ABSTRACT
In western Honduras, near the Guatemalan border, archeological remnants are scattered across the wide Copan River Valley with none more spectacular than Copan Archeological Park (CAP) — a monument to the artistic zenith of the Maya civilization (see Figure 5.1). Copan, the ancient Mayan city, was a major center for trade, art, and religion in the Maya world. Today the archeological park is Honduras’s second most popular tourist destination and its only profitable national park. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1981 and a national monument in 1982 and the managing agency is the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, or IHAH).
