Copán

Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It is one of the most important sites of the Maya civilization, which was not excavated until the 19th century. The ruined citadel and imposing public squares reveal the three main stages of development before the city was abandoned in the early 10th century. This ancient Maya city mirrors the beauty of the physical landscapes in which it flourished—a fertile, well-watered mountain valley in western Honduras. Situated within the fertile alluvial basin of the Copán River at an elevation of 600 metres (1,970 ft) above sea level, the ancient city occupied a strategic ecological corridor at the southeastern periphery of Mesoamerica. Serving as the capital of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD, Copán functioned as a critical geopolitical and commercial bridge between the lowland Maya polities to the north and non-Maya populations of the Isthmo-Colombian cultural region to the south and east Copán was occupied for more than two thousand years, from the Early Preclassic period to the Postclassic. The city developed a distinctive sculptural style within the tradition of the lowland Maya, perhaps to emphasize the Maya ethnicity of the city's rulers. The city has a historical record that spans the greater part of the C

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).