El Mirador

 Excavation of El Mirador and other sites has begun only in recent decades. The Mirador Basin, part national park and part multi-use area, is also a target for illegal forestry activities, this Basin is still a virgin forest with 6 different types of Tropical forest and has a large variety of fauna, it is by far the largest virgin tropical ecosystem besides the Amazonia in Brazil.

The archaeologist Richard Hansen and his team have been working more that 20 years there, and in 2001 initiated "The Mirador Basin Project", which aims to gain permanent archaeological and environmental protection for the region while spurring economic growth through ecotourism development. He has The National Geographic Society and the Novella Foundation, support among other institutions and individuals, both in Guatemala and outside the country.

NGS made a Documentary for TV named "Dawn of the Maya", (Candidate to  an Oscar in 2005). in witch he defined this basin as the oldest and more extensive Mayan site of the world. If you have been in Tikal, just imagine the central plaza in Mirador that is 4 times larger and has two enormous pyramids, among hundreds of buildings,  one of them known as La Danta (Tapir), dated ca 400 BC., witch is, by far, the most massive building  discovered to date any where in the world, with an amazing base (that could accommodate 36 football fields): 1,089 feet (330 mt.) by 2,046 feet (620 mt.) and 237.6 feet tall (72 mt.)  with a volume of 2,800.000 cubic mt. that make the Great Pyramid in Egypt  smaller by 200,000 cubic mt., its base is larger that the Central Acrópolis in Tikal, and up today, Only its topmost pyramid has been fully excavated. It is the Tallest Building in Pre columbian America, Hansen estimates that 15 million man/days were necessary to build it. (See Gallery).  This complex has 4 Platforms,  and 3 temples in the uppermost being the central the tallest with 24 mt., in front of this massive pyramid and in the first platform is the Pavas group, with an acropolis some 28 mt high, among several smaller temples and the Puma group. Large public plaza appears to have been an important feature in the late preclassic period as there is a large one on each major level of the Danta complex.  Public plazas have been noted from the late preclassic period at Tikal by 100 BC (Culbert 1977:38), some of the late preclassic structures in the Danta complex may have had perishable superstructures, Its Major architectural features were central inset stairways, large projecting masonry block masses once supporting masks flanking the stairways, small nonfunctional stairways, carefully cut and shaped block masonry and thick plaster coverings on masonry and floors. Masonry was finely executed, the blocks were usually large and rectangular in shape, joints appear to have been mortared with mud instead of plaster. The practice of painting plaster surfaces with red pigment was observed on the Danta and Pava acropolises, a feature found also in Tikal by 300 BC.  At least 3 proceces of remodeling have been documented, and the last activity was ca 150 AD. At Tikal, Coe found that rites carried out in shrines on top of important tombs is suggestive of high status (Coe 1965), this may be the case at the La Danta complex such activities are present not only in the form of early classic ceramic offerings left on the structures after they had been abandoned but also in late preclassic period pits that were hacked through the floors of the structures for the purpose of burning offerings in them, that similar activities took place in the same locations but at widely separated times is suggestive of a common significance placed on the structure itself or its contents, perhaps the presence of a tomb containing a common ancestor. No middle preclassic activity is evidenced in the area in sharp contrast to the rest of the site. During the late preclassic the Danta complex appears to have come into use and apparently flourished as a center of ceremonial activity. there does not appear to have been much residential occupation of the danta complex during the preclassic period, it was during this period that El Mirador and the Danta complex developed as a preeminent center in the Maya lowlands.