El Mirador
17 45'18 .18 "N 89 55'13 .55" W / 17.75505, -89.9204306
El Mirador is an archaeological Mayan Preclassic Period in the basin of the same name, located in the department of Petn in Guatemala , a few miles south of the Mexican border, in the heart of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve. He stood in the middle of a dense rainforest dotted with seasonal wetlands. Built from the sixth century BC. AD , it reached its peak between the third century BC. BC and first century to be abandoned around 150 AD. The site was reoccupied in part to the classical period (ca. 700-900).
The inclination of the Maya for architectural splendors appeared around the year 600 BC. AD with the construction of massive pyramids El Mirador.
Modern History
The site was known chicleros that roamed the area in search of chicle. They gave him his name: "El Mirador", the "observation post" in Spanish, because the top of the pyramids we embrace the surrounding area. We must also chicleros the name of the main structures on the site: "Tiger" (Jaguar), "Danta (tapir) or" Mono "(howler monkeys). The site was officially visited for the first time in 1926 and was the subject of aerial photographs in 1930. The first archaeological expedition took place in 1933. It was not until 1962 that archaeologists are returning to this area particularly difficult to access. A first series of important works, led by Ray T. Matheny, Bruce H. Dalhin and Arthur Demarest and Robert J. Sharer, lasted from 1978 to 1983.
Since 2003, archaeologist Richard D. Hansen is working. The "Cuenca Mirador" at the head of a group of five sites selected in 2002 by the Government of Guatemala for an appointment on the World Heritage List of UNESCO , a project opposed by some .
Description
The site probably extends over nearly 16 km 2 . From west to east there are the West Group and the Danta complex connected by a sacbe. The West Group is composed of several complexes, the most famous are the Tigre Complex, the Central Acropolis and Monos Complexes. This part of the site is bounded by a fence on the east and south, while to the west it ends with a steep slope. All the more impressive is the Tigre Complex, dominated by the pyramid of the same name. The floor of this building 54 meters high is six times larger than the Temple IV Tikal . The pyramid is topped by three structures, a large flanked by two smaller ones. This arrangement "triad" is characteristic of the architecture of El Mirador and the Late Formative in general
References
- Quacks green tourism
- The oldest Mayan frieze , Radio-Canada, March 9, 2009 (source: AFP)
- Nikolai Grube (ed.), The Mayan art and civilization, Knemann, P. 445
- David Drew, The Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings, Phoenix, P. 131
- Nikolai Grube, The Mayan art and civilization, Knemann, P. 59
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