The history of urbanism in the Valley of Guatemala stretches over nearly 3,000 years, beginning soon after 1000 BCE and continuing until 900 CE. Kaminaljuyu (Fig. 6.1) was one of the largest cities in the Maya Highlands in the Classic period, but its apogee was in the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods (ca. 400 BCE–300 CE), when it was the largest of a network of early city-states throughout the highlands and along the Pacific Coast. As with other cases discussed in this volume, the Late Preclassic climax at Kaminaljuyu had a long developmental history, with antecedents in the Valley of Guatemala that extend back to the early Middle Preclassic period.