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TheKowoj [koʔwox] (also recorded asKo'woh,Couoh,Coguo,Cohuo,Kob'ow andKob'ox, andKowo) was aMaya group andpolity, from the Late Postclassic period (ca. 1250–1697) ofMesoamerican chronology. The Kowoj claimed to have migrated fromMayapan sometime after the city's collapse in 1441 AD.[citation needed] Indigenous documents also describe Kowoj in Mayapan and linguistic data indicate migrations between theYucatán Peninsula and thePetén region.
A specific variant oftemple assemblage, in aC-shaped plaza, defines the location of the Kowoj in bothMayapan andPetén. These assemblages were the exemplary centers of the Ko'woj. The temple assemblages also communicated a prestigious connection with Mayapan and differentiated the Kowoj from theirItzá neighbors in thePetén Basin region. Temple assemblage with raised shrine lies at a right angle to a western facing temple rather than facing into it. This specific variant appears at central Petén sites including Zacpetén,Topoxte, and Muralla de Leon, all of which lie within the reconstructed Ko'woj social boundaries. Ceremonial architecture outside these boundaries follows a very different pattern. For example, Late Post Classic Itzá ceremonial groups do not appear to include formal temples. The residences at Zacpetén are tandem-shaped structures standing in patio groups. Tandem residences include a front room and back room, the former has a plastered and occasionally painted surface while the latter has an earthen floor. Household production activities are concentrated in the back room, while socializing and ritual performances were focused upon the front room.
Their main cities wereZacpeten, on the Salpetén lake,Ixlu, betweenPetén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, andTopoxte on theYaxha lagoon, that was abandoned prior to their conquest in 1697 AD. The Ko'woj and theItzá were the last cultures to be conquered inMesoamerica.
