Sacred Cenote

Sacred Cenote is about a 5-minute walk due n. of the Platform of Venus along a dirt path. This path was once a Mayan sacbe, or paved causeway. Two cenotes, or limestone sinkholes, served Chichén Itzá. The Sacred Cenote is a 190-foot-wide pit that was used for human sacrifice to appease the rain god Chac. The skeletons of men, women and children have been excavated, which suggests that in addition to young maidens—the preferred sacrificial victim—the diseased and mentally ill also may have been drowned in the well.

Excavations of the cenote have unearthed bones, idols, jewelry, jade objects and other artifacts from different parts of Mexico, leading archeologists to believe that pilgrimages to Chichén Itzá continued long after its abandonment.