Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
open to visitors but the remains of the city's outskirts are now on lands occupied by five
coffee farms. One of these, on the ninth terrace, is home to an ecolodge.
In its heyday, between 800 B.C. and A.D. 200, Takalik Abaj was an important commer-
cial and political center at the heart of a far-ranging trade network in which cacao and salt
were exchanged for obsidian, quetzal feathers, pyrite, and jade.
More than 275 structures have been unearthed here. Now being restored in an area once
belonging to a private coffee and banana plantation is Structure 5, the tallest structure at
16 meters high. It occupies Terrace 3. East of here is Structure 7, thought to have been an
astronomical observatory. Structure 4 contains some very clear engraving in Mayan style.
There are many sculptures scattered throughout the site. Among them are smaller versions
of the giant Olmecoid heads seen elsewhere, as well as the pot-bellied
barrigones
that are
also typical of Olmec influence. Also noteworthy is Structure 12, the largest structure with
a base measuring 56 by 42 meters and dating to A.D. 300. Standing before it are seven
carved monuments, including Altar 8, and Stela 5, which shows two kings presiding over
bound captives. Olmecoid heads and zoomorphs compose the other finely carved monu-
ments at this structure. Structure 11 is similar, also with seven monuments before it.
