The Carnegie Maya III: Carnegie Institution of Washington Notes on Middle American Archaeology and Ethnology, 1940-1957

107. The Ruins of Cotio, Department of Guatemala, Guatemala (1952)

459 N o t e s o f M i d d l e A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y a n d E t h n o l o g y Carnegie Institution of Washington Division of Historical Research No. 107 January 7, 1952 The Ruins of Cotio, Department of Guatemala, Guatemala Edwin M. Shook smaller Late Classic sites. It is located near the head of a deep southward-draining barranca (Fig. 107.1a) about 175 m south of Kilometer 13.3 on the newly constructed Pan-American or Roosevelt Highway running west from Guatemala City toward Mixco and the western highlands. The lands on which the ruins are situated pertain to the Aldea Cotio, in the municipality of Mixco, and have recently been subdivided for a real estate development called Colonia Roosevelt. A street branches off the highway and runs southward to the barranca head, passing the east edge of the Cotio ruins. I first visited the site April 23, 1950, before the destruction of its mounds began for the purpose of leveling and obtaining building material. Their complete obliteration within a short time appears certain, as has already happened, and continues to happen—to so many archaeological monuments near Guatemala City. It therefore seems worthwhile to record the ball court, two mounds, and a minor grave found at Cotio. The ball court is a long rectangular enclosure with surrounding walls of even height (Fig. 107.1b). They maintain an elevation of 1.5 m above the level playing court and range above outside ground level from 1.5 m at the east to 2.5 m at the west end. This is due to the long east-west axis of the court being at right angles to the gentle westward slope of the terrain. The interior of the court has been cultivated for corn so that the original profile now has been lost. If there were side benches, they have long since been chopped away by the farmers hoe until almost vertical faces remain on all four Throughout the Guatemala valley there are known at present over 50 scattered archaeological sites. The largest, Kaminaljuyu, on the southwest outskirts of Guatemala City, is more or less centrally located; spreading out in all directions from this great ceremonial center are others ranging in size from a single isolated mound to clusters of 20 or more. Surface collections of pottery from, and observations of, these valley sites strongly indicate than Kaminaljuyu was the seat of civic, cultural, and political power during the long Preclassic, Early Classic, and Late Classic periods. Thereafter all major activities apparently ended here and elsewhere in the valley. A lacuna exists in our knowledge of the area during the Early Postclassic period, suggesting that it may have been unoccupied or very sparsely populated. The final period before the Spanish conquest, the Late Postclassic, witnessed the growth of Chinautla, a site 2 km southwest of and above the modern town of the same name. Also, at this late date, throughout the Guatemala valley are indications of a thinly distributed population perhaps rural and engaged in subsistence agriculture. Thus, by the close of the Late Classic period, the valley’s long history as a center of major cultural influence in the highlands of Guatemala seems to have come to an end. Kaminaljuyu remained preeminent throughout but many small towns and villages flourished in the valley, undoubtedly under the jurisdiction of that center. One of these ruined villages, Cotio, several kilometers west of Kaminaljuyu, is fairly typical of the 107.1. Ruins of Cotio, Guatemala: (a) sketch-map showing location of Cotio in the Guatemala valley between Guatemala City and Mixco; (b) sketch-plan of the ruins of Cotio. The Ruins of Cotio, Department of Guatemala, Guatemala 461 sides, exposing a fill of mixed rubbishy topsoil and brown clay. No stones were used in the construction . Surfaces apparently had been faced with adobe plaster. This Cotio ball court, completely enclosed, is typical of 35 others in the Guatemala valley, 12 of which are in Kaminaljuyu. Mound 1, squarish, flat-topped, and 2.25 m high, was built of the same material as the ball court and Mound 2. The only architectural features observable on the surface were lumps of burned adobe showing casts of small poles. These suggest that Mound 1 served as a...