Takalik Abaj National Park

Takalik Abaj is representative of the first blossoming of Maya culture that had occurred by about 400 BC [1]. Takalik Abaj was a sizeable city with the principal architecture clustered into four main groups spread across nine terraces [1]. The site lies in the southwest of Guatemala, about 45 km from the border with the Mexican state of Chiapas and 40 km from the Pacific Ocean [1]. The earliest known occupation at Takalik Abaj dates towards the end of the Early Preclassic, c. 1000 BC [1]. The core of the site covers about 6.5 square kilometres and includes remains of some 70 monumental structures positioned around a dozen plazas [1].