The scale of construction at the site in its Terminal Classic phase suggests a period of intensive investment and growth.

The city drew people, goods, and tribute from across a wide region.

Its architectural program communicated both power and cosmological claims — this was a city that understood itself as occupying a special place in the structure of the universe.

It is in this context — the apex of Chichén Itzá’s power and influence, during the Terminal Classic and the early Postclassic — that the use of the chultún for ritual interment likely falls.

The city at this period was at the height of its capacity to organize and conduct large-scale ritual activities, to draw populations from a wide area, and to maintain the ceremonial infrastructure that included the Sacred Cenote and the various subterranean features associated with it.