Piedras Negras (Maya site)

Piedras Negras is the modern name for an ancient, ruined city of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization located on the north bank of the Usumacinta River in the Petén department of northwestern Guatemala. The Mayan name for the city was Yo'k'ib' ([ˈjoʔkʼib]) or Yokib'. Piedras Negras was one of the most powerful of the Usumacinta ancient Maya urban centers. Occupation at Piedras Negras is known from the Late Preclassic period onward, based on dates retrieved from epigraphic information found on multiple stelae and altars at the site. Piedras Negras is a priceless archaeological site, known for its large sculptural output when compared to other ancient Maya sites. The wealth of sculpture, in conjunction with the precise chronological information associated with the lives of the settlement's elite, has allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the political history of the city's polity and its geopolitical footprint.