El Tintal facts for kids
El Tintal is an ancient Maya city. It is found in the northern Petén area of Guatemala. This site is about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of a town called Carmelita.
People lived here during the Preclassic and Classic periods. El Tintal is close to other famous Maya sites like El Mirador and Nakbé. It was even connected to El Mirador by ancient roads called causeways.
El Tintal is a very large site with huge buildings. It is the second biggest site in the Mirador Basin, right after El Mirador itself. The city has amazing buildings from the Middle Preclassic period. These are similar to structures found at El Mirador, Nakbé, and Wakna. People continued to build here even in the Late Classic period.
Building the causeways that linked El Tintal, El Mirador, and Nakbé took a lot of effort. It also used a huge amount of building materials. This shows that the Maya people were very skilled engineers long ago.
Archaeologists knew about El Tintal for many years. But it was hard to reach because it is so far away. So, no one fully explored it until 2004. That's when the Mirador Basin Project started digging there.
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Where is El Tintal Located?
El Tintal is in the northern part of the Petén department. This area is very remote and covered by thick rainforest. You can only get there by mule trails.
The site is on a hill. It also has four swampy areas right in its center. The swamps in the Mirador Basin might have been why the first people settled here. Many large cities grew up around these swamps.
When Was El Tintal Populated?
Experts studied pottery from El Tintal. They found that most people lived there during the Late Preclassic period (300 BC – AD 150). Many also lived there in the Late Classic period.
Pottery from the Preclassic period looks like pottery from all over the Mirador Basin. But Late Classic pottery from El Tintal is different. This suggests that the people here became more unique as the population dropped after the Preclassic period.
Exploring El Tintal's Past
Heinrich Berlin first visited El Tintal in the 1950s. But archaeologists Ian Graham and Joyce Marcus did the first test digs in 1970. In 1990, Richard D. Hansen worked to save a stela (an ancient stone monument). The Mirador Basin Project began the first full excavations in 2004.
Sadly, El Tintal has been heavily damaged by people looking for ancient treasures. These people dug over 2,154 holes into the buildings. They found many burials and left behind pottery and other items they didn't want. A lot of damage happened because they were looking for Classic Period burials in older Preclassic buildings. When they didn't find them, they just kept digging.
What Can We See at El Tintal?
The Mirador Basin Project mapped 9 square kilometers (3.5 square miles) around the main buildings. They found 850 large structures, some as tall as 50 meters (164 feet). Wide causeways connected different parts of the city. These roads also linked El Tintal to other sites in the Mirador Basin.
Two of the biggest buildings at El Tintal are triadic structures. This was a new idea for the Maya in the Preclassic period. It means a main building with two smaller buildings facing inward, all on one large platform. These triadic structures have been badly damaged by treasure hunters. But these digs did not find any tombs or burials. One of the largest pyramids is a triadic pyramid. It is about 44 meters (144 feet) tall. Its base is huge, measuring 105 by 78 meters (344 by 256 feet).
Archaeologist Richard D. Hansen led studies here in 1990. They dug into one of the many holes made by treasure hunters. This hole went through a 2-meter (6.5-foot) tall mound on top of a 30-meter (98-foot) tall triadic pyramid. The treasure hunters' hole had uncovered a broken red sandstone stela (Stela 1). This stela was first reported in 1979. The stela pieces were on a stucco floor. A large shell and pieces of jade were found nearby.
A ballcourt is located near the center of the site. It is north of the triadic pyramid. This is the largest ballcourt found so far in the Maya lowlands.
A jade plaque was found at El Tintal. It has a design very similar to a design from an ear-spool found at a nearby Classic Period site called La Muerta.
Mano de León Complex
This complex is the main civic center of the city. It is completely surrounded by a wide, deep ditch. This ditch is about 15 meters (49 feet) wide and up to 8 meters (26 feet) deep. It is 2.2 kilometers (1.4 miles) long. People lived along the edge of this ditch in the Preclassic period. So, experts believe the ditch was built then.
The ditch was probably for defense. But it might have also supplied water. Or it could have marked a social or political boundary within the city.
The Mano de León Complex is the most damaged area of the city. Treasure hunters dug 945 holes here. An important discovery was made in a damaged area southwest of the complex. It was a painted ceramic pot from around AD 700–750. It shows the Maya Maize God and has painted hieroglyphs. These hieroglyphs say it was a drinking pot belonging to Yopaat B'ahlam. He was an important lord mentioned in texts from other Late Classic sites in the Mirador Basin.
Stela 1
El Tintal Stela 1 was carved from red sandstone. It was found buried inside a 2.5-meter (8.2-foot) tall structure. This was near the northwest corner of the El Pavo pyramid in the Mano de León complex. The stela stood in the plaza for hundreds of years after it was carved.
Stela 1 was carved again sometime before the Early Classic Period. Parts of the older design can still be seen on the bottom of the monument. These old designs include hundreds of carved lines and symbols. They are like ancient graffiti, typical of Preclassic art in this region.
The stela is 4.5 meters (14.8 feet) high, 2 meters (6.6 feet) wide, and 0.4 meters (1.3 feet) thick. Experts believe it is older than Tikal Stela 29. Tikal Stela 29 has a Maya Long Count date that matches AD 292. El Tintal Stela 1 was found with a round limestone altar. This altar had been moved by the treasure hunters. The sandstone for Stela 1 likely came from the Altar de Sacrificios area. This suggests that El Tintal had unusual connections with this distant region.
La Isla Complex
This complex has the tallest pyramid at El Tintal. It is 50 meters (164 feet) high and is called Catzin.
Henequén Group
This group has also been heavily damaged by treasure hunters. The Mirador Basin Project mapped 508 holes dug here.
See also
- El Mirador
- Nakbé
- Maya civilization
