The Petex-Batun is the most inaccessible and rarely-visited region of Guatemala. Today it is lightly populated, and yet more than 1,500 years ago Maya rulers jockeyed for supremacy as they created immense cities here. During the 1990s mounting evidence indicated that a single kingdom, the Kaan or Snake, had a disproportionate influence in the ancient Maya world. Today, the glorious remains and texts written on carved stone monuments affirm the power of this royal family.
We travel by privately chartered helicopter to La Corona and El Mirador, two of the most remote Maya cities in this region. We will also journey through the jungle to Holmul, where recent discoveries provide tantalizing connections to the Snake Kingdom. Walking through the verdant rainforest teaming with wildlife combined with the lack of crowds guarantees a very special experience, even for the seasoned traveler.
Journey with Far Horizons on a 6-day exploration through out-of-the-way areas of Guatemala’s Petén in search of the connections to the Kaan Royalty, and learn of the captivating finds made at some of the most influential sites!
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Tulane University
Pre-Columbian Americas
Fly to Guatemala City and overnight at La Inmaculada, a quiet boutique hotel. (D)
This morning will be spent in the National Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology. Although this is the repository of thousands of archaeological and ethnological artifacts, our time will be spent examining objects relating to the Snake Kingdom, including Panel 1 from La Corona. We continue to the La Corona archaeological lab for a ‘behind the scenes’ examination of many of the monuments found onsite, including the blocks of the hieroglyphic stairway, found in 2012, that document the arrival of a princess from Calakmul, the capital of the Snake polity, who traveled to La Corona to marry the ruler, and her subsequent climb to power as Queen. In the afternoon, transfer to the airport for our flight to Santa Elena, located on Lake Petén- Itzá. The Hotel Camino Real Tikal, with a helicopter pad on the property, is our home for the next three nights. (B/L/D)
Holmul was discovered in 1909 but archaeologists avoided the site in the decades that followed, probably because no texts had been found. Looking for clues to the early development of Maya civilization Tulane University’s Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli formed the Holmul Archaeological Project and returned to the site in 2000. Many exciting finds followed, including carved stelae, tombs, painted murals, stunning monumental masks, and most recently a unique stuccoed building dedicated to the re-establishment of the local dynasty through the offices of Naranjo and the Kaan kings. This discovery confirms the hypothesis that Holmul was a small but strategically important kingdom on which both Tikal and Kaan kings exerted their hegemony at different times. To reach the site, we will travel by truck along dirt tracks. (B/L/D) .
After boarding our chartered helicopters this morning, we will fly over the canopy of the vast Maya Biosphere Reserve, the last tract of virgin rainforest in Central America. One of the most ecologically diverse regions on our planet, the Reserve is home to massive anteaters, wild cats, and scarlet macaws, as well as plants and trees found nowhere else on earth. La Corona first discovered in 1996, and later identified as the long-sought Site Q, the source of a series of looted limestone reliefs of extraordinary beauty and quality that are in museums and private collections all over the world. The location of Site Q has been one of the great mysteries for scholars of the Maya civilization, and the mystery was solved in 2005 when Dr. Marcello Canuto found a panel at La Corona that mentioned two Site Q rulers. The elaborate scene and lengthy hieroglyphic text commemorate the fascinating history of intermarriage between the rulers of La Corona (Saknikte’) and princesses of the Snake court. We will spend today onsite. (B/L/D)
The Mirador basin of northern Petén is home to the largest ancient freeway system in the Western hemisphere and some of the largest pyramids in the world. The most exciting is El Mirador, a superpower that rose to prominence in the Maya pre-classic period and was at the height of its power from 300 BC to 150 BC. The city’s main buildings, covering an area of more than a square mile, are dominated by La Danta complex, more massive than the Great Giza Pyramid in Egypt. There have been many exciting finds at this site, including stucco friezes depicting two examples of Late Preclassic deity impersonators that originally adorned a pyramid complex. In the late afternoon, we take a flight back to Guatemala City. (B/L/D)
Transfer to the airport for our return flight to the USA. (B)
