Itzan
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Itzan is a
Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a populat ...
archaeological site located in the
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
of La Libertad in the
Petén Department Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...
of
Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
.Ponciano 1991, p.232. Various small structures at the site were destroyed in the 1980s during oil exploration activities by Sonpetrol and Basic Resources Ltd, prompting rescue excavations by archaeologists. In spite of its small size, the site appears to have been the most politically important centre in its area, as evidenced by its unusually large quantity of monuments and the size of its major architecture.Ponciano 1991, pp.234-235. The site was first occupied in the Middle Preclassic, with occupation continuing to the Late Classic.


Location

The ruins are northwest of the
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, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 62 ...
archaeological site on the bank of a minor tributary of the
Pasion River Pasion (also Pasio; grc, Πασίων; before 430 – 370 BC) was a slave in Ancient Athens in the early 4th century BC, who rose to become a successful banker and Athenian citizen. Life Pasion was born some time before 430 BC. It is unk ...
.Sharer & Traxler 2006 , p.387. The city was on a natural hilltop surrounded by ravines and seasonal swamps.Ponciano 1991, p.234. The tributary of the Pasion River has its origin in
Laguna Itzan Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to: People * Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay * Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist * Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet ...
, a small lake to the east of the site. A spring to the west of the site appears to have been a permanent watersource for the city. Itzan is situated roughly halfway between the Classic Period cities of
Altar de Sacrificios Altar de Sacrificios is a ceremonial center and archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, situated near the confluence of the Pasión and Salinas Rivers (where they combine to form the Usumacinta River), in the present-day dep ...
and
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, about 100 km SW of Tikal. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region ...
, and is located about northeast of the former.Román de León & Johnston 1992, p.50. The site is located approximately west of the modern town of
Sayaxché Sayaxché () is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala, on the Río La Pasión river. It covers an area of , and had 55,578 inhabitants at the 2002 Census; the latest official estimate (as at mid-2012) was 114,781 inhabitants. Th ...
and north of the Pasion River.


History

Stanol evidence infers occupation of the Laguna Itzan catchment from the Early Preclassic. Itzan was continuously occupied from the Middle Preclassic through to the Late Classic, with much reduced activity during the Early Classic, with the latter period only being evidenced by a single burial accompanied by a ceramic plate. Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 at the Late Classic period kingdom of Dos Pilas records that in 652 AD the powerful city of
Calakmul Calakmul (; also Kalakmul and other less frequent variants) is a Maya archaeological site in the Mexican state of Campeche, deep in the jungles of the greater Petén Basin region. It is from the Guatemalan border. Calakmul was one of the large ...
seized control of Itzan, and Dos Pilas itself also won a major victory over the city. Itzan may also have gone to war against
El Chorro El Chorro ("The Cascade") is a small village located in Málaga (Andalusia) in southern Spain, near the town of Álora. It is one of the most popular rock climbing attractions in Spain as it is located next to ''Desfiladero de los Gaitanes'' ' ...
. A noblewoman from Itzan became the main wife of B'alaj Chan K'awiil, a king of Dos Pilas, and their son was Itzamnaaj Balam. The collapse of the aggressive Dos Pilas kingdom in the late 8th century AD apparently benefited Itzan, which then experienced a period of renewed activity. The site was discovered in February 1968 by Dennis and Louisa Wheeler, two
Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...
volunteers. The ruins were then explored by archaeologists of the
Ceibal Project The Ceibal is a Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and ...
in 1978, who only spent a few hours at the site.


Site description

Itzan was a small city but was considered by archaeologists to have characteristics that made excavation worthwhile. Initial investigations recorded a number of carved monuments and large structures, some standing up to high. The site core was mapped in 1986, when archaeologists noted that a number of carved monuments had been damaged by looters and that some of the buildings had been cut by looters' trenches. Various monument pieces that had been cut by looters were transferred to the departmental capital
Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...
with the intention of later moving them to
Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...
. The centre of the site is grouped around the North and South Plazas, both of which are open plazas, and the closed West and East Plazuelas which are completely enclosed by architecture. The site core includes a formal acropolis, large plazas and a large amount of
stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
and altars, totalling at least 25 monuments, all of which have been moved from their original locations by looters in order to excavate below them. Most of these monuments were originally positioned in open plazas in front of the largest structures. The remains of hieroglyphic texts were found associated with the North and South Stairways of the West Plaza. Much of the Late Classic period acropolis was built upon earlier Preclassic structures. The site periphery between south of the site core included at least three groups of simple perishable Late Classic residential structures laid out around central patios, without being built upon platforms, suggesting that the population of the site was greater than initially thought based on the site's monumental architecture. The entire settled area of Itzan occupies a ridge in a strip about wide by long, with the site core being situated near the centre of this zone.Johnston et al 1992, p.134. A modern road cuts through the area of settlement. Stela 17 includes a hieroglyphic text that mentions lords of Itzan and of the nearby city of Altar de Sacrificios. It also contains a section of damaged text that may indicate warfare between Itzan and the site of El Chorro. Stela 20 is fragmented. A large piece was found to the northwest of the acropolis.Román de León & Johnston 1992, p.55.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * {{coord missing, Guatemala Maya sites in Petén Department Former populated places in Guatemala Populated places established in the 10th century BC 10th-century BC establishments in the Maya civilization 10th-century disestablishments in the Maya civilization