El Tintal
La Casa de Tinta · El Tintal Archaeological Site
Middle to Late Preclassic 700 BCE–150 CE (Preclassic fluorescence, collapsed c.150 CE Mirador hiatus)·Maya (Preclassic Mirador Basin state, Late Preclassic centralized polity)·🇬🇹 Petén – Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala
About
About El Tintal
Second-largest Preclassic Maya city after El Mirador (700 BCE–400 CE, 30 km southeast of Mirador): 250 m-high-adjacent Henequén pyramid (60 m high ×190×165 m, seventh-tallest Maya pyramid), Mano de León pyramid, Central Acropolis and El Plato 70 m triadic. 12 km sacbe causeway to El Mirador – oldest interurban causeway in Mesoamerica – and 20 km causeway to Nakbé, evidencing Mirador Basin centralized state with hydraulic bajos (civales). Frankly 30.7 ha monumental epicenter within 1,500 ha city. Carnegie 1920s air-survey and 2014 PACUNAM LiDAR revealed buried plaster road network. Part of situs with once-catalASE basin urbanism debate (Hansen). UNESCO Biosphere 1979.
Why it mattersSecond city in Preclassic Mirador mega-state – tests hypothesis of earliest Maya state 2000 years before Classic; sacbe evidence for engineered inter-city corridor 2500 years old.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why 12 km sacbe built over seasonally flooded bajo rather than ridge – hydraulic vs cosmological line
- 02Whether Preclassic collapse c.150 CE was drought or internal overcentralization (Tintal reduced 80%)
Theories
- 01Mirador Basin integrated state with causeway-as-territorial spine predating Classic lowland balkanization by 600 years (Hansen vs Demarest debate)
- 02Bajo hydraulic agriculture (reservoirs) supported Preclassic density 2,000/km² before vulnerability
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.700 BCE–150 CE; Henequén 200 BCE–100 CE
- Period
- Middle to Late Preclassic 700 BCE–150 CE (Preclassic fluorescence, collapsed c.150 CE Mirador hiatus)
- Culture
- Maya (Preclassic Mirador Basin state, Late Preclassic centralized polity)
- Purpose
- Preclassic basin mega-city and Mirador satellite controlling bajo hydraulic field
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.700 BCE–150 CE; Henequén 200 BCE–100 CE
Initial construction
c. 1324 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
17.5740° N · 89.9970° W · 293 m · 3 mapped features
Henequén Pyramid
pyramid60 m third-largest Preclassic pyramid (after Danta and El Tigre)
17.5745° N · 89.9975° WCauseway to El Mirador (west sacbe)
causeway12 km raised sacbe to Mirador
17.5760° N · 90.0200° WCentral Acropolis
acropolisTriadic acropolis atop central knoll
17.5735° N · 89.9965° W
Gallery