Cotzumalhuapa

Santa Lucía Cotzumalhuapa (or Cotzumalguapa) is the name of a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological zone dating mainly to the Late Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology, although it was occupied since the Middle Preclassic period and there is evidence of a major development during the Late Preclassic period.

The famous Stela 1 from El Baúl has one of the earliest inscriptions in Mesoamerica, with the earliest legible hieroglyphic Long Count date in Guatemala equaling 37 CE.

Cotzumalhuapa is located on the Pacific piedmont of southern Guatemala, in the Escuintla Department, on the outskirts of modern Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa. During the Late Classic period, Cotzumalhuapa was a major city that extended more than 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi). It encompassing three major compounds, known as El Baúl, Bilbao, and El Castillo, with extensive settlements between and around them.

The Cotzumalhuapa Zone contains not only the 3 main sites, but the minor site of Golón as well as connecting stone-paved causeways and bridges. Its main structures were made of earthen filling and carefully chosen stones. There have been found more than 200 structures and 187 sculptured monuments here dating from Pre-Classic (see Stela 1, to right, dated at 37 CE) to the Late Classic (600-1000 CE). In the Late Classic phase, El Baúl was one of the most important Pacific coast sites.

A corpus of more than 200 monumental sculptures are known from the city and from neighboring sites that include Palo Verde, Aguna, Palo Gordo, and others. Examples of the Cotzumalhuapa sculptural style are found across the Pacific Coast and highlands of Guatemala, and into El Salvador, where Cara Sucia marks the southeastern limit of the Cotzumalhuapa zone.

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