For that reason, Matheny actually built a small airstrip near El Mirador to better supply the camp, but at the end of the El Mirador Project, the airstrip was abandoned and is now overgrown.
The investigations at El Mirador established that this enormous site was built primarily during the Preclassic period of Maya history (300-1 BC), and that the size and elaboration of the city was much larger than any previously know site from this time period. For some examples of this early occupation, as well as later ones, visit our Preclassic montage page
An integral part of the archaeological investigations was the analysis of the ceramic remains from the site. Ceramics constitute an important class of artifacts for archaeologists in the Maya Lowlands because they, better than many other classes of archaeological remains, often allow archaeologists to draw conclusions about the chronology of a site, and of its constituent structures and features and their sequence, as well as permitting some important inferences about the relationships of one site to another. Pottery analysis can also help archaeologists to determine factors of manufacture, distribution, and consumption of ceramic artifacts, and what the implications of these are for social life.
At El Mirador, the analysis of the archaeological pottery, carried out by Dr. Donald Forsyth, strongly reinforced other lines of evidence indicating the early development of the site, and the fact that after explosive growth in the Preclassic period, the site suffered a dramatic demographic decline. Although it was not abandoned at the end of the Preclassic period, it never again attained the size and scale of its Preclassic past. {To see a chart showing the chronological pattern of ceramics at El Mirador and a few other Lowland Maya sites, click here}
Later occupation exhibited an unusual way of life in the Classic period in that, although lacking many of the characteristics that we have come to associate with Maya elite culture, the remaining population was anything but poor rural inhabitants. The later population lived in well-made masonry structures and some of them, at least, manufactured and used beautifully painted polychrome pottery. Especially outstanding were the Codex Style polychromes now known to have been manufactured in the region.
Finally at the end of the Late Classic period (sometime around AD 800), El Mirador was finally almost completely abandoned, and ceased to present evidence of human occupation.
For more information on what has been learned about El Mirador, consult some of the works from the following partial bibliography
You may also review images of the El Mirador ceramic type collection
