Kaminaljuyu, the Unpublished Research of Gustavo Espinoza, and the Great Preclassic Decline

Abstract

Gustavo Espinoza was an archaeology inspector at the Institute of Anthropology and History of Guatemala who worked for several decades on archaeological sites in Guatemala. His last years were dedicated to the Kaminaljuyu archaeological site located in the central valley of the Guatemalan highlands. At the end of 1950, he made a discovery of great importance which he referred to as the “Miraflores Tomb”. Years later, Carson Murdy (1986) included data from this in his doctoral thesis. However, its relevance was forgotten until March 2023 when some of Espinoza’s notes with more detailed descriptions of the discovery were found in the Kaminaljuyu archive of the Pennsylvania State University. The discovery documented plain monuments, human remains, vessels, and the Kaminaljuyu ball game marker or sculpture 102 fragmented into three pieces. This work addresses the information recovered in Espinoza’s notes and highlights its importance for understanding the history of the site towards the end of the Preclassic period when the first decline of this site occurred. Likewise, the data included here clarify the origin of sculpture 102 referred to in the literature as a Kaminaljuyu ball game marker and linked to the Acropolis in addition to expanding data on the Late Preclassic crisis at the site.