, one of which, equipped with a comfortable bench, serves as a portico where most of the daily activities of its inhabitants must have taken place. The second room, more private, seems to have been used as a bedroom. Just to the east of this construction a small temple can be seen, also in the East Coast style, which is known by the Mayan name of Chichán Nah (Small House).
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El Álamo
It is so called in allusion to the huge and beautiful tree that has grown next to it.
El Álamo
It is so called in allusion to the huge and beautiful tree that has grown next to it. The works carried out in 1997 have shown that this structure, together with El Palacio, Los Murales, El Osario and Las Pilastras, formed an elegant group of aristocratic and ceremonial buildings, which integrated the central area of the city during the last times of the pre-Hispanic occupation in this place.
El Arco
At the northwest end of the El Álamo complex there is an isolated arch that marks the beginning of sacbé 1, and that at some time must have also indicated the entrance to the main sector of the archaeological zone.
El Arco
At the northwest end of the El Álamo complex there is an isolated arch that marks the beginning of sacbé 1, and that at some time must have also indicated the entrance to the main sector of the archaeological zone. After a route of a little more than 1.5 km it leads to the site of Punta Molas, to the north of the island.
Sacbé 1
Its route begins at El Arco, located at the northwest end of the El Álamo complex, and reaches another complex known as Nohoch Nah (Great House).
Nohoch Nah (Gran Casa)
Postclassic temple built on a small base with two access stairways, in which some fragments of mural painting are still preserved.
Murciélagos
So named because of the large number of these flying mammals that at one time, due to the absence of humans, inhabited the interior of its main building.
Murciélagos
So named because of the large number of these flying mammals that at one time, due to the absence of humans, inhabited the interior of its main building. It is integrated by an irregular base with five buildings in its upper portion; the best preserved was built towards the Terminal Classic (around the year 800) and is the best example of the architecture of this period in all of San Gervasio. Although some researchers relate it to the Puuc style of Yucatan, the building shows an architectural style of its own, characteristic of the development of a local construction technique.
Ka'na Nah (Casa Alta)
It is integrated by a base of several staggered bodies, on which a temple with two small chambers is preserved.
