Definition: Uaxactun (pronounced Wah-shack-ton) is an important Maya center, located in the Peten region of Guatemala. The site is made up of several groups of structures located on adjacent low ridges, and occupied between about 500 BC to AD 889, when the site was virtually abandoned.
Investigators at Uaxactun include Sylvanus Morley, who reported the site in 1916; a group of researchers from the Carnegie Institute in the 1920s and 1930s including Frans Blom, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, and Edwin Shook; and, most recently, the Guatemalan Instituto de Antropologia e Historia led by Juan Antonio Valdes.
Investigators at Uaxactun include Sylvanus Morley, who reported the site in 1916; a group of researchers from the Carnegie Institute in the 1920s and 1930s including Frans Blom, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, and Edwin Shook; and, most recently, the Guatemalan Instituto de Antropologia e Historia led by Juan Antonio Valdes.
Source
Popenoe de Hatch, Marion. 2001. Uaxactun (Guatemala). pp 789-790 in Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America. Edited by Susan Toby Evans and David L. Webster. Garland Press, New York.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Alternate Spellings: Waxactun
