Decoding the ancient Maya city

Dozens of Maya elites are buried in the temples of Tikal. The ancient Maya city of Tikal, in present-day Guatemala, flourished from about 600 BC to 900 AD.

What started out as a series of small villages, it became a great Maya city with more than two dozen great pyramids. The Maya ruins of Tikal were found in the jungles of Guatemala.

The ancient city of Tikal was found in the jungles of present-day Guatemala.

Tikal, one of the largest cities in ancient Central America

"Tikal" is a Mayan name meaning "at the well." In ancient times, it was known as Mutul and was the center of a powerful Maya kingdom, archaeologist Robert Sharer, curator of the Penn museum, wrote in his book "The Ancient Maya, India". sixth edition" (Stanford University Press, 2005). Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites in Central America and is surrounded by Tikal National Park.

At its height from AD 682 to AD 909, the city spanned at least 130 square kilometers, John Montgomery, a researcher who had studied and written extensively about the Mayans, wrote in his book on the city. The ancient Mayan city of Tikal, one of the largest cities in Central America.

To sustain such a large population, the city's residents have created a sophisticated water management system to ensure everyone has access to water during periods of low rainfall, according to a study published in the journal Nature. announced in 2012. It includes a dam and reservoir system as well as a sand filtration system used to purify the water. It was used for about 1000 years, until the fall of the city in the 10th century.

Like the inhabitants of other Maya cities, the inhabitants of Tikal used a glyptic writing system carved in stone and on a perishable material made from tree bark (most of which have since passed away). leftover). Scholars have been able to decipher the script, which, along with the city's archaeological remains, has helped them reconstruct much of Tikal's past.

The Origin of Tikal

Tikal is located in an area of ​​Central America that has many Mayan ruins. In 2018, researchers discovered more than 60,000 previously unknown Maya structures in Guatemala, including pyramids, houses and defensive fortifications. They used lidar (short for "light detection and range"), which works by shining laser pulses down to the ground from an aircraft. As the pulses bounce back, their wavelengths are measured to create a virtual three-dimensional image of the archaeological remains on the ground.

The stone buildings first built at Tikal around 200 BC as the "World of the Dead" Complex, one of the first monumental sites at Tikal, was completed around AD. 1. The earliest inhabitants of Tikal were the Mayans, although they may have been influenced by humans from a city called Teotihuacan. The first inhabitants of Tikal could speak the Mayan language.

The influence of Teotihuacan

Part of the ancient city of Tikal found.

Lidar data on a map of the Mayan city of Tikal shows an unexcavated structure, a hook-shaped object beneath Mundo Perdido, that strangely resembles a pyramid hundreds of miles away.

Teotihuacan was a city in central Mexico more than 1,000 kilometers away that flourished from about 100 BC to 600 AD. The influence of this city has been identified in some of the architecture and artefacts found at Tikal and had political influence and possibly even control over the city.

Mayan inscriptions, including those found at Tikal, refer to the city using a script that means "cat's tail reed" and artistic motifs from Teotihuacan, for example as described, the rain god Tlaloc, also appears at Tikal.

A notable example of Teotihuacan influence occurred on September 13, 379, when a ruler named Siyaj K'ak' was recorded as ascending to Tikal. This person wears feathers and shells and wields an atlatl (spear thrower) - traits commonly associated with Teotihuacan. This may indicate that he came from Teotihuacan or was strongly influenced or supported by them when he became king.

Another notable example of Teotihuacan's influence on the Maya city is a pyramid and courtyard at Tikal that appears to be a miniature version of a pyramid complex at Teotihuacan today known as La Ciudadela or "Ancient wall".

Researchers at Tikal announced the discovery of the miniature version in 2021, and dated it to around 250 AD - the time when Teotihuacan was at its peak.

Twin Pyramid Complex

Tikal is famous for its numerous pyramids. The ambitious pyramid-building projects were motivated in part by the famous Mayan calendar.

Beginning at least as early as AD 672, the city's rulers built a complex of double pyramids at the end of each K'atun (a period of 20 years).

Each of these pyramids has a flat top, is built adjacent to its twin pyramids, and has a staircase on each side. Between the pyramids is a square whose structures are arranged on the north and south sides.

An early example was built by the ruler Jasaw Kaan K'awil around AD 700. To the south is a building with nine doors; to the north, a walled area contains a stela [an inscribed stone] and an altar.

So far, archaeologists have found 9 of these twin pyramid complexes at Tikal; Their construction seems to have continued until near the end of the city.

In addition to the twin pyramid complex, the Tikal rulers also built pyramid temples, works often marking the burial place of a ruler's navel. Two of them, known today as Temples I and II, faced each other in the city center, with Tikal's great square in the middle.

Tikal and much of the Maya world collapsed around AD 900, although some cities, such as Chichen Itza about 400 kilometers north of Tikal, continued to flourish over the centuries. The reason for the collapse is still debated.

Pollution can also play an important role in the demise of cities. Two of Tikal's largest reservoirs have become heavily polluted with high levels of mercury and phosphate, scientists found in a study published in 2020 in the journal Scientific Reports.

While Tikal and other cities fell, the Maya remained alive, with more than 7 million Mayans living in Central America and other parts of the world today. Tikal is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Maya live to this day, and the Maya Federation's website contains more information about the modern Mayans and the challenges they faced.