page_title: Motul de San José
section_title: Group A
hierarchical_section_title: Motul de San José / Site description / Architectural groups / Group A
caption_attribution_description: English: Late Classic Maya ruins of Motul de San José, Petén, Guatemala. Pyramid in Group A. Español: Ruinas mayas del período clasico tardío. Motul de San José, Petén, Guatemala.Pirámide en Grupo A.
context_page_description: Motul de San José is an ancient Maya site located just north of Lake Petén Itzá in the Petén Basin region of the southern Maya lowlands. It is a few kilometres from the modern village of San José, in Guatemala's northern department of Petén. A medium-sized civic-ceremonial centre, it was an important political and economic centre during the Late Classic period.
  The site was first settled between 600 and 300 BC, in the latter portion of the Middle Preclassic period, when it most likely was a fairly small site. This Maya city then had a long and continuous occupational history until the Early Postclassic, up to around AD 1250, with peaks in the Late Preclassic and Late Classic periods. Motul de San José had begun to refer to Tikal as its overlord in the late 4th century AD; by the 7th century it had switched its allegiance to Calakmul, Tikal's great rival, before returning its allegiance to Tikal in the early 8th century. In the late 8th century Motul de San José appears to have been conquered by Dos Pilas, capital of the Petexbatún kingdom.
  Most natural resources were easily available in the immediate vicinity of the city.
context_section_description: Group A is the largest group west of the site core. The group includes a 5.5-metre (18 ft) tall pyramid, severely damaged by looters' pits, with one in the summit and one each on the north, east, south and west sides. IDAEH has since refilled all five pits. Six large rectangular palace-type structures are situated to the west of this pyramid, measuring up to 5 metres (16 ft) high. A plaza is formed in Group A by the pyramid on the east side and a palace on the west side, accessed from the plaza via a stairway. Southeast of the palace is another plaza surrounded on three sides by palace-type structures.
caption: Looted pyramid in Group A
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX S2900", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX S2900V1.0", "Image DateTime": "2015:01:09 10:35:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "58364", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3409", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2015:01:09 10:35:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2015:01:09 10:35:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "23/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5152", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3864", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "58240", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}