| Kaminaljuyú |
This site was first reported by Alfred
P. Maudsley in the late nineteenth century, but its importance was not fully
recognized until the 1940's, when the first of many excavations were done
there. Lying inside present day Guatemala City,
much
of the
site has been covered by serious urban sprawl, but part of it still
remains mostly as mounds. Most
items of
interest about the site are at the museums,
including the Museo
Popol Vuh, but a good amount of structure and standing walls can be seen under
shelters
now.
There were 350 buildings known and all were made of adobe, but many have been lost to encroaching neighborhoods. What remains is enclosed in a park. Some of the remaining site has been excavated. It does not make dramatic impression like Tikal does, but for the enthusiast, there is some happiness in strolling through all the mounds of this patch of greenness in Guatemala City.
This
site dates back possibly to the early Preclassic period (800 BCE-300 CE), but by
its end, the city was abandoned. During the Early Classic (300-600CE, it
became a major center and soon came under the influence
of Teotihuacan and
remained so until around the end of that era. The city has been described
as a miniature Teotihuacán and it clearly had ties to that city so far to the
north. In fact, it was abandoned at about the same time that Teotihuacan
collapsed.
We took cabs to get there and back. When returning, walk out of the entrance toward the left and continue until you see a major street. There you can get another cab back.