Kaminaljuyú by AnnaLupilla
Kaminaljuyu is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization, in highland Guatemala, now within modern Guatemala City.Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe, although the remains of the site today are less impressive than many other Maya sites more frequented by tourists. The site lies in a valley in the outskirts of Guatemala City and contains a total of over 100 platforms and mounds created before the end of the Middle Culture period (ending approximately AD 150). The valley is surrounded by hills which culminate in a string of lofty volcanoes to the south that separate the area from the Pacific coastal plain. The climate is temperate and the soil is rich. The area was largely swallowed up by real estate developments in the late 20th century, although a portion of the center of Kaminaljuyu is preserved as a park.
The site was first excavated in 1925 by Manuel Gamio when he made stratigraphic excavations and found deep cultural deposits yielding potsherds and clay figurines from the Middle Cultures (from 1500 BC to AD 150). Later the extent of the site?s importance was discovered in 1935 when a local football club began cutting away the edges of two inconspicuous mounds to lengthen their practice field. They uncovered a buried structure and Lic. J. Antonio Villacorta C., the Minister of Public Education in Guatemala City, requested archaeologists Alfred Kidder, Jesse Jennings and Edwin Shook to investigate. Lic. Villacorta gave the site its name Kaminaljuyu from a Quiché word meaning ?hills of the dead.?
