Parque Arqueológico Uaxactun

Uaxactun is an ancient Maya ceremonial center in the Peten department of Guatemala, located 19 km north of Tikal within the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Settled from the Middle Preclassic period (c. 900 BC) and occupied until the 9th century AD, the site is pivotal in Maya archaeology for establishing the first sequence of successive Maya ceramic styles. Its Group E complex was the first astronomical observatory identified in the Maya world, enabling observation of solstices and equinoxes, and such alignments are now called 'E-Groups' throughout Mesoamerica. In 378 AD, the warrior Siyaj K'ahk from Teotihuacan conquered Uaxactun and Tikal, marking a major political transformation.