Yaxhá

Yaxha

Aerial view of the North Acropolis
Location within Guatemala
Location	Flores
Region	Petén Department, Guatemala
Coordinates	17°4′39″N 89°24′9″W / 17.07750°N 89.40250°W / 17.07750; -89.40250
History
Founded	Middle Preclassic
Abandoned	Terminal Classic
Periods	Preclassic and Classic Periods
Cultures	Maya
Site notes
Excavation dates	1970s onwards
Archaeologists	Bernard Hermes Proyecto Nacional Tikal
Architecture
Architectural styles	Preclassic and Classic Maya
Responsible body: IDAEH

Bernard Hermes

Yaxha (or Yaxhá in Spanish orthography) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the northeast of the Petén Basin region, and a former ceremonial centre and city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Yaxha was the third largest city in the region and experienced its maximum power during the Early Classic period (c. AD 250–600).

The city was located on a ridge overlooking Lake Yaxha. The name of the city derives from the Mayan for "blue-green water"; it is a notable survival of a Classic period place-name into the modern day. The Yaxha kingdom is estimated to have covered an area of 237 square kilometres (92 sq mi) and to have had a peak population of 42,000 in the Late Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology.

Yaxha had a long history of occupation with the first settlement being founded sometime in the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000–350 BC). It developed into the largest city in the eastern Petén lakes region during the Late Preclassic (c. 350 BC – AD 250) and expanded into an enormous city during the Early Classic (c. AD 250–600). At this time, in common with other sites in Petén, it shows strong influence from the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico. It was eclipsed during the Late Classic (c. AD 600–900) by neighbouring Naranjo but was never completely dominated. The city survived well into the Terminal Classic (c. 800–900) but was abandoned by the Postclassic period (c. 900–1525).

The ruins of the city were first reported by Teoberto Maler who visited them in 1904. The site was mapped in the 1930s and again in the 1970s and stabilisation work began in the late 1980s. The ruins include the remains of more than 500 structures with a number of major archaeological groups linked by causeways. Approximately 40 Maya stelae have been discovered at the site, about half of which feature sculpture.

The name Yaxha derives from the Mayan yaxa', which means "blue-green water". Yaxha is notable for the survival of its toponym from the Classic period, when it was a thriving city.David Stuart first proposed that the emblem glyph of the site should be read Yax-ha and that the name of the city (and the lake) is of ancient origin.