Kankí

Kankí is a medium-sized Maya site in the Puuc architectural style, in the municipality of Tenabo, at about 50 metres above sea level. Pollock reported it in May 1940 during his survey of the Puuc region of Campeche. The name is linked to a wild shrub with yellow flowers; INAH adds that it may mean yellow henequen, or come from kancib, yellow wax, since the area produced a lot of wax: the 1549 records of the Tenabo encomienda list honey and wax among the tribute goods.

The buildings went up roughly between AD 600 and 850. The main ones stand on a rise about 10 metres above the surrounding land, beside palaces and residential areas with chultunes, underground cisterns that caught rainwater and held roughly 50,000 to 90,000 litres each. Two limestone lintels from the site, one showing the god of merchants and one a warrior, are now in Campeche museums.

Building 1, the Edificio de la Crestería, is still being explored; on its east side is a wide frieze with several badly worn stucco masks, and restoring one of them showed that it belonged to a roof comb built on a north-south axis. East of it is the Casa del Oriente, with ruined rooms and parts of its vault still standing. Visitors can also see the Inverted Staircase Building, the House of the Twenty Chambers and part of the southeast courtyard. It is said that around 1 to 3 May light on the roof-comb mask forms the face of the sun god.

The village of Kankí, with a little over 200 people in the 2010 census, lies on the way. It is a short, quiet visit.