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Cahal Pech
Maya for “place of the ticks”, given when the site
was a pasture during the first archaeological studies
in the 1550’s. Evidence of habitation in Cahal Pech
has been dated as far back as 900 BC and abandoned in
the 9th century for reasons unknown. |
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Cahal
Pech is an ancient Maya site on the outskirts of the
town of San Ignacia. San Ignacio and its sister town,
Santa Elena, reside on opposite sides of the Macal
River. Not far north the Macal and Mopan rivers
converge to form the Belize River. San Ignacio and
Santa Elena are in the foothills of the Maya mountains
close to Guatemala in the upper Belize valley of the
Cayo District in Belize. Cahal Pech is walking
distance from San Ignacio and a good place for a
picnic among these modest ruins, spectacular views of
the Maya mountains and the valley of the Belize River.
The
center of this Maya ruin rests on top of a steep hill
on the banks of the Macal River. Included in this site
are pyramid temples, palaces and a ball court, several
steles and alter commemorating Maya Rulers and time’s
passage. The tallest structure is about 25 meters
high.
Archaeologists have found a total of 10 mounds within
six of the seven courtyard groups. Preliminary
excavations have determined that Cahal Pech was
settled around 1000 B.C. and abandoned by 800 A.D.
Directly beneath several Middle Classic (500-700 A.D.)
structures lie Late Preclassic (300 B.C. - 250 A.D.)
temples, suggesting that these were the periods of
greatest development. - Source:
The Belize Virtual Guide |
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The
article above is licensed
under the
GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material
from the Wikipedia article "Cahal
Pech" |
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