Overview

• The site spans roughly 16 square kilometers and dates to the Middle Preclassic period between 800 and 500 BCE.
• Excavations have uncovered pyramids, astronomical observatories and monuments sculpted with unique regional iconography.
• Archaeologists discovered two anthropomorphic sculptures dated between 500 and 300 BCE that likely represent an ancestral couple in ritual ancestor worship.
• Los Abuelos forms an urban triangle with nearby Petnal—with its 33-meter pyramid adorned by Preclassic frescoes—and Cambrayal, which features a distinctive water transport canal system.
• After preliminary digs in 2023, the project expanded in 2025 under Milan Kovác and Dora Garcia to refine the city’s chronology and sociopolitical significance.