Chocolá

Chocola is a major Preclassic Maya site in the Suchitepequez Department of Guatemala, active from c. 1000 BC to 200 AD. The site spans several square kilometers with over 100 mounds, suggesting its population may have rivalled better-known Preclassic centres like Kaminaljuyu. A sophisticated underground hydraulic system of stone-lined channels runs through the site, representing one of the oldest known examples of such engineering in Mesoamerica. Cacao residues identified in Preclassic pottery support the theory that intensive cacao cultivation drove the site's early complexity. Chocola is also one of only nine southern Mesoamerican sites to produce a ruler portrait monument.