Kaminaljuyu
14 37'58 .08 "N 90 32'56 .76" W / 14.6328, -90.5491 Kaminaljuyu is a site archaeological Mesoamerica located at 1 500m altitude in the highlands of Guatemala on the line of watershed Atlantic / Pacific.
Summary |
Introduction
The site covers a long occupation time which corresponds to the pre-classical period of Mayan civilization or the Era I , II and III of Mesoamerica. It was a large site (5 km ), of which he remained over two hundred mounds and platforms during the first excavations, but in much poorer condition than those visited by tourists en masse as Chichen Itza or Tikal. Much of the site has been swallowed up by development on the outskirts of Guatemala City. However, an archaeological park preserves the center of the city.
The first excavations were undertaken in 1935 by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Rescue excavation, the development of the capital of Guatemala made urgent, were conducted in the 1960s by the Pennsylvania State University.
If we do have almost nothing Arevalo phase, the oldest site (from -1100 to -1000 , the Las Charcas phase (from -1000 to -700 ) we are better known, among other things, very characteristic of female statuettes. 9 stele, found in the mound-III C-6, is probably a leader Kaminaljuyu: it represents a person whose mouth drops a scroll, a sign which, in Mesoamerica, said the voice and power.
The site reached its zenith in the Late Preclassic, from -400 to 200 AD. BC ( Period II ). Its prosperity was certainly due to the mine control of obsidian from El Chayal. Everything indicates that a state hierarchy was Kaminaljuyu, whose elites were able to mobilize a workforce impressive, capable of building the pyramids of adobe bricks (twenty-five million bricks for larger structures), reduced current the rule of molehills. One of them, the mound E-III-3, contained two burials in the Miraflores phase, which reflect the richness of leaders: we have found over 300 objects in one and 200 in the other. There were several carved stelae, some with glyphs columns forming a text, including the stele 10, who has done and is still the subject of speculation as to the origin of Maya writing. Theory more often used is that the authors of texts Kaminajuyu were speakers of Mayan Ch'ol group. Stele 11, meanwhile, represents a character whose head is a mask of "bird god", similar to that of the stele 4 of Izapa or La Mojarra stela , dating from the same period. The custom of erecting stelae representing important figures, usually in combination with a text will be adopted by the Maya Lowlands in the classical period.
At the turn of the Preclassic and Classic, circa AD 200 ( Period III ), the region is affected by important changes. Kaminaljuyu trade routes are disrupted by the expansion of another Mayan group, the K'iche ', from the northwest. The latter eventually occupy Kaminaljuyu. Archaeologists were able to track these changes by following the expansion of the ceramic Solano associated with K'iche '. During Phase Aurora (from 200 to 400 , the written tradition disappears completely from the city. During the phase Esperanza Kaminaljuyu bears the unquestionable influence of Teotihuacan , visible in some monuments talud-tablero or by the presence of tripod vessels. The terms of this presence have made and are still being debated. William Sanders and Barbara Price have suggested that Kaminaljuyu became a colony of Teotihucan. The latter, which controlled the deposits ' obsidian from Pachuca and Otumba, wanted to get their hands on deposits and Ixtepeque Chayal El, located near Kaminaljuyu and ensure the monopoly of production osidienne in Mesoamerica References Bibliography
See also
Related articles
External Links
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5, rated)
Loading ...