El Temblor is an archaeological site in

Petén Department Petén (from the Itza' language, Itz'a, , 'Great Island') is a Departments of Guatemala, 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 o ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

which was once the location of a settlement of the

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writin ...

. First recorded in 1974 by Ian Graham of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

's Peabody Museum, the site represents a medium-sized and compact settlement about south-south-east of the ruined Mayan 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 archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...

and about north-east of the ruins of

Ixlu Ixlu () is a small Maya 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 of Guatemala.Aguilar 2000, p.259. The s ...

. It is situated in a wooded area called Paso del Carmen, a few kilometers east of the modern village of . It is designated TMB in the ''Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions''.

Description

The ruins at El Temblor consist of at least three groups of collapsed structures or platforms on a north-south axis. The northernmost group, designated as Group A, is clustered in a wooded hilltop and includes a pyramid standing over high. A long structure similar to a palace, at least in length, is situated to its north-east. A damaged

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

stands east of the pyramid. Group B is located in a lower and flatter area to the south and includes at least five mounds or platforms. Group C is located further south along the site's main axis and comprises eight structures on a hill, possibly representing temples and palaces. A chultun, a bottle-shaped underground storage chamber, is situated to the west of Group C. The site is unguarded and has been badly damaged by looters who have dug trenches and mutilated stelae. Around 1970, two sawn-off inscribed sides from an El Temblor stela were offered for sale by a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

art gallery which claimed it to be of unknown provenance, presumed to be from

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

. One side was purchased by the Nasher Museum of Art at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. The other side was purchased privately and its whereabouts are unknown. El Temblor has not yet been investigated archaeologically. However, its visible architectural features suggest that it dates from the Late Classic period (circa AD 600–909).

References

{{Maya sites Archaeological sites in Guatemala Former populated places in Guatemala Maya Classic Period Maya sites in Petén Department