Editing Quiriguá (section)

==Name and location==
[[File:Larger Southern Maya area v3.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Map showing the locations of Quiriguá and Copán in the extreme east of the region, with Quiriguá to the north and Copán directly south. The landmass is located in Central America and bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.|The [[southern Maya area]], showing the locations of Quiriguá and Copán]]
[[File:Formative Period southern Mesoamerica 2.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Map showing Quiriguá's location at the eastern end of the Motagua drainage and showing a tight cluster of jade sources upriver to the west. The landmass is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.|The location of Quiriguá on the Motagua River, with relation to sources of jade]]

The archaeological site of Quiriguá is named after the nearby village of the same name,<ref>Looper 2003, viii.</ref> and is located a little over {{convert|200|km|mi|abbr=on}} northeast of [[Guatemala City]];<ref>Stross et al. 1983, p.333.</ref> it lies in the municipality of [[Los Amates]] in the department of Izabal and has an elevation of {{convert|75|m|ft|abbr=on}} [[above mean sea level]].<ref>Inforpress.</ref>

Positioned on the north bank of the lower reaches of the [[Motagua River]], Quiriguá is situated at the point where the valley broadens into a [[flood plain]], which has exposed the site to periodic flooding over the centuries.<ref name="Loop1"/><ref name="Loop35">Looper 2003, p.35.</ref> Although the river passed close to the site during the period of the city's occupation, it has since changed course and now flows {{convert|1|km|mi|abbr=on|1}} south of the ceremonial centre.<ref name="Sharer352"/> Quiriguá is {{convert|48|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of Copán,<ref name="Coe121"/> and is located {{convert|15.7|km|mi|abbr=on}} north-west of the international border with [[Honduras]].

The local [[bedrock]] is a hard red [[sandstone]], which the inhabitants used in the construction of monuments and [[Mesoamerican architecture|architecture]]. This local sandstone is very strong and not prone to [[Shear (geology)|shearing]] or [[Fracture (geology)|fracturing]], allowing the sculptors at Quiriguá to erect the tallest freestanding stone monuments in the [[Americas]].<ref>Miller 1999, p.82.</ref> Quiriguá was built directly over the [[Motagua Fault]] and the city suffered damage in ancient times as a result of major [[earthquake]]s.<ref>Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.507.</ref>