Bilbao (Mesoamerican site)

Bilbao is a Mesoamerican archaeological site about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the modern town of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in the Escuintla department of Guatemala. The site lies among sugar plantations on the Pacific coastal plain and its principal phase of occupation is dated to the Classic Period. Bilbao was a major centre belonging to the Cotzumalhuapa culture with its main occupation dating to the Late Classic (c. AD 600–800). Bilbao is the former name of the plantation on which the site lies and from which it has derived its name.

Bilbao lies of the outskirts of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, situated approximately 370 metres (1,210 ft) above mean sea level. The archaeological sites of Bilbao, El Baúl and El Castillo were all parts of the same urban centre that extended over about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi). This extended urban area is known as the Cotzumalhuapa Nuclear Zone by archaeologists and Bilbao lies in the southernmost part of this area. The urban growth of modern Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa has expanded to the edge of the monumental architecture of the site.

The dominant geographical feature close to the Cotzumalhaupa Nuclear Zone is the Volcán de Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, its crater rising to an altitude of 3,835 metres (12,582 ft) above mean sea level at only a distance of about 21 kilometres (13 mi) from Bilbao itself. The activity of the volcano must have impacted upon the population of the site, which must regularly have suffered from falls of volcanic ash, affecting agriculture, transport routes and perishable dwellings.

Bilbao was occupied since the Preclassic and was the most important site dating to the Preclassic within what became in later periods the Cotzumalhuapa Nuclear Zone.

A substantial quantity of Middle Classic and Late Classic ceramics were found in mixed deposits at Bilbao.

Although Postclassic remains are found close to the surface in various parts of the Cotzumalhuapa Nuclear Zone, Bilbao has a residential compound that is the only major structure dating to this period within the Zone.

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