Archaeological culture · c. 1000 BCE – 250 CE (shown here until c. 250 BCE)
Preclassic Maya
The early centuries of Maya civilization in the lowlands of Guatemala, Belize and southern Mexico and the highlands around Kaminaljuyu. Farming villages grew into cities with huge pyramids, such as El Mirador, joined by causeways, and painted murals and the first Maya hieroglyphs appeared at San Bartolo.
See Preclassic Maya on the map in 1000 BCE
- On the map
- 1000–250 BCE
How we know
The earliest Maya writing, from about 300 BCE at San Bartolo, can be dated but mostly not yet read; the rest is archaeology.
Sites
- Kaminaljuyu c. 1500 BCE – 1200 CE (peak c. 400–100 BCE)
- Tikal (early phase) first farmers c. 1000 BCE; major building from c. 400 BCE; abandoned c. 900 CE
- El Mirador main city c. 600 BCE – 150 CE (later reoccupied)
- San Bartolo c. 400 BCE – 400 CE (murals c. 100 BCE)