Bilbao, Archaeological site in Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala

Bilbao is an archaeological site near Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa situated on the Pacific coastal plain at 370 meters elevation and surrounded by sugar plantations. It contains multiple stone sculptures and earth mounds blanketed by volcanic soil.

Bilbao was occupied from the Preclassic period and was the most important Preclassic site in what later became the Cotzumalhuapa Nuclear Zone. Its main occupation dates to the Late Classic (c. AD 600–800). In 1860 Pedro de Anda cleared the land for the Finca Peor es Nada coffee plantation; in 1890 this merged with another plot to form Finca Bilbao, renamed Finca Las Ilusiones in 1957.

The site's name comes from the Finca Bilbao coffee plantation established in 1890, later renamed Finca Las Ilusiones in 1957. Its sculpture style differs from that of the Classic Maya and may reflect the Pipil, Nahua speakers who settled the Pacific coastal plain in the Postclassic. The Monument Plaza held most of the site's sculpture, Monuments 1 to 8, and was reached by ramps and stairways.

The mounds lie among working sugarcane fields about 1.6 km from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, and the Gavarrete Causeway, 11 to 14 m wide, runs 3 km to El Baúl. Most structures are buried under thick volcanic soil, so only the largest read as mounds; the Monument Plaza was reached by ramps and stairways. Groups A to D are bordered on the east by the Canilla River.

The site contains the only significant Postclassic residential compound within the broader Cotzumalhuapa archaeological zone, setting it apart from neighboring excavations. This makes it valuable for understanding how people actually lived during that period.