Progress at Zaculeu, Guatemala

Abstract

The excavation and restoration of Zaculeu, now in progress, is a project of the United Fruit Company, under the direction of John M. Dimick. The site of Zaculeu is in the western highlands of Guatemala about 3 kilometers from the town of Huehuetenango. At least one more season's work is planned, but the general outlines of the archaeological picture are already emerging.The most important contribution which the work at Zaculeu will make to the archaeology of the Highland Maya is in furnishing a continuous record of architecture and pottery from Early Classic times to the Conquest, a period of nearly 1000 years (PI. XVI). The initial occupation of the site was contemporary with the Early Classic (Tzakol) phase of the lowlands and the Esperanza phase at Kaminaljuyu, to judge from several pieces of pottery found in graves. There was intensive building activity and many burials were incorporated in or dug through the stairways of terraced platforms.