Here is the final collage from my ruin series. This one is of the beautiful coastal settlement of Tulum. In Maya, Tulum means "Wall," and the city was christened thus in the early 1900s because it is a walled city and one of the very few the ancient Maya ever built. Research suggests it was called Zama (Zamal) or "to dawn" in its day, which is appropriate given the location. Sunrises at Tulum are breathtaking. It seems that Tulum's name is a recent; one that has come to be used after the city was already in ruins, and it is precisely with this name that it was called in the early 20th century when the explorers Stephens and Catherwood rediscover it, completely abandoned, just before the beginning of the Caste War. The earliest date lifted from the site is AD 564 (the inscription on a stele) This places Tulum within the Mayan Classic period, though its heyday was much later (1200 - 1521 AD) during the Late Post-classic period. Tulum was a major link in the Maya's extensive trade network. Both maritime and land routes converged here. Artifacts found in or near the site testify to contacts that ranged from Central Mexico to Central America and every place in between: copper rattles and rings from the Mexican highlands; flint and ceramics from all over the Yucatan; jade and obsidian from Guatemala and more. The first Europeans to see Tulum were probably Juan de Grijalva and his men as they sailed reconnaissance along the Eastern coast of Yucatan; in 1518. The Spaniards later returned to conquer the Peninsula unwittingly bringing Old World diseases which decimated the native population. And so Tulum, like so many cities before it, was abandoned to the elements. Enough history (thanks logogringo.com). The photos include shots of watchtowers, residences, temples and the tall Castillo. I hope to get back there one day and take more photos...hopefully in the morning or late afternoon when there are few tourist. ;^]