Tulum (Spanish pronunciation: [tuˈlun]; Yucatec Maya: Tulu'um) is the location of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city that was an important port for Coba in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are located on cliffs that are 12 meters tall (39 feet) along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean Sea. Tulum was one of the last cities built and lived in by the Maya. It was most prominent between the 13th and 15th centuries. The Maya continued to live in Tulum for about 70 years after the Spanish began exploring Mexico, but the city was abandoned by the late 16th century. Tulum is one of the best-preserved Maya sites along the coast and is now a popular place for tourists.

History and description

• Map of central Tulum
• Tulum Ruins
• Main temple at Tulum, drawing in 1844 by Frederick Catherwood
• View to the top of El Castillo

The site might have been called Zama, meaning "City of Dawn," because it faces the sunrise. Tulum is located on a high area of land that faces east toward the Caribbean Sea. The word "Tulúm" in the Yucatán Mayan language means "fence," "wall," or "trench." The walls around the site helped protect the Tulum fort from attacks. Tulum had access to both land and sea trade routes, making it an important place for trade, especially for a type of rock called obsidian. From many drawings and carvings found at the site, it seems Tulum was an important place for worshiping a god known as the Diving or Descending god.

Tulum was first mentioned by Juan Díaz, a member of Juan de Grijalva’s Spanish expedition in 1518. This was the first time Europeans saw Tulum. The first detailed description of the ruins was written in 1843 by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood in a book called Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. When they arrived from the sea, Stephens and Catherwood saw a tall building that greatly impressed them, likely the Castillo. They made accurate maps of the site’s walls, and Catherwood drew pictures of the Castillo and other buildings. They also reported finding a stone tablet with an inscription dated AD 564 (now in the British Museum). This tablet is believed to have been built elsewhere and later brought to Tulum for reuse.

Work at Tulum continued with Sylvanus Morley and George P. Howe, who started in 1913. They helped restore the site and open public beaches. The Carnegie Institution worked on the site from 1916 to 1922. Samuel Lothrop mapped the site in 1924, and Miguel Ángel Fernández studied it in the late 1930s and early 1940s. William Sanders worked there in 1956, and Arthur G. Miller studied it in the 1970s. Through their research, it was found that Tulum was occupied during the late Postclassic period, around AD 1200. The site remained occupied until Spanish explorers arrived in the early 16th century. By the end of the 16th century, the site was abandoned.

In 2016, an underwater dig led by Jerónimo Avilés discovered the skeleton of a woman about 30 years old in a cenote cave system. The skeleton is believed to be at least 9,900 years old. Scientists measured her skull and found it had a certain shape, similar to other skulls found in Tulum caves. Three scars on her skull showed she was hit with something hard, which broke her bones. Her skull also had crater-like shapes and tissue changes that may have been caused by a type of bacteria related to syphilis.

The newly found skeleton was 140 meters away from the Chan Hol 2 site. At first, archaeologists thought the remains might belong to the missing Chan Hol 2, but further study showed they were not the same person. Stinnesbeck compared the new bones to old photos of Chan Hol 2 and found they belonged to different individuals.

Because of the unique features of the skeleton, researcher Samuel Rennie suggested that at least two groups of people with different physical traits may have lived separately in Mexico during the time when humans transitioned from the Pleistocene to the Holocene.

Architecture

Tulum has buildings that are similar to those found at other ancient Maya sites on the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. These buildings often have a step-like structure around their base, which sits on a low platform. The doorways are usually narrow, and larger buildings may have columns to support the structure. As the walls widen, there are often two sets of decorative edges near the top. Inside, rooms typically have one or two small windows and an altar at the back wall. The ceiling may be made of beams and rocks or shaped like an arch. This style of architecture is similar to that found at Chichen Itza, but on a smaller scale.

Tulum was protected by steep sea cliffs on one side and a strong wall on the other. The wall was about 3–5 meters (10–16 feet) tall and 8 meters (26 feet) thick. It stretched for about 400 meters (1,300 feet) along the side facing the sea. The part of the wall that ran across the site was shorter, measuring about 170 meters (560 feet) on both sides. Building such a large wall would have required a lot of time and effort, showing how important defense was to the Maya. Watch towers were built on the southwest and northwest corners of the site, proving that Tulum was well protected. Five narrow gateways were placed in the wall: two on the north and south sides, and one on the west. The steep cliffs protected the seaward side, except for a small cove with a sandy beach where canoes returned from trading and fishing. A small cenote near the northern side of the wall provided fresh water for the city. The strong wall is one reason Tulum is known as one of the most well-fortified Maya sites.

Three major structures are of interest at the Tulum archaeological site: El Castillo, the Temple of the Frescoes, and the Temple of the Descending God.

The Temple of the Frescoes is one of the most impressive buildings. It has a lower gallery and a smaller second story. The temple was used to observe the movement of the sun. The front of the temple has niches with figurines of the Maya "diving god" or Venus deity. A stucco figure of the "diving god" is still visible above the entrance on the western wall, which is how the temple got its name. A mural on the eastern wall shows a style from highland Mexico called the Mixteca-Puebla style, though visitors are no longer allowed inside.

The Temple of the Descending God has a single room with a door on the west and a narrow staircase built on top of another temple that served as its base. A sculpture with wings, a headdress, and an object in its hands stands in a niche above the door. This sculpture appears in other parts of Tulum.

In the central area of the site is a pyramid that is 7.5 meters (25 feet) tall. El Castillo was built on top of an older structure that had columns and a beam-and-mortar roof. The upper rooms have serpent designs carved into their lintels. The construction of El Castillo seems to have happened in stages. A small shrine near the base of the pyramid was likely used to signal incoming canoes. This shrine is located across from a cove and landing beach, which would have been ideal for trading canoes. This feature may have been one reason the Maya chose to build Tulum, as it later became an important trading port during the late Postclassic period.

Trading

Both coastal and land paths met at Tulum. Artifacts discovered at or near the site show that people in Tulum traded with areas across Central Mexico and Central America. Copper items from the Mexican highlands, as well as flint, pottery, incense burners, and gold objects from the Yucatán region, have been found there. Goods like salt and textiles were brought to Tulum by sea and then taken inland. Items commonly sent from Tulum included feathers and copper objects from inland areas. These goods could be transported by sea to rivers such as the Río Motagua and the Río Usumacincta/Pasión system, which allowed canoes to travel inland, connecting the highlands and lowlands.

The Río Motagua begins in the highlands of Guatemala and flows into the Caribbean Sea. The Río Usumacincta/Pasión river system also starts in the Guatemalan highlands and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It may have been one of these canoes that Christopher Columbus first saw near the Bay Islands of Honduras. Jade and obsidian were among the more valuable items found at Tulum. Obsidian was brought from Ixtepeque in northern Guatemala, which is about 700 kilometers (430 miles) away from Tulum. The long distance and the large amount of obsidian found at the site show that Tulum was an important center for trading obsidian.

Tourism

The Tulum archaeological site is smaller than many other Maya sites nearby and is one of the best-preserved coastal Maya sites. Its closeness to modern tourist areas along the Mexican Caribbean coastline and its short distance from Cancún and the surrounding "Riviera Maya" have made it a popular Maya tourist site in the Yucatán Peninsula. Daily tour buses bring many visitors to the site. The Tulum ruins are the third most-visited archaeological site in Mexico, after Teotihuacan and Chichen Itza, with over 2.2 million visitors in 2017.

Many cenotes are found in the Tulum area, including Maya Blue, Naharon, Temple of Doom, Tortuga, Vacaha, Grand Cenote, Abejas, Nohoch Kiin, Calavera, and Zacil-Ha.

Tulum has some of the best beaches in Mexico. Popular beaches include Playa Paraiso, Playa Ruinas, Playa Akumal, Papaya Playa, and others. Researchers from CV Villas named Tulum beaches as having the whitest sand, only 1.4 points away from the whitest shade among over 200 beaches worldwide.

The tourist destination is now divided into six main areas: the archaeological site, the Pueblo (or town), the Zona Hotelera (or hotel zone along the seafront), Aldea Zama (south of Pueblo), La Veleta (south-west of Pueblo), and the biosphere reserve of Sian Ka'an.

The impact of tourism on Tulum is becoming a topic of discussion. In 2018, Director Rachel Appel made a documentary called "The Dark Side of Tulum" to show the environmental effects of the local tourist industry.

Safety

Crime statistics from Numbeo show that Tulum is a safe place for most visitors. The main safety issues in the area are usually natural events like hurricanes, which can happen from June to October.

Climate

This climate is classified as a tropical savanna climate, which is known for having a long dry season. Scientists use the Köppen Climate Classification system to describe this type of climate, and it is labeled as Aw (Tropical Savanna Climate).