New Data on City Planning at Nixtun-Ch’ich’, Petén, Guatemala

Summary

The site of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ in Petén, Guatemala is the only known lowland Maya site with an urban grid. Such grids are composed of perpendicular streets forming quadrilateral city blocks. They are common elements of city planning as they increase the legibility of city space and the interconnectivity of occupants. The urban grid at Nixtun-Ch’ich’ is the earliest known in the Americas (ca. 800-500 BCE) and was built when social complexity was emerging in the Maya region. Like many Preclassic period Maya sites, the planning at Nixtun-Ch’ich’ also includes an east to west line of ceremonial buildings and reservoirs forming an axis urbis. Our latest survey has revealed that the axis urbis extends much further to the east and west than previously thought. Recent excavations and radiocarbon assays have refined the chronology of the grid construction as well as the axis urbis. The work has also illuminated Middle Preclassic period construction techniques.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21853