Piedras Negras (Black Stones) was the capital of a Maya kingdom that stretched along the banks of Central America’s Usumacinta River between the 4th century B.C. and the 9th century A.D. In antiquity, Maya settlements peppered the shores of the Usumacinta from Piedras Negras in modern-day Guatemala to its rival city Yaxchilán, 40 kilometers south in the Chiapas state of Mexico. (...)
Piedras Negras (Black Stones) was the capital of a Maya kingdom that stretched along the banks of Central America’s Usumacinta River between the 4th century B.C. and the 9th century A.D. In antiquity, Maya settlements peppered the shores of the Usumacinta from Piedras Negras in modern-day Guatemala to its rival city Yaxchilán, 40 kilometers south in the Chiapas state of Mexico. Piedras Negras and Yachilán battled for hegemony in the region during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 600-900). Dominance was in large part determined by control over the river, a watery trade route that carried cocoa, salt, cotton, obsidian, jade, feathers, and shells north toward the Gulf of Mexico. Piedras Negras is formed from two main neighborhoods of elaborately carved civic and religious buildings; the majority of this monumental architecture was constructed during the 8th century A.D. when the city was at its height of prominence and wealth. Piedras Negras possesses ball courts, limestone sculptures, and temple pyramids such as El Mascarón, a tiered pyramid named for the colossal stone masks that adorn its steps. The ancient Maya referred to Piedras Negras as Yokib, or the entrance, because of a 100-meter-wide sinkhole at the site, thought to be an entrance to the spirit world.
