El Pilar Mayan Ruins, Belize Vacations and Luxury Travel Packages
The El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna is located just 12 miles (approximately 19 kilometers) north of the western Belizean town of San Ignacio, astride the Belize-Guatemala border. The ridge land escarpment where El Pilar is situated extends from Guatemala's Peten into Belize, north of the Belize River valley. The center was recorded by Belize's Department of Archaeology in the 1970's, but its full extent was then unknown.
A preliminary map of the site was made by the Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey (BRASS) in 1984 and the first full-scale investigation of El Pilar was finally begun in 1993. The BRASS/El Pilar Program, an international, multi-disciplinary project headed by Dr. Anabel Ford of the University of California Santa Barbara, is now (1998) in its sixth year of excavation at El Pilar. In May 1997 a statutory instrument was signed designating the nine square kilometer reserve as Belize's newest national park and in 1998 Guatemala also made it a protected reserve. El Pilar has been highlighted by the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World list (1997) along with sites such as Pompeii, the Taj Mahal and Ankor Wat. A preliminary chronology, based on ceramic comparisons, has revealed that monumental constructions at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic (500 B.C.) And continued with major remodeling completed in the Terminal Classic (1000 A.D.). This long sequence spans more than 15 centuries and testifies to a continuous and methodical development in the area.
El Pilar has more than twenty-five identified plazas in an area of approximately 100 acres (38 hectares), ranking it equal with major centers of the lowland Maya region.
It is the largest center in the Belize River area, more than three times the size of other well-known centers such as Baking Pot or Xunantunich. There are more than a dozen large pyramids and many range buildings. The site is divided into three primary sectors: Xaman (North) Pilar, Nohol (South) Pilar, and Pilar Poniente (West). The eastern and western sections are connected by an offset causeway system extending between two large public plazas. Survey and excavations have been concentrated in the eastern side of El Pilar within Belize. The western section, Pilar Poniente, is across the border in the Republic of Guatemala and surveying conducted in 1998 suggests there is still more monumental architecture to be found.
While the site is quite large, visitors still experience a sense of discovery while walking through the plazas, as most of the structures have been left intentionally uncleared. In contrast to neighboring Maya sites, El Pilar remains essentially the same as when archaeologists first identified it. The large-scale clearing of rainforest and structures has been rejected in favor of environmental trails and the exposure of choice examples of architecture, a stair here and a room there. This concept prevents the degradation of exposed structures and preserves important archaeological information for future generations and archaeological technologies. There are, however, significant consolidated structures open for the public including an underground corbeled tunnel, a standing temple and examples of elite architecture. In addition the preserved rainforest is home to hundreds of species of birds and animals which will delight the visitor. One area of the site is the site of an ongoing project to recreate a Maya "forest garden" surrounding an elite residence.
The area has long carried the name of El Pilar and while the origin of this name is obscure, the numerous natural sources of water speak to the old Spanish word for watering basin or pila, whose collective would be designated in Spanish as El Pilar. Two local streams have their origins at El Pilar, one to the east, which we call El Pilar Creek, and one on the west referred to generally as El Manantial (the Spring). About 1.2 miles (or 2.3 KM) east is Chorro, a lovely delicate waterfall. Not far from this waterfall is a minor center named Chorro, after the falls. The abundance of water in the vicinity of El Pilar is rare in the Maya area; the venerable ancient city of Tikal (just 50 KM west) had no natural water sources at all.
Currently the Reserve has a total of six trail systems, three archaeological and three primarily nature trails. These range in length from 1/10 of mile to a mile and a half long and are of different degrees of difficulty.
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