Monte Alto culture facts for kids
Monte Alto is an important archaeological site located on the Pacific Coast in what is now Guatemala. It's a place where ancient people lived and built structures long ago.
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History of Monte Alto
Monte Alto is found about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in Escuintla. People first lived here as early as 1800 BC. This makes it a very old site!
During a time called the Late Preclassic period (from 400 BC to AD 200), Monte Alto grew into a major regional center. This means it was an important town or city for the people living in that area.
The site has 45 large structures, including a pyramid that stands 20 meters (about 65 feet) tall. The culture that lived at Monte Alto is one of the oldest in Mesoamerica. Some experts even think it might be older than the famous Olmec civilization.
People continued to live at Monte Alto during the Early Classic period too. Many of them lived around Structure 6, which was a big platform located to the northeast.
Ancient Art and Sculptures
Monte Alto is well-known for its amazing stone sculptures. Archaeologists have found large stone heads and unique "potbelly" figures here. They also discovered more than a dozen flat stone stelae (tall, carved stones) and three stone altars.
There are two main types of sculptures found at Monte Alto. One type looks like a human head, and the other looks like a human body. These sculptures were made from large, round basalt rocks. Because of how they were shaped, the figures look quite round and plump. Since they seem to be male figures, archaeologists call them "potbellies".
How Ancient People Used the Stars
Archaeologists found fifteen plain stelae at Monte Alto. One special group of three large stelae was set up in a line from north to south. These stones might have been used for astronomy. The ancient people could have used them to track the sun's position and count days. This would have been very helpful for farming and knowing when to plant crops.
For example, the way the main pyramid lined up with the southern stela marked the winter solstice on December 21. This is the shortest day of the year. Also, the sun rose over the central stela on February 19. This shows that the people of Monte Alto had a good understanding of the sky and how to use it.
Magnetic Sculptures
Many of the sculptures found at Monte Alto are magnetic! This is very interesting because it suggests that the artists who made them knew about these special properties of the stones. If this is true, the Monte Alto sculptures could be the oldest known magnetic artifacts in the world.
Some of these "potbelly" sculptures are on display in the town park of La Democracia, Guatemala, and in front of its local museum, the Museo Regional de Arqueología de la Democracia. Researchers found that four of the heads and three of the bodies had magnetic properties. For example, all four magnetic heads had a north magnetic pole in their right temples. This pattern is probably not just a coincidence.
Other Ancient Sites Nearby
During the Mayan Preclassic period, other important sites were active around Monte Alto. These include Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site), Izapa, Takalik Abaj, and El Baúl. There were also highland communities like Kaminaljuyu and Chalchuapa.
See also
