Tayasal (archaeological site)

Tayasal

Stelae in the main plaza
Location	Flores, Petén
Region	Guatemala
History
Founded	Preclassic Period
Abandoned	Postclassic Period
Cultures	Maya
Site notes
Responsible body: Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes

Tayasal is a Maya archaeological site located in present day Guatemala. It was a large Maya city with a long history of occupation. Tayasal is a corruption of Tah Itza ("Place of the Itza"), a term originally used to refer to the core of the Itza territory in Petén. The name Tayasal was applied in error to the archaeological site, and originally applied to the Itza capital. However, the name now refers to the peninsula supporting both the archaeological site and the village of San Miguel. The site was occupied from the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000–350 BC) through to the Late Postclassic (c. 1200–1539 AD).

The site is a protected national monument.

The Tayasal archaeological site is situated on a peninsula on Lake Petén Itzá a short distance to the north of the modern town of Flores, separated from it by a 270-metre (890 ft) wide stretch of water, and falls within the municipality of Flores, in the department of Petén in northern Guatemala. The site covers an area of approximately 2.75 square kilometres (1.06 sq mi). The southern portion of the peninsula also hosts the modern village of San Miguel, which probably covers a portion of the Postclassic occupation of the site. The peninsula fell within the core of the Postclassic Itza territory.

The protected area of the archaeological site is defined by the lakeshore to the north and west, and by the modern village of San Miguel to the south and east.

The Tayasal peninsula showed intense activity during the Late Preclassic (c. 400 BC - 250 AD). At this time, the city fully reflected ongoing developments in the Maya region, such as monumental architecture that included typical Preclassic Maya architectural forms such as the triadic pyramid and the E-Group ceremonial complex. Activity at the site continued right through to the Postclassic period. Investigations have identified that most Posclassic and colonial activity was concentrated on the southern shore of the peninsula. Very little is known about the use of the peninsula during the time of first contact with the Spanish, although early colonial accounts reported that the Itza frequently conducted rituals there. Evidence of Spanish contact includes a musketball excavated at the site. In 1702 and 1703, shortly after the Spanish conquest of Petén, Spanish missions were established on the Tayasal peninsula at San Miguel and San Bernabé, although the population of San Bernabé dropped off sharply through the course of the 18th century due to high infant mortality.