Around 3,000 years ago, a few intrepid farming families braved the journey into the remote Puuc hills of the Northern Maya lowlands and founded the earliest villages in the region. Over the course of several generations, these communities grew into planned civic centers complete with large central platforms and ballcourts. Small-scale communities like Xanab Chak and Paso del Macho consecrated their civic spaces by burying a significant amount of symbolically important materials like jade, basalt, and ceramic vessels made to represent models of the universe.