An Orthogonal Grid at Nixtun-Ch’ich’, Petén, Guatemala

Summary

Nixtun-Ch’ich’ is a large archaeological site on the western edge of Lake Petén Itza in Petén, Guatemala. Recent remapping of the site revealed that its architecture was largely organized by an orthogonal grid. While most Maya sites exhibit some degree of urban planning, the organization of sakbes (roads) into an orthogonal grid has not been described elsewhere in the Maya world. The grid seems to have developed at Nixtun-Ch’ich’ in the Late Preclassic period. It is not yet known whether it developed independently or whether its designers were influenced by interactions with Central Mexico. It is likely that that planning and construction of the grid were centrally organized, which would have required a great deal of political power.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Current Investigations in the Petén Lakes Region, Guatemala

Keywords

Spatial Coverage