Tikal - WikiHQ

Tikal (; in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now the Petén Department in northern Guatemala. The site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Tikal was the capital of a state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900. During this time, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico. There is evidence that one of Tikal's great ruling dynasties was founded by conquerors from Teotihuacan in the 4th century AD. Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned. These events were coupled with a gradual population decline, culminating with the site's abandonment by the end of the 10th century.

Tikal is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with a long dynastic ruler list, the discovery of the tombs of many of the rulers on this list and the investigation of their monuments, temples and palaces.

After centuries of abandonment, the site was first explored in the modern era in 1848. Tikal National Park was established in 1955, protecting the site and of surrounding tropical forests, savannas, and wetlands within the Maya Biosphere Reserve. It has alternatively been interpreted as meaning 'the place of the voices' in the Itzaʼ Maya language. Tikal, however, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s. Hieroglyphic inscriptions at the ruins refer to the ancient city as or , meaning 'First Mutal'.

The kingdom as a whole was simply called , which is the reading of the "hair bundle" emblem glyph seen in the accompanying photo. Its precise meaning remains obscure. Tikal is approximately north of Guatemala City. It is south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and northwest of Yaxha. The city was located southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and northwest of Calakmul's ally Caracol, now in Belize.

The city has been completely mapped and covered an area greater than that included about 3,000 structures. The topography of the site consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands. The major architecture of the site is clustered upon areas of higher ground and linked by raised causeways spanning the swamps. The area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the preserved area covers . It was created on 26 May 1955 under the auspices of the Instituto de Antropología e Historia and was the first protected area in Guatemala.

The ruins lie among the tropical rainforests of northern Guatemala that formed the cradle of lowland Maya civilization. The city itself was located among abundant fertile upland soils, and may have dominated a natural east–west trade route across the Yucatán Peninsula. Conspicuous trees at the Tikal park include gigantic Kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) the sacred tree of the Maya; tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata), and Honduras mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla). Regarding the fauna, agoutis, white-nosed coatis, gray foxes, Geoffroy's spider monkeys, howler monkeys, harpy eagles, falcons, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leafcutter ants can be seen there regularly. Jaguars, ocelots, and cougars are also said to roam in the park.

Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in ten reservoirs. Archaeologists working in Tikal during the 20th century refurbished one of these ancient reservoirs to store water for their own use.

Population

Population estimates for Tikal vary from 10,000 to as high as 90,000 inhabitants.

Major construction at Tikal was already taking place in the Late Preclassic period, first appearing around 400–300 BC, including the building of major pyramids and platforms, although the city was still dwarfed by sites further north such as El Mirador and Nakbe. At this time, Tikal participated in the widespread Chikanel culture that dominated the Central and Northern Maya areas at this time – a region that included the entire Yucatán Peninsula including northern and eastern Guatemala and all of Belize.

Two temples dating to Late Chikanel times had masonry-walled superstructures that may have been corbel-vaulted, although this has not been proven. One of these had elaborate paintings on the outer walls showing human figures against a scrollwork background, painted in yellow, black, pink and red.

Early Classic

Dynastic rulership among the lowland Maya is most deeply rooted at Tikal. According to later hieroglyphic records, the dynasty was founded by Yax Ehb Xook, perhaps in the 1st century AD.

Tikal may have benefited from the collapse of the large Preclassic states such as El Mirador. In the Early Classic Tikal rapidly developed into the most dynamic city in the Maya region, stimulating the development of other nearby Maya cities.

The site, however, was often at war and inscriptions tell of alliances and conflict with other Maya states, including Uaxactun, Caracol, Naranjo and Calakmul. The site was defeated at the end of the Early Classic by Caracol, which rose to take Tikal's place as the paramount center in the southern Maya lowlands. The earlier part of the Early Classic saw hostilities between Tikal and its neighbor Uaxactun, with Uaxactun recording the capture of prisoners from Tikal.

There appears to have been a breakdown in the male succession by AD 317, when Lady Unen Bahlam conducted a Kʼatun-ending ceremony, apparently as queen of the city.

Tikal and Teotihuacan

thumb|The great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the [[Valley of Mexico appears to have decisively intervened in Tikal politics.]]

As early as 200 AD, Teotihuacan had embassies in Tikal.

The fourteenth king of Tikal was Chak Tok Ichʼaak (Great Jaguar Paw). Chak Tok Ichʼaak built a palace that was preserved and developed by later rulers until it became the core of the Central Acropolis. Siyaj Kʼakʼ appears to have been aided by a powerful political faction at Tikal itself; roughly at the time of the conquest, a group of Teotihuacan natives were apparently residing near the Lost World complex. Within a year, the son of Spearthrower Owl by the name of Yax Nuun Ahiin I (First Crocodile) had been installed as the fifteenth king of Tikal while he was still a boy, being enthroned on 13 September 379. He reigned for 47 years as king of Tikal, and remained a vassal of Siyaj Kʼakʼ for as long as the latter lived. It seems likely that Yax Nuun Ayiin I took a wife from the preexisting, defeated, Tikal dynasty and thus legitimized the right to rule of his son, Siyaj Chan Kʼawiil II.

Although the new rulers of Tikal were foreign, their descendants were rapidly Mayanized. Tikal became the key ally and trading partner of Teotihuacan in the Maya lowlands. After being conquered by Teotihuacan, Tikal rapidly dominated the northern and eastern Peten. Uaxactun, together with smaller towns in the region, were absorbed into Tikal's kingdom. Other sites, such as Bejucal and Motul de San José near Lake Petén Itzá became vassals of their more powerful neighbor to the north. By the middle of the 5th century, Tikal had a core territory of at least in every direction.

Around the 5th century, an impressive system of fortifications consisting of ditches and earthworks was built along the northern periphery of Tikal's hinterland, joining up with the natural defenses provided by large areas of swampland lying to the east and west of the city. Additional fortifications were probably also built to the south. These defenses protected Tikal's core population and agricultural resources, encircling an area of approximately .

Tikal and Copán

In the 5th century, the power of the city reached as far south as Copán, whose founder Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ was clearly connected with Tikal. Copán itself was not in an ethnically Maya region and the founding of the Copán dynasty probably involved the direct intervention of Tikal. Kʼinich Yax Kukʼ Moʼ arrived in Copán in December 426, and bone analysis of his remains shows that he passed his childhood and youth at Tikal. An individual known as Ajaw Kʼukʼ Mo' (lord Kʼukʼ Moʼ) is referred to in an early text at Tikal and may well be the same person. His tomb had Teotihuacan characteristics and he was depicted in later portraits dressed in the warrior garb of Teotihuacan. Hieroglyphic texts refer to him as "Lord of the West", much like Siyaj Kʼakʼ. The interaction between these sites and Tikal was intense over the next three centuries.

A long-running rivalry between Tikal and Calakmul began in the 6th century, with each of the two cities forming its own network of mutually hostile alliances arrayed against each other in what has been likened to a long-running war between two Maya superpowers. The kings of these two capitals adopted the title kaloomteʼ, a term that has not been precisely translated but that implies something akin to "high king".

The early 6th century saw another queen ruling the city, known only as the "Lady of Tikal", who was very likely a daughter of Chak Tok Ichʼaak II. She seems never to have ruled in her own right, rather being partnered with male co-rulers. The first of these was Kaloomteʼ Bahlam, who seems to have had a long career as a general at Tikal before becoming co-ruler and 19th in the dynastic sequence. The Lady of Tikal herself seems not have been counted in the dynastic numbering. It appears she was later paired with lord "Bird Claw", who is presumed to be the otherwise unknown 20th ruler. The "Tikal hiatus" refers to a period between the late 6th to late 7th century where there was a lapse in the writing of inscriptions and large-scale construction at Tikal. In the latter half of the 6th century AD, a serious crisis befell the city, with no new stelae being erected and with widespread deliberate mutilation of public sculpture. The badly eroded Altar 21 at Caracol described how Tikal suffered this disastrous defeat in a major war in April 562. It seems that Caracol was an ally of Calakmul in the wider conflict between that city and Tikal, with the defeat of Tikal having a lasting impact upon the city. After its great victory, Caracol grew rapidly and some of Tikal's population may have been forcibly relocated there. During the hiatus period, at least one ruler of Tikal took refuge with Janaabʼ Pakal of Palenque, another of Calakmul's victims.

The beginning of the Tikal hiatus has served as a marker by which archaeologists commonly subdivide the Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology into the Early and Late Classic.

Tikal and Dos Pilas

In 629, Tikal founded Dos Pilas, some to the southwest, as a military outpost in order to control trade along the course of the Pasión River. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was installed on the throne of the new outpost at the age of four, in 635. When he was older, for many years he served as a loyal vassal fighting for his brother, the king of Tikal. Roughly twenty years later, Dos Pilas was attacked by Calakmul and was soundly defeated. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was captured by the king of Calakmul but, instead of being sacrificed, he was re-instated on his throne as a vassal of his former enemy.

He attacked Tikal in 657, forcing Nuun Ujol Chaak, then king of Tikal, to temporarily abandon the city. The first two rulers of Dos Pilas continued to use the Mutal emblem glyph of Tikal, and they probably felt that they had a legitimate claim to the throne of Tikal itself. For some reason, Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was not installed as the new ruler of Tikal; instead he stayed at Dos Pilas. Tikal counterattacked against Dos Pilas in 672, driving Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil into an exile that lasted five years. Calakmul tried to encircle Tikal within an area dominated by its allies, such as El Peru, Dos Pilas, and Caracol.

In 682, Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I erected the first dated monument at Tikal in 120 years and claimed the title of kaloomteʼ, so ending the hiatus. He initiated a program of new construction and turned the tables on Calakmul when, in 695, he captured the enemy noble and threw the enemy state into a long decline from which it never fully recovered. After this, Calakmul never again erected a monument celebrating a military victory.

Tikal after Teotihuacan

By the 7th century, there was no active Teotihuacan presence at any Maya site and the center of Teotihuacan had been razed by 700. Even after this, formal war attire illustrated on monuments was Teotihuacan style. Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I and his heir Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil continued hostilities against Calakmul and its allies and imposed firm regional control over the area around Tikal, extending as far as the territory around Lake Petén Itzá. These two rulers were responsible for much of the impressive architecture visible today. This upset the balance of power in the southern Maya area and lead to a steady decline in the fortunes of Copán.

In the 8th century, the rulers of Tikal collected monuments from across the city and erected them in front of the North Acropolis. By the late 8th century and early 9th century, activity at Tikal slowed. Impressive architecture was still built but few hieroglyphic inscriptions refer to later rulers.

Terminal Classic

By the 9th century, the crisis of the Classic Maya collapse was sweeping across the region, with populations plummeting and city after city falling into silence. Increasingly endemic warfare in the Maya region caused Tikal's supporting population to heavily concentrate close to the city itself, accelerating the use of intensive agriculture and the corresponding environmental decline. Construction continued at the beginning of the century, with the erection of Temple 3, the last of the city's major pyramids, and the erection of monuments to mark the 19th Kʼatun in 810. The beginning of the 10th Bakʼtun in 830 passed uncelebrated, and marks the beginning of a 60-year hiatus, probably resulting from the collapse of central control in the city. During this hiatus, satellite sites traditionally under Tikal's control began to erect their own monuments featuring local rulers and using the Mutal emblem glyph, with Tikal apparently lacking the authority or the power to crush these bids for independence. Tikal and its immediate surroundings seem to have lost most of their population between 830 and 950 and central authority seems to have collapsed rapidly. There is not much evidence from Tikal that the city was directly affected by the endemic warfare that afflicted parts of the Maya region during the Terminal Classic, although an influx of refugees from the Petexbatún region may have exacerbated problems resulting from the already stretched environmental resources.

thumb|left|The site core seen from the south, with Temple I at center, the North Acropolis to the left and Central Acropolis to the right

In the latter half of the 9th century, there was an attempt to revive royal power at the much-diminished city of Tikal, as evidenced by a stela erected in the Great Plaza by Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil II in 869. This was the last monument erected at Tikal before the city finally fell into silence. The former satellites of Tikal, such as Jimbal and Uaxactun, did not last much longer, erecting their final monuments in 889. By the end of the 9th century, the vast majority of Tikal's population had deserted the city, its royal palaces were occupied by squatters and simple thatched dwellings were being erected in the city's ceremonial plazas. The squatters blocked some doorways in the rooms they reoccupied in the monumental structures of the site and left rubbish that included a mixture of domestic refuse and non-utilitarian items such as musical instruments. These inhabitants reused the earlier monuments for their own ritual activities, far removed from those of the royal dynasty that had erected them. Some monuments were vandalized and some were moved to new locations. Before its final abandonment all respect for the old rulers had disappeared, with the tombs of the North Acropolis being explored for jade and the easier-to-find tombs were looted. After 950, Tikal was all but deserted, although a remnant population may have survived in perishable huts interspersed among the ruins. Even these final inhabitants abandoned the city in the 10th or 11th centuries and the rainforest claimed the ruins for the next thousand years. Some of Tikal's population may have migrated to the Peten Lakes region, which remained heavily populated in spite of a plunge in population levels in the first half of the 9th century. However, new research regarding paleoenvironmental proxies from the Tikal reservoir system suggests that a meteorological drought may have led to the abandonment of Tikal, fouling some reservoirs near the temple and palace with algae blooms, while other reservoirs remained drinkable. Buildings were painted with mercury-bearing cinnabar, which were washed off by rain and polluted some reservoirs.

Works of Kohler and colleagues showed that this city reached an unsustainable level of inequalities at the end.

Rulers

Modern history

thumb|right|One of Maudsley's photos of Tikal from 1882, taken after vegetation had been cleared

In 1525, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés passed within a few kilometers of the ruins of Tikal but did not mention them in his letters. After Spanish friar Andrés de Avendaño became lost in the Petén forests in early 1696 he described a ruin that may well have been Tikal.

As is often the case with huge ancient ruins, knowledge of the site was never completely lost in the region. It seems that local people never forgot about Tikal and they guided Guatemalan expeditions to the ruins in the 1850s.

From 1956 to 1970 the University of Pennsylvania's Tikal Project mapped the city on a scale not previously seen in the Maya area and carried out major archaeological excavations to restore many of the structures. Excavations directed by Edwin M. Shook and later by William Coe of the university investigated the North Acropolis and the Central Plaza from 1957 to 1969. Subsequent Star Wars movie Rogue One (2016) and season 2 of TV series Andor (2025) were also filmed at Tikal for the same fictional location.

Temple I at Tikal was featured on the reverse of the 50 centavo banknote.

Eon Productions used the site for the James Bond film Moonraker.

Tikal is now one of Guatemala's most significant tourist attractions.

Site description

thumb|The site core

Tikal has been partially restored by the University of Pennsylvania and the government of Guatemala. There is even a building which seemed to have been a jail, originally with wooden bars across the windows and doors. There are also seven courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame, including a set of 3 in the Seven Temples Plaza, a unique feature in Mesoamerica.

The limestone used for construction was local and quarried on-site. The depressions formed by the extraction of stone for building were plastered to waterproof them and were used as reservoirs, together with some waterproofed natural depressions. The main plazas were surfaced with stucco and laid at a gradient that channelled rainfall into a system of canals that fed the reservoirs.

The residential area of Tikal covers an estimated , much of which has not yet been cleared, mapped, or excavated. The area around the site core has been intensively mapped; Recently, a project exploring the defensive earthworks has shown that the scale of the earthworks is highly variable and that in many places it is inconsequential as a defensive feature. In addition, some parts of the earthwork were integrated into a canal system. The earthwork of Tikal varies significantly in coverage from what was originally proposed and it is much more complex and multifaceted than originally thought.

Causeways

By the Late Classic, a network of sacbeob (causeways) linked various parts of the city, running for several kilometers through its urban core. These linked the Great Plaza with Temple 4 (located about to the west) and the Temple of the Inscriptions (about to the southeast). These broad causeways were built of packed and plastered limestone and have been named after early explorers and archaeologists; the Maler, Maudslay, Tozzer and Méndez causeways. They assisted the passage of everyday traffic during the rain season and also served as dams.

The Maudsley Causeway runs northeast from Temple IV to Group H.

The Tozzer Causeway runs west from the Great Plaza to Temple IV.

Water reservoirs

Water reservoirs played a critical role in the development and maintenance of both Tikal and other Maya cities. Though evidently serving as a body of water to draw from during the dry season and drought periods, water reservoirs also possessed a cultural and political significance. Hence, noteworthy investment was made by Maya societies into their reservoirs to ensure high water quality as well as consolidate political power.

Aside from Tikal, notable reservoirs are also present at Calakmul, Caracol, and Naranjo, among others. Additionally, fungal species can proliferate in improperly stored or stressed maize which can produce chemicals like aflatoxin, a deadly liver carcinogen. However, the Maya were adept in constructing reservoirs that could guarantee high water quality. The Maya applied their knowledge of wetland biosphere ecology and ensured a balance of hydrophytic and macrophytic plants and other organisms. For example, the Maya widely adopted the dotleaf waterlily, Nymphaea ampla, in their reservoirs' bodies of water. Dotleaf waterlilies, have bluish undersides that prevent passage of light and thus minimizes algae growth, inhibits evaporation, provides shade for predators of pests, removes nitrogen through their roots, and serves as an indicator of acidic conditions as water lilies cannot tolerate low pH levels; low pH levels have been linked to tooth corrosion and disruption of gut homeostasis. Lastly, lining the reservoir with clay was also intelligently applied to help stabilize water pH.

Role in political power

A significant proportion of royal power rested in what the ruling party could materially provide for their subjects (i.e. water during annual drought through massive artificial reservoirs). Hence, water and by extension, reservoirs became a significant part of the Maya power structure. This also means that a way for Maya rulers to concentrate their power would be through proper water management. This created a feedback loop in which tools associated with water management became associated with Maya rulers. The association of clean water, water lilies, and royal power is amply illustrated in the iconography.

The Mundo Perdido is to the west of the Plaza of the Seven Temples. It is the largest ceremonial complex dating from the Preclassic period at Tikal. The complex was organized as a large E-Group consisting of a pyramid aligned with a platform to the east that supported three temples. During the Early Classic period (c. 250–600) the Mundo Perdido became one of the twin foci of the city, the other being the North Acropolis. From AD 250 to 378 it may have served as the royal necropolis.

Group G lies just south of the Mendez Causeway. The complex dates to the Late Classic and consists of palace-type structures and is one of the largest groups of its type at Tikal. It has two stories but most of the rooms are on the lower floor, a total of 29 vaulted chambers. The remains of two further chambers belong to the upper story. One of the entrances to the group was framed by a gigantic mask.

Group Q is a twin-pyramid complex, and is one of the largest at Tikal. It was built by Yax Nuun Ayiin II in 771 in order to mark the end of the 17th K'atun.

Temple I (also known as the Temple of Ah Cacao or Temple of the Great Jaguar) is a funerary pyramid dedicated to Jasaw Chan Kʼawil, who was entombed in the structure in AD 734, The temple rises high. The massive roofcomb that topped the temple was originally decorated with a giant sculpture of the enthroned king, although little of this decoration survives. The tomb of the king was discovered by Aubrey Trik of the University of Pennsylvania in 1962. Among items recovered from the Late Classic tomb were a large collection of inscribed human and animal bone tubes and strips with sophisticated scenes depicting deities and people, finely carved and rubbed with vermilion, as well as jade and shell ornaments and ceramic vessels filled with offerings of food and drink. The shrine at the summit of the pyramid has three chambers, each behind the next, with the doorways spanned by wooden lintels fashioned from multiple beams. The outermost lintel is plain but the two inner lintels were carved, some of the beams were removed in the 19th century and their location is unknown, while others were taken to museums in Europe.

Temple III (also known as the Temple of the Jaguar Priest) was the last of the great pyramids to be built at Tikal. It stood tall and contained an elaborately sculpted but damaged roof lintel, possibly showing Dark Sun engaged in a ritual dance around AD 810.

Temple IV is the tallest temple-pyramid at Tikal, measuring from the plaza floor level to the top of its roof comb. Temple IV marks the reign of Yikʼin Chan Kawil (Ruler B, the son of Ruler A or Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I) and two carved wooden lintels over the doorway that leads into the temple on the pyramid's summit record a long count date (9.15.10.0.0) that corresponds to CE 741 (Sharer 1994:169). Temple IV is one of the largest pyramids built anywhere in the Maya region in the 8th century, and it stands as one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas, only surpassed by the Great Pyramid of Toniná (75 meters) and La Danta pyramid of El Mirador (72 meters) while the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller (71 meters).

Temple V stands south of the Central Acropolis and is the mortuary pyramid of an as yet unidentified ruler. The temple stands high, making it the second tallest structure at Tikal – only Temple IV is taller. The temple has been dated to about AD 700, in the Late Classic period, via radiocarbon analysis and the dating of ceramics associated with the structure places its construction during the reign of Nun Bak Chak in the second half of the 7th century.

Temple VI is also known as the Temple of the Inscriptions and was dedicated in AD 766. It is notable for its high roof-comb. Panels of hieroglyphs cover the back and sides of the roof-comb. The temple faces onto a plaza to the west and its front is unrestored. The final version of Temple 33 was completely dismantled by archaeologists in 1965 in order to arrive at the earlier stages of construction.

Structure 34 is a pyramid in the North Acropolis that was built by Siyaj Chan K'awiil II over the tomb of his father, Yax Nuun Ayiin I. The pyramid was topped by a three chambered shrine, the rooms situated one behind the other.]]

Structure 5D-43 is an unusual radial temple in the East Plaza, built over a pre-existing twin-pyramid complex. It is built into the end of the East Plaza Ballcourt and possessed four entry doorways and three stairways, the fourth (south) side was too close to the Central Acropolis for a stairway on that side. The building has a talud-tablero platform profile, modified from the original style found at Teotihuacan. In fact, it has been suggested that the style of the building has closer affinities with El Tajín and Xochicalco than with Teotihuacan itself. The vertical tablero panels are set between sloping talud panels and are decorated with paired disc symbols. Large flower symbols are set into the sloping talud panels, related to the Venus and star symbols used at Teotihuacan. The roof of the structure was decorated with friezes although only fragments now remain, showing a monstrous face, perhaps that of a jaguar, with another head emerging from the mouth. The temple, and its associated ballcourt, probably date to the reign of Nuun Ujol Chaak or that Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I, in the later part of the 7th century.

Structure 5C-49 possesses a clear Teotihuacan-linked architectural style; it has balustrades, an architectural feature that is very rare in the Maya region, and a talud-tablero façade; it dates to the 4th century AD.

Structure 5C-53 is a small Teotihuacan-style platform that dates to about AD 600. It had stairways on all four sides and did not possess a superstructure. It lies in the southwest portion of Tikal's central core, south of Temple III and west of Temple V. It was decorated with stucco masks of the sun god and dates to the Late Preclassic;

Structure 5D-96 is the central temple on the east side of the Plaza of the Seven Temples. It has been restored and its rear outer wall is decorated with skull-and-crossbones motifs.

Group 6C-16 is an elite residential complex that has been thoroughly excavated. It lies a few hundred m south of the Lost World Complex and the excavations have revealed elaborate stucco masks, ballplayer murals, relief sculptures and buildings with Teotihuacan characteristics. It has two storeys, with a double range of chambers on the lower storey and a single range in the upper storey, which has been restored. The palace has ancient graffiti and possesses low windows.

In 2018, 60,000 uncharted structures were revealed by archaeologists with help of Lidar. Thanks to the new findings, some archaeologists believe that 7–11 million Maya people inhabited in the northern Guatemala during the late classical period from 650 to 800 A.D. Lidar digitally removed the tree canopy to reveal ancient remains and showed that Maya cities like Tikal were bigger than previously thought. The project was mapped near the Maya Biosphere Reserve in the Petén region of Guatemala.

Altars

Altar 5 is carved with two nobles, one of whom is probably Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I. They are performing a ritual using the bones of an important woman. Altar 5 was found in Complex N, which lies to the west of Temple III. It is in the northern enclosure of Group Q, a twin-pyramid complex and has suffered from erosion.

Lintels

thumb|left|The elaborately carved wooden Lintel 3 from Temple IV. It celebrates a military victory by Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil in 743.

At Tikal, beams of sapodilla wood were placed as lintels spanning the inner doorways of temples. These are the most elaborately carved wooden lintels to have survived anywhere in the Maya region.

Lintel 3 from Temple IV was taken to Basel in Switzerland in the 19th century. It was in almost perfect condition and depicts Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil seated on a palanquin.

Stela 4 is dated to AD 396, during the reign of Yax Nuun Ayiin after the intrusion of Teotihuacan in the Maya area. The stela displays a mix of Maya and Teotihuacan qualities, and deities from both cultures. It has a portrait of the king with the Underworld Jaguar God under one arm and the Mexican Tláloc under the other. His helmet is a simplified version of the Teotihuacan War Serpent. Unusually for Maya sculpture, but typically for Teotihuacan, Yax Nuun Ayiin is depicted with a frontal face, rather than in profile.

Stela 5 was dedicated in 744 by Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil.

Stela 6 is a badly damaged monument dating to 514 and bears the name of the "Lady of Tikal" who celebrated the end of the 4th Kʼatun in that year.

Stela 10 is twinned with Stela 12 but is badly damaged. It described the accession of Kaloomteʼ Bʼalam in the early 6th century and earlier events in his career, including the capture of a prisoner depicted on the monument.

Stela 11 was the last monument ever erected at Tikal; it was dedicated in 869 by Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil II.

Stela 16 was dedicated in 711, during the reign of Jasaw Chan Kʼawiil I. The sculpture, including a portrait of the king and a hieroglyphic text, are limited to the front face of the monument.

Stela 19 was dedicated in 790 by Yax Nuun Ayiin II.

Stela 29 bears a Long Count (8.12.14.8.15) date equivalent to AD 292, the earliest surviving Long Count date from the Maya lowlands.

Stela 30 is the first surviving monument to be erected after the Hiatus. Its style and iconography is similar to that of Caracol, one of the more important of Tikal's enemies.]]

Stela 31 is the accession monument of Siyaj Chan K'awiil II, also bearing two portraits of his father, Yax Nuun Ayiin, as a youth dressed as a Teotihuacan warrior. He carries a spearthrower in one hand and bears a shield decorated with the face of Tláloc, the Teotihuacan war god. In ancient times the sculpture was broken and the upper portion was moved to the summit of Temple 33 and ritually buried. Stela 31 has been described as the greatest Early Classic sculpture to survive at Tikal. A long hieroglyphic text is carved onto the back of the monument, the longest to survive from the Early Classic, It was also the first stela at Tikal to be carved on all four faces.

Stela 32 is a fragmented monument with a foreign Teotihuacan-style sculpture apparently depicting the lord of that city with the attributes of the central Mexican storm god Tláloc, including his goggle eyes and tasselled headdress.

Stela 39 is a broken monument that was erected in the Lost World complex. The upper portion of the stela is missing but the lower portion shows the lower body and legs of Chak Tok Ichʼaak, holding a flint axe in his left hand. He is trampling the figure of a bound, richly dressed captive. The monument is dated to AD 376. The text on the back of the monument describes a bloodletting ritual to celebrate a Kʼatun-ending. The stela also names Chak Tok Ichʼaak I's father as Kʼinich Muwaan Jol.

Stela 43 is paired with Altar 35. It is a plain monument at the base of the stairway of Temple IV.]]

Burial 1 is a tomb in the Lost World complex. A fine ceramic bowl was recovered from the tomb, with the handle formed from three-dimensional head and neck of a bird emerging from the two-dimensional body painted on the lid.

Burial 10 is the tomb of Yax Nuun Ahiin I. The tomb was sealed with a corbel vault, then the pyramid was built on top. The chamber of the tomb was cut from the bedrock and contained the remains of the king himself together with those of two adolescents who had been sacrificed in order to accompany the deceased ruler. The king's skeleton was missing its skull, its femurs and one of its hands while the skeletons of the sacrificial victims were intact. The dynastic founder of Tikal, Yax Ehb Xook, has been linked to this tomb, which lies deep in the heart of the North Acropolis. The missing head was replaced by a small greenstone mask with shell-inlaid teeth and eyes and bearing a three-pointed royal headband. This head wears an emblem of rulership on its forehead and is a rare Preclassic lowland Maya portrait of a king.

Burial 195 was flooded with mud in antiquity. This flood had covered wooden objects that had completely rotted away by the time the tomb was excavated, leaving hollows in the dried mud. Archaeologists filled these hollows with stucco and thus excavated four effigies of the god Kʼawiil, the wooden originals long gone.

Burial 196 is a Late Classic royal tomb that contained a jade mosaic vessel topped with the head of the Maize God. Because of its lush and varied ecosystem, many species of plants and animals thrive within the park boundaries. Five species of cats reside within the park, including the jaguar and puma, along with several species of monkeys and anteaters. In addition, more than 300 species of birds are found in the park, including the crane hawk and the ocellated turkey.

Notes

References

External links

Official site , Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala
Tikal Digital Media Archive at CyArk
Tikal Google Street View
Mayans and Tikal