Plaza of the Seven Temples
Each deposit consisted of thousands of fragments that had been placed in hollows carved in the limestone bedrock below the plaza.
[4] The earliest evidence of occupation of the plaza itself dates to the Late Preclassic between 400 and 200 BC, and is related to the cap of black earth immediately overlying the bedrock, with archaeological materials being accidentally introduced by the first inhabitants.
[5] The remains of this building were found 0.75 metres (2.5 ft) under the surface of the central patio, in front of Temple 5D-95.
[5] Ash was found upon the southern part of the platform and it is believed that the structure was either an early residence or an altar.
[5] Around this time the fourth version of the E-Group was built, which included the three rooms on its east platform that front onto the Plaza of the Seven Temples.
[6] The central portion of the Plaza of the Seven Temples was not surfaced at this time, in fact the Plaza did not exist as a formal space but occupied an important open area lying between the South Acropolis to the east and the Lost World Complex to the west.
[6] The second and final version of the Plaza of the Seven Temples has been dated to the Late Classic Period (approximately 600 to 900 AD).
[9] A large quantity of Terminal Classic remains have been found concentrated around Structure 5D-90, demonstrating that the Plaza of the Seven Temples was in use right up until the time the city was abandoned.
[13] In 2004 the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes ("Ministry of Culture and Sports") of Guatemala and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional ("Spanish Agency for International Cooperation") launched a joint project to investigate the plaza and restore its buildings.
[15] The seven temples themselves appear to have been a later development, taking advantage of the adjoining west terrace of the South Acropolis.
[17] It has a surface area of 8,000 square metres (86,000 sq ft) and inclined slightly so as to drain runoff rainwater from the northeast corner, towards the Temple III reservoir.
[11] The building originally had two rooms, accessed respectively via the doors in the north and south facades and joined by a wide central doorway in the dividing wall.
[11] Due to its particular characteristics, in the Late Classic this building is believed to have served a civic administrative function rather than being used for domestic activity.
[11] A large amount of archaeological remains were found scattered around the building upon its final floor level, including almost 23,000 ceramic fragments as well as pieces of bone, shell, greenstone, obsidian and flint.
[26] The structure consists of three parts, a stepped basal platform with five levels, the superstructure containing the building's rooms, and a roof comb.
[26] It has been restored by archaeologists and possessed a long gallery that was later split into three rooms with the addition of 1-metre (3.3 ft) thick dividing walls.
[26] The roof comb was built from five small vaulted sections, each with a mask on both its north and south face.
[6] Burial 2 was interred in the south patio, aligned with the north-south axis running through the centre of the middle palace structure.
