Tak'alik Ab'aj (; ; ) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Guatemala. It was formerly known as Abaj Takalik; its ancient name may have been Kooja. It is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya features. The site flourished in the Preclassic and Classic periods, from the 9th century BC through to at least the 10th century AD, and was an important centre of commerce,Love 2007, p. 297. Popenoe de Hatch 2005, pp. 992, 994. trading with Kaminaljuyu and Chocolá. Investigations have revealed that it is one of the largest sites with sculptured monuments on the Pacific coastal plain.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 236. Olmec-style sculptures include a possible colossal head, petroglyphs and others.Love 2007, p. 288. The site has one of the greatest concentrations of Olmec-style sculpture outside of the Gulf of Mexico, and was made a World Heritage Site in 2023 because of its long history of occupation.
Takalik Abaj is representative of the first blossoming of Maya culture that had occurred by about 400 BC.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 33. The site includes a Maya royal tomb and examples of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions that are among the earliest from the Maya region. Excavation is continuing at the site; the monumental architecture and persistent tradition of sculpture in a variety of styles suggest the site was of some importance.Adams 1996, p. 81.
Finds from the site indicate contact with the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico and imply that Takalik Abaj was conquered by it or its allies.Popenoe de Hatch and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, pp. 993–4. Takalik Abaj was linked to long-distance Maya trade routes that shifted over time but allowed the city to participate in a trade network that included the Guatemalan highlands and the Pacific coastal plain from Mexico to El Salvador.
Takalik Abaj was a sizeable city with the principal architecture clustered into four main groups spread across nine terraces. While some of these were natural features, others were artificial constructions requiring an enormous investment in labor and materials.Wolley Schwarz 2001, pp. 1006, 1009. The site featured a sophisticated water drainage system and a wealth of sculptured monuments.
Etymology Tak'alik Ab'aj' means "standing stone" in the local Kʼicheʼ Maya language, combining the adjective tak'alik meaning "standing", and the noun abäj meaning "stone" or "rock".Christenson; Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 26. It was initially named Abaj Takalik by the American archaeologist Suzanna Miles,Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 26. Miles's first name is given variously as Suzanna (Kelly 1996, p. 215.), Susanna (Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 239.) and Susan (Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 26.) using Spanish word order. This was grammatically incorrect in Kʼicheʼ;Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 26. the Guatemalan government has now officially corrected this to Tak'alik Ab'aj. Anthropologist Ruud Van Akkeren has proposed that the ancient name of the city was Kooja, the name of one of the highest-ranking elite lineages of the Mam Maya; Kooja means "Moon halo".Van Akkeren 2005, pp. 1006, 1013.
Location
The site lies in the southwest of Guatemala, about from the border with the Mexican state of ChiapasSharer 2000, p. 467.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 239. and from the Pacific Ocean.Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 24.
Takalik Abaj is located in the north of the municipality of El Asintal, in the extreme north of Retalhuleu department, some from Guatemala City.Zetina Aldana and Escobar 1994, p. 3. Kelly 1996, p. 210. Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 24. The site lies among five coffee plantations in the lower foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains; the Santa Margarita, San Isidro Piedra Parada, Buenos Aires, San Elías and Dolores plantations.Zetina Aldana and Escobar 1994, p. 3. Cassier and Ichon 1981, p. 24. Takalik Abaj sits upon a ridge running north–south, descending in a southwards direction.Kelly 1996, p. 210. This ridge is bordered on the west by the Nimá River and on the east by the Ixchayá River, both flowing down from the Guatemalan Highlands.Zetina Aldana and Escobar 1994, p. 3. The Ixchayá flows in a deep ravine but a suitable crossing point is located near to the site. The situation of Takalik Abaj at this crossing point was probably important in the founding of the city, since this channeled important trade routes through the site and controlled access to them.Popenoe de Hatch and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, p. 991.
Takalik Abaj sits at an altitude of approximately above sea level in an ecoregion classed as subtropical moist forest.Zetina Aldana and Escobar 1994, p. 3. Rizzo de Robles 1991, p. 32. The temperature normally varies between and the potential evapotranspiration ratio averages 0.45.García 1997, p. 171. The area receives high annual rainfall, varying between , with an average annual rainfall of .Zetina Aldana and Escobar 1994, p. 18. Local vegetation includes the Pascua de Montaña (Pogonopus speciosus), Chichique (Aspidosperma megalocarpon), Tepecaulote (Luehea speciosa), Caulote or West Indian Elm (Guazuma ulmifolia), Hormigo (Platymiscium dimorphandrum), Mexican Cedar (Cedrela odorata), Breadnut (Brosimum alicastrum), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and Papaturria (Coccoloba montana).Rizzo de Robles 1991, p. 33.
A road, denominated 6W, passes the site running from the town of Retalhuleu to Colomba Costa Cuca in the department of Quetzaltenango.
Takalik Abaj is located at an approximate distance of from the contemporary archaeological site of Monte Alto, from Kaminaljuyu and from Izapa in Mexico.
Ethnicity
The changing styles of architecture and iconography at Takalik Abaj suggest that the site has been occupied by changing ethnic groups. The archaeological finds of the Middle Preclassic period suggest that the population of Takalik Abaj may have been affiliated with the Olmec culture of the Gulf Coast lowlands region who are thought to have been speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language. In the Late Preclassic period, Olmec art styles were exchanged for Maya styles and presumably this shift was accompanied by an influx of ethnic Maya, speaking a Mayan language.Popenoe de Hatch 2005, p. 996. There are some hints from the indigenous chronicles that the inhabitants of the site may have been the Yoc Cancheb, a branch of the Mam Maya. The Kooja lineage of the Mam, an ancient noble line, may have had a Classic Period origin in Takalik Abaj.Van Akkeren 2006, p.227.
Economy and trade
Takalik Abaj was one of a series of early sites on or near the Pacific coastal plain that were important commercial, ceremonial and political centres. It is apparent that it prospered from the production of cacao and from the trade routes that crossed the region.Sharer 2000, p. 455. At the time of the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century the area was still important for its cacao production.Coe 1999, p. 64.
Study of obsidian recovered at Takalik Abaj indicates that the majority originated from the El Chayal and San Martín Jilotepeque sources in the Guatemalan highlands. Lesser quantities of obsidian originated from other sources such as Tajumulco, Ixtepeque and Pachuca.Crasborn 2005, p. 696. Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass that was used across Mesoamerica to make durable tools and weapons including knives, spearheads, arrowheads, bloodletters for ritual autosacrifice, prismatic blades for woodwork and many other day-to-day tools. The use of obsidian by the Maya has been likened to steel use in the modern world and it was widely traded throughout the Maya region and beyond.Coe 1999, p. 30. Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 37. The proportion of obsidian from different sources varied over time:
+ Variation in sources of obsidian artifacts at Takalik Abaj Period Date No. of artifacts El Chayal % San Martín Jilotepeque % Pachuca % Early Preclassic 1000–800 BC 151 33.7 52.3 – Middle Preclassic 800–300 BC 880 48.6 39 – Late Preclassic 300 BC – AD 250 1848 54.3 32.5 – Early Classic AD 250–600 163 50.9 35.5 – Late Classic AD 600–900 419 41.7 45.1 1.19 Postclassic AD 900–1524 605 39.3 43.4 4.2
History
The site had a long and continuous settlement history, with the period of principal occupation stretching from the Middle Preclassic down to the Postclassic. The earliest known occupation at Takalik Abaj dates towards the end of the Early Preclassic, . However, it was not until the Middle to Late Preclassic that its first real florescence began with a noted surge in architectural constructions. From this period onwards a continuity of culture and population settlement is in evidence, as represented by the persistence of a local ceramic style (called Ocosito) that remained in use until the Late Classic. The Ocosito style was typically made with red paste and pumice and extended westwards at least as far as Coatepeque, southwards to the Ocosito River and eastwards to the Samalá River. By the Terminal Classic, pottery associated with a highland Kʼicheʼ ceramic style had begun to appear intermixed with Ocosito ceramic complex deposits. Ocosito ceramics were replaced entirely by the Kʼicheʼ ceramic tradition by the Early Postclassic period.Popenoe de Hatch 2005, pp. 992–3. Schieber de Lavarreda and Claudio Pérez 2005, p. 724.
+Approximate occupational timescale of Takalik Abaj Period Division Dates SummaryPreclassic Early Preclassic 1000–800 BC Diffuse population Middle Preclassic 800–300 BC Olmec Late Preclassic 300 BC – AD 200 Early MayaClassic Early Classic AD 200–600 Teotihuacan-linked conquestLate Classic Late Classic AD 600–900 Local recovery Terminal Classic AD 800–900Postclassic Early Postclassic AD 900–1200 Kʼicheʼ occupationLate Postclassic AD 1200–1524 AbandonmentNote: The period spans used at Takalik Abaj differ slightly from those generally used in the standard chronology applied to the wider Mesoamerican region.
Early Preclassic Takalik Abaj was first occupied at the end of the Early Preclassic period.Crasborn 2005, p. 696. Popenoe de Hatch 2004, p. 415. The remains of an Early Preclassic residential area have been found to the west of the Central Group, on the bank of the El Chorro stream. These first houses were built with floors made from river cobbles and reed-thatched roofs supported on timber poles.Schieber de Lavarreda and Pérez 2004, pp. 405, 411. Pollen analysis has revealed that the first inhabitants entered the area when it was still thick forest, which they began to clear in order to cultivate maize and other plants.Popenoe de Hatch 2004, p. 424. Over 150 pieces of obsidian have been recovered from this area, known as El Escondite, mostly originating from the San Martín Jilotepeque and El Chayal sources.
Middle Preclassic Takalik Abaj was reoccupied at the beginning of the Middle Preclassic. This was probably by Mixe–Zoquean inhabitants, as evidenced by the plentiful Olmec-style sculpture at the site dating to this period. The construction of public architecture had probably begun by the Middle Preclassic; the earliest structures were made of clay, which was sometimes partially burned in order to harden it. Ceramics from this period belonged to the local Ocosito tradition. This ceramic tradition, although it was local, showed strong affinities with the ceramics of the coastal plain and foothills of the Escuintla region.