Tazumal
The Maya ruins of Tazumal
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 Location of the site
Location of the site
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| Location | Santa Ana Department, El Salvador |
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| Coordinates | 13°58′46″N 89°40′27″W / 13.97944°N 89.67417°W |
| History | |
| Periods | Preclassic to Late Postclassic |
| Cultures | Maya civilization |
Tazumal (/täsuːˈm äl/) is a pre-Columbian Maya archeological site in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. Tazumal is an architectural complex within the larger area of the ancient Mesoamerican city of Chalchuapa, in western El Salvador. The Tazumal group is located in the southern portion of the Chalchuapa archaeological zone. Archaeologist Stanley Boggs excavated and restored the Tazumal complex during the 1940s and 1950s.
Archaeological investigations indicate that Tazumal was inhabited from the Classic period through to the Postclassic and that the site had links as far afield as central Mexico, the northern Yucatán Peninsula and lower Central America. Metal artefacts from the complex date to the 8th century AD and are among the earliest metal artefacts reported from Mesoamerica.
Tazumal is situated within the municipality of Chalchuapa in the department of Santa Ana, within the Río Paz drainage basin. The ruins are at an altitude of 720 metres (2,360 ft) above mean sea level. It is about 120 kilometres (75 mi) from the contemporary Maya city of Kaminaljuyu. Tazumal is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southwest of the small Late Classic site of Alumulunga.
Chalchuapa was inhabited since the Preclassic period, when massive construction activity took place. Around the boundary between the end of the Late Preclassic and the start of the Early Classic, construction at Tazumal was interrupted by the eruption of the Ilopango volcano, some 75 kilometres (47 mi) to the east of the city. This eruption caused a hiatus in construction activity at Tazumal that may have lasted several generations. Activity resumed during the Early to Middle Classic (c. AD 250-650) although the city never fully recovered to its Preclassic levels of activity. The Tazumal complex came closest to matching the enormous structures of the Preclassic period.
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