Ritual stone shafts placed at Yucatec Maya villages
Acantuns are ritual stone shafts placed at the four corners of a Yucatec Maya village. When night fell, four Balams (Jaguars) were said to arrive and sit on the idols to keep guard over the village.
Markman, Roberta H.; Peter T. Markman (1992). The Flayed God: the Mesoamerican Mythological Tradition; Sacred Texts and Images from pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America. San Francisco: Harper. ISBN0-06-250528-9. OCLC25507756.