Down the sacbe and next to the famous arch is El Mirador, an unusual structure perched on top of a mound with a well-preserved roof-comb and remnants of a sculpture of a human figure on its corner. Without iron to chisel and sculpt these vast cities of rock, and no wheel or beast of burden to move them, our preconceived notions of the capabilities of stone age people canīt help but be challenged.

"Above the cornice of the building rises a gigantic perpendicular wall to the height of thirty feet, once ornamented from top to bottom with colossal figures and other designs in stucco, now broken and in fragments, but still presenting a curious and extraordinary appearance. Along the top, standing out on the wall, was a row of death's heads; over the centre doorway, constituting the principal ornament of the wall, was a colossal figure seated...Conspicuous over the head of this principal figure is a large ball, with a human figure standing up beside it, touching it with his hands, and another below it with one knee on the ground, and one hand thrown up as if in the effort to support the ball, or in the apprehension of its falling upon him."
(Stephens, Incidents of Travel in Yucatan 1841 vol. 2, pp. 31-32)