Cerros is an Eastern Lowland
Maya archaeological site in northern
Belize that functioned from the Late Preclassic to the Postclassic period. The site reached its apogee during the
Mesoamerican Late Preclassic and at its peak, it held a population of approximately 1,089 people. The site is strategically located on a
peninsula at the mouth of the
New River where it empties into
Chetumal Bay on the Caribbean coast. As such, the site had access to and served as an intermediary link between the coastal trade route that circumnavigated the
Yucatán Peninsula and inland communities. The inhabitants of Cerros constructed an extensive
canal system and utilized
raised-field agriculture.