page_title: Seibal
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Seibal / Site description / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Observatorio de Ceibal, 2000
context_page_description: Seibal, known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala, about 100 km SW of Tikal. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region.
  The site was occupied from the Preclassic Period through to the Terminal Classic, with a significant hiatus. The principal phase of occupation dates to the Late Preclassic, followed by a decline in the Early Classic. Seibal experienced a significant recovery in the Terminal Classic immediately prior to its complete abandonment, reaching its second peak from about 830 to 890, with a population estimated at 8–10,000 people. The dates on the stelae at Seibal are unusually late, with monuments still being dedicated after the Classic Maya collapse had engulfed most of the Petén region. Many of Seibal's late monuments show artistic influence from central Mexico and from the Gulf Coast of Mexico.
  The early history of the site is lost due to the catastrophic defeat of the polity in AD 735 by the nearby Petexbatun kingdom with its capital at Dos Pilas, resulting in the destruction of its earlier sculpted monuments.
context_section_description: Group A is in the site core. It features three plazas, the North, South and Central Plazas and lies at the west end of Causeway I. Group A has more than fifty mounds arranged around the three plazas. Monuments dating to the period when Seibal was a vassal of Dos Pilas (AD 735–761) are situated in the Central Plaza of the group. In this group, there is also a ball court that is dated to the Terminal Classic and stylistically resembles that at Uxmal.
  Group C lies on Causeway II, which passes through it to end at the circular Structure C-79. Group C has over forty mounds.
  Group D is a compact group at the east end of Causeway III, it is perched in an easily defensible position at the edge of the bluffs overlooking the Pasión river. It has more than seventy structures crowded around five plazas. Group D only had one stela, which was a plain monument erected in front of a 20-metre (66 ft) high stepped pyramid.
  The East Patio of Group A is part of an acropolis complex located behind Structure A-14. The complex is situated upon a massive platform raised almost 7 metres (23 ft) above the natural surface level. The patio was accessed by a stairway on the south side. It includes Structures A-15 and A-16.
  Structure A-3 is a temple platform located in the centre of the south plaza. It has a stairway ascending each of its four sides. Five stelae are associated with this structure, one located at the base of each stairway and a fifth inside the building surmounting the platform. Three large jade cobbles were interred under the central stela. This structure and its associated stelae were dedicated in AD 849 by king Wat'ul Chatel (also known as Aj B'olon Haab'tal). Structure A-3 has the remains of a corbeled vault, the only surviving example at Seibal. The arrangement of the radial pyramid with its associated stelae was highly innovative. The radial temple form was ancient in the Maya region, dating back to the Late Preclassic, but Wat'ul Chatel placed upon it a square shrine with four doors, one opening onto each of the stairways. The temple building contained three vaulted chambers oriented north-south, with doors joining each chamber along an east-west axis. The cornice of the temple supported a brightly coloured stucco frieze. The frieze collapsed with the temple in ancient times. Archaeologists were able to recover portions of the fallen frieze and attempt a reconstruction of how it originally appeared. Each of the four doors was originally topped by a larger-than-life sculpture of king Wat'ul Chatel. Twelve smaller figures were spaced around the cornice, one at each corner with an additional figure positioned half-way between each corner and the central figure of the king. It is not known who these smaller figures represented. The spaces between the figures were occupied by panels with cross-hatch designs and sculpted vegetation and animals. Old gods sat in the centre of each of the sixteen panels, including Itzamna and Pawatun. Structure A-3 was built over an earlier platform structure.
  Structure A-10, a 28-metre (92 ft) tall temple-pyramid, is the tallest structure at the site.
  Structure A-13 is a radial pyramid. Excavations uncovered a mass burial (Burial 4) with parts of eleven people, including two women and a child. This was not a traditional Classic Maya burial and has been dated to AD 930, very late in the occupation of the site.
  Structure A-14 is covered by the forest that has overgrown the northern part of the Central Plaza. It is a range structure running north-south and once had a hieroglyphic stairway detailing Seibal's defeat by Dos Pilas, although the inscriptions have now been removed to the old project camp. The structure was found to contain an elite female burial, labelled as Burial 1.
  Structure A-15 is located on the north side of the East Patio of the North Plaza. It is a long, low structure running east-west and closing the patio on the north side. It measures 24 by 8 metres (79 by 26 ft) by 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall. The building contained a long room with a wide entrance opening southwards onto the patio, ra
caption: The unusual circular structure C-79.[103]
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