Archaeological Reconnaissance at Tixan: Explorations in the Southern Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Petén, Guatemala

Tixan

Although the identification and documentation of Tixan was the primary objective of this season's reconnaissance, the presence of illegal invaders at Centro Campesino made this impossible. However, after consultation with our guides, it was determined that portions of the area they know as Tixan could be reached safely from the north. Unfortunately, due to the length of time required to reach Tixan from this route, we were only able to spend one day conducting reconnaissance at the site. Nonetheless, we managed to document five different mound groups at Tixan (Figure 28 and Figure 29).

Click on image to enlarge.

Of these five groups, we managed to make an EDM and compass map of Group 1.  This group consists of a series of mounds atop two platforms. The two platforms are connected by a small staircase, with one platform situated above the other. The mounds of Group 1 are low, with a height of only 0.5 to 1.0 meters, and there was no evidence of superstructures. The other groups at Tixan were quite similar to Group 1.

Similar to Tecolote and La Pasadita, settlement at Tixan was on the hilltops. However, the masonry work is quite unlike that of Tecolote, La Pasadita, and El Túnel, and consisted of only large, roughly cut stone blocks with a complete absence of the small flat stone slabs that are typical of the masonry work at the other sites. However, without further reconnaissance it is impossible to say whether this is characteristic of all of Tixan, or only the northern portion of the site we visited.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to conclude much about Tixan based on this preliminary reconnaissance. At the present time, it is unclear whether the settlement we are calling Tixan is part of the same site that is reported to contain the monumental architecture, or if what we encountered was simply a large rural center to the north. When members of the Piedras Negras project traveled from Centro Campesino to La Pasadita in 1998, they noted near-continuous settlement from Centro Campesino to La Pasadita (Golden, personal communication, 2005). If this is the case, then it certainly is possible that settlement from the site we visited leads to a large site core that we are certain exists to the south, closer to Yaxchilán, based on reports from the Defensores de la Naturaleza (see The Future of the Sierra del Lacandón National Park). Further reconnaissance is needed to confirm this possibility.

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