Monte Alto culture
The according to their main location, the Finca Monte Alto, named Monte Alto culture is one of the earliest cultures of Mesoamerica. Some researchers it is considered as a temporal, but not as a direct precursor of the Maya culture; other researchers hold that place even for präolmekisch.
Location
The Finca Monte Alto is located about 2 km east of the town of La Democracia ( Escuintla ), Guatemala. More of culture attributable archaeological sites seem to be Bálsamo and Cerritos Sur, which are only about 10 kilometers to the west or east. All of these sites are only about 20 km as the crow flies from the Pacific coast, to which so far no archaeological finds were made.
Dating
According to the current state of research, the first traces of settlement in Monte Alto are from the period around 1500 BC; the most significant artistic discoveries are ( BC 400 to 200 AD) belongs to the era of Präklassik. Some small finds ( death mask, Jochsteine ) could result from later period.
Finds
Architecture
The architectural remains of about 45 buildings are of interest only to specialists. A temple pyramid probably reached an - enormous for the early period - amounting to about 10 to 20 m. A ball court could not yet be identified.
Sculpture
Quite exceptional are the found in the grounds of Finca Monte Alto large sculptures, can be classified into two groups: stone heads and ' barrel sculptures ' ( barrigones ) - the latter is great full body figures in relief placed on the barrel-like body limbs. The common characteristic are closed eyelids, which give the figures a meditative trance - like appearance, which could be caused by the consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms; a plurality of mushroom pieces were also found. The most monumental sculptures from the grounds of Finca Monte Alto are now exhibited in the Parque Central of La Democracia.
A good 6 m high large figure with a clean-cut face and protruding nose ( see photo web link) differed significantly from the other, rather round and flat-nosed figures; a certain similarity linked them to the Polynesian Moai. The figure was destroyed in the 1940s in an attempt to cut them into pieces and then sell.
In addition, there are also a variety of small sculptures ( death mask of jade, U-shaped Jochsteine ( Yugos ), mushroom-shaped stones, etc.), in the neighboring Museum (Museo Regional de Arqueología de la Democracia ) are exhibited. Above all, the death mask and the Jochsteine could already have been created by Mayan artists and thus belong to a later time period or a new cultural sphere. The precious death mask made of white Jadegestein was stolen in 2002 from the museum and has not yet reappeared.