Western Petén, Sierra del Lacandón

Maya sites in the Lacandón National Park (2005)

Sierra del Lacandon | La Pasadita | Texcoco | Tecolote | Esmeralda | Fajardo | Oso Negro | Macabilero | Union Maya Itzá | El Kinel | Zancudero

Sierra del Lacandón: On the western Petén, between  the Usumacinta River and the Sierra del Lacandón, is the National Park Sierra del Lacandón (Map below) is Guatemala's second largest national park. It has, along with Mirador-Río Azul National Park, the most Biodiversity  of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, including more than 200 tree species per hectare. Its uneven topography and high annual precipitation help create characteristics unique to this protected area. In addition, Sierra del Lacandón National Park contains high quality archeological ruins like Piedras Negras, and  archeological caves from the Maya Civilization of the Classic and Pre Classic periods.

National Park Map

Tixán Structure

Satellite Photo     Note the Dense forest in black, Marking the borders with Mexico, and the north being deforested by mexican ilegal timber.

 

La Pasadita: This Late Classic (600-800 AD) site is shrouded in forest and accessible only by foot and horse. La Pasadita is known primarily for two carved lintels on display in museums and private collections outside Guatemala, as well as two polychrome mural fragments recovered, La pasadita Was the Frontier post between Yaxchilán 8 km. west and Piedras Negras to the North, its architecture links La Pasadita with Yaxchilán, as well as the vestiges of a huge Bridge in the Usumacinta river, while El Tecolote, a nearby site has distinctive Piedras Negras influences, giving this two sites great value to understand  the polities of the Maya Kingdoms. The landscape in and around La Pasadita itself is dramatic, with high cliffs rising from low hills and narrow valleys, all surrounding a small, deep lake. By far the majority of settlement at La Pasadita is focused on hilltops. Every hilltop that presented suitable space for occupation contained at least one structure. Patio groups are organized around the constraints imposed by the natural landscape. The Main Group is the most dramatic example of this, overlooking a vertical drop of at least 50 mt. In contrast to occupation on the valley floor, platforms on hilltops tend to be larger, commonly with mounds of up to 2.00 mt. high. Caves (Yax Ik, Zac Ik, and Tepezcuintle), and other similar geological phenomenon also figure prominently in the organization of the settlement. Ceramic collections recovered from these caves provide the bulk of material available for analysis from La Pasadita, most of this ceramic comes from the Classic era, but some with Late Pre Classic style have been identified.

Preliminary site map	Lintel 1
Lintel 2 (drawings by I Graham)	Structure 1

 

Texcoco: was a center of regional importance. The size of the architecture, the extent of the site, the presence of carved monuments, a vaulted sweat bath, and other features indicate the significance of the site. Furthermore, the site is arrayed along a ridge top, accessible through narrow valleys, and situated on the flanks of the sierra suggests that Texcoco was built with defense in mind, although there is no reason to assume that this was the only reason for its placement on the landscape. Archeologist believes this is a Terminal Classic site due to its masonry but the question about if it was a secondary site to Piedras Negras or a Regional center remains open. If Texcoco was contemporary with dynastic Piedras Negras, it is almost certainly a secondary political center within the political hierarchy of the kingdom. If, however, Texcoco post-dates the dynastic power of Piedras Negras, the construction of this site on a ridge top may indicate a breakdown in regional stability, and political authority in the area may have been splintered. If this is the case, Texcoco may have been a primary center in a fractured political landscape.

Site Map (Grids are hectares)		Pyramid in Texcoco

Tecolote: A Late Classic site  is situated remarkably close to the site of La Pasadita. At Tecolote, oppose to Texcoco, we can be somewhat more secure in the dating of the monumental architecture and the site’s role in the political hierarchy of the region. On the basis of architectural form it is apparent that Structure 1 is a Late Classic building, with no earlier component. There is no evidence for major modification of the substructure or superstructure, and the building was probably completed in a single construction phase. Tecolote, was probably strategically placed to control both the local resources and maintain the frontier with the kingdom of Piedras Negras to the north. Structure 1 at Tecolote, with two doors facing onto the plaza and a third facing to the side, is identical to the structure at La Pasadita that contained murals and sculpted lintels. 
 

	Group A Map	Structure1 Group A (Vaulted room)
Structure 1  Staircase and Front	Late Classic Palace	Mural painting

Esmeralda:  a Late Classic tertiary site associated to Piedras Negras. The Central group consist in a grouping of approximately twenty-one structures is evidently the Late to Terminal Classic period political node of Esmeralda. Although the architecture is imposing for rural settlement, the masonry is not finely done and consists largely of rough-cut blocks over dry-laid rubble in an area of dense settlement arrayed along the northern edge of a bajo extending north from the Laguneta Lacandón. Almost all other architectural groupings identified in the reconnaissance of Esmeralda consisted of one to four mounds arranged in patios. The exception to this pattern is a group located approximately 800 m to the northeast of  the central Group. that consists of nine structures arranged into a loose grouping of structures. Among these structures are two pyramidal buildings approximately 4.00 m high, and a large (2.00–3.00 m high) range structure. The pattern of settlement suggests that Esmeralda may have been composed of two communities, with clusters around the Central group as well as the smaller Northeastern group.

Preliminary site Map Blue triangles are Main groups

Central Group Map

North group Map

Fajardo:  The site was first discovered on 2003, this settlement is similar to Esmeralda in terms of density and the orientation of settlement to seasonally inundated wetlands and seasonally filled arroyos. Plaza groups are located at intervals of approximately 50 to 80 m.there are at least twenty-seven plaza groups. Fajardo, like Esmeralda is probably a tertiary political node, the bajos provided farmland for crops that supported not only local occupation, but the larger centers of the Piedras Negras kingdom.

Preliminary Fajardo site Map

 

Oso Negro: The center of Oso Negro is dominated by a palace structure known as Las Puertas. The palace itself is located atop a large, modified natural hill consisting of at least five different levels. On the top level, the vaulted palace structure shares a platform with another smaller mound. To the north, two small mounds are located atop a lower platform. To the south of the structure, at least one walled structure sits atop a lower platform. A second, lower platform is located further to the south, featuring another three mounds. The southern platforms appear to have been accessed by a series of small stairways not shown in the plan of the site. Beyond the Las Puertas group, settlement at Oso Negro is relatively sparse. There is a second large platform to the north of the main group, though it lacks vaulted architecture. Beyond the site core, the majority of settlement consists of modest residential mound groups located along a series of arroyos (now dry) that drain from the Sierra del Lacandón from the northeast. This settlement consists of patio groups of three to five low mounds (1-2 meters high), usually situated atop a platform. This site had relations with the Hix Witz Polity.

Painted lintel at Oso Negro

Staircase at Oso Negro

Site Map

Location Map

  Macabilero: It is the largest site aside Piedras Negras, is Located on a hill that was modified by megalitic stones and has a staircase,  70 mt. long to the Usumacinta River east bank, below. Located in a highly strategic point, that dominates the surrounding sites of Cayo and Esmeralda. This city was lost in the Jungle, until recently, it has more than 40 large structures and it dates from the Pre Classic to Late Classic only its main Acropolis and 2 plazas has been mapped and no formal excavations have been done yet.

Site map

Unión Maya Itzá: The archaeological site of Unión Maya Itzá  consists of a number of mound groups densely scattered within and around the modern community of the same name. At the present time, all of these mound groups are being treated as the same site, though a more thorough survey may indicate the presence of distinct settlement clusters. A sample of this settlement was mapped and includes the groups Los Metates, Lacandón, Solitario, and Alacrán. Architecture at Unión Maya Itzá is modest, consisting of house mounds 1-2 meters high. Interestingly, formal, rectangular patio groups are scarce at Unión Maya Itzá, with most mound groups consisting of densely clustered mounds (Alacrán Group and Los Metates Group). This is quite unlike much of the Classic period settlement in the Sierra del Lacandón where formally arranged rectangular patio groups are the norm. Ceramics recovered on the surface of Unión Maya Itzá, date to the Late and Terminal Classic period, and these distinctive settlement patterns at Unión Maya Itzá, may simply be another form of Classic period settlement not previously encountered in the area.

Mound 1 El Alacrán Group	Incense Burner, from  Unión Maya Itzá

 

El Kinel:   El Kinel is a late classic site significant for two reasons: First, in 2000, a monument depicting Shield Jaguar III, ruler of Yaxchilán, was recovered by members of the local community during road construction. Second, a canal divides the site into a North and a South Sector. The form and size of the canal suggests that it was, in great part, an anthropogenic feature. The first impression of this feature is that it may have functioned
in a defensive role for the people of El Kinel, an interpretation supported by excavations in 2006, which revealed a series of postmolds associated with the canal.

Burial 10

Site map, 2007

Stela 1, Shield Jaguar  III

Vessels in burial 11

 

Zancudro:   Is a small Late Preclassic center uncovered in 2006, situated along the southern limit of the Sierra del Lacandón National Pak, just north of the boundaries of the modern community of La Técnica. The most notable feature of Zancudero is a defensive wall measuring approximately 800m in length, that encircles a series of low platforms and a massive hill that provides a sweeping view of the surrounding region. In those areas not protected by the wall, the site is surrounded by swampland and the Arroyo Yaxchilán. The 90 mt tall hill is in its center and it has 2 caves as well as platforms in its top.

Site map, 2007