El Zotz

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Tikal Temple 4 on the horizon 32km away from El Zotz

El Zotz is a Mesoamerican archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region around 30 km (18 mi) west of the major center of Tikal. It is so called because of the large number of bats living in caves in the nearby cliffs (the original Mayan name was Pa'Chan). The site is located within the San Miguel la Palotada National Park bordering the Tikal National Park in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. It is a large Classic era site and contains many unexcavated mounds and ruins.

1 Description
2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Description

The Denver Art Museum has returned a carved wooden lintel stolen from the site, one of the few such artifacts in existence. It dates to 550-650 A.D. and was taken from Temple I, the northern pyramid in the main plaza, in the 1960s. It shows a son of a ruler from Tikal.^[1] It is now in National Archeology Museum in Guatemala City, The tallest temple structure is approximately 45 m (148 ft) high and is known as "El Diablo" (the devil), allegedly because the sides of the temple are dangerously steep.

Conservation work has been carried out here by the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, including the construction of a rudimentary campsite for tourists. The area has caves and swamps and is a protected biotope.^[2] It is known for the hundreds of thousands of bats that fly out from under the cliffs at sunset.