Tikal

Loten H. Stanley, Miscellaneous investigations in Central Tikal: Great Temples III, IV, V, and VI. Tikal Report 23B, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (University Museum monograph, 146), Philadelphia, 2017, xix-61 p., bibliogr., 72 ill. en noir et blanc, 12 photos, tabl., 104 relevés.

Loten H. Stanley, Miscellaneous investigations in Central Tikal: the Plaza of the Seven Temples. Tikal Report 23C, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (University Museum monograph, 147), Philadelphia, 2018, xviii-50 p., bibliogr., 69 ill. en noir et blanc, 24 photos, tabl., 62 relevés.

Loten H. Stanley, Miscellaneous investigations in Central Tikal: structures in and around the lost world plaza. Tikal Report 23D, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (University Museum monograph, 148), Philadelphia, 2019, xvii-36 p., bibliogr., 36 ill. en noir et blanc, 12 photos, tabl., 44 relevés.

In the mid-nineteenth century Maya refugees fleeing the violence of the Caste War of Yucatan (1857-1901) briefly reoccupied the ancient ruins of Tikal. Unlike the numerous Yucatec refugee communities established to the east in British Honduras, those who settled at Tikal combined with Lacandon Maya, and later Ladinos from Lake Petén Itza to form a multiethnic village in the sparsely occupied Petén jungle of northern Guatemala. This chapter discusses the analysis of the mass-produced consumer goods found at the Tikal village. The historic inhabitants of Tikal were well connected to exchange networks of the societies encircling the Petén, reaching the world through the global markets emanating from nearby British Honduras. This small village was poised to renegotiate social and economic relationships with peripheral societies from deep within the frontier zone, and may be demonstrating consumer behavior observed in refugee populations in the modern era.

The Grolier Codex (Codice Maya de Mexico, CMM) is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Despite hundreds of years since its streets fell quiet, the Mayan city of Tikal still stands, a testament to the ingenuity of the Maya people. Hundreds of thousands of tourists make the trek to visit Tikal every year to marvel at the pyramids, temples, and monuments that left little more than clues for archeologists to decipher. What in the World is Tikal? tells the story of this ancient city once populated by the fascinating Maya people and now abandoned in the jungle of Tikal National Park in Guatemala. Topics covered will range from its re-discovery and excavation and its current use as inspiration and settings for many popular films to the physical characteristics of Tikal and the park in which it’s situated. Mayan life will be deeply examined with specific chapters dedicated to the life and culture of Tikal and the story of its many rulers, the history of the Mayans and their enemies, and the impact Mayan culture has had on our modern world. What in the World is Tikal? is an in-depth exploration that strives to educate the general reader on the history and influence of the Mayan city of Tikal.

Les fouilles extensives menées dans l’aire maya ont mis au jour tout un ensemble de dépôts rituels associés aux édifices. Cette connexion entre dépôts et architecture est soulignée par le caractère intentionnel de leur placement au sein des structures. L’Acropole Nord de Tikal a révélé de nombreuses étapes de construction et dépôts rituels depuis le Préclassique moyen (800 av. J.-C.), jusqu’au Classique terminal (950 apr. J.-C.). La succession d’offrandes dans l’espace comme dans le temps peut donc être lue sous la forme d’une séquence.
Une relecture des anciennes fouilles conduites de 1958 à 1966 par le Projet Tikal sous la direction de W. Coe, a permis d’établir un corpus de 298 dépôts rituels et 125 traces de feux. Après une superposition des séquences architecturales et de déposition, les offrandes sont caractérisées en fonction de leur position stratigraphique (période de construction, d’occupation et d’abandon). Regroupées en « assemblages d’offrandes », elles sont ensuite observées selon des critères spatiaux, typologiques et statistiques.
Les autres catégories de dépôts, feux et sépultures, sont également analysées en regard de l’histoire architecturale. Enfin, ces témoins rituels sont interrogés sur une base plus émique, à la recherche d’indices concernant le sens que leurs accordaient les Mayas. En définitive, certains types d’offrandes récurrentes et de feux rituels font certainement partie de cérémonies liées au bâti, lors de l’inauguration puis de l’occupation d’un espace ou dans un but apotropaïque. D’autres ont probablement une agentivité propre, peut-être comme média vers l’inframonde, ou portent des pétitions différentes aux entités non-humaines.

This paper explores a web of places, people, gods, and narratives associated with Tikal lords and defining the place of this mighty royal family in the Classic Maya political landscape. Tikal rulers, as well as by their allies and enemies, chose to highlight certain associations or narratives and to suppress others. Political identities of Tikal lords also changed through time.

From 1956 to 1970 excavations at Tikal, one of the most famous classical Maya sites, were carried out by the University of Pennsylvania Museum Tikal Project and by the Tikal Sustaining Area Project. Until now, much of the field research from this research has remained unpublished. Tikal Report 13, The Settlement Survey of Tikal presents an abridged and edited version of the maps without the original calculations and analyses and therefore misses much of the original house mound and ceramic data.

This volume presents the original data collected by Dennis E. Puleston and his team in its original form without any "adjustments." The informed reader can use this data to draw his or her own conclusions. The investigations in the Tikal periphery remain unparalleled and collection of his data presents the most extensive mapping work ever conducted outside of a Lowland Maya ceremonial center of Tikal.  In addition never before published data on agriculture, soils, ecology, and population estimates is presented.

In addition this volume includes unpublished reports on excavations of water systems, the earth-work systems, settlement hierarchies and excavations at satellite sites. By making this data accessible for the first time, the volume aims to answer old questions and stimulate new debates.

A short article on the names by which the Central Mexican city of Teotihuacan and the mountain at the head of its north-south axis were known in the Nahuatl (Aztec) language of the 16th century. Evidence for their Classic-period names is drawn from a comparison of the mid-Classic place glyphs attested at Teotihuacan itself and in the Maya inscriptions of Teotihua-influenced Tikal. The so-called "disembodied hand" glyph (more precisely a disembodied, wristbanded hand glyph), prominent in the murals of elite compounds, is identified as the name glyph of Classic Teotihuacan. A rare attestation with a phonetic indicator strongly suggests that the language behind the Teotihua hieroglyphic writing system was an early form of Nahuatl.

In this paper presented at the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC, November 2013, the author proposes answers to questions which have puzzled scholars since the 19th century concerning the enigmatic recumbent Mesoamerican figure known as the "chacmool", so named by French adventurer and photographer Augustus Le Plongeon.  While most scholars are convinced that chacmools were a genuine innovation for a specific type of sacrificial altar for the placement of an offering bowl, several key questions have remained: (1) What was the culture and place of origin of this remarkable sculptural innovation? (2) Who were these male figures?  (3) What is the origin and meaning of the challenging recumbent pose for these human figures with the unblinking, enigmatic gaze? (4) What were they, and what were they called, or described with a phrase, in any Mesoamerican language? Based on recent archaeological discoveries, the author presents a new interpretation of the "chacmool" as the elite "hip ulama" ball game ballplayer stylistically rendered in a serene and formalized ritual “por abajo” stance, well after the game is over, to play the final role as the recipient of the sacrifices. With this new interpretation the author hopes to open the door to finding the indigenous name or description of the "chacmool".

The aim of this work is to show how political relations between some cities may have had an influence on their urban planning. The choice fell on a comparative analysis of Tikal, Naranjo, and Dos Pilas; as known through epigraphic evidence, these three cities had political relations during the Classic Period, especially during the Late Classic (600-900 A.D.). The focus is on the civic-ceremonial centres, where we can find the most emblematic complexes, analysed from a functional point of view, observing them in accordance with their arrangement within the city and in relation to the citizens’ movement. The analyses have shown how these three Mayan cities had similarities in the arrangement of some complexes and structures, such as Triadic Groups, E-groups or Ball Courts, which may arise from either a mutual influence, the presence of a common dynasty or a similar use of available territory.

In Chapter 4 , Weiss-Krejci provides a detailed discussion of the formation processes of mortuary skeletal samples using a graphic model exemplified with historic and ethnographic examples. She then goes on to provide a retrospective analysis of the formation of mortuary deposits from the prehistoric Mayan site of Tikal. She illustrates how preconceived notions of “burials” and what constitutes a grave, can color our perceptions
of mortuary behavior in the past. Further, this work reminds us that we must remain vigilant of the fact that the data we collect and how we categorize it is in fact part of our interpretation, and to use our own cultural norms as the basis for these categorizations can render the results removed from the social realities of the past. (from Introduction by Agarwal and Glenncross, p. 4).

Planificación urbana
Las ciudades Mayas no eran construidas al azar y sus características
denotan planificación, urbanismo y relación con la geografía del lugar. Uno  de  los  principales  ejemplos  es  la  maqueta  de  piedra  caliza, recuperada en las excavaciones de Mundo Perdido, en el suroeste del Parque Nacional Tikal, Petén.

Además de la innegable relevancia ideológica y política materializada en dos rostros de mosaico de piedra verde descubiertos en el recinto funerario de un antiguo gobernante maya de Tikal, que fue enterrado entre el año 350 d.C. y el 378 d.C., este estudio busca identificar los rasgos de ma-nufactura de estas insignias. A través de métodos no destructivos, y con el apoyo de instrumentación microscópica de alta resolución, fueron analizados sectores específicos de teselas seleccionadas que conforman los dos rostros de mosaico. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, se sugiere el empleo de he-rramientas manufacturadas con materia prima local y foránea para elaborar las teselas. Asimismo, son notables las semejanzas de producción identificadas en las teselas durante las últimas fases de trabajo, mientras que en las etapas previas éstas parecen poseer significativas diferencias.
Abstract. Besides the undeniable political and ideological relevance materialized in two greenstone mosaic faces discovered in a sumptuous funerary precinct belonging to an ancient Maya ruler of Tikal, buried sometime between A.D. 350 and 378, this study seeks to identify the patterns of manufacture recorded on these insignias. Using non-destructive methods and high-definition microscopic approaches , sectors of select tesserae that form the two greenstone mosaic faces were analyzed. Based on the obtained results, we suggest that the tools used to manufacture the tesserae were made using local and foreign raw materials. Moreover, the technological patterns recorded on the tesserae seem to be similar during the final stages of manufacture, whereas during the earlier stages they seem to be meaningfully distinct.

Between 1957 and 1965 the twin-pyramid complexes of Tikal were investigated by the Tikal Project of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Because publication of the ritual deposits has not yet been completed, discussion of the meaning of these complexes has been limited to the symbolism of the architecture and the monuments. My recent analysis of the finds in these complexes, especially from caches and problematical deposits, suggests rites relating to  rebirth and cosmic renewal. The multiple human and animal bones―often eroded, fragmentary, worked or burned―found beneath the monuments and dispersed throughout the structures may have personified deified beings or were used as sacred objects. The goal of depicting captives on the altars in these types of complexes was probably not so much to celebrate their humiliation but to create a medium for their veneration.


Los Complejos de Pirámides Gemelas de Tikal fueron investigados por el Proyecto Tikal del Museo de la Universidad de Pennsylvania entre 1957 y 1965. Debido a que los resultados de la investigación de los depósitos rituales aun no se han publicado, hasta ahora la discusión sobre el significado de estos grupos se ha limitado al simbolismo de la arquitectura y los monumentos. Mi análisis reciente de los hallazgos en estos complejos, especialmente de los escondites y depósitos problemáticos sugiere que había ritos que giraban alrededor del renacimiento y la renovación cósmica. Los múltiples huesos humanos y animales―frecuentemente erosionados, fragmentados, trabajados y quemados―que se encontraban debajo de los monumentos y dispersos en las estructuras tal vez personificaban a seres deificados o fueron usados como objetos sagrados para su veneración. El objetivo de representar a los cautivos en los altares en este tipo de complejos, probablemente no fue tanto para celebrar su humillación, sino para crear un medio para su veneración.

With over half of the world's population living in cities, urbanism is one of the defining characteristics of the contemporary age. In the past, by contrast, most people lived scattered in villages and rural settlements. Yet pre-industrial cities still exerted a disproportionate influence on society, economy and culture. In Cities that shaped the ancient world, JOHN JULIUS NORWICH collects 40 of the most influential. Taking inspiration from this urban super league, this instalment of New Book Chronicle tackles a selection of new volumes, each concerned with one of the cities identified by Norwich, taking us 5000 years and 13 000 km from Ur to Tikal. Each book also presents a different publication format, offering the opportunity to think not only about the individual cities, but also how we write about them.

texto desde:
Valdés, Juan Antonio
1991 Los mascarones del Grupo 6C-XVI de Tikal: Análisis iconográfico para el Clásico Temprano. En II Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1988 (editado por J.P. Laporte, S. Villagrán, H. Escobedo, D. de González y J. Valdés), pp.129-145. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala.
fotos y modelacion 3D :Massimo Stefani
agradesco el Proyecto Tikal y sus arqueologos asi como Oswaldo Gomez para el apoyo y la ayuda.

Since the 1930s, archaeologists have uncovered startling evidence of interaction between the Early Classic Maya and the great empire of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico. Yet the exact nature of the relationship between these two ancient Mesoamerican civilizations remains to be fully deciphered. Many scholars have assumed that Teotihuacan colonized the Maya region and dominated the political or economic systems of certain key centers—perhaps even giving rise to state-level political organizations. Others argue that Early Classic rulers merely traded with Teotihuacan and skillfully manipulated its imported exotic goods and symbol sets to increase their prestige.
Moving beyond these traditional assumptions, the contributors to this volume present extensive new evidence from archaeology, iconography, and epigraphy to offer a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between the Early Classic Maya and Teotihuacan. Investigating a range of Maya sites, including Kaminaljuyu, Copán, Tikal, Altun Ha, and Oxkintok, they demonstrate that the influence of Teotihuacan on the Maya varied in nature and duration from site to site, requiring a range of models to explain the patterns of interaction. Moreover, they show that the interaction was bidirectional and discuss how the Maya in turn influenced Teotihuacan.

Stanley, Benjamin W., Timothy Dennehy, Michael E. Smith, Barbara L. Stark, Abigail York, George L. Cowgill, Juliana Novic and Gerald Ek  (2015)  Urban Service Access in Premodern Cities: An Exploratory Comparison. Journal of Urban History (published online first). 

This is the first full publication from our urban services project. No, NSF was not crazy to give us the funding!

This is Chapter 9 of the publication Settlement and Subsistence at Tikal: The Work of Dennis E. Puleston 1961-1972. In this chapter, revised and edited by Olga Stavrakis-Puleston, we present a historical hypothesis of what Tikal settlement looked like throughout its history and how it changed. This is based on mapping, test pitting and ceramic analysis along four survey strips, each 12 km long and .5 km wide radiating out from the center of Tikal in the four cardinal directions.

CONSERVATION INTERVENTIONS IN THE TIKAL NATIONAL PARK, 2006-2007 Given the inevitable damage to Tikal architecture caused by exposure to the elements, the Archaeology Unit of the PANAT has provided a continuous series of restoration and consolidation interventions that are the primary objective for structure preservation of the magnificent central complex of Tikal. This work presents the results obtained from interventions at the following Tikal es uno de los sitios arqueológicos que ha sido investigado y restaurado desde hace tiempo. Debido a la exposición de muchas de sus estructuras, monumentos y elementos arquitectónicos es necesario el mantenimiento de las mismas, por lo que la Administración del PANAT a través de la Unidad de Arqueología ha dado continuidad a diversas intervenciones urgentes en las edificaciones que presentan un mayor grado de deterioro. Deterioro que sufren las piedras al estar expuestas a la intemperie y es que desde el momento que se extrae la roca de una cantera y se separa del conjunto rocoso en el que se formó, se altera su naturaleza ya que las rocas se forman en condiciones particulares de presión, temperatura y humedad muy diferentes a las reinantes en la superficie terrestre y al entrar en contacto con la atmósfera, sólo algunas tienden a equilibrarse con ella, experimentando una serie de reacciones que conllevan cambios estructurales y de composición. La piedra caliza expuesta en los muros externos e internos de las estructuras que se encuentran en Tikal, están sufriendo un proceso de desintegración debido a los distintos cambios (temperatura y humedad) que se dan en la zona característicos del clima tropical húmedo, sin olvidar mencionar el impacto que el turismo ha causado en el patrimonio arquitectónico. 413

A Note on the History of the Study of Flint Tools at Tikal:
Prior to 1966 the Tikal Project discarded all flint flakes and nodules as “useless material.” In fact, field workers were forbidden to collect and study these artifacts in order to avoid confusion resulting from “too much data.” In 1966, under the Tikal Sustaining Area Project, funded by a grant through the University of Vermont, these artifacts were retained and saved although many were subsequently lost in the ensuing war.
In 1966 the author collected and analyzed an interesting collection of stone tools made of flaked chert discovered about .5 km from the northern Earthworks. They were brought to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, under permit from Institute of Anthropology and History in the Ministry of Culture, Guatemala and subjected to microscope analysis for wear patterns. This was the first functional analysis of a Maya tool kit ever conducted and it showed that the points and flakes bore evidence of use as awls, borers, scrapers, and cutting implements for working leather and wood.
This work was forbidden by the Tikal Project Director, for reasons of his own, but supported by Prof. John Witthoft at the University of Pennsylvania Museum and thus never entered the Tikal Project data collection until after the Project closed down all field operations. The stone tools, the only such that may be still available from that work period, still remain in the University of Pennsylvania Museum and can be accessed through its collections as they were never returned to Guatemala.
Scholars are invited to revisit and reanalyze the material using modern technology.

Tikal rulers times accession rites by lunar phases in order to assure dynastic succession continuity. The Jaguar War God relation between warfare and the moon indicates that the beginning of the Uniformity Period of the Lunar Series at Tikal coincided with the epoch when warfare played a significant role in the cultural-political environment of that polity.