Topoxte Building C - Peten, Guatemala
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 17° 03.746 W 089° 25.469
16Q E 241951 N 1888064
This Mayan site was occupied until about 900 and reoccupied during the Postclassic at approximately 1100 until re-abandoned around 1450.
Waymark Code: WMY1VA
Location: Guatemala
Date Posted: 04/03/2018
Views: 2
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Topoxte ... is a pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site in the Petén Basin in northern Guatemala with a long occupational history dating as far back as the Middle Preclassic. As the capital of the Kowoj Maya, it was the largest of the few Postclassic Mesoamerican sites in the area. Topoxte is located on an island on Yaxha Lake across from the important Classic period center of Yaxha....
Archaeological investigations have revealed that the site was occupied from the Middle Preclassic right through to the Late Postclassic.[2] Obsidian from the Ixtepeque source started to be used from the Terminal Classic onwards and is used as a diagnostic marker for dating finds to the later periods of occupation at the site, when Ixtepeque became the principal source of obsidian for Topoxte and the wider Maya lowlands.
The site was abandoned at the end of the Classic period (ca. 900) and reoccupied during the Postclassic at approximately 1100. After being inhabited for a further three and a half centuries it may finally have been abandoned around 1450, although this has now been challenged."
The featured photo with this Waymark is of Building C at the site, and Wikipedia (
visit link) adds about that:
"Building C is perhaps the best example of Postclassic architecture in the Petén region.[6] It is located on the east side of the Main Plaza and is a stepped pyramid with three platforms, measuring 2.45 metres (8.0 ft), 2.2 metres (7.2 ft) and 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) high.[32] The pyramid has a steep stairway ascending from the plaza on the west side of the building at an angle of 49°.
A fourth level is built upon the three platforms, with its own access stairway climbing from the top platform. This fourth level supported the temple building, which originally had walls approximately 4.8 metres (16 ft) high and 0.8 metres (31 in) thick.[32] A broken stela fragment measuring 69 by 50 centimetres (27 by 20 in) by 23 centimetres (9.1 in) was found on the third tier, in front of the access stairway to the temple.[35] It was associated with an offering of human bones (Burial 22)."