The Chultuns were very important resources to the Maya
and may well have had a religious significance.
Bottle-shaped Chultuns were almost certainly used for water storage: in this part of the
Yucatan, natural water sources called cenotes are absent.
These Chultuns are usually located near residences, and
their internal walls often have a thick layer of plaster to make them waterproof.
Water was a scarce resource among the Maya in several regions, and Chultuns were only part of their sophisticated water control systems.
Archaeologists and historians report that Chultuns were used for storage purposes,
for rainwater or other things, and after abandonment for trash and sometimes even burials.
It is possible that Chultuns were used to store other types of food,
ones that have a higher resistance to humidity, or only for a very short period of time.
Dahlin and Litzinger proposed that Chultuns could have been used for the preparation
of fermented drinks such as maize-based chicha beer since the chultun's internal microclimate seems particularly favorable for this kind of process.