Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology's video: Early Putnam Era history of Peabody Harvard archaeological investigations at Copan

Copan is an archaeological site of an ancient Maya city located in far western Honduras, near its border with Guatemala. It is a World Heritage List site. Copán began as a small agricultural settlement about 1000 BCE. It became an important Maya city during the Classic Period (c. 250–950 CE), and at its peak, it may have been home to as many as 20,000 people. A dynasty of at least 16 kings ruled Copán from about 426 to 822, although the city had started to decline by the end of this period. The Maya had completely abandoned the site by about 1200 CE. Copan consists of residential areas and a central district of stone temples, two large pyramids, several stairways and plazas, and a court for playing the ball game tlachtli. Copán is particularly noted for its striking stone sculptural art, including the Hieroglyphic Stairway leading to one of the temples. Starting in 1890, the Peabody Museum began some of the earliest archaeological investigations of Copan. Today Harvard investigators along with colleagues in Honduras and around the globe, continue to make new discoveries and reveal new insights about this extraordinary place, especially around its amazing, and now famous, hieroglyphic stairway.