Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Iximché

Reconstructing the history of a highland Maya capital

Conquered by the Spanish in 1524, Iximché was the capital of the Cakchiquel Maya in Highland Guatemala. It is known to Mesoamerican archaeologists through the work of George Guillemin, who excavated the ceremonial center of Iximché from the late 1950s through the early 1970s but produced only summary articles on the site. This book reconstructs the history of Iximché based on analyses of ceramics and human skeletal remains, on Guillemin’s original excavation notes, drawings and photographs, and on the ethnohistorical literature. It contains the first detailed ceramic analysis for a Late Postclassic Cakchiquel site, and the ethnohistorical sketch is the first English-language synthesis of regional Cakchiquel history. It is also the first book in 50 years to include a comprehensive analysis of Highland Maya skeletons.