The complex culture of the Classic Maya period (a.d. ca. 200-900), including the emergence of writing and great cities, originated in the Southern Maya region around Kaminaljuyu, present-day Guatemala City. A new Earthwatch-supported excavation at the ancient site of Chocolá, one hundred kilometers from Kaminaljuyu, may yield clues to these developments.

Preliminary findings from Chocolá were presented in July at the XVII Simposio de Arqueología Guatemalteca in Guatemala City, the premier venue in the world for presentation of Maya research. The paper was presented by archaeologist Dr. Jonathan Kaplan (Arizona State University and Museum of New Mexico) and his colleague the eminent Guatemalan archaeologist Dr. Juan Antonio Valdés.

"The overall significance of the Chocola site is enormous," said Kaplan, principal investigator of the Earthwatch-supported Guatemala's Ancient Maya project. "Chocola is turning out to be far larger and more intact than we expected, and the discoveries thus far, even after only seven weeks of the first full season of work, are astounding."

Archaeologists have considered Chocolá to be a satellite to Abaj Takalik, an important Preclassic Maya center that produced some of the earliest Maya writing so far. Mapping efforts show that Chocolá may be as large as 12 square kilometers, even larger than Abaj Takalik. With activity spanning the Early Preclassic period and continuing through the Early Classic (from roughly 1000 b.c. to 200 a.d.), Chocolá may hold many answers to the development of Maya civilization.

Chocolá was discovered in the early 1900s, marked by a network of more than 100 mounds-representing ancient structures- many of which were 20 meters or more in height. But no comprehensive survey or excavation has revealed the contents of these mounds, many of which have been erased by modern activities, until this Earthwatch-supported project.

Members of the Proyecto Arquelogico Chocolá, led by Kaplan and Valdéz, have already systematically mapped 8 square kilometers of the ancient urban center, uncovering almost 60 mounds and more than 20 monuments with intricate carvings. They also recovered and thousands of ceramic, obsidian, and worked-stone artifacts, still to be analyzed. Earthwatch teams joining the project in July and August will continue to excavate selected areas.

Chocolá was a city of ascending terraces, at the convergence of the Chocolá and the Chichoy Rivers, built around a center area of pyramids and plazas similar to the design of Abaj Takalik. The site is in close prospect of spectacular volcanoes, the Lago de Atitlan, and a sacred cave above the Rio Chocolá from which flows a natural spring, even today.

"Archaeological investigation at the site should help elucidate the meaning of ancient regional centers like Chocola and ethnic interaction between Cholan populations from the central altiplano and people from the Pacific coast," said Kaplan. "The ancient trajectory of Chocolá encompasses the seminal time when Maya civilization was developing."

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