Recently in Central America archeological lucky to find ancient burial, which appeared in the epoch of change of civilizations. At that time in the States of the Olmec in southern Mexico has reached the age of decline, and on the territory of Guatemala bloomed the Mayan civilization. Found the tomb serves as a symbol of continuity of the two great cultures.

In the South-West of Guatemala on the territory of the archaeological monument Takalik-AB Tak'alik Ab'aj) 180 km to the South of the capital found one of the most ancient tombs of the leader of the Maya. It belongs lived in the XVIII century BC possible the father-founder of this civilization, which was called K'utz Chman. Probably he was the high priest in the period of transition from the Olmec civilization to the Mayan civilization. Human remains archaeologists in the burial had not found - most likely, they have broken up in ashes. But out of the land have learned many jade beads, suspension of jadeite in the form of a figure head of the American vulture, ceramic dolls and pottery shards.

The burial was discovered in the Guatemalan Department of Retalhuleu (Retalhuleu) in June 2012, according to British newspaper Daily Mail, but only in the course of the study it was found that the tomb of Cuts Cman. This conclusion was made on the basis of the inscriptions found on the jade figurine, rich decoration of the grave, and radiocarbon Dating. According to the archaeologist Miguel Orrego (Miguel Orrego), whose words leads the bbc.co.uk website, radiocarbon analysis of soil showed that dumping refers to the period from 700 up to 400 years before Christ. Archaeologist calls buried here man "great leader", which served as a link between the cultures of the Olmec and Maya.

Some historians suggest that on the initiative of Cuts Cman (in the language of the Maya his name means "Grandpa Vulture") on the ground that the Indian nation appeared then become characteristic of the Mayan civilization of the pyramid (instead of the more ancient square structures), as well as a stone bas-reliefs with images of the Royal family. "Grandpa vulture", or Grandfather vulture is actually American black katata, or urubu (Coragyps atratus) - the bird of the family of American vultures living in warm temperate and tropical climates of North and South America and eating, like his colleague from the Old world (vulture Neophron percnopterus), carrion. Griffon-vulture symbolized in the Mayan culture political and economic power, which had elders kind.

Olmecs, created a brilliant civilization of pre-Columbian America and influenced a number of other high cultures of the New world, disappear to the V century BC. According to some researchers, Olmec culture, whose heyday was 1200-s - 400 years before our era, characterized by the architectural structures of clay and earth, developed the technique of carving in stone (especially on basalt), kropotlivoi sculpture, pictures giant heads in helmets and deity in human form-Jaguar, sophisticated techniques of nephrite and jadeite (collectively called the stone - jade), hollow clay statuettes "babies" with the surface of white color, ceramics archaic forms (spherical pots without necks, drinking cups and much more) with typical ornaments. One of the two most important features of the civilization, literature, appeared in Olmec culture not later than the first century BC.

The Maya of the forest areas in the North of Guatemala hieroglyphic inscriptions series of icons, consisting of dates and hieroglyphs - known around the same time, that is, from the first century BC. During excavations of Monte Alban (Monte Alb?n), fortified capital of Indian-Zapotec in the valley of Oaxaca (Valles Centrales de Oaxaca), archaeologists found an earlier letter samples, while similar to Olmec and Maya. Exact date is not set, but, apparently, they appeared not later than the VI - V centuries BC. Site of ancient settlement Takalik-AB represents the first major monument of the Maya civilization that has many features of influence of the Olmec.

One of the largest Mayan cities on the territory of Honduras was Copan (SORP). Having appeared in the first century BC, in the heyday of 7-8 centuries of our era, it became the center of independent political Association Maya, covering the territory of modern South East of Guatemala and northeast Honduras. The name ridge" in Nahuatl local residents gave him much later. In the middle preclassic period (about 899-400 years BC) Maya settled on an ever-wider area, actively developing trade between the cities.

On the Gulf coast the first settlements and churches appear around 500 BC. It is possible that the first major Mayan city in the territory of Guatemala, such as the El Mirador (El Mirador) most famous Mayan pyramid (72 meters) and the Nakba (Nakb?) - also occur at this time. Traces of settlements in the area of the city-fortress Tikal scientists date back to the seventh century BC. During this period, the Mayan civilization has grown and gained momentum.