Calakmul is the name given to site of one of the greatest ancient Maya cities ever disclosed.

It is present in the 1,800,000 acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region, 30 km from the Guatemalan border.

The archaeological site was first started in 1931 by American Biologist Cyrus Lundell while conducting an aerial survey of the region.

Based upon latest mining and epigraphic research there, William Folan and Joyce Marcus have concluded that the ancient city of Calakmul was rented from the Middle Preclassic to the Postclassic periods.