Altar de Sacrificios is located on the Guatemalan side of the international border with Mexico, which follows the Salinas and Usumacinta rivers.
[5] Archaeological investigations uncovered the long occupational history of the site and revealed that it was one of the earliest settlements in the Maya lowlands, having been founded before Tikal and other cities in the central Petén Basin, possibly by Mixe–Zoquean people who arrived from the west.
[7] Inhabitants lived at ground level in houses made of perishable materials, and had still not developed extensive trade networks.
Stelas with inscriptions are raised, altars are carved and, as in other sites in the region, objects from Teotihuacan are also found.
Fine goods - pyrite mirrors, flint projectile points and jadeite beads - are found in burials.
By the 9th century, when other sites are also entering the Terminal Classic, the quality of construction and goods begins to decline.
900-950 CE), fine paste ceramics portraying people with a different appearance replace previous styles.
[13] The evidence suggests that during the Terminal Classic the site was occupied by foreigners and prospered at a time when nearby Seibal was also experiencing a resurgence in its fortunes, in both cases linked to the collapse of the Petexbatún kingdom based at Dos Pilas.
[15] However, with the collapse of the major cities in the Usumacinta drainage, river trade declined drastically and was unable to be renewed by the newcomers.
[16] By the Terminal Classic bone analysis has revealed that the health of the general population was suffering, with increased child mortality, decreased stature and the proliferation of disease, although the elite remained healthy.
[21] The site was investigated by archaeologists A. Ledyard Smith and Gordon Willey of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology from 1958 to 1963.
[6] Since 2016, an international team led by Lycoming College has continued to map and excavate Altar de Sacrificios and its surrounding area.