EL LAGARTERO ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
Archaeological site located 68 kilometers from Comitán de Domínguez, in the Cristóbal Colón colony.
Nearly two centuries later, Lagartero remains a small paradise, combining natural beauty with archaeological interest. A tributary of the upper Grijalva, it produces a great number of transparent pools and small waterfalls. Among the bodies of water lie the remains of a Mayan city, whose inhabitants skillfully took advantage of the aquatic environment to create channels, possibly used for irrigation and defense.
An archaeological site of great historical relevance for its development as a civic, religious, and cultural center within the Mayan area in an upper basin of the Grijalva River, with a distinctive architectural style in carved stone. Most of the ruins sit on small islands and on peninsulas projecting into the lakes, with two-thirds of the site dedicated to ceremonial rites and El Limonar island as its central area.
Based on the ceramic remains found, it has been deduced that Lagartero began to be occupied around the year 300 A.D., in the Early Classic, and lasted until the Late Postclassic, between 1200 and 1400 A.D. The main structures are more than fifteen mounds, the largest of which reaches a height of 12 meters. It has a ball court, currently undergoing restoration, three main pyramids, as well as several platforms of different sizes.
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History discovered four pre-Hispanic copper pendants at the site, pieces more than 600 years old shaped like a lizard's head, which confirms that the name of this Mayan-affiliated place must, in that era, have referred to this reptile, a symbol of the underworld for that culture.
Nearly two centuries later, Lagartero remains a small paradise, combining natural beauty with archaeological interest. A tributary of the upper Grijalva, it produces a great number of transparent pools and small waterfalls. Among the bodies of water lie the remains of a Mayan city, whose inhabitants skillfully took advantage of the aquatic environment to create channels, possibly used for irrigation and defense.
An archaeological site of great historical relevance for its development as a civic, religious, and cultural center within the Mayan area in an upper basin of the Grijalva River, with a distinctive architectural style in carved stone. Most of the ruins sit on small islands and on peninsulas projecting into the lakes, with two-thirds of the site dedicated to ceremonial rites and El Limonar island as its central area.
Based on the ceramic remains found, it has been deduced that Lagartero began to be occupied around the year 300 A.D., in the Early Classic, and lasted until the Late Postclassic, between 1200 and 1400 A.D. The main structures are more than fifteen mounds, the largest of which reaches a height of 12 meters. It has a ball court, currently undergoing restoration, three main pyramids, as well as several platforms of different sizes.
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History discovered four pre-Hispanic copper pendants at the site, pieces more than 600 years old shaped like a lizard's head, which confirms that the name of this Mayan-affiliated place must, in that era, have referred to this reptile, a symbol of the underworld for that culture.
