Machaquila

Machaquila (or Machaquilá, using Spanish orthography) is a major ruined city of the Maya civilization in what is now the El Peten department of Guatemala. The ruins of Machaquila fall within the municipality of Poptún, in the Petén department of Guatemala. It is approximately west of the town of Poptún, and southeast of Sayaxché. Machaquila is situated on the banks of the lower Machaquila River, which is a major tributary of the Pasión River. The site is in a relatively isolated region. During the Classic period, the city's location would have placed it upon a trade route running from the Maya Mountains in the east to the Pasión River in the west, and ultimately to the Usumacinta River. Machaquila is southeast of the contemporary Maya site of Seibal. The site core containing the city's monumental architecture is protected, but under threat from occupation by landless peasants. The surrounding area, where the majority of the residential architecture is located, falls within privately owned farmland. Machaquila shared a pared Emblem Glyph with Cancuen, probably suggesting some form of joint rule and participation in a larger polity that included both cities. A proposal that Machaquila, Cancuen, and Tres Islas participated in a form of government that involved the transference of the status of capital from one city to the next has not been universally accepted. Machaquila flourished in the Late to Terminal Classic periods, reaching the height of its power in approximately the ninth century. The rise in activity at Machaquila appears to have been a side effect of the collapse of the power of Dos Pilas over the Petexbatún kingdom. In 2004, archaeologists announced that they had uncovered a hieroglyphic panel at Cancuen that depicts Tajal Chan Ahk, the 8th-century king of that city. The high relief sculpture shows him installing subordinate rulers at Machaquila. The site was excavated in the early 21st century by the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala in collaboration with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.