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 (400 BC – AD 200), followed by a decline in the Early Classic (AD 200–600). 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. Seibal was reduced to being a vassal state until the destruction of the Petexbatun kingdom in the late 8th century AD. In AD 830 a new elite installed itself at the site with the arrival of Wat'ul Chatel from Ucanal to the east. This new arrival reinvigorated Seibal and allowed it to last to the dawn of the 10th century, well after the Classic Maya collapse had engulfed most of the region.
Etymology
Seibal is a corruption of the Spanish word ceibal, meaning "place where many ceiba trees grow". El Ceibal was the name of a lumber camp near the ruins at the time of their discovery. The change in spelling originated with a publication by Teoberto Maler in 1908, which used a German form with initial "s".
Location
Seibal is located on bluffs about above the Pasión River, a major tributary of the Usumacinta River. About downstream, the Pasión River joins with the Salinas River to form the Usumacinta, which flows northwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The site lies in the Petén department of northern Guatemala, east of the modern town of Sayaxché. Seibal lay east of the Late Classic city of Dos Pilas and south of Tikal. Lake Petén Itzá lies to the north of the ruins.
Seibal lies among tropical rainforest on a limestone plain that is intermittently hilly and flat.
Population
Surveys have revealed an average of 436 structures per square kilometer (1118 per square mile) in the site core, falling to 244 structures/km2 (626/square mile) in the periphery. At its height in the Late Preclassic, the population has been estimated at 1600 in the site core with a further 8000 dispersed through the periphery, to produce an estimated total population of almost ten thousand. In the Early Classic the population suffered a severe decline, population is estimated to have dropped to 34% of peak population. In the Late to Terminal Classic the population increased to 85% of its Late Preclassic level, an expansion that appears to have occurred rapidly and spread to all parts of the site, perhaps as the result of an influx of refugees arriving from other sites around AD 830. This was followed by a population crash to 14% of peak Preclassic population in the Early Postclassic (AD 900–1200) prior to the complete abandonment of the site.
Social Stratification
The social stratification of Seibal was that of priest-kings, as well as nobility and elites living in the main ceremonial center, with the common people living in the peripheries of the city. During the 1964-68 excavations, 34 of the 45 found burials were from the peripheral zone, showing the distribution of population by class.
Known rulers
All dates A.D.
History
The site was occupied by the Middle Preclassic, then declined from the Late Preclassic through to the Early Classic, with a renewed expansion in the Late to Terminal Classic before being completely abandoned.