The hills of the mounds of Takalik Abaj (formally Abaj Takalik)
were first thought to have built by the Olmec but now they think
they built on top of natural hills. Excavation of the road cuts
show the layers of occupation as well as a 1 meter thick layering
of Volcanic ash caused by the 1902 eruption of the volcano Santa
Maria.
The most probably use of the site was that it was a commercial
site. A line of communication and interchange of South Coast and
all the way to La Venta site in Mexico.
No site was dominated by any of the other sites, but they communicated
and interchanged ideals and rituals. Takalik Abaj was a strategic
communication between the Highlands and the South coast.
It had very rich soils that enable them to have a strong Cocoa
trade.
The Monuments depict various myths of the Maya vision:
The Wolf Man, the Duality/ Day for the animal spirit or the Nahual.
The man who would want to be transform into his animal spirit and
show it in ritual taking Hallucinogenic drugs and performing the
needed auto-sacrifice.
Late pre-classic - early classic square altar was found on the
road (Camino Real) signifying the communication of the highlands
with south coast.
Stelae #1 is similar to the Style of Kaminaljuyu
Other stelae (Ixtapa style) serpent coming out of Earth monsters,
have been found on other part of farm site.
PREVIOUS HISTORY
The importance of Takalik Abaj, as one of the most ancient and extensive
archaeological centers of the coastal plains, was first reported
by Dr. Gustavo L. Bruhl, a botanist who visited the site in 1888.
The news of Bruhl, with regards to the monuments of the site, greatly
influence other travelers and archaeologists to visit the site in
different periods, a few of which are mentioned below:
Karl Sapper (1894); Walter Lehmann (1925); Erick Thompson (1942),
who was the fist archaeologist to systematically study the site;
Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1942), she being the first to confirm that
various monuments of Abaj Takalik had Maya presence: Edwin Shook
(1965) Suzanne Miles (1965), who formalized the name of the site
a Abaj Takalik (the translation of Quiché for "Piedra
Parada" or Standing Stone) In 1976, the University of Berkeley
in California, initiated the first formal archaeology project in
Takalik Abaj, under the direction of Dr. John Graham. This project
extended for five season of field work the concluded en 1981, and
whose final results are in the process of study.
In 1986, Miguel Orrego Corozo, director of the project of Abaj Takalik,
with the help of the sub director of the technical direction of
budgets of IDAEH, have united the funding for this project. These
studies have uncovered more about the site and its relation with
Mesoamérica.
DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE
The major architectural concentration of the site extends approximately
over 9 km, forming a large belt from North to South, limited in
its Eastern and Western extremes by the rivers Ixchiyá and
Xab. Presently, the site is distributed between five coffee farms.
The map drawn by Berkeley University registers more than 70 major
mounds, situated on 9 enormous artificial terraces that ascend from
South to North. The site is made up of three principal groups of
ruins and a fourth group which is isolated at 5 km to the south.
The heart of the site is located in the Santa Margarita farm, owned
by the Ralda Family. They have donated a total of 22 "manzanas"
so that the site can be part of the cultural patrimony of Guatemala.
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