Seibal

Archaeological Park Seibal is 12 km to the east of the municipal district Sayaxché, near the Rio de la Pasion. The city was named so because of the huge ceiba trees which grow close to buildings of Mayas. There are ceibas in Seibal, the trunks of which reach 3.5 m in width. It's the same thing that put 11 persons in a row. The first person who founded this city was Federico Artes. He discovered Seibal in 1892.

Seibal was a large settlement during the Late Classic period and had a great deal of power on the western margin of the river due to its favorable location. The city also had control of the commercial, transportation, political and military activities. It is known that there was a warlike tribe of Maya in Seibal. It was called putun, and its members, among other things, were engaged in trade.

Carved stone steles connect two main squares of Seibal, drawing in the minds of tourists a mysterious and mystical image. But the purpose of a massive stone platform is still an enigma... Perhaps it will be solved in the future, because nowadays only a tiny part of the once great Seibal is restored – only 5 percent of the Indian city is excavated!

The pyramid and several large platforms were discovered in Seibal, and most likely these buildings were the part of a solar observatory. The pyramid was built around 850 BC. It means that it is 200 years older than the other ancient Mayas sites. Besides, a finding refuted the earlier theories of scientists that the Mayas borrowed their culture from the Olmecs, another ancient people. The Olmecs began to build their pyramids only about 800 BC.