Pajaral

Pajaral, otherwise known as El Pajaral, is the modern name for a mid-sized ruined city of the pre-Columbian Maya archaeological site located to the south of the San Pedro Martir river in the Petén department of Guatemala. The name El Pajaral was coined by archaeologist Ian Graham, who discovered the site in the 1970s, and refers to the numerous birds he encountered there during his survey.

Pajaral, along with the ancient Maya site of Zapote Bobal, has recently been the focus of an archaeological project, the Proyecto Peten Noroccidente (PNO). Endeavors in the area are being directed by James Fitzsimmons (Middlebury College) and Laura Gamez (University of Pittsburgh). The increased attention being paid to these sites is largely the result of a discovery made by epigrapher David Stuart, who connected the archaeological site of Zapote Bobal with a name repeatedly mentioned in the inscriptions of sites like Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan. That name was the toponym Hix Witz, or "Jaguar Hill" Versions of that name occur on monuments recovered at Pajaral as well, suggesting that the two sites were related during the apogee of Maya civilization.