Takalik Abaj (formally Abaj Takalik), which
in Maya means Standing Stone, began as a Pre-classic
800 BC village then became a big site with rituals, monuments
and sculptures.
Takalik Abaj is one of the most important
Pre-Hispanic sites of Guatemala. It's occupation in the early
Pre-classic, but more formally in the Late Pre-classic, shows
a continual evolution as stronger cultures of the Pacific
coast, foothills, and coastal plains of Guatemala gradually
asserted their influence. This society manifested in the Late
Pre-classic and the Proto-classic with great development in
architecture and sculpture. Their relations with Kaminaljuyú
and other Guatemalan highland sites and with Chocolá
of the coastal plains, also indicate an established trade
and commercial development, and perhaps because of this, a
cultural development. During the Pre-classic era we also can
appreciate early Maya style in iconography and in inscriptions
and architecture that consolidated during the first phase
of the early Classic period.
The reason for the fall of this culture after the activities
of this period is still unknown. We hope the puzzle will be
explained with the advancement of the project Abaj Takalik,
which began in 1986 under the direction of Miguel Orrego Corozo.
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