El Porvenir is the modern name for a ruined
city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
of the
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
Maya civilization
The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, a ...
located in the
Petén department of
Guatemala. Ron Canter, in his paper "The Usumacinta River Portages in the Maya Classical Period" argues that El Porvenir was the first point at which the ancient Maya
portaged to avoid the unnavigable portions of the
Usumacinta River
The Usumacinta River (; named after the howler monkey) is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz (in Guatemala) and the Salinas ...
. A fragment of stone found at the site and aptly called the "El Porvenir Fragment" was also discovered that bore the name of
Ha' K'in Xook, the sixth ''ajaw'' of
Piedras Negras Piedras Negras may refer to:
* Piedras Negras, Coahuila, a city in the state of Coahuila, Mexico
** Piedras Negras Municipality, a municipality in Mexico, with the center in the eponymous city
* Piedras Negras (Maya site)
Piedras Negras is the ...
, suggesting a connection to the site.
References
External links
Entry on Mesoweb
{{coord missing, Guatemala
Maya sites in Petén Department
Former populated places in Guatemala
Archaeological sites in Guatemala
Classic period in Mesoamerica