Editing Mayapan (section)

==Trade==
[[File:Mayapan2.jpg|thumb|Columned hall, seen from the Kukulkan pyramid.]]
Mayapan was a major capital in the Yucatán, and there is extensive evidence that it had far-reaching trade routes, as seen in architecture and artifacts of other settlements in the region.  A wide variety of goods were traded, including maize, honey, salt, fish, game, cloth, and birds.

===Peten===
Zacpeten on Lake Salpeten&nbsp;– Incense burners found at this site are nearly identical to those found at Mayapan. The temple assemblages at Zacpeten are very similar to those at Mayapan. Topoxte in Lake Yaxha, Peten also shares similarities of architecture and artifacts of effigy censers. Topoxte architectural remains show a similar stone carving style to Mayapan. Also, tiny “dwarf” shrines found at this site were very similar to shrines found at Mayapan. The two sites appear to have been abandoned around the same time; which may suggest a connection between their governments.

===Highland Guatemala===
Architectural and artifact connections are seen between Mayapan and the [[Utatlan]] in highland Guatemala. Examples are similar temple assemblages, the presence of skull imagery and squatting figures, extensive and lavish use of stucco combined with crude masonry, and effigy figure censers.

===Yucatan East Coast===
This region also shows apparent influence of Mayapan, in similar temple assemblages, similarities in architecture, effigy censers at some sites, and parallels between architectural decoration at Mayapan and some east coast sites. The east coast sites exported products such as cotton, salt, and honey from the Yucatán. Sites in Guatemala traded back cacao. [[El Chayal]] in Guatemala was the only source of the obsidian found at Mayapan.

===Aztecs, Central Mexico, and the Campeche Coast===
The presence of Matillas Fine Orange ceramics in Mayapan suggests trade with Tabasco. This area may have mediated trade between Mayapan and the rest of Central Mexico. Sculptures and murals at Mayapan suggest that there was contact between Mayapan and the rising Aztec empire. Some Mayapan figures showed details of Aztec dress, and what appears to be an Aztec deity is carved on an altar in Mayapan.

This evidence suggests a: “circum-Yucatecan trade route that linked Mayapan to Peten, northern Belize, and east-coast sites in the Late Postclassic period.” (Melbrath & Peraza Lope 2003:24–31)