El Chal
El Chal is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located in the upper San Juan River valley of the southeastern Petén Basin region, Guatemala. The site is situated in the municipality of El Chal, lying some to the south of the municipal seat also called El Chal.
El Chal was occupied from approximately 300 BC through to 1300 AD, although some Middle Preclassic activity has been identified in the acropolis. The Late Preclassic occupation of the city was concentrated around an E-Group ceremonial complex some north of the later site core. The site's major period of occupation was during the Late Classic Period, when it was an important centre in the southeastern Petén region. Among the structures at the site is a large quadrangular residential complex, a structural type that is uncommonly found at Southern Maya lowland sites although there is a smaller one with similar characteristics at Machaquilá.
very little restorative work has been undertaken at the site. The archaeological site is protected by the Guatemalan Instituto de Antropología e Historia.
Location
El Chal is located in the municipality of El Chal in the department of Petén in northern Guatemala. El Chal is south of Flores, the departmental capital. The archaeological site is within the southern area of the village and municipal seat also named El Chal, to the south of the highway to Flores. The site is situated in the central Petén wet savanna in a well-drained area not subject to seasonal flooding. The local topography is karstic in nature, and includes hills that support some of the city's architecture.El Chal is located within the valley of the San Juan River, which is a tributary of the Pasión River, at an altitude of above mean sea level. The site is situated on a natural north-south communication route between the Maya Mountains and the central Petén region. This route was used during the Colonial Period and was likely to have been inherited from pre-Conquest times.
Some of the major architecture of the site core is covered by secondary forest, including some large trees, while much of the city's remains lie within the modern village, including mounds of various sizes. Some mounds were destroyed in order to build the modern streets, in other cases the mounds were robbed of stone that was reused in modern construction. There are also instances where modern houses have been built on top of ancient mound platforms. Modern houses had previously also occupied the outskirts of the acropolis but were relocated during the Guatemalan Civil War in the late 20th century due to guerrilla activity.
History
El Chal was first occupied in the Middle Preclassic Period, with ceramics associated with a burial being recovered from the acropolis. Late Preclassic occupation has only been identified in a few residential groups in the site core. During the Preclassic the centre of the city was probably situated some distance to the northeast of the Late Classic centre, where a large ritual complex is located.The major period of occupation at the site was during the Late Classic, when most of the major architecture was built. At this time the city centre was moved to the site core around the newly built acropolis complex. The sculpted monuments of the city indicate that it was important enough during the Late Classic to possess its own Emblem Glyph. The city experienced a period of intensive construction lasting from the Late Classic through to the Terminal Classic. All hieroglyphic texts sculpted on monuments at El Chal date to the 8th century AD, although the inscriptions are heavily eroded. The residential groups constructed upon platforms in Panorama Sector were built in the Late Classic, when a flint workshop was in production in Panorama Group 19. During the Late Classic occupation also expanded throughout the other sectors of the city; Arrepentimiento, Municipal and Central.
During the Terminal Classic, El Chal maintained its primary place in the San Juan valley. This is evidenced by major building activity in the site core where the massive structures were underwent new phases of construction and by the erection of new monuments to accompany the already existing Late Classic monuments. The continued importance of El Chal in the Terminal Classic resulted in other centres in the region being eclipsed, such as El Edén and El Tigrillo to the west and Copoja, La Puente and El Ocote to the southeast. During the Terminal Classic, El Chal developed its own ceramic production industry.
In spite of the continued intensive activity in the site core, in Panorama Sector and the other peripheral residential sectors there was a diminishing of activity compared to the Late Classic, perhaps leading up to the abandonment of the city.
Postclassic Period occupation of El Chal has been identified from ceramic fragments recovered from Structure 1 in the Northwest Plaza. A few Postclassic potsherds were also excavated from Group 15 in the Central Sector.
Modern history
The name El Chal first appears on a Spanish Colonial watercolour from 1735 together with other villages in the region, with the name of El Chal or El Chacal. It also appears on a map of central and southeastern Petén from 1860, together with Poptún, Concepción, San Clemente and the ruins of Ixkun. Some of the stonework from the ruins has been stripped to be used in the construction of the modern village.The site was visited by archaeologists Richard Kirsch and Ian Graham in 1974 and 1975 but their work was never published. In 1975, the Department of Prehispanic Monuments at IDAEH designated it as a protected site covering roughly. In 1989 the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala mapped the site and catalogued the remaining monuments. In 1993 the first test excavations took place and an area of around the site core was explored.
In the 1970s some sculpted monuments were removed from El Chal by FYDEP and were later transferred to the Tikal National Park. By the mid-1990s the exact location and identity of these monuments had been lost.
Further excavations have taken place since the 1990s, including investigations of the West Plaza in 2003, the East Plaza in 2004, the acropolis in 2005-2006 and the Northwest Plaza in 2006.
Site description
The site core of El Chal consists of an acropolis and three ceremonial plazas in which the majority of sculpted monuments were found, the East Plaza, West Plaza and Northeast Plaza. There are also a number of other plazas in the site core. The plazas and the majority of the residential structures were laid out upon naturally level terrain, while the acropolis was built upon a natural limestone hill and a very few residential groups were built upon artificial basal platforms.A reservoir is located to the northwest of the acropolis. It was built with irregular limestone blocks and measures across. In the rain season it fills to a depth of and contains. A second, natural reservoir, is located to the south of the artificial reservoir and west of the acropolis. In the rain season it also fills to a depth of.
The large ritual complex of El Chal was located a considerable distance to the northeast of the civic centre of the city and was probably first built in the Preclassic Period.
Archaeologists have mapped 268 structures clustered in 53 groups around approximately 68 patios in the site core. Residential structures were concentrated in the area surrounding the ceremonial centre, especially on the north and west sides near to the reservoir. Residences tended to be larger the closer they were to the reservoir. The residential area of El Chal was extensive and archaeologists have divided it into four sectors. Municipal consists of the area occupied by the modern village, El Arrepentimiento is the northeastern portion of the site, Panorama is the northwestern area, and Central is the site core. Central El Chal contains 25 groups, Arrepentimiento contains 40 groups, Panorama contains 53 groups and Municipal contains 18 groups. Panorama was an area of chert production while Municipal is associated with the ritual complex of the city.
Central Sector
Acropolis
The acropolis was built on a high limestone hill. The base is almost square, measuring on each side. The acropolis complex faced northwards onto the south side of the West Plaza. The upper part of the hill was levelled into three wide terraces with an average area of. The terraces were linked by a sunken stairway on the north side of the acropolis. The architecture of the acropolis is arranged in six groups.Terraces
Terrace 1 is the highest terrace in the acropolis. It supports three small patios labelled as Patios A, B and C. These patios are laid out between 10 structures. Among the structures found on Terrace 1, Structures 1, 3, 5 and 6 have been excavated by archaeologists. Structure 5 is the largest, on the west side of Patio A. Terrace 1 has been dated to the Late and Terminal Classic. A complex stairway divided into three flights gave access to the terrace from the south side. The upper flight descended seven steps to a small room measuring. These steps had a tread of and a riser of. The second flight descended from the small room to another similar room, and the third flight descended in the opposite direction to the terrace supporting Patio F. The wall of the upper flight was decorated with a sculpted bas-relief frame, the wall of the middle flight was coated with stucco and were painted with a red and black design.Terrace 2 is situated below Terrace 1. It is divided into two patios by a high pyramid temple. Patio D was accessed via a stairway from the West Plaza directly to the north, the stairway rose in two sections with a minor terrace between them, referred to as the Lower Terrace. The lower section of the stairway measured long, extending into the plaza at its lower end. Material excavated from the area around the stairway where it joined the base of the acropolis has been dated to the Late and Terminal Classic. Patio D itself was laid out at the very beginning of the Late Classic Period. It was resurfaced a number of times in the Late Classic, and the earliest of the surrounding structures were built at this time. Additional structures were built in the Terminal Classic, and the patio area was extended with the construction of the adjacent Patio G. Patio E was also accessed via a stairway from the base of the acropolis, although it is very poorly preserved. Ceramics recovered from the western portion of the Lower Terrace dated it to the Late and Terminal Classic. A low platform was excavated in the extreme southwestern corner of the Lower Terrace, although most of the ceramic finds were dated to the Terminal Classic, some pieces dating to the Late Preclassic were also found.
Terrace 3 is located on the southwest side of the acropolis at the same height as Terrace 2. It supports one residential patio group, Patio F, formed by five structures.