El Mirador
"El Tigre Complex", in El Mirador
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 Shown within Mesoamerica
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| Location | El Petén, Guatemala |
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| Region | El Petén |
| Coordinates | 17°45′18.18″N 89°55′13.55″W / 17.7550500°N 89.9204306°W |
| History | |
| Periods | Middle Preclassic to Late Preclassic |
| Cultures | Maya civilization |
Coordinates: 17°45′18.18″N 89°55′13.55″W / 17.7550500°N 89.9204306°W
El Mirador is a large pre-Columbian Maya settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala.
El Mirador was first discovered in 1926, and was photographed from the air in 1930, but the remote site deep in the jungle had little more attention paid to it until Ian Graham spent some time there making the first map of the area in 1962. A detailed investigation was begun in 1978 with an archaeological project under the direction of Bruce Dahlin (The Catholic University of America) and Ray Matheny (Brigham Young University). Dahlin's work focused primarily on the bajo swamps and mapping, while Matheny's team focused primarily on excavations in the site center and architecture. This project ended in 1983. To the surprise of the archaeologists, it was found that a large amount of construction was not contemporary with the large Maya classic cities in the area, like Tikal and Uaxactun, but rather from centuries earlier in the pre-classic era (see: Mesoamerican chronology).
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