Kaminaljuyu

Kaminaljuyu, in Guatemala’s highland central valley, is one of the region’s few surviving Mayan complexes of earthen construction. It is a unique example of exposed adobe architecture in the tropical highland—with elaborate buildings, some with funerary chambers, reliefs, and painted surfaces, highlighting the area’s wealth. Its strategic location enabled control of crucial trade routes during the Maya period. Between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 200, Kaminaljuyu, or “place of the ancestors” in the Mayan K'iche' language, enjoyed artistic, architectural, and sociopolitical advances, becoming one of the most important centers in southeastern Mesoamerica. Long abandoned, the site was rediscovered in the early twentieth century. Encroachment from the ever-expanding Guatemala City prompted its placement on the 2010 World Monuments Watch.

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