Seibal

Seibal or Ceibal is a ruined city of the Maya in the area of the Guatemalan lowlands ( Petén ).

Location

The archaeological site of Seibal is located about 16 km east of Sayaxché at an altitude of about 220 m above sea level. inst. Von Flores / Santa Elena from recommended a one-hour bus ride to Sayaxché and from there a further half-hour boat ride across the Río La Pasión. Depending on the weather, the 100 m high and 350 m long ascent from the landing to the ruins is muddy and cumbersome.

History

The first traces of settlement Seibals rich possibly back to the 9th century BC; from this time, early pottery and a Jadeaxt discovered that refer to mercantile and cultural influences of the Mexican Gulf Coast ( La Venta ). In the late Early Classic Maya culture ( 400 BC to. 200 AD ) saw the place a first heyday. From the period 200-650 there is no archaeological traces usable, even if the place was still inhabited a small extent. It was not until about 650 AD gradually developed the new settlement, but was conquered in the year 735 of Dos Pilas. The visible today stelae and temple pyramids come from all of the later Maya city that reached its heyday 830-930; for this period, the population is estimated to be about Seibals 8,000 to 10,000. Then Seibal was - just like all the other cities of the Maya lowlands - leave.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the ruins of loggers was rediscovered. In 1892, Frederico Antes wrote a report, and then the Guatemalan government announced the production of plaster casts of some stelae commissioned which were shown at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago ( 1893). Two years later received Teobert painters from the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, the contract for the exploration of the site and in 1914 sat Sylvanus Griswold Morley whose work continues, but without much new to discover. The plant was put into the present state through a new excavation campaign of the Peabody Museum in 1964 to 1968.

Attractions

The center of the archaeological site with the complexes A, C and D covers an area of about one square kilometer; the early discovered complex B is located about 3 km from the center. In complex A are the most stelae and the most interesting buildings.