UAXACTN

ruined ancient Mayan city of the southern lowlands, located in what is now north-central Guatemala, about 12 miles (20 km) north of the ancient Mayan city of Tikal. Uaxactn was a ceremonial centre of only modest size, compared with Tikal, but it has been important in Mayan archaeology because intensive excavations made there by archaeologists of the Carnegie Institution of Washington established the first long, Formative-to-Classic ceramic sequences for the Mayan area. Occupation of the Uaxactn site began in the Middle Formative period of Mayan culture (900300 BC), and before the close of the Late Formative period (300 BCAD 100) a number of ceremonial buildings had been erected, including a temple with giant stucco masks reminiscent of the more ancient Olmec civilization. As in Tikal, the major constructions date from the Classic period (AD 100900). In the 9th century, Uaxactn shared in the general decline of other southern lowland Mayan centres and was abandoned in the 10th century.