Ixtonton

Ixtonton is a Maya archaeological site in the department of Petén in northern Guatemala. It is located in the northwestern portion of the Maya Mountains in the municipality of Dolores. The ruins are situated approximately 2 kilometres east of the town of Dolores itself. Ixtonton was the capital city of one of the four Maya kingdoms in the upper Mopan Valley. The site was occupied from the Late Preclassic period through to the Terminal Classic, with some evidence of continued activity into the Postclassic. For the majority of its history Ixtonton was the most important city in the upper Mopan Valley, with its only rivals emerging in the Late Classic. The acropolis at Ixtonton is laid out around two plazas on top of an artificially modified karstic hill.Ixtonton was first described by the Atlas Arqueológico de Guatemala project in 1985. The ruins have been set aside as a protected archaeological park by the Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural.