Lago Puerto Arturo

Lago Puerto Arturo is a small lake in the Mirador Basin approximately 30 km south of the Mexico-Guatemala border and about 70 km NW of Tikal. It was the site of a lake sediment coring study carried out by Wahl and colleagues in 2001 (Wahl et al. 2006). The core extended from the lake bed at a depth of 7.8 m below the lake's surface and extended down to a further depth of 7.28 m. Pollen grains of Zea mays were recovered from a depth of 3.15 m in the sediment core and continued up to a depth of about .95 m. Based on this, the authors estimate that maize was grown in the region from approximately 4600 cal BP to about 1000 cal BP, at which time the region appears to have been abandonded.