Xultun — Los Arboles Pyramid and Acropolis (Petén, Guatemala)
Xultún · Los Arboles · Acropole Los Arboles · Structure 12F-19
Maya Preclassic to Late Classic (400 BCE–900 CE)·Maya (Petén lowland)·🇬🇹 Petén Department, Guatemala
About
About Xultun — Los Arboles Pyramid and Acropolis (Petén, Guatemala)
Massive Classic Maya city 16 km NE of San Bartolo (400 BCE–900 CE) with 5 km² settlement and 35 m-high Lost World pyramid (12H3, 50x20 m base, 26 m high, 5 phases). Los Arboles acropolis (12F-19) at northern urban limit is sacred ancestral pyramid complex (5th century CE penultimate phase) with modeled plaster masks and ballcourt adjacency. Inscriptions include early Long Count stelae (6 monuments). Harvard-USAC-BU San Bartolo-Xultun Project since 2001 mapping LiDAR under jungle.
Why it mattersPremiere Petén Maya city after Tikal in density; early writing and mural tradition bridging Preclassic San Bartolo to Classic.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why Los Arboles placed at urban periphery as sacred limit
- 02Relation to San Bartolo collapse
Theories
- 01Acropolis as necropolis-paradise axis linking to night-sky ancestors
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.100–900 CE, Los Arboles florescence Early Classic 250–500 CE
- Period
- Maya Preclassic to Late Classic (400 BCE–900 CE)
- Culture
- Maya (Petén lowland)
- Builders
- Maya (Xultun polity)
- Purpose
- Dynastic funerary pyramid and ancestral shrine-acropolis legitimizing lineage
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.100–900 CE, Los Arboles florescence Early Classic 250–500 CE
Initial construction
c. 1689 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
17.5290° N · 89.3220° W · 355 m · 2 mapped features
Pyramid 12H3 (Plaza B main pyramid)
pyramid26 m stepped pyramid east of Plaza B with 5 phases and stela cluster
17.5285° N · 89.3222° WLos Arboles acropolis 12F-19
acropolisAncestral pyramid-acropolis with plaster sculpture friezes at northern city limit
17.5302° N · 89.3215° W