Tres Islas (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "Three Islands") is a small

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

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 popul ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

north of Cancuen in

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 ...

, northern Guatemala. The site has been dated to the Late Preclassic (c.400 BC - 250 AD) and Late Classic (c.600-900 AD) periods of

Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nb ...

. The main feature of the site is a group of three

Maya stelae Maya stelae (singular ''stela'') are monuments that were fashioned by the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. They consist of tall, sculpted stone shafts and are often associated with low circular stones referred to as altars, although thei ...

and an altar, arranged in a way that mimics an

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, like many other civic and ceremonial buildings, could have served for astr ...

Maya astronomical complex. Tres Islas is one of only a few Maya cities that erected dated monuments in the Early Classic period (c. AD 250 - 600).

Location

Tres Islas is situated on the west bank of the

Pasión River The Pasión River ( es, Río de la Pasión, ) is a river located in the northern lowlands region of Guatemala. The river is fed by a number of upstream tributaries whose sources lie in the hills of Alta Verapaz. These flow in a general northerly di ...

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 ...

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. ...

in Guatemala's northern department of Petén. It is approximately west of the ruins of

Machaquila Machaquila (or Machaquilá, using Spanish orthography) is a major ruined city of the Maya civilization in what is now the El Peten department of Guatemala. Location The ruins of Machaquila fall within the municipality of Poptún, in the Petén ...

and about the same distance north of

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 Petén. The city is notable for having one of the largest palace ...

.Tomasic et al 2005, p.389. It is about south of

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 ...

History

The early presence of the

Emblem glyph Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

that was later associated with the Late Classic Cancuen-Machaquila kingdom indicates that Tres Islas was the Early Classic capital of the kingdom, with its functions as a capital city later being transferred to Cancuen. This period, represented by the sculpted monuments, was a time when the great metropolis of

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as t ...

in the

Valley of Mexico The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico w ...

was exerting a strong influence across the Maya region.Barrios and Quintanilla 2008, p.215.

Discovery

Although both

Teobert Maler Teobert Maler, later Teoberto (12 January 1842 – 22 November 1917) was an explorer who devoted his energies to documenting the ruins of the Maya civilization. Biography Teobert Maler was born in Rome to German parents. His father was a dipl ...

and

Sylvanus Morley Sylvanus Griswold Morley (June 7, 1883September 2, 1948) was an American archaeologist and epigrapher who studied the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in the early 20th century. Morley led extensive excavations of the Maya site of Chichen Itza ...

visited the nearby sites of Cancuen and La Reforma III in the early years of the 20th century, neither of them explored Tres Islas, a few kilometers upriver from La Reforma III. Maler's 1905 map mentions Tres Islas, but places it on the wrong side of the river. Ian Graham visited Tres Islas in 1965, 1966 and 1970 and reported three fallen

.Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, pp.794, 796. In 2003, the Cancuen Project initiated archaeological exploration of the site.Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, p.794. Preliminary investigations in the area of Tres Islas and Cancuen revealed evidence of inhabitation from the Late Preclassic period (c.400 BC - 250 AD) through to the Late Classic (c.600-900 AD).Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, p.796.

Site

The site consists of a group of 3 stelae and an altar north of three small structures, each high. These two groups are located on the edge of a scarp overlooking the Pasión River. The low platform supporting the three stelae measures (north-south by east-west).Barrios and Quintanilla 2008, p.214.

Monuments

The three stelae were aligned in a north-south row, facing to the west. The stelae originally stood on a long, low platform bordered with worked stone. An altar was placed directly west of the central stela. The arrangement of the stelae and altar precisely mimics the orientation and relationships of the

astronomical complex at

Uaxactun Uaxactun (pronounced ) is an ancient sacred place 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 north of the major center of Tikal. T ...

, suggesting that the monument group served a similar purpose. The siting of the stela-altar complex on the edge of an east-facing scarp offers a perfect location for observing the sunrise. Ceramic finds from the southern portion of the stela platform have been dated to the Late Preclassic and the Late Classic periods.Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, p.798. The combined hieroglyphic texts of the three stelae contain 137 glyphs and 12 Maya calendrical dates.Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, p.800. All three stelae were dedicated in AD 475, although they refer to events in AD 400 and 416. Stela 1 is badly damaged. Fragments of the monument were excavated in 2003 and were moved to the town of Santa Elena.Tomasic et al 2005, p.391. Stela 2 is the central stela of the three. It was associated with an offering consisting of two ceramic vessels placed rim to rim; these contained 9 jade figurines including representations of shells, a tortoise and a human head in profile, as well as pieces of coral and shells that included a

cowry Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries. The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') d ...

. Also found were nine obsidian cores and over 300 pieces of worked flint. Stela 3 is the smallest of the three stelae. It is broken diagonally in two fragments. The stela depicts a personage dressed in the war-garb of

and bearing three feathered darts in his left hand. The figure wears an elaborate feathered headdress with cheek guards, and a fan-shaped tail piece formed of feathers and the tails of three coyotes. The image of the warrior is very similar to the portrait of

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...

king Yax Nuun Ayiin I as depicted on Stela 31 of that

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. Above the figure there is the image of a flying bird of a type commonly found on the monuments of the Pacific Coast, and the figure stands upon an image of a

scarlet macaw The scarlet macaw (''Ara macao'') is a large red, yellow, and blue Central and South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of the Neotropics. Its range extends from ...

, believed to be an identifying symbol of Tres Islas. The text of the stela is badly eroded, consisting of an introductory glyph and two columns of eight glyphs. The date recorded on the stela appears to equate to a date in AD 400.Tomasic and Fahsen 2004, p.802.

Notes

References

* * * * {{coord, 16, 12, N, 90, 03, W, display=title, region:GT_type:landmark Maya sites in Petén Department Archaeological sites in Guatemala Former populated places in Guatemala