Chocolá

Chocolá is a Preclassic Southern Maya site whose developmental emphasis was from 1000 BC to AD 200. The site lies within the Southern Maya area. Chocolá is in the San Pablo Jocopilas municipality in the southern Suchitepéquez Department of Guatemala. A modern village lies on top of and within the ancient site. Lying on a plateau below volcanic mountain ridges to the north and east, and at a height of 500–1000 meters, the site consists of three general groupings extending over c. 6 by 2 kilometers, oriented north-to-south. To the north, great platform mounds consisted of elite residences, with elaborate hydraulic networks of stone-lined canals bringing water in from underground springs. In these precincts, large palaces were built; from Structure 7-1, c. 25 by 25 meters and 5 meters high, caches of fine complete vessels were recovered, likely dedicatory offerings placed during the construction of the edifice. In the ancient central district further south, pyramidal mounds up to 25 meters held administrative structures. Archaeoastronomical research has tentatively identified crucial alignments from structures in the administrative center of the city that reflect primordial measurements that underlay development of the Maya calendar. Still further south, flatter areas contained commoner houses and workshops. Thus far, hundreds of thousands of artifacts have been found, including many whole vessels, sculptured monuments and altars, and figurines, most dating to the Preclassic. Around the site are caves still sacred to local ritualists. Researchers have hypothesized that one reason for the early development of such high complexity at Chocolá is the intensive cultivation of cacao for long-distance trade. Based on older as well as still accumulating evidence, scholars assume that innovative developments occurred in the southern Mesoamerican area during the Preclassic period (1500 BC – AD 200) that strongly influenced the later great Mesoamerican civilizations.