| Archeological Guatemala The name of Guatemala was a family name given by the tlaxcaltecas in the XVI century to the kaqchikel capital, Iximché, probably mentioning the canes that defended, at the bottom of a ditch, the sovereign fortress. Around this time, the native culture had more than three thousand years of constant development. Mighty monarchs had ruled over immense populations, great queens had taken important political decisions, wise men had developed a complex system to calculate time and to write the political feats; the urbanists planned entire cities, for agricultural activities, as well as residence areas for the rich and also for the common people. The artists had created royal monuments in stone and ceramics, the musicians had exalted its religious beliefs, the priests invoked the divine favor, the architects had erected palaces and temples up to skies and millions of people had dedicated their lives to agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, and even war.
| Generations and generations of people had given life to powerful cities, as Mutul, now called Tikal, which in its splendor period had a population of about one hundred thousand persons, according to the performed calculations in the remains of its broad cultivation fields, with irrigation canals. Kaminaljuyú was the urban area were the wise men developed the hieroglyphic writing, which was the only was they spread information around the whole continent. The inhabitants of Abak Takalik had been a blending spot of different cultural traditions, and hundred of cities had been the stage of multiple human feats. Along all these centuries, periods of conflict and splendor were developed. That is why, the archeologists had divided the story of the region in three big periods, Pre-Classic, beginning in the second millennium B.C. until 250 of our era, the Classic, which includes the years from 250 to 900 A.C., and the Post-Classic, covering the years from 900 to 1500 B.C. Then a transition period is considered, when the groups of the region had knowledge of groups from other parts of the world and its contact, this is the Protohistoric period, from the years 1500 to 1550 A.C. | 
Gran Jaguar inTikal,
Photo: Jorge Morales | | | |  | During all this time, the groups created different political expressions. So Kaminaljuyú, Abaj Takalik, Monte Alto, Uaxactún and Zaculeu had their splendor time in the Pre-Classic period. Left: Abaj Tajalik in Retalhuleu | Another ones, including also Kaminaljuyú and Mutul, were the scenery of a big growth during the first part of the Classic period. But the most famous sites are those of the Late Classic period (600 to 900 A.C.) as the biggest expansion in Mutul, Quriguá, Cotzumalguapa, Cancuén, Dos Pilas, Yaxhá, Yok’ib (today Piedras Negras) and many other state cities. At this time the monarchs gave orders to build big roadways, palaces, pyramidal temples, plazas, game fields and great stone monuments. But the war started turning into an endemic problem that affected the productive activities and the people’s tranquility, especially in the overpopulated areas, like Petén. This forced big groups of people to immigrate to other parts, as it is narrated in the Popol Vuh (a Maya-quiche manuscript which relates many legends of the Maya).
When the Popol Vuh tells about the masters that later founded the k’iche’ supremacy traveled to Tulán (the big city) to obtain the power badges, it narrates the fact that the Ucanal’s soldiers went to the actual Ceibal and proclaimed its domination, and then emigrated south, to the center of the actual Quiché. That is why they came from the east, because Ucanal is at the east of Ceibal. This migration, as others, gave birth to new political expressions, which were successful in the Post-Classic period.
When the Spanish arrived they were surprised with the dual power system of the mames, k’iche’es and kaqchikeles. This had helped overcome the great power conflicts that took time in the state cities at the end of the Classic period. On the other hand, the reigns were forming more extensive cities. This was the importance of Lake Atitlán, which served as a frontier for the three groups.
When the explorer travels around the different remains of so many and so powerful cities, he can get to know the lesson from the past, with its endless wars, that did not lead them to success but to the unproductive use of the resources. Its descendants seem to have learned the lesson, because they are very peaceful people that fight to preserve their traditions, many of which come from Pre-Classic times, and are a great cultural attraction in the land of el quetzal. |