Takalik Abaj
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How it came to be
Tak'alik Ab'aj is an ancient city in the foothills near Guatemala's Pacific coast. Its history spans about 1,700 years, from 800 BC to AD 900, and in the first half of that span it was a stage for the transition from Olmec civilisation to early Maya culture. Its name means standing stone in the K'iche' language.
The city sat on a long-distance trade route linking the Isthmus of Tehuantepec with present-day El Salvador, and lapidary work, pottery and stone tools from sites hundreds of kilometres away have been found there. It has one of the greatest concentrations of Olmec-style sculpture outside the Gulf of Mexico heartland, and later Maya-style stelae were raised. Stela 5 carries Long Count dates, the later of which corresponds to AD 126. Old Olmec sculptures were moved and set in front of new buildings.
After the city was abandoned around AD 900, its remains lay largely undisturbed beneath plantations. It became a National Archaeological Park in 1987, and people of 22 Mayan language groups still hold ceremonies there. It was inscribed in 2023.
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