The site of Ujuxte (Ramon tree or breadnut
tree) (uh-hush-te) is the largest Pre Classical site to be
discovered in
Pacific coast, Guatemala. The site
includes
approximately two hundred earthen mounds spread over some 200 hectares
(494 acres) of farmland. It is located twelve kilometers from the
Pacific Ocean in the far western corner of Guatemala. The site
emergeg after La
Blanca and
El Mesak faded, and is of
particular importance because there has been no pre-classical site of
comparable size and period of occupation excavated in this region.
The investigation of Ujuxte could produce
information about the development of social stratification, the
emergence of an elite, and the process of urbanization in an
area which is critical for understanding the emergence of
civilization in Mesoamerica. The
site was founded most likely about 1200 BC. and was occupied until about
200 AD. Its apogee ended ca. 400 BC, when the dominance shifted to
Tak'alik Abaj,
40 Km to the northeast. The largest of the mounds, Mound 1, forms the northwest boundary
of the central plaza. It rises some twenty meters above the
plain and required more than 60,000 cubic meters of earth for
its construction. The second largest mound, Mound 2, is the
northeast boundary of the central plaza. It is the focal point
of a complex that involves at least seven smaller mounds, all
arranged on a platform. This grouping and its platform required
around 63,000 cubic meters of earth for its construction.
Ujuxte was in large part a planned city.
Most of the city’s mounds have an orientation about 35 degrees east
of magnetic north. There are also Late Pre-Classic groups within the
city whose mounds have an orientation of 55 degrees east of north.
Both large mounds and small residential mounds
are laid out with regular, nearly gridlike spacing, creating streets
and boulevards. The
civic architecture of Ujuxte also
follows a formal plan. The heart of Ujuxte’s ceremonial center
consists of Mound 1 and the Mound 2 Complex. The Mound 2 Complex
proper consists of seven mounds on a large platform. Mound 1 is
southwest of the group and probably had its stairway on the south
side.
The plan of the entire
complex, including a smaller version of Mound 1, is duplicated at
the nearby secondary center of Chiquirines. The largest mound at
Chiquirines has its stairway on the west side, however. The plan of
the Mound 2 platform is followed at the site of SM-142 as well, but
lacks a large mound to the west. The SM-142 site might be classified
as a tertiary center (Love).
Ujuxte has many spaces
with evident restricted access. Other spaces are enclosed in
different structured ways. South of Mound 2 lies a massive
ballcourt formed by Mounds 3 and 4. Both Mound 4 and the
adjacent Mound 5 have enclosed patios on their east sides. An
enclosed elite residential area may also be present near the core of
ceremonial buildings. The tallest residential mounds within Ujuxte
lie in a zone bounded by large ceremonial mounds and a now dry
streambed. These mounds have extremely high densities of ground
stone tools and large quantities of decorated ceramics.
The chronology of Ujuxte places it as the
second in a sequence of three regional centers in the area,
between the sites of
La Blanca, some
twelve kilometers to the Northwest of Ujuxte, and the site of
Tak´alik´ Abaj´, about thirty
kilometers to the Northeast.
The Ujuxte Archaeological Project was begun, in order to amplify data
on the Early and Middle Preclassic periods along the Pacific coastal
plain of Guatemala and to investigate the key questions of regional
prehistory following the collapse of
La Blanca.
The research at Ujuxte is centered on the study of the growth
and collapse of early states in the region. It is to be
noted that two nearby secondary centers, Chiquirines and
Coatunco had a focal grouping of mounds that replicated the
principal grouping at Ujuxte.
|
Similarities in the alignment of
Ujuxte
and Minor sites nearby |
The two largest mounds are the focus of
the central plaza witch is oriented to the raising of the sun on
the mornings of the spring and fall equinoxes, Mound 1 is 20 meters in height and Mound 2 is
16 meters high. The plaza also consists of an early ball court
formed by Mounds 3 and 4, each over 7 meters tall. Early
occupation of the site was widespread, covering over 4 square
kilometers. Later growth filled in the open spaces, forming the
current dense pattern of mounds seen today. The central plaza
appears to have a celestial alignment that coincides with the
rise and fall of the
Pleiades. Also, on the summer solstice, the
sun rises from behind the
Tajumulco volcano
on the eastern
horizon, in a line directly over the plaza. The celestial
alignment is only maintained in the central plaza, most likely
the ceremonial center. The outer edges of the site, however,
show no alignment, possibly representing a residential area.
Several regional sites, contemporaneous and in proximity to
Ujuxte, are smaller copies and appear to be secondary centers to
Ujuxte, which indicate its importance and domination in the
region.
Remnants of the hard packed dirt floors of the plaza from the Middle
to Late Preclassic transitional period, 300 BC, through the middle of
the Late Preclassic Period, 100 BC, were uncovered. Buried beneath the
floors at the near the axis intersection were caches of whole vessels.
|
References: |
|
Love, Michael, Donaldo Castillo, y Beatriz
Balcárcel |
|
1996 |
Exploraciones Arqueológicas en
El Ujuxte, Retalhuleu. Informe Preliminar sobre
la Temporada de 1994-96 del Proyecto Ujuxte.
Entregado al Instituto de Antropología e
Historia de Guatemala |
|
Michael Love |
|
2000 |
Reports Submitted to FAMSI:
The Analysis of Archaeological Materials from El
Ujuxte, Guatemala
Michael Love,
California State University, Northridge
Work Conducted in the Laboratory Season
of 2000 |
