Izapa

Amongst cocoa plantations, 10 kilometers from Tapachula, this place is hidden, which, though barely explored, is one of the principal archaeological zones of Chiapas. This is a ceremonial center founded around the year 1500 B.C. and from 600 B.C., for one thousand years the greatest and most important civil and religious center of the Pacific plains; of Mixe-Zoque filiation, but situated in contact with land occupied by the Maya groups. Its importance was due to the cocoa traffic and probably imported obsidian. At present, these vestiges appear as hills of land and platforms of rolled stones. The structures that surround squares, previously had temples, and in many of these, you can find carved stone work, as well as rubble, besides altars and other rocky monuments; amongst these last ones, there are spherical rocks above the columns, possibly solar representations. The style of the site, has given place to speak of the Izapenan culture, which although influenced by the Olmecas, made its own characteristics, which were diffused to other places along the coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, and even further. The Izapenan sculpture was basically religious in origin and function and seems to register mythical and historical events, as well as religious and cosmogonical concepts.
Although very extensive, it is only possible to visit three aggregates, the "F" which is north of the highway, partly restored; and groups "A" and "B", situated south of this, and with access to them by short dirt roads.