A 1000-year-old altar from the old Teotihuacan culture of Mexico was discovered in the former Maya City Tikal in Guatemala, who further provides proof of ties between the two pre-Spanish societies, archaeologists said Monday.
In recent years, various artifacts on Tikal, the largest archaeological site of Guatemala, the influence of Teotihuacan – an important site of cultural exchange and innovation in classical Mesoamerica – on Mayan civilization.
Dated between 400 and 450 AD, during the classic Maya period, the altar was found in what used to be a house in an elite residential complex in Tikal, located in the jungle near the border with Mexico.
It represents the Teotihuacan Storm -Godin, archaeologist Lorena Paiz of the Southern Tikal Archaeological Project told reporters.
The rectangular structure 1.1 meters high and 1.8 meters wide (3.6 feet by 5.9 feet) is made of the earth, covered with stucco or plaster.
It shows a painted face with a brushy headdress, a chain and other teotihuacan elements.
Paiz said it contained “a crowd” of characteristics that think of central Mexican influences.
“It is the strongest proof that we have to date, possibly from (Maya) people who were deep familiar with the Teotihuacan culture,” said colleague -archaeologist Edwin Roman.
The residential complex where the altar was found was discovered in 2019 after a search of the dense jungle with the help of laser beam technology, said Ana Claudia Monzon, an officer at the Guatemalekse Ministry of Culture.
Tikal, a UNESCO world heritage site, reached its peak between 200 and 900 AD when the Maya culture comprises parts of what now Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras are.
Teotihuacan, famous for its pyramids of the sun and the moon, is approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Mexico city.
That culture reached its peak between 100 and 600 AD.
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