Map of Tintal unveiled

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The Foundation for Cultural and Natural Maya Patrimony (PACUNAM) recently unveiled the first map of the Maya site of Tintal, also known as Reino Khan. Tintal is a satellite of the larger El Mirador, located in the northern recesses of Guatemala's Petén department. El Mirador's large area of geo-political influence is known as the Mirador Basin and has been designated for protection as an 800,000-acre park located within the larger Maya Biosphere Reserve.

Tintal is the largest of the Pre-classic Maya satellite cities south of El Mirador and displays some impressive infrastructural advancements including five artificial canals surrounding the city and totaling 2.2 kilometers in length. The canals were an average of 8 meters deep and as wide as 15 meters. The map shows Tintal as it would have looked in Pre-classic times, complete with its canals and ochre-hued Maya temples.

Dr. Richard Hansen, the head archaeologist excavating El Mirador, drew attention to Guatemala's preeminence as the Maya heartland. "It's astounding that a single country harbors the largest (archaeological) sites in the hemisphere, the world's largest pyramids, the world's first system of superhighways, the first political state in the hemisphere and the cradle of Mayan civilization," he said.

The city-states of the Mirador Basin prospered centuries before the better-known Classic and Post-classic Maya sites found elsewhere in Guatemala and Mexico. Excavations at El Mirador have revealed the existence of a formal written language and Maya world view centuries before it was once thought to have existed.