Monte Alto - an archaeological site on the Pacific coast of Guatemala , which gave the name to the eponymous archaeological culture.
Located 20 km southeast of the city of Santa Lucia-Kotsumalguapa in the district of Exintla , Monte Alto belongs to several archaeological periods and cultures. The oldest settlement arose here around 1800 BC. e. The Monte Alto culture that existed during this period is one of the oldest in Mesoamerica and, apparently, preceded the Olmecs .
In the early pre-classical period (400 BC - 200 AD), Monte Alto became a regional center.
In Monte Alto, 45 large structures were discovered, of which the highest is a 20-meter pyramid.
Monte Alto is famous for its sculptures - these are the heads and images of "pot-bellied" people (this shape of the body is most likely caused by the fact that the figures were carved from rough, round basalt boulders). No less remarkable are the stone steles, numbering more than 10, in the form of tables, as well as 3 stone altars. According to archaeologists, stone steles had an astronomical purpose and served to determine the position of the sun, to which the dates of the holidays were tied.
In the northeast, the construction of the early classical era - the so-called. Construction 6 [1] .
Notes
- ↑ FAMSI © 2002 - Frederick J. Bove Archived on March 13, 2006.
Literature
- Famsi: Monte Alto (UTM 722341E, 1573508N)
- Parsons, Lee A. 1976 Excavation of Monte Alto, Escuintla, Guatemala In Research Reports: Abstracts and Reviews of Research during the Year 1968. pp. 325-332 National Geographic Society, Washington, DC
- Popenoe De Hatch, Marion 1989 A seriation of Monte Alto sculptures In New Frontiers in the Archeology of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica. Frederick Bove and Lynette Heller, eds. pp. 25-42 Anthropological Research Papers, 39 Arizona State University, Tempe