the period from AD 455 to 524, there was then a sixty-year hiatus. In 589 a new and youthful ruler took office, he governed until AD 633. In the period from 633 to 662 there were four more rulers governing in relatively quick succession, these were probably followed by at least two more rulers although the later monuments are the least well preserved. Modern history The site was first discovered in 1895 by Teoberto Maler. Sylvanus Morley described the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Altar de Sacrificios in his 1938 work The Inscriptions of Peten. It was also visited by Frans Blom in 1928. The site was investigated by archaeologists A. Ledyard Smith and Gordon Willey of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology from 1958 to 1963. Since 2016, an international team led by Lycoming College has continued to map and excavate Altar de Sacrificios and its surrounding area. Site description There are three main complexes of buildings, known as Groups A, B and C. Group A is organised around two plazas, known as the North Plaza and the South Plaza. It covers an area of approximately . The core is located on the higher eastern end of the small island supporting the site, with residential groups occupying the western end. The site possesses 29 inscribed monuments, most of them so badly eroded as to be unreadable. Those dated monuments that are still legible span the period from AD 455 to AD 849. Group A contains the palace complexes. Its two plazas are surrounded by 25 buildings. A total of 11 inscribed stelae were found in this group, 9 of them at or on the buildings around the North Plaza. Among those found on the plaza is Stela 2 with the latest inscribed date at the site (November 30, 849 A.D.). Structure A-I had 3 stelas on it, including Stela 1 after which the site was named. 3 stelae were placed on Structure A-II, along with one inscribed altar and three sculpted panels. Burial 96 is the burial of a woman who died in her twenties and was placed in a tomb in Structure A-III, some time later than Burial 128 in the same building. It was simpler than the latter and was accompanied by the offering of a polychrome ceramic vessel. Burial 128 is an elite tomb built into Structure A-III. It is stone lined with a wooden ceiling and