Ixlu () is a small

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

archaeological site that dates to the Classic and Postclassic Periods. It is located on the isthmus between the Petén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, in the northern

Petén Department Petén is a department of Guatemala. It is geographically the northernmost department of Guatemala, as well as the largest by area at it accounts for about one third of Guatemala's area. The capital is Flores. The population at the mid-2018 o ...

of Guatemala.Aguilar 2000, p.259. The site was an important port with access to Lake Petén Itzá via the Ixlu River. The site has been identified as Saklamakhal, also spelt Saclemacal, a capital of the Kowoj Maya. The site has over 150 structures, the majority of which in the site core display typically Postclassic characteristics.Sánchez Polo ''et al'' 1995, p.592. The site was briefly investigated by Don and Prudence Rice in 1980. Ixlu is located approximately east of the departmental capital of Flores and north of

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, ne ...

. Ixlu is approximately south of the ruins of the major Classic Period city of

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-C ...

Occupation

Archaeological investigations have uncovered potsherds dating as far back as the early Middle Preclassic (1000 BC–800 BC). Postclassic potsherds are widely distributed in the upper levels of the site to a depth of .Aguilar 2000, p.261. Evidence from the Temple of the Hidden Jars indicates a continuous occupation from the Preclassic right through the Classic (AD 200–900) to the Postclassic Period (AD 900–1525), with occupation continuing until approximately 1700, well after the

Spanish Conquest The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...

of most of Guatemala, according to ethnohistoric sources. The Petén Lakes region finally fell to the Spanish Crown in 1697, at which time Ixlu was in disputed territory between the mutually hostile Itza and Kowoj kingdoms.

Structures

Fifty structures have been mapped at Ixlu by the Central Peten Historical Ecology Project.Bey, Hanson & Ringle 1997, p.247. Nine of these are C-shaped bench superstructures and two are L-shaped. Ixlu has two ballcourts and is one of only two Postclassic sites in the central Petén lakes region to have a recognisable ballcourt.Valdés & Fahsen 2005, pp.151-152. However, both ballcourts at Ixlu apparently date to the Late Classic. The site possesses a twin pyramid complex, a feature that is rare outside of Tikal and probably indicates the political influence of that great city. The architecture at Ixlu resembles that at the Late Classic site of

Seibal Seibal (), known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala, about 100 km SW of Tikal. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region ...

on the

Pasión River The Pasión River ( es, Río de la Pasión, ) is a river located in the northern lowlands region of Guatemala. The river is fed by a number of upstream tributaries whose sources lie in the hills of Alta Verapaz. These flow in a general northerly di ...

The Temple of the Hidden Jars

The Temple of the Hidden Jars (''Templo de las Vasijas Escondidas'') has been labelled as Structure 2034. It is bordered by Structure 2041 on the south side, Structure 2036 to the west and Structure 2035 to the north, its eastern side faces onto Patio B. The temple measures and consisted of a two-level platform, the first level was high and the second level had a height of .Aguilar 2000, pp.259-260. The temple has been dated to the Late Postclassic Period (AD 1200-1525). A stairway ascended the west side of the temple and there was an altar on the summit that measured . The temple is named from two hidden niches on the west side of the temple, one at the foot of the stairway and the second under an altar on the temple steps. Each contained a single red-brown ceramic vessel measuring approximately in diameter and high, each with its respective concave lid. The vessels have four handles spaced equidistantly around the circumference, with the lids also possessing a handle. The jars contained only brown soil. This style of hidden niche is similar to niches associated with ceremonial structures in distant Mayapan in the north of the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula (, also , ; es, Península de Yucatán ) is a large peninsula in southeastern Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north ...

Monuments

Four Classic Period sculpted monuments were recovered from the site, two

stela A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), wh ...

e and two

altars An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganism ...

. Ixlu Stela 1 bears the date 879 AD, in the Late Classic Period, and depicts a ruler who used the

Emblem Glyph Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

and the ''K'ul Mutul Ahaw'' title ("holy lord of Tikal"). The stelae at Ixlu resemble traditional Classic Period stelae such as those at Tikal.Schele & Freidel 1990, p.389. Both Stelae 1 and 2 show bloodletting rituals and the materialisation of the Paddler Gods. Ixlu Stela 2 is now located in the main plaza of Flores. The monuments of Ixlu bear some hieroglyphic texts that closely resemble texts from the site of Dos Pilas, suggesting that the lords of Ixlu may have been refugees from the collapse of that state in the Petexbatún region of the

Petén Basin The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, primarily located in northern Guatemala within the Department of El Petén, and into Campeche state in southeastern Mexico. During the Late Preclassic and Classic periods of pre-Colum ...

, a state that itself professed to have a legitimate claim to the rulership of Tikal.Webster 2002, p.275.

Notes

References

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