Río Azul
It is the most important site in the Río Azul National Park in the Petén Department of northern Guatemala, close to the borders of Mexico and Belize.In the late 4th century AD Río Azul was dominated by the city of Tikal and its great central Mexican ally Teotihuacan.Tikal used Río Azul to secure an important trade route to the Caribbean Sea and challenge Calakmul, its great rival.The ruins are situated immediately southeast of the Río Azul ("Blue River") upon a low ridge in the extreme northeast of the department of Petén.[13] The Teotihuacan warlord Siyaj K'ak' is mentioned in an inscription at Río Azul dated to AD 393,[14] during the reign of king Yax Nuun Ayiin I at Tikal.[5] This incursion into Calakmul's sphere of influence provoked a period of fierce rivalry between the two powers that ultimately led to the downfall of Río Azul.[1] The looters dug large trenches cutting through the most important temples;[9] at the height of the looting in the late 1970s as many as 80 workers were employed, funded by a wealthy private collector.[18] Archaeologist Ian Graham travelled to Río Azul in 1981 to follow up rumours of the looting and document the damage; as a result of his survey the Guatemalan government stationed custodians at the site.[20] The site covers an area of approximately 1.3 square kilometres (0.50 sq mi) and includes approximately 729 major structures dating from the 5th to 6th centuries AD;[21] the densest concentration of substantial structures is clustered within the central 0.5 square kilometres (0.19 sq mi) of the site core;[1] the tallest temple stands 15 metres (49 ft) high.[4] Río Azul possesses nine major architectural groups in its site core, each including an elite residential complex and its associated funerary pyramids.[25] Stela 2 dates to the Late Classic and includes a hieroglyphic text that mentions an elite visitor from La Milpa, at a time when Río Azul was long past its peak.It has walls painted with Maya script that includes mention of a person called Six Sky, his death or entombment in 450 and the Río Azul Emblem glyph.[34] Tomb 19 was found intact; it contained fine textiles and Teotihuacan-influenced ceramics,[6] including tripod cylinder vessels of a type common on the Gulf Coast and at Teotihuacan itself.[35] Some of the ceramic vessels were found to contain traces of cacao and one of them was decorated with a hieroglyphic text describing its function and naming its owner.[1] A looted jade mask has been found to be inscribed with hieroglyphs naming the same king as is mentioned on Stela 1 together with a truncated version of the Río Azul emblem glyph.