El Puente (Maya site)
[3][6] The Parque Arqueológico El Puente opened on 20 January 1994 and includes a visitor centre, site museum and administrative offices.[1] El Puente appears to have been first settled around the middle of the 6th century AD, in the Early Classic period, fairly late in the Mesoamerican timescale and occupation at the site did not last very long.[7] Architectural and ceramic similarities with Copán suggest that El Puente was founded by that city to control the crossroads of two trade routes that met in the valley.[7] The site was a regional centre during the Late Classic period when it remained closely allied with the great city of Copán.[3][8] After the collapse of Copán in the Terminal Classic (between AD 850–950), the La Entrada region suffered politically with local elites losing prestige and territory.The architecture at El Puente also tends to lack the symmetry found in traditional Maya sites with a long occupational history, perhaps due to a lesser level of technical ability.[9] The mortar used in construction was of low quality, with little lime, using only a hard clay that was particularly vulnerable to water damage, causing the stucco facing to come away from the structures and resulting in their complete collapse.It appears to have been built in the 7th century AD, its earliest version bears a stylistic similarity to buildings from that period in Copán.