🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Dos Pilas
Late Classic · Maya (Petexbatun)
Petexbatun war capital (629–761 CE) — Tikal breakaway dynastic citadel with 40-m El Duende pyramid and trench walls.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Topoxte
Late Postclassic – Contact (c.1200–1530 CE) Kowoj Maya · Maya (Kowoj – Late Postclassic Petén)
Topoxte crowns the largest island (450m) in Lake Yaxha, Petén, at 180 m. After surrounding Classic cities fell, Postclassic Kowoj Maya refortified the island c.1200 CE with a rubble rampart (400m)…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Uaxactun
Middle Preclassic to Late Classic · Maya (Miron–Holmul–Tikal sphere)
Maya metropolis (Preclassic–Classic) 20 km north of Tikal comprising Groups A–H, world type-site for E-Group astronomical complex — Structure E-VII Sub (Preclassic) with three east...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Tayasal (Nojpetén) – Last Maya Kingdom
Postclassic to Contact (900–1697 CE, capital 1350–1697) · Maya Itzá (Yukatekan-Itza’)
Last independent Maya kingdom (Nojpetén) of the Itzá, final surrender to Spanish 1697 after 195 years resisting conquest: peninsula-town on Lake Petén Itzá's northern arm 300 m out, with causewayed…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Piedras Negras — Pyramid Complex K-5 and Acropolis (Usumacinta, Guatemala)
Early to Late Classic Maya (250–900 CE) · Maya (Usumacinta basin)
Powerful Classic Maya kingdom capital Yo’k’ib on Usumacinta north bank (450–810 CE) with 8 km² centre.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Holmul
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Snake/Tikal sphere)
Borderland trading city (800 BCE–900 CE) on Holmul River near Belize, famed for Building A 8-m-wide Witz monster stucco frieze (590 BCE La Sufricaya mural earliest Maya mural) on s...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Yaxhá
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Eastern Petén)
Lacustrine Maya city (600 BCE–900 CE) on north shore of Lake Yaxhá, with 500+ structures: North Acropolis 23 m twin pyramids, Main Plazas, South Acropolis, twin ballcourts, island...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Ixcun
Preclassic–Classic · Maya (Ixcun stela cult)
Dolores valley stela city (600 BCE–900 CE) near Guatemalan-Belize border with 8 photogenic carved stela altars including Stela 1 3.2 m tall — tallest Petén north stela with 9.16.0....
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Zaculeu
Early Classic–Postclassic (Mam–K'iche') · Maya (Mam) with K'iche' overlay
Fortified hilltop white-plastered city on Selegua River terrace near Huehuetenango (400–1525 CE), with 43 structures: Pyramid Pyramid 7 ballcourt-pyramid 12 m, palace, and 1,000-m...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Nakum
Preclassic–Terminal Classic · Maya (Holmul valley)
Strategic acropolis city (600 BCE–950 CE) 18 km north of Yaxhá on Holmul River terrace, with Temple V 40-m pyramid, North Acropolis triadic group, Central Plaza and South Acropolis...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Piedras Negras
Late Classic 400–830 CE (peak 608–808 CE, Dynasty of Piedras Negras 7 lords) · Maya (Yo’k’ib / Piedras Negras kingdom, western Petén)
Largest Classic Maya city on Guatemala's Usumacinta north bank (1,000+ structures, pyramid temples 20 m high) famous for epigraphy: Tatiana Proskouriakoff here invented phonetic Maya glyph…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Ixtonton Maya City
Late Classic Maya (550–900 CE) · Maya (Dolores valley – Petén southeastern)
Late Classic Maya kingdom capital (600–900 CE) in southeastern Petén mountains: 120 structures organized in 2 plazas, main Acropolis pyramid 18 m high, Group 2 palace, Structure 104 vaulted causeway…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Temple complex
Tikal
Preclassic–Classic Maya · Maya (Mutal dynasty)
Classic Maya superpower (600 BCE–900 CE) — UNESCO 1979 Mirador-Tikal jantung dengan Mundo Perdido 30-m E-Group observatory (600 BCE–), North Acropolis dynastic necropolis 1000 year...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Altar de Sacrificios — Pasión–Usumacinta Pyramid Plaza
Preclassic to Late Classic (800 BCE–950 CE) · Maya — Pasión trading port
Strategic junction town where Salinas + Pasión = Usumacinta, defining southern Maya lowlands trading hub, excavated by Harvard 1958–63 after Morley identification, revealing 12 stelae dated 455–849…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Ancient city
Naranjo
Preclassic–Late Classic · Maya (Saal dynasty)
Aggressive Classic superpower capital Sa'aal (500 BCE–950 CE), 180 m hill above Holmul valley with 19 palaces, hieroglyphic stairway recording 45 star-war defeats by Lady Six Sky,...
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Ceibal — Seibal Pyramid A-3 and Observatory
Middle Preclassic to Terminal Classic (900 BCE–950 CE), apogee 650–890 CE · Maya — Ceibal-Petexbatun kingdom, Mexican influenced late
Bluff-top city 27 km east of Dos Pilas, excavated 1964–68 then by Inomata, famous for Structure A-3 atop A-II substructure (Late Preclassic cruciform E-Group) with four stairways each with stela…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Xultun — Los Arboles Pyramid and Acropolis (Petén, Guatemala)
Maya Preclassic to Late Classic (400 BCE–900 CE) · Maya (Petén lowland)
Massive Classic Maya city 16 km NE of San Bartolo (400 BCE–900 CE) with 5 km² settlement and 35 m-high Lost World pyramid (12H3, 50x20 m base, 26 m high, 5 phases).
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Uaxactún Group E Observatory (E-Group)
Middle Preclassic to Late Classic (1000 BCE–900 CE; E-Group 600–300 BCE) · Maya (Preclassic then Tikal sphere)
Type-site of Mesoamerican E-Group solar observatory: western radial pyramid E-VII (Late Preclassic 500 BCE) aligning via three eastern platforms to sunrise solstices/equinoxes, deliberate horizon…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Archaeological wonder
Takalik Abaj
Preclassic to Classic Olmec–Maya transition 800 BCE–900 CE · Olmec to Maya (K'iche' Pacific)
Olmec-Maya transition site with earliest Long Count stela 126 CE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Yaxhá Pyramids
Preclassic 1000 BCE – Late Classic 900 CE; peak 600–900 CE · Maya (Yaxhá kingdom)
Major Late Classic lakeside Maya city 237 structures and 40 stelae on Yaxhá Lake isthmus: Twin North Acropolis, East Acropolis triadic Temple 216 (26 m high, painted red, largest in Yaxhá, second…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Archaeological wonder
Nakbe
Maya Preclassic 1400 BCE–100 CE · Maya (Mirador Basin Preclassic)
46-m Preclassic triadic pyramid, earliest monumental Maya 1400 BCE.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple I (Temple of the Great Jaguar)
Late Classic Maya (700–734 CE) · Maya (Tikal Mutul dynasty)
Classic Maya superstructure 55 m high (45 m pyramid + 12 m temple and 12 m roof comb) on Great Plaza east, funerary pyramid of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (695–734), entombed vault 6 m under with jade…
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple V
Early Late Classic c. 650–700 CE · Maya (Tikal)
Second tallest Tikal pyramid 57 m high south complex behind Palace: oldest of major Tikal temples (c. 650–700), with two talud-tablero influenced early masks and massive sheer limestone platform.
🇬🇹 Guatemala · Pyramid
Tikal Temple II (Temple of the Masks)
Late Classic Maya c. 700 CE (c. 734 dedication?) · Maya (Tikal)
Western twin of Temple I: 38 m high pyramid with temple summit south of Great Plaza (facing east toward Temple I), built for wife of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I (Lady 12 Macaw).