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Top Attractions in Petén Department

Flores

Flores is the capital of the Petén Department, Guatemala's landlocked, northernmost department. The population is 13,700 (2003). Flores is the seat of the municipality of Flores (population 22,600). Its Catedral Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itzá is the cathedral episcopal see of the Apostolic Vicariate of El Petén (formerly a territorial prelature). The old part of the city is located on an island on Lake Peten Itza, connected to the mainland by a short causeway. On the mainland is the suburb Santa Elena and, to the West, a contiguous municipality San Benito. In Pre-Columbian times, Flores was the Maya city of Nojpetén. The Itza left the Yucatán region in the 13th century and built the city later known as Tayasal as their capital. They called it Nojpetén, (noj peten, literally "Great Island" in the Itza language). The Spanish called it Tayasal, possibly derrived from ta Itza, or "Place of the Itza".It was here, on the island of Flores on the shore of Lake Petén Itzá, that the last independent Maya state held out against the Spanish conquerors. In 1541, Hernán Cortés came to the island, en route to Honduras, but needed to move on and did not try to conquer it. The Spanish did not manage to conquer the island until 1697, when they marched in, attacked via boats, and destroyed it. Those who could flee did so, and many Itzá people hid in the jungle for years. From the ruins of Nojpetén arose the modern city of Flores. The modern city can thus be regarded as the second oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas, after Cholula. Flores is served by Mundo Maya International Airport. Several international flights land here but most stop first at Guatemala City's La Aurora International Airport. The Island is also very well connected by bus, with many companies running overnight buses to Guatemala City

Tikal

Tikal is the ruins of an ancient city found in a rainforest in Guatemala. Ambrosio Tut, a gum-sapper, reported the ruins to a La Gaceta, a Guatemalan newspaper, which named the site Tikal. The Berlin Academy of Sciences’ Magazine then republished the report in 1853. Archeologists and treasure hunters then began visiting the forest. Today tourism to the site may help protect the rainforest. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the site is part of Guatemalas Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, ca. 200 to 900 AD. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that Tikal was conquered by Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD. Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site’s abandonment by the end of the 10th century. Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.

Melchor de Mencos

Melchor de Mencos is a municipality in the Petén Department of Guatemala with population 23,813. It is situated on the western border with Belize, and is the only major border crossing from Guatemala to Belize. The city was established in April of 1960. It is named after Sergeant Major Melchor de Mencos y Varón, who in 1754 journeyed with a tiny contingent of Spanish colonial troops from what is now Antigua, Guatemala to the coast of present-day Belize, there to combat English "pirates" who had settled that region and established a self-governing community. A large signboard-map at the border crossing between Benque Viejo del Carmen and Melchor depicts Belize as Guatemala's eastern province, consistent with Guatemala's ongoing claim. Large numbers of its young people attend secondary school across the border in Belize, seeking the competitive benefits of English-language fluency. They can be seen when dropped off on weekday mornings at the Guatemalan end of the pedestrian border crossing, walking through, and boarding the same school buses at the Belizian end, from there to be transported onward to their secondary schools in Benque Viejo del Carmen, Melchor's twin city across the border in Belize, or further afield. Tensions along the border heightened in the autumn of 2014, following the shooting at a major archaeological site in the Cayo District. This led Belizean schoolchildren in Benque's schools to shun their Guatemalan classmates. Prior to their relocation in 1989, Melchor de Mencos was home to the two training centres of the Guatemalan Army's elite Kaibiles special operations force. The Guatemalan army still maintains a major unit encamped literally adjacent to the border in Melchor. The Maya archaeological site of La Blanca is located within the municipality.

Tikal Temple V

Tikal Temple V is the name given by archaeologists to one of the major pyramids at Tikal. Tikal is one of the most important archaeological sites of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization and is located in the Petén Department of northern Guatemala. Temple V stands south of the Central Acropolis and is the mortuary pyramid of an as yet unidentified ruler of the once great city. The temple stands 57 metres high, making it the second tallest structure at Tikal—only Temple IV is taller. The temple has been dated to about AD 700, in the Late Classic period, via radiocarbon analysis and the dating of ceramics associated with the structure places its construction during the reign of Nun Bak Chak in the second half of the 7th century. The architectural style of the pyramid includes features that were popular during the Early Classic period, such as wide balustrades flanking the main stairway and the rounded corners of the temple. These features indicate the continued influence of earlier traditions.

Aguateca

Aguateca is a Maya site located in northern Guatemalas Petexbatun Basin, in the department of Petén. The first settlements at Aguateca date to the Late Preclassic period . The center was occupied from about 200 B.C. until about 800 A.D., when the city was attacked and ransacked. Because the city was rapidly abandoned by its population, Pompeii-style assemblages were left scattered on the floors of elite residences. Horizontal excavation of these residences has revealed ancient elite activity and household level craft production areas. Aguateca sits on top of a 90 metres tall limestone bluff, creating a highly defensible position. This steep escarpment overlooks Petexbatun Lagoon in the Southwestern Guatemalan lowlands and is accessible by boat. There is an extensive system of defensive walls that surrounds the city, reaching over 3 miles in length. Its center consisted on the Palace Group, which was probably a royal residential compound, and the Main Plaza. These monumental complexes were connected by a causeway, along which was a densely occupied elite residential area. During the reign of Tan Te Kinich the city was invaded and burned. The city was completely abandoned around 830 AD. A 6-metre tall temple at the site was left unfinished, the centre of the city was destroyed by fire, valuables were left scattered in elite residences, and ceramics were left in their original domestic positions, all of which demonstrate the sudden abandonment of the city. The ruins of Aguateca are considered to be among the best preserved in Guatemala.

Arroyo de Piedra

Arroyo de Piedra is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in Guatemala located approximately 2-3 km east/northeast of Dos Pilas and 3 km west of Tamarindito. The site dates to the middle half of the Classic period. While initially a center of some regional importance, with the rise of Dos Pilas, Arroyo de Piedra was subsumed as a secondary center within the Petexbatun region. The architecture of Arroyo de Piedra is different from that of Dos Pilas and nearby Aguateca, but bares similarities to Tamarindito. Hieroglyphic data shows that together Arroyo de Piedra and Tamarindito formed an independent polity prior to the establishment of Dos Pilas by Tikal. It appears that Arroyo de Piedra was abandoned during the 8th century following the collapse of Dos Pilas and the disintegration of the polity centered there.

La Blanca

La Blanca is a Maya archaeological site in the municipality of Melchor de Mencos in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. The site is located in the lower reaches of the Mopan River valley and features a large acropolis complex. Activity at the site has been dated as far back as the Early Classic, with principal occupation of the site occurring in the Late Classic period, although some level of occupation continued into the Early Postclassic . La Blanca occupied a frontier zone between the northeastern and southeasten Petén regions and the site is dominated by the acropolis, an especially well built palace complex. The city appears to have been an administrative centre with comparatively little emphasis upon religious or ceremonial activity. It is likely that La Blanca was a subsidiary of a major Maya city such as Yaxha or Naranjo, given the complete absence of hieroglyphic texts and sculpted monuments, and archaeologists presume that La Blanca served as a frontier post or trading centre. During the Late Classic there was greater public access to the acropolis; as the threat of warfare grew during the Terminal Classic, access became much more restricted. The end of formal occupation of the city in the Terminal Classic appears to have been violent, with evidence of a battle recovered during excavations of the acropolis. Refugees appear to have occupied the city centre immediately after the collapse of formal settlement at La Blanca, but they abandoned the city for good in the 11th century, after which it was never reoccupied. The acropolis buildings contain inscribed graffiti dating to the last phase of occupation in the Early Postclassic, including human and animal figures, deities, temples and courtly scenes. Colonial graffiti is also evident from the visit to the ruins by captain Pedro Montañés in the middle of the 18th century.

Dos Pilas

Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region, particularly the Pasión River. In AD 648 Dos Pilas broke away from Tikal and became a vassal state of Calakmul, although the first two kings of Dos Pilas continued to use the same emblem glyph that Tikal did. It was a predator state from the beginning, conquering Itzan, Arroyo de Piedra and Tamarindito. Dos Pilas and a nearby city, Aguateca, eventually became the twin capitals of a single ruling dynasty. The kingdom as a whole has been named as the Petexbatun Kingdom, after Lake Petexbatún, a body of water draining into the Pasión River. Dos Pilas gives an important glimpse into the great rivalries and political strife that characterised the Late Classic. Much of the history of Dos Pilas can now be reconstructed, with a level of detail which is almost unparalleled in the Maya area. On June 12, 1970, the site was declared a National Monument according to Article 1210 of the Guatemalan Ministry of Education.

El Chal

El Chal is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located in the upper San Juan River valley of the southeastern Petén Basin region, Guatemala. The site is situated approximately 30 kilometres to the north of the modern town of Dolores, near the contemporary village settlement of the same name, lying some 600 metres to the south. El Chal was occupied from approximately 300 BC through to 1300 AD, although some Middle Preclassic activity has been identified in the acropolis. The Late Preclassic occupation of the city was concentrated around an E-Group ceremonial complex some 2 kilometres north of the later site core. The sites major period of occupation was during the Late Classic Period, when it was an important centre in the southeastern Petén region. Among the structures at the site is a large quadrangular residential complex, a structural type that is uncommonly found at Southern Maya lowland sites although there is a smaller one with similar characteristics at Machaquilá. As of 2010 very little restorative work has been undertaken at the site. The archaeological site is protected by the Guatemalan Instituto de Antropología e Historia.

El Pilar

El Pilar is an ancient Maya city center located on the Belize-Guatemala border. It can be accessed from the Cayo District in Belize, 12 miles north-west of the town of San Ignacio, or from the department of El Petén in Guatemala, 30 kilometres north of Melchor de Mencos. The El Pilar Archeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna, was declared a cultural monument both in Guatemala and Belize, and covers 5,000 acres, half of which lies in each country. It is jointly managed by the Belize Institute of Archeology and Guatemalas Instituto de Antropología e Historia . El Pilar is the largest Maya site in the Belize River area with over 25 plazas and hundreds of other buildings, covering about 50 hectares . Based on ceramic analyses, it is known that monumental constructions at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic around 800 BCE. By 250 BCE there were major public works and extensive occupation in the El Pilar area. At its height, El Pilar housed more than 20,000 people. Monumental construction continued with the last major remodeling in the Terminal Classic, after which the monuments were neglected. The name "El Pilar" is Spanish for "watering basin", reflecting the abundance of water in the area, which is rare for the Maya world. A major archeological excavation project has been carried out since 1993. However, for conservation purposes most monuments are not exposed. The objective is to selectively and partially expose strategic areas. Today one can see door jambs, walls, and rooms along the wooded trails. This is a style of presentation known as "Archaeology Under the Canopy" that leaves the monuments protected by forest foliage. The only fully exposed monument at the reserve is a house site called Tzunuun, bringing attention to El Pilars unique focus on Maya houses and life ways. El Pilar also features a Maya forest garden to demonstrate traditional agricultural practices. El Pilar has been under threat by looters and was placed on the World Monument Funds 1996 list of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World. The reserve is open to the public and has a series of trails providing access throughout the site. There is an active initiative to make El Pilar of Belize and Guatemala the first archaeological peace park in the world.

El Zotz

El Zotz is a Mesoamerican archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region around 20 kilometres west of the major center of Tikal and approximately 26 kilometres west of Uaxactun. It is so called because of the large number of bats living in caves in the nearby cliffs . The site is located within the San Miguel la Palotada National Park bordering the Tikal National Park in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. It is a large Classic Period site and contains many unexcavated mounds and ruins. El Zotz shared its Emblem Glyph with the powerful city of Yaxchilan in Chiapas, Mexico, and it is likely that the Yaxchilan royal dynasty had its origin in El Zotz. The tallest temple structure is approximately 45 m high and is known as "El Diablo", allegedly because the sides of the temple are dangerously steep. Conservation work has been carried out here by the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, including the construction of a rudimentary campsite for tourists. The area has caves and swamps and is a protected biotope. It is known for the hundreds of thousands of bats that fly out from under the cliffs at sunset.

Ixkun

Ixkun is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site, situated in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands. It lies to the north of the town of Dolores, in the modern-day department of Petén, Guatemala. It is a large site containing many unrestored mounds and ruins and is the best known archaeological site within the municipality of Dolores. Ixkun was the capital of one of the four largest kingdoms in the upper Mopan Valley, the others being Curucuitz, Ixcol and Ixtonton. Eight sites fell within the boundaries of the kingdom, showing a clear hierarchy. Stela 1 at Ixkun is one of the tallest stone monuments in the entire Petén Basin. Although the main period of activity was during the Late Classic Period, the site was occupied from the Late Preclassic right through to the Postclassic Period.

Ixtonton

Ixtonton is a Maya archaeological site in the department of Petén in northern Guatemala. It is located in the northwestern portion of the Maya Mountains in the municipality of Dolores. The ruins are situated approximately 2 kilometres east of the town of Dolores itself. Ixtonton was the capital city of one of the four Maya kingdoms in the upper Mopan Valley. The site was occupied from the Late Preclassic period through to the Terminal Classic, with some evidence of continued activity into the Postclassic . For the majority of its history Ixtonton was the most important city in the upper Mopan Valley, with its only rivals emerging in the Late Classic . The acropolis at Ixtonton is laid out around two plazas on top of an artificially modified karstic hill. Ixtonton was first described by the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala project in 1985. The ruins have been set aside as a protected archaeological park by the Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural .

Kinal

Kinal is a major pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the Petén Department of the modern-day Petén Department of northern Guatemala. The major occupational phase for the site dates from the Late Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, with evidence for a substantial and expansionary building program dating from the first half of the 8th century AD. Kinal was discovered in the 1960s by archaeologist Ian Graham while he was carrying out an archaeological survey of the region, although no excavations were undertaken at the site at that time. The name Kinal means "something that heats" in the Yucatec Maya language. In the Kiche Maya language, kinal is used to refer a sacred fire. The first archaeological excavations were carried out in 1990 by the Proyecto Regional Ixcanrio, directed by Richard Adams of the University of Texas. The site has suffered significant damage at the hands of looters but is now protected by custodians.

Motul de San José

Motul de San José is an ancient Maya site located just north of Lake Petén Itzá in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands. It is a few kilometres from the modern village of San José, in Guatemalas northern department of Petén. A medium-sized civic-ceremonial centre, it was an important political and economic centre during the Late Classic period . The site was first settled between 600 and 300 BC, in the latter portion of the Middle Preclassic period, when it most likely was a fairly small site. This Maya city then had a long and continuous occupational history until the Early Postclassic, up to around AD 1250, with peaks in the Late Preclassic and Late Classic periods. Motul de San José had begun to refer to Tikal as its overlord in the late 4th century AD; by the 7th century it had switched its allegiance to Calakmul, Tikals great rival, before returning its allegiance to Tikal in the early 8th century. In the late 8th century Motul de San José appears to have been conquered by Dos Pilas, capital of the Petexbatún kingdom. Most natural resources were easily available in the immediate vicinity of the city. The nearby port at La Trinidad de Nosotros was an important hub for the import of exotic goods and export of local products such as chert and ceramics. Other goods not immediately available were likely to have been provided by the city’s satellite sites. The local area provided a number of different soils suitable for varied agricultural use, and the port at La Trinidad de Nosotros provided the city with freshwater products such as turtles, crocodiles and freshwater molluscs. Deer were hunted locally and provided an important source of protein for the upper class, while freshwater snails were the main source of protein for commoners. Motul de San José has been identified as the source of Ik-style polychrome ceramics bearing painted scenes of the Late Classic Maya aristocracy involved in a variety of courtly activities. The Ik-style was characterised by hieroglyphs painted in a pink or pale red colour, scenes with dancers wearing masks, and the realistic representation of subjects as they appeared in life. The city was the capital of a polity that included various satellite sites of varying importance, including a port on the shore of Lake Petén Itzá.

Río Azul

Río Azul is an archaeological site of the Pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is the most important site in the Río Azul National Park in the Petén Department of northern Guatemala, close to the borders of Mexico and Belize. Río Azul is situated to the southeast of the Azul river and its apogee dates to the Early Classic period . The earliest major architecture dates to around 500 BC, in the Late Preclassic period . In the late 4th century AD Río Azul was dominated by the city of Tikal and its great central Mexican ally Teotihuacan. Tikal used Río Azul to secure an important trade route to the Caribbean Sea and challenge Calakmul, its great rival. The city was largely abandoned in the 6th century but saw a resurgence in the Late Classic, probably as a result of repopulation by Kinal.

Sacul

Sacul is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the upper drainage of the Mopan River, in the Petén department of Guatemala. The city occupied an important trade route through the Maya Mountains. The main period of occupation dates to the Late Classic Period. In the late 8th century AD through to the early 9th century, Sacul was one of the few kingdoms in the southeastern Petén region to use its own Emblem Glyph, together with Ixtutz and Ucanal. In AD 779 Sacul went to war against Ixkun and lost, but stelae at both cities record a visit to Ixkun by king Chiyel of Sacul just 11 years later and the two cities appear to have formed a military alliance at that time. The site core is arranged around a number of plazas, one of which forms a monumental acropolis. The plazas were resurfaced in the Terminal Classic, when the city experienced a period of dense occupation. At this time Sacul experienced a major surge in construction activity, with many buildings being extended or altered. Sacul was inhabited into the Postclassic Period at a much reduced level, although it is not known if this represents a continuation of Classic Period occupation. This final phase of activity was spread throughout both the ceremonial core and the residential periphery and ceramic finds demonstrate links to the Belize Valley and the southern area of the Maya Mountains. The site core includes pyramids, a ballcourt, a triadic complex and two E-Group astronomical complexes.

Seibal

Seibal, known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region. The site was occupied from the Preclassic Period through to the Terminal Classic, with a significant hiatus. The principal phase of occupation dates to the Late Preclassic, followed by a decline in the Early Classic . Seibal experienced a significant recovery in the Terminal Classic immediately prior to its complete abandonment, reaching its second peak from about 830 to 890, with a population estimated at 8–10,000 people. The dates on the stelae at Seibal are unusually late, with monuments still being dedicated after the Classic Maya collapse had engulfed most of the Petén region. Many of Seibals late monuments show artistic influence from central Mexico and from the Gulf Coast of Mexico. The early history of the site is lost due to the catastrophic defeat of the polity in AD 735 by the nearby Petexbatun kingdom with its capital at Dos Pilas, resulting in the destruction of its earlier sculpted monuments. Seibal was reduced to being a vassal state until the destruction of the Petexbatun kingdom in the late 8th century AD. In AD 830 a new elite installed itself at the site with the arrival of Watul Chatel from Ucanal to the east. This new arrival reinvigorated Seibal and allowed it to last to the dawn of the 10th century, well after the Classic Maya collapse had engulfed most of the region.

Tayasal

Tayasal is a Maya archaeological site located in present day Guatemala. Tayasal is a corruption of Tah Itza, a term originally used to refer to the core of the Itza territory in Petén. The bulk of the site’s artifacts date to the Postclassic Period. As many as fifty burials and twelve caches have been recovered from Tayasal. In the past there has been some debate among scholars about whether the location of the ethnohistoric Tayasal is actually the modern site of Topoxte, Guatemala. The ethnohistory records Lake Peten Itza as the site of Tayasal, but Arlen Chase argued that archaeologically, Lake Yaxha, where Topoxte is located, fits the data better. His arguments were contested by Grant Jones and Don and Prudence Rice, who argued that the Spanish accounts are clear as to its location.
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