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The article was originally without an abstract. Short description by Editorial Team.  Nakum is an archaeological site in northern Guatemala. The geographic setting of the site and the history of research are being described here. Hermes and Calderón provide preliminary ideas about the chronology of the site. Also results of surveys led by Justyna Olko in the peripheries (areas outside the central, monumental architecture zone) of Nakum are included here. Jarosław Źrałka describes the observations that relate to the depopulation of the site.

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Looking at the Spanish impact on Nahuatl both in its full historical trajectory and modern synchronic dimension, I focus on the differentiation between 'balanced', longterm language contact and 'unbalanced' contact leading to rapid language shift in contemporary indigenous communities. I discuss the connection between accelerated contact-induced language change and language endangerment and shift, highlighting and assessing the mutually interdependent extra-and inter-linguistic variables that influence and shape both processes. Of special importance is the synchronic variation linked to speakers' proficiency that influences language transmission in the diachronic perspective. On the basis of extensive fieldwork and linguistic documentation I identify several types of Nahuatl speakers as agents of this accelerated language change which leads to individual attrition and shift at the community level. This kind of multidisciplinary approach, taking into account both historical and modern data, can also potentially be useful for other minority languages in the scenario of long-term contact with a dominant language. Nahuatl LanguageNahuatl is an agglutinative, polysynthetic, head-marking Uto-Aztecan language. As documented in its 'Classical' or sixteenth-century form, it employs compounding and incorporation, as well as derivation through the extensive use of suffixes and some prefixes. Its lexical categories can be divided into four basic structural classes: verbs, nouns, relational words (expressing spatial and other relations) and particles. In the early-colonial version of the language nouns are either animate or inanimate classes,

Los trabajos de investigación arqueológica realizados en el sitio maya de Nakum (Petén, Guatemala) durante los últimos años, han proporcionado una excelente oportunidad para documentar y estudiar una muestra grande de los graffiti precolombinos en distintos edificios ubicados en el epicentro del sitio. El articulo discute los datos arquitectónicos e iconográficos relacionados con la ejecución y función de los graffiti, así como los resultados del análisis de su contenido iconográfico (p.e. representaciones glíficas, antropo- y zoomorfas). Los datos disponibles han permitido intentar un acercamiento analítico en el que se pretende abarcar diversos aspectos, tales como la identificación de los autores de graffiti, su fechamiento y posibles funciones. La evidencia de Nakum permite también una confrontación con las previas interpretaciones de este tipo del arte en la cultura maya.