Ixlu is a small Maya

Maya civilization

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...

 archaeological site that dates to the Classic and Postclassic Periods

Mesoamerican chronology

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...

. It is located on the isthmus between the Petén Itzá and Salpetén lakes, in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala

Guatemala

Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...

. The site was an important port with access to Lake Petén Itzá via the Ixlu River. The site has been identified as Saklamakhal, also spelt Saclemacal, a capital of the Kowoj

Ko'woj

The Ko'woj were a Maya group and polity, from the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology. The Ko'woj claimed to have migrated from Mayapan sometime after the city's collapse in 1441 AD...

 Maya.

The site has over 150 structures, the majority of which in the site core display typically Postclassic characteristics. The site was briefly investigated by Don and Prudence Rice in 1980.

Ixlu is located approximately 23 km (14.3 mi) east of the departmental capital of Flores

Flores, El Petén

Flores is the capital city of Petén department of Guatemala. It is located at . The population is 13,700 .Flores serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name ....

 and 275 km (170.9 mi) north of Guatemala City

Guatemala City

Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...

. Ixlu is approximately 28 km (17.4 mi) south of the ruins of the major Classic Period city of Tikal

Tikal

Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...

.

Occupation

Archaeological investigations have uncovered potsherds dating as far back as the early Middle Preclassic (1000 BC–800 BC). Postclassic potsherds are widely distributed in the upper levels of the site to a depth of 30 centimetre. Evidence from the Temple of the Hidden Jars indicates a continuous occupation from the Preclassic right through the Classic (AD 200–900) to the Postclassic Period (AD 900–1525), with occupation continuing until approximately 1700, well after the Spanish Conquest

Spanish colonization of the Americas

Colonial expansion under the Spanish Empire was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions...

 of most of Guatemala, according to ethnohistoric

Ethnohistory

Ethnohistory is the study of ethnographic cultures and indigenous customs by examining historical records. It is also the study of the history of various ethnic groups that may or may not exist today....

 sources. The Petén Lakes region finally fell to the Spanish Crown in 1697, at which time Ixlu was in disputed territory between the mutually hostile Itza

Itza

The Itza are a Guatemalan ethnic group of Maya affiliation speaking the Itza' language. They inhabit the Petén department of Guatemala in and around the city of Flores on the Lake Petén Itzá.- Numbers of ethnic group members and Itza speakers :...

 and Kowoj kingdoms.

Structures

Fifty structures have been mapped at Ixlu by the Central Peten Historical Ecology Project. Nine of these are C-shaped bench superstructures and two are L-shaped.

Ixlu has two ballcourts

Mesoamerican ballcourt

A Mesoamerican ballcourt is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame. Over 1,300 ballcourts have been identified, 60% in the last 20 years alone...

 and is one of only two Postclassic sites in the central Petén lakes region to have a recognisable ballcourt. However, both ballcourts at Ixlu apparently date to the Late Classic. The site possesses a twin-pyramid complex, a feature that is rare outside of Tikal and probably indicates the political influence of that great city.
The architecture at Ixlu resembles that at the Late Classic site of Seibal

Seibal

Seibal, known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region....

 on the Pasión River

Pasión River

The Pasión River is a river located in the northern lowlands region of Guatemala. The river is fed by a number of upstream tributaries whose sources lie in the hills of Alta Verapaz. These flow in a general northerly direction to form the Pasión, which then tends westwards to meet up with the...

.

The Temple of the Hidden Jars

The Temple of the Hidden Jars (Templo de las Vasijas Escondidas) has been labelled as Structure 2034. It is bordered by Structure 2041 on the south side, Structure 2036 to the west and Structure 2035 to the north, its eastern side faces onto Patio B. The temple measures 13.9 by and consisted of a two-level platform, the first level was 1.15 metres (3.8 ft) high and the second level had a height of 1.2 metres (3.9 ft). The temple has been dated to the Late Postclassic Period (AD 1200-1525). A stairway ascended the west side of the temple and there was an altar on the summit that measured 1 metres (3.3 ft). The temple is named from two hidden niches on the west side of the temple, one at the foot of the stairway and the second under an altar on the temple steps. Each contained a single red-brown ceramic vessel measuring approximately 16 centimetres (6.3 in) in diameter and 14 centimetres (5.5 in) high, each with its respective concave lid. The vessels have four handles spaced equidistantly around the circumference, with the lids also possessing a handle. The jars contained only brown soil. This style of hidden niche is similar to niches associated with ceremonial structures in distant Mayapan

Mayapan

Mayapan , is a Pre-Columbian Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west of Chichen Itza; in the state of Yucatán, Mexico...

 in the north of the Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...

.

Monuments

Four Classic Period sculpted monuments were recovered from the site, two stelae and two altars. Ixlu Stela 1 bears the date 879 AD, in the Late Classic Period, and depicts a ruler who used the Tikal

Tikal

Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...

 Emblem Glyph and the K'ul Mutul Ahaw title ("holy lord of Tikal"). The stelae at Ixlu resemble traditional Classic Period stelae such as those at Tikal. Both Stelae 1 and 2 show bloodletting rituals and the materialisation of the Paddler Gods

Maya religion

The traditional Maya religion of western Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico is a southeastern variant of Mesoamerican religion. As is the case with many other contemporary Mesoamerican religions, it results from centuries of symbiosis with Roman Catholicism...

. Ixlu Stela 2 is now located in the main plaza of Flores

Flores, El Petén

Flores is the capital city of Petén department of Guatemala. It is located at . The population is 13,700 .Flores serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality, with which it shares a name ....

.

The monuments of Ixlu bear some hieroglyphic texts that closely resemble texts from the site of Dos Pilas

Dos Pilas

Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region,...

, suggesting that the lords of Ixlu may have been refugees from the collapse of that state in the Petexbatún

Petexbatún

Petexbatún is a small lake formed by a river of the same name, which is a tributary of the La Pasion river. It is near Sayaxché, located in the southern area of the Guatemalan department of Petén....

 region of the Petén Basin

Petén Basin

The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica, located in the northern portion of the modern-day nation of Guatemala, and essentially contained within the department of El Petén...

, a state that itself professed to have a legitimate claim to the rulership of Tikal.