Overview

• Los Abuelos, located 21 km from Uaxactun, dates to the Middle Preclassic period (800–500 BC) and stands among the earliest ritual hubs in the Petén lowlands.
• The city’s name comes from two human-like sculptures of an ancestral couple dated between 500 and 300 BC, indicating early ancestor-worship practices.
• Archaeologists uncovered pyramids and monuments sculpted with unique regional iconography, reflecting advanced architectural planning.
• Petnal features a 33-meter pyramid with preserved Preclassic murals and Cambrayal contains a sophisticated canal system inside a palace.
• A joint Guatemalan–Slovak team from the Uaxactún Regional Archaeological Project led the excavations, highlighting the role of international collaboration in revealing hidden Mayan landscapes.