Nakbé

View of Nakbé

Nakbé - part of a palace building

Nakbé is a Mayan ruined city in the north of the Peten department in what is now Guatemala . Nakbé is considered to be the first great Maya city.

location

Nakbé is about 15 km south of the Mayan ruins of El Mirador , with which it was connected by a road that was partially leveled ( sacbé = "white path"). In the late classical Maya period, the city was also connected to Calakmul by a sacbé .

history

The region was founded around 1400 BC. Settled. The beginning of the architectural development in Nakbé could meanwhile about 1000 to 800 BC. To be dated; the city's heyday was around 800–400 BC. Around 200 AD the place was abandoned. A few finds - including the Princeton vase dated around 700 AD and some other ceramics - date from the late Classical period, when the old walls were apparently once again briefly inhabited. In modern times, Nakbé was first rediscovered in 1930, but archaeological investigations did not begin until 1962.

buildings

The buildings in Nakbé are arranged in two groups (an eastern and a western part). The largest building, a temple pyramid , is located in the western part and is approx. 48 m high, whereby it stands on a 7 m high platform. There are seven masks on the building, the largest of which is 11 m wide and 5 m high and shows a bird god . Other buildings that are almost on the ground can be viewed as palaces ( palacios ) of the upper class.

Other finds

Stele 1

The stele 1, made up of 5 fragments (but incomplete), was about 3.40 m high and shows two opposing figures on both sides, which some researchers interpret as the "Divine Twins" Hunahpú and Ixbalanqué mentioned in the Popol Vuh . The age of the stele is disputed.

Ceramics

A variety of ceramics, pots, bowls and figures were found in Nakbé. Finds of shells and obsidian , which only occurs in the highlands of Guatemala or in some areas of central Mexico, have often found their way over long distances to Nakbé and are evidence of a well-developed trade and transport system. This fact probably played a major role in building a complex Mayan society.