Tamarindito

[2] The city was the capital of the Petexbatún region of the southwestern Petén during the Early Classic period but was displaced by the newly founded conquest state of Dos Pilas.[4] Archaeologists have excavated a Late Classic royal tomb from beneath one of the temples at the site, although the burial had been damaged by the collapse of the vaulted ceiling it still contained one of the richest funerary offerings in the entire Petexbatún region.Tamarindito is situated on the highest of a series of hills forming an escarpment in the Petexbatún region of the Petén department of northern Guatemala.[9] Tamarindito is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the ruins of the Late Classic city of Dos Pilas,[10] its bitter rival.[22] This rebellion of Tamarindito and its allies against Dos Pilas left the defeated city all but abandoned and destabilised the entire Petexbatún region, sending it into a spiral of escalating hostilities.[23] Within 50 years of the victory over Dos Pilas the population of Tamarindito had collapsed by almost eighty percent and it is possible that some of the inhabitants moved to Punta de Chimino which had a large Terminal Classic occupation.What had begun as struggles for dominance of the Petexbatún degenerated into intense internecine warfare and the situation in the region at the end of the 8th century has been described as a "landscape of fear" with many sites becoming fortified.This might represent a reoccupation of the site after the period of warfare had passed and the region had become more peaceful after the drastic population reduction of the 8th century.[31] Looters' trenches have mostly been sunk into the summits of the site's pyramids and many parts of the hieroglyphic stairway were removed to private collections in Guatemala City.[32] Tamarindito was first mapped in 1984 by Ian Graham, Merle Greene and Stephen D. Houston, who also uncovered some monuments at the site, including Hieroglyphic Stairway 3.[33] The Petexbatún Regional Archaeological Project started investigations at Tamarindito in 1990, carrying out mapping and test excavations under the direction of Stephen D. Houston and Oswaldo Chinchilla.[35] Tamarindito was located strategically on the highest part of the range of hills and in the Early Classic it emerged as the most important city in the region.[36] Tamarindito had a secondary capital at the nearby center of Arroyo de Piedra, and both formed one polity, sharing the same emblem glyph.[38] On a stela from Arroyo de Piedra, we can see ruler Chak Bin Ahk designated as a lord subordinate to Dos Pilas.[citation needed] Although Tamarindito was located very close to the hostile Dos Pilas kingdom, it never possessed purpose-built defensive fortifications.[41] The area between Tamarindito and Aguateca includes some of the most agriculturally fertile soils in the Petexbatún region and was intensively cultivated as evidenced by the remains of low boundary walls.It has a single room measuring 8 by 2 metres (26.2 by 6.6 ft) that was originally vaulted and was accessed via a main door in the centre of the south wall.The majority of the bones are missing but the remains are those of an adult accompanied by an offering of two ceramic pieces that date the burial to the beginning of the Late Classic.The entire stairway rises 8 metres (26 ft) up the east side of the structure to the summit shrine, which possessed three east-facing doorways.[71] Structure 61 is notable for a chultun (a man-made subterranean storage chamber) that was found carved from the limestone bedrock under the central axis of its stairway.The chaltun was empty and had been carefully sealed prior to the abandonment of the site and it is believed that it had been created in order to receive a burial but was never used.[73] Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 described the capture of king K'awiil Chan K'inich of Dos Pilas and the victory of Tamarindito and Arroyo de Piedra over that city in 761.The tomb was excavated by Juan Antonio Valdés and was discovered to be that of king Chanal Balam, the ruler who overthrew Dos Pilas in AD 761.The border of the tripod plate and its supports bear the Ik emblem glyph of the Motul de San José polity and one of the polychrome vessels has a painted scene of courtly life depicting a king of the same site.Near the cave entrance was found a large shell that had been cut in half lengthwise in order to serve as a scribe's inkwell, as illustrated in Maya art.A circular altar rests at the base of the pyramid and a small structure occupies the centre of the courtyard, an unusual feature that is not often found in the Maya lowlands although other examples have been identified at Tikal and Uaxactun.[102] The site features a large number of agricultural terraces that are currently covered by secondary scrub, making their mapping difficult.
SayaxchéPetén DepartmentGuatemalaDos PilasStephen D. HoustonMinisterio de Cultura y DeportesInstituto de Antropología e HistoriaMaya civilizationPeténdepartmentPetexbatúnEarly ClassicPasion RiverAltar de SacrificiosTres IslasArroyo de PiedraCartographyPasión RiverPunta de ChiminoChanal BalamPeopleSocietyLanguagesWritingReligionMythologySacrificeCitiesArchitectureAstronomyCalendarStelaeTextilesMedicineCuisineWarfareHistoryPreclassic MayaClassic Maya collapseSpanish conquest of the MayaYucatánChiapastrade routeAguatecaGuatemala CityguerrillaGuatemalan Civil WarIan GrahamMerle GreeneballcourtMesoamerican ballgamehieroglyphicMachaquiláMiddle PreclassicTerminal ClassicLate to Terminal Classicabove mean sea levelchultunlimestoneobsidianChichen ItzaspondylusearspoolsMaya artstuccoeccentric flintdolomiticUaxactunDemarest, Arthur A.University Press of ColoradoVanderbilt University PressUNESCOHouston, StephenNikolai GrubeMartin, SimonThames & HudsonSchele, LindaSharer, Robert J.Stanford University PressMaya sitesBelizeActun Tunichil MuknalAltun HaBaking PotBarton Creek CaveCahal PechCaracolCerrosChaa CreekCuelloEl PilarKaʼKabishKʼaxobLa MilpaLamanaiLouisvilleLower DoverLubaantunMarco GonzalezMinanhaNim Li PunitNohmulNohoch CheʼenPacbitunPusilhaSan EstevanSanta RitaUxbenkaXnahebXunantunichBalbertaBejucalCancuénCerro QuiacChitinamitChocoláChutixtioxCotzumalhuapaEl BaúlEl ChalEl MiradorEl PerúEl PorvenirEl TemblorEl TintalEl ZotzGuaytánHolmulHoltunIximcheIxtontonIxtutzKaminaljuyuKʼatepanLa AmeliaLa BlancaLa CoronaLa JoyancaLa MuertaMachaquilaMixco ViejoMontanaMotul de San JoséNaachtunNaranjoPajaralPiedras NegrasQuiriguáQʼumarkajRío AzulSan BartoloSan ClementeSeibalTakalik AbajTayasalTopoxteUcanalWajxaklajunWitznaXultunZacpetenZaculeuZapote BobalHondurasCopánEl PuenteMexicoAcancehAguada FénixBalamkuBalankancheBonampakCalakmulChacchobenChactúnChicannáChinkulticChunchucmilChunhuhubChunlimónComalcalcoDzibancheDzibilchaltunEkʼ BalamHormigueroIzamalJoljaʼKohunlichKomchenLa MarMayapanMoral ReformaOcomtúnOxkintokPalenquePlan de AyutlaPomonaPunta SurRío BecSan GervasioTamchenTonináTortugueroValerianaXcaretXlapakXpuhilXtampakYaxchilanYaxunáYoʼokop El SalvadorCara SuciaCasa BlancaCihuatánJoya de CerénSan AndrésTazumalPre-Columbian era