Temple of the Green Tomb (A-1)

17.7651°N, 88.3481°W.

The Temple of the Green Tomb, designated Structure A-1, sits at the northern end of Altun Ha's Plaza A in north-central Belize. The pyramid is a stepped Early Classic structure of cut limestone, rising about 9 metres above the plaza, and its name comes from the contents of an interior burial recovered in 1964 by David Pendergast for the Royal Ontario Museum. The tomb contained over 300 objects of jade, including beads, plaques, and pendants of varying greens, alongside obsidian, pearl, and the remains of a single high-status individual interred around 550 CE. The jade itself originated from the Motagua Valley in present-day Guatemala, evidence of Altun Ha's integration into the long-distance Maya trade routes. Plaza A served as the principal ceremonial space at Altun Ha throughout the Classic, with smaller pyramidal structures clustered around its perimeter. The site's modern name is Yucatec for "Rockstone Pond," a reference to a nearby reservoir.

The Temple of the Green Tomb is a coastal pyramid that turned out to hold the largest single jade cache documented at the site.