Archaeological Reconnaissance and Excavations at El Encanto (Petén, Guatemala) in 2018

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Maya site of El Encanto is situated 12 km to the northeast from Tikal epicenter. Discovered in 1907 and occasionally visited by various projects throughout the twentieth century, it has never been the subject of large-scale excavations. Based on the map by the University of Pennsylvania Tikal project in 1964 that included two groups, El Encanto was interpreted by Dennis Pulestone as a “minor center” within larger Tikal. In 2018 Atlas Epigráfico de Petén project realized two-week field work that included mapping of the site and test-pit excavations in the South Group. The site turned out to be significantly larger and included at least four large architectural groups with two internal causeways. The Southern Group, which is dominated by a 14-meter pyramid, played the role of a ritual center. The Northern and Western groups, apparently, had an administrative and residential character. The occupation of El Encanto goes back to the Middle Preclassic; the construction of the South Group started in the Late Preclassic or Protoclassic. The latest levels are dated to the Late Classic. We suggest that El Encanto should not be regarded as a “minor center”, but as a middle-level urban community within Tikal periphery.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32505