The Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its spectacular art, monumental architecture, and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period, many of these reached their apogee of development during the Classic period (c. 250 CE to 900 CE), and continued throughout the Postclassic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world. The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest. The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the result of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideologies (and structured by the almost total adoption of Roman Catholicism). Many different Mayan languages continue to be spoken as primary languages today; the Rabinal Achí, a play written in the Achi' language, was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. (more)
Genres: biology, science
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Mesoamerica:
Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Mesoamérica) is a region in the mid-latitudes of the Americas, namely the culture area within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centu
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Maya calendar:
The Maya calendar is a system of distinct calendars and almanacs used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and by some modern Maya communities in highland Guatemala. These calendars can be synchronized and interlocked in many ways,
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Spanish conquest of Yucatán:
The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán was the campaign undertaken by the Spanish conquistadores against the Late Postclassic Maya states and polities, particularly in the northern and central Yucatán Peninsula but also involving the Maya polities of the Gu
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Mayan languages:
The Mayan languages (alternatively: Maya languages) form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize. In 1996, Guat
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Rabinal Achí:
The Rabinal Achí is a Maya theatrical play performed in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala. Its original name is Xajooj Tun meaning, Tun (drum) Dance. Rabinal Achí is a dynastic Maya drama from the fifteenth century and a rare example of pre-Hispanic t
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Maya peoples:
The Maya peoples constitute a diverse range of the Native American peoples of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a convenient collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree
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Maya mythology:
Maya mythology refers to the pre-Columbian Maya civilization's extensive polytheistic religious beliefs. These beliefs had most likely been long-established by the time the earliest-known distinctively Maya monuments had been built and inscriptions d
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Maya numerals:
The Pre-Columbian Maya civilization used a vigesimal (base-twenty) numeral system. The numerals are made up of three symbols; zero (shell shape), one (a dot) and five (a bar). For example, nineteen (19) is written as four dots in a horizontal row abo
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Hunac Ceel:
Hunac Ceel (fl. late 12th and early 13th centuries) was a Mayan general from Telchaquillo who conquered Chichen Itzá and founded the Cocom dynasty. While the rulers of Chichen Itzá were in part descendants of Toltec outsiders who might have been disl
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Trade in Maya civilization:
During the height of the Maya civilization, trade was a crucial factor in maintaining cities. Although the economy was fairly loose, and based mostly on food and other basic necessities, there was a large need for trade in order to bring such basic g
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Maya textiles:
Knowledge of Mayan textiles is limited mostly to elite ceremonial costumes; nonetheless their clothing has significant representation in the complexities of their culture. The most prevalent and influential aspect of women’s clothing in ancient Maya
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Pre-Columbian Maya music:
The Music that was central to pre-Columbian Maya culture still remains a bit of a mystery today. On the other hand, many aspects of Maya music have come to light from archaeological discoveries, ancient Maya murals, and ancient Maya texts. It is evid
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Mexico:
The United Mexican States ( ), or commonly Mexico ( ) ( ), is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Beliz
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Mesoamerican chronology:
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into a number of named successive eras or periods, from the earliest evidence of human habitation through to the early Colonial period which followed the Spanish colonization of
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Spanish colonization of the Americas:
The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain's conquest, settlement, and rule over much of the western hemisphere. Beginning with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, over three centuries the Spanish Empire expanded from early small set
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Tikal:
Tikal (or Tik’al, according to the more current orthography) is the largest of the ancient ruined cities of the Maya civilization. It is located in the El Petén department of Guatemala at . Now part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, it is a UNESCO
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Palenque:
Palenque (Bàak' in Modern Maya) is a Maya archeological site near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas, located about 130 km south of Ciudad del Carmen (see map). It is a medium-sized site, much smaller than such huge sites as Tikal o
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Popol Vuh:
The Popol Vuh (K'iche' for "Council Book" or "Book of the Community"; Popol Wu'uj in modern spelling; ) is a book written in the Classical Quiché language containing mythological narratives and a genealogy of the rulers of the Post-Classic Quiché May
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Chichen Itza:
Chichen Itza ( ); from Chi ' ch ' èen Ìitsha ' , "At the mouth of the well of the Itza") is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Yucatán state, presen
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Maya script:
The Maya script, also known as Maya hieroglyphs, was the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only deciphered Mesoamerican writing system. The earliest inscriptions which are identifiably Maya date to th
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Calakmul:
Calakmul (also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is the name given to site of one of the largest ancient Maya cities ever uncovered. It is located in the 1,800,000 acre Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the
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Uxmal:
Uxmal (Yucatec Maya: Óoxmáal) is a large pre-Columbian ruined city of the Maya civilization in the state of Yucatán, Mexico. It is 78 km south of Mérida, Yucatán, or 110 km from that city on Highway 261 towards Campeche, Campeche), 15 km south-southe
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Piedras Negras (Maya site):
Piedras Negras is the modern name for a ruined city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization located on the north bank of the Usumacinta River in the Petén department of Guatemala. The name Piedras Negras means "black stones" in Spanish. Its name in th
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El Mirador:
El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization, located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala. The site was first discovered in 1926, and was photographed from the air in 1930, but the remote site deep in the
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E-Group:
E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements. They are central components to the settlement organization of Maya sites and served as astronomical observatories. The alignment of these structural complex
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Maya codices:
Maya codices (singular codex) are folding books stemming from the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, written in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican paper, made from the inner bark of certain trees, the main being the wild fig tree or Amate (Ficus
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Frederick Catherwood:
Frederick Catherwood (February 27, 1799 – September 27, 1854) was an English artist and architect, best remembered for his meticulously detailed drawings of the ruins of the Maya civilization. He explored Mesoamerica in the mid 19th century with writ
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Coba:
Coba (Cobá in the Spanish language) is a large ruined city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is located about 90 km east of the Maya site of Chichen Itza, about 40 km west of the Caribbean Sea, a
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Uaxactun:
Uaxactun ( ) is an ancient ruin of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. The site lies some 40 km (24.9 mi) north of the major center of Tikal. The name is so
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Dos Pilas:
Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It was founded as a subservient site to the great city of Tikal in 629. The king of Tikal installed his brother on the throne of the
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Quiriguá:
Quiriguá is an ancient Maya site in the Izabal department of Guatemala. Quiriguá is a medium sized site along the lower Motagua river, with the ceremonial center heart of the site about 1 km from the left bank of the river. The city's period of occup
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Bonampak:
Bonampak (Bòonam Pak' Painted Wall in Modern Maya) is an ancient Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The site is approximately 30km (20 miles) south of the larger site of Yaxchilan, under which Bonampak was a dependency, and the
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Ajaw:
Ajaw (also ahau or ahaw in the older orthography) is a political rulership title attested from the epigraphic inscriptions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, with a meaning variously interpreted as "lord", "ruler", "king" or "leader". It denoted
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Mayapan:
Mayapan (Màayapáan in Modern Maya), (in Spanish Mayapán) is a Pre-Columbian Maya site in the state of Yucatán, Mexico, about 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west of Chichen Itza. Mayapan was the political capital of the Maya in the Yucatan Pen
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Kaminaljuyu:
Kaminaljuyu is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization. Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe, although its remains today - a few mounds only - are far less impressive
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Sacbe:
Sacbe, plural Sacbeob, (Yucatec Maya: singular sakbej, plural sakbejo'ob) or "white ways" are raised paved roads built by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Most connect temples, plazas, and groups of structures within ceremonial cen
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Yaxha:
Yaxha (or Yaxhá in Spanish orthography) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the northeast of the Petén Basin region, and a former ceremonial center and city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Located in the modern-day department of Petén, n
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Chiapas highlands:
The region of the Chiapas highlands are located in the southern-most state of Mexico, Chiapas. Many pre-Columbian Maya civilization sites are located in these highlands.
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Tayasal:
Tayasal is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site that dates to the Postclassic period. The site is located in the southern Maya lowlands on a small island in Lake Petén Itzá, now part of the Department of Petén in northern Guatemala. Tayasal was t
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Sacred Cenote:
Sacred Cenote (Well of Sacrifice) is a noted cenote at the Maya site of Chichen Itza. It is accessed by a 900 foot sacbe (paved corridor) leading from the Great Plaza. The Sacred Cenote was used for human sacrifices to the rain god Chaac in periods o
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Nakbe:
Nakbe is one of the largest early Maya archaeological sites, rivaled by El Mirador. Nakbe is located in the The Mirador Basin, in El Petén region of Guatemala, approximately 13 kilometers south of the Largest Maya city of El Mirador. Excavations at N
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Chocolá:
Chocolá is a Preclassic Southern Maya site whose developmental emphasis was from ca. 1000 BC to AD 200. The site lies within the Southern Maya area, long thought by scholars to have been seminal in the development of "high traits" of Classic Maya civ
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Altun Ha:
Altun Ha is the name given ruins of an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 30 miles (50 km) north of Belize City and about 6 miles (10 km) west of the shore of the Caribbean Sea. "Altun Ha" is a modern name in the Maya l
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Comalcalco, Tabasco:
Comalcalco is both a modern-day city and municipality about 45 miles (60 km) northwest of Villahermosa in the Mexican state of Tabasco and a Pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site. The literal English translation of "Comalcalco" is "In the house of t
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Ko'woj:
The Ko'woj (also recorded as Coguo, Cohuo, Kob'ow, Kob'ox, and Kowo) were a Maya group and polity, from the Late Postclassic period (ca. 1250–1697) of Mesoamerican chronology. The Ko'woj claimed to have migrated from Mayapan sometime after the city's
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Cival:
Cival is an archaeological site in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands, which was formerly a major city of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the present-day Department of Petén, Guatemala. The site flourished from
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Zacpeten:
Zacpeten is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in northern Guatemala. It is notable as one of the few Maya communities that maintained their independence through the early phases of Spanish control over Mesoamerica.
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Maya Blue:
Maya Blue (Azul Maya) is a unique bright blue to greenish-blue pigment manufactured by cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, such as the Maya and Aztec.
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Dzibilchaltun:
Dzibilchaltún (Ts'íibil Cháaltun in Modern Maya) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán, approximately 10 miles north of state capital Mérida. The site has been continuously occupied for thousands of years, although it has expa
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Edzna:
Edzná is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, in the north of the state. The most remarkable building at the plaza is the main temple. Built on a platform of 40 meters high, it provides a wide overview of the surroundings. Edz
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Chunchucmil:
Chunchucmil was a large, sprawling pre-Columbian Maya city located in the western part of what is now the state of Yucatán, Mexico. Although the famous explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood travelled within a few kilometers of Chunch
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Oxkintok:
Oxkintok is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site on the Yucatán Peninsula, located at the northern tip of the Puuc hills - a few kilometers to the east of the modern town of Maxcanú, Yucatán, Mexico.
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Maya ceramics:
Maya ceramics are important in the study of the Pre-Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. Through the years, the vessels have taken on different shapes, colors, sizes, and purposes. The intense artistic mosaics that grace the walls of the ancient ma
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K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj:
The K'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj was a state in the highlands of modern day Guatemala which was founded by the K'iche' (Quiché) Maya in the thirteenth century, and which expanded through the fifteenth century until it was conquered by Spanish/Nahua f
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Cancuén:
Cancuén is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Pasión subregion of the central Maya lowlands in the present-day Guatemalan Department of El Petén. The city is notable for having one of the largest palaces in
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Jolja':
Jolja' is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Chiapas highlands of central southern Mexico. Also known as Cueva de Jolja' (or Jolja) in Spanish, the site is a cave which contains a painted mural and a numb
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Komchen:
Komchen is pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located in the northwestern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. It is approximately 20 km from the northern peninsular coast and situated close to the site of Dzibilchaltun. Komchen was initially settle
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Gender in Maya society:
Ancient Maya women had an important role in society: beyond just propagating culture through the bearing and raising of children, Maya women involved themselves in economic, governmental and farming activities. Yet the lives of women in ancient Mesoa
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Belize:
Belize ( ), formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Once part of the Mayan and Spanish empires, it was most recently a British colony, gaining its independence in 1981. The country is bordered to the south and west by Guatemala, t
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Chiapas:
Chiapas is the southernmost state of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country. Chiapas is bordered by the states of Tabasco to the north, Veracruz to the northwest, and Oaxaca to the west. To the east Chiapas borders Guatemala, and to the
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Acropolis:
Acropolis (Gr. acro, high + polis, city, pl. acropoleis) literally means a high city. For purposes of defense, early settlers naturally chose elevated ground, frequently a hill with precipitous sides. In many parts of the world, these early citadels
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Quintana Roo:
Quintana Roo ( ) is a state of Mexico, on the eastern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. It borders the States of Yucatán and Campeche to the north and west, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the nation of Belize to the south. The capital of Quintana Ro
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City-state:
A city-state is a region controlled exclusively by a city, usually having sovereignty. Historically, city-states have often been contingent of larger cultural areas, as in the city-states of ancient Greece (such as Athens, Sparta and Corinth), the Ph
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Copán:
The Pre-Columbian city today known as Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán Department, near to the Guatemalan border. It is the site of a major Maya kingdom of the Classic era (5th through 9th Centuries). The kingdom, anciently
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K'iche':
K'iche' (or Quiché in Spanish spelling), are a Native American people, one of the Maya ethnic groups. Their indigenous language, the K'iche' language, is a Mesoamerican language of the Mayan language family. The highland K'iche' states in the pre-Co
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Petén Basin:
The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, located in the northern portion of the modern-day nation of Guatemala, and essentially contained within the department of El Petén. During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods of pre-Colu
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John Lloyd Stephens:
John Lloyd Stephens (November 28, 1805-October 13, 1852) was an American explorer, writer, and diplomat. Stephens was a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Maya civilization throughout Middle America and in the planning of the Panama railroad.
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Diego de Landa:
Diego de Landa Calderón (12 November, 1524 - 1579) was Bishop of Yucatán. He left future generations with a mixed legacy in his writings, which contain much valuable information on pre-Columbian Maya civilization, and his actions which destroyed much
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Michael D. Coe:
Michael D. Coe (born 1929) is an American archaeologist, anthropologist, epigrapher and author. Primarily known for his research in the field of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican studies (and in particular, for his work on the Maya civilization, where he is
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Lake Petén Itzá:
Lake Petén Itzá (Lago Petén Itzá) is a lake in central Petén department in Guatemala. It is the second largest lake in Guatemala, the Izabal lake being the largest. It is located around . It has an area of 99 km² some 32 km. long and 5 km wide. Its m
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Takalik Abaj:
Tak'alik A'baj' is an pre-Columbian archaeological site, formerly known as Abaj Takalik. It is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya civilization features. The site flourished in the Pre-Classic era, from the 8th century BC throu
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Flores, El Petén:
Flores is the capital city of Petén department of Guatemala. It is located at . The population is 13,700 (2003). Flores serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name (population 22,600). The old part of th
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Ceibal:
Ceibal can refer to: *Ceibal project, the Uruguayan counterpart of the One Laptop Per Child project. *Seibal (in Spanish "Ceibal" place with many Ceibas), the ruined site of the Maya civilization.
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Roof comb:
Roof comb (or roof-comb) is the structure that tops a pyramid in monumental Mesoamerican architecture. Examination of the decorations and iconography of Maya civilization roof-combs indicates that each icon had specific sacred meanings.
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