Lol-tún Caves

About 20km/12.4mi north of Labná via Cooperativa on the road to Oxcutzcab are the Lol-tún Caves ("Grutas de Lol-tún"); the name means "stone flower" in Maya.

On the outside rock wall near the Nahkab entrance to the cave can be seen a larger-than-life flat relief figure of a richly-ornamented Maya warrior with a spear in his right hand. Experts have not yet been able to decipher a row of vertical glyphs above and to the left of the figure, but there is little doubt that they are among the oldest Maya inscriptions yet found. The relief has now been dated at 300 to 100 bc. The interesting stalactitic caves contain remnants of wall-paintings and rock-drawings as well as the "Stone Head of Lol-tún". The caves were probably inhabited as long ago as 2500 bc Pottery dating from 1200 to 600 bc has been found, as well as some from the Maya Classic period and later. It is assumed that the caves were also used as places of refuge from the Spanish conquistadors. There are conducted tours of the caves at certain times of the day.