Facts about Tikal
In 1979 the Guatemalan government began a further archaeological project at Tikal, which continues to this day.
Due to the site's remoteness from modern towns, however, no explorers visited Tikal until Modesto Mйndez and Ambrosio Tut visited it in 1848.
The absence of springs, rivers, and lakes in the immediate vicinity of Tikal highlights a prodigious feat: building a major city with only supplies of stored seasonal rainfall.
The name Tikal, 'place of the voices' in Itza Maya, is not the ancient name for the site but rather the name adopted shortly after its discovery in the 1840s.
Now part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well as a Biosphere Reserve.
Several other expeditions came to further investigate, map, and photograph Tikal in the nineteenth century (including Alfred P. Maudslay in 1881-82) and the early twentieth century.
The "true mackerels" comprise the tribe Scombrini, with two genera, Scomber and Rastrelliger and six species (Nelson 1994).
Phototropism in plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana is regulated by blue light receptors called phototropins.
Tikal, along with the other Maya centers of the southern lowlands, was abandoned by the tenth century.
Tikal was a dominating influence during the Early Classic Period (100-600 C.E.
The earthwork of Tikal varies significantly in coverage from what was originally proposed and it is much more complex and multifaceted than originally thought.
The residential area of Tikal covers an estimated 23 square miles (60 sq km), much of which has not yet been cleared, mapped, or excavated.
The ruins of Tikal sit in the heart of the Guatemalan jungle surrounded by lush vegetation.
The largest of the Classic Maya cities, Tikal had no water source other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in underground storage facilities.
The largest structure at Tikal, Temple IV, is approximately 230 feet (70 meters) tall.
In 695, Yukno’m Yich’Aak K’ahk’ of Calakmul (Kanal), was defeated by the new ruler of Tikal, Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, Nu’n U Jol Chaak’s heir.
Conspicuous trees at the Tikal National Park include gigantic ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) the sacred tree of the Maya; tropical cedar (Cedrela odorata), and mahogany (Swietenia).
Tikal prospered with intensive agricultural techniques, which were far more advanced than the slash and burn methods originally theorized by archaeologists.
The beginning of the Tikal hiatus has served as a marker by which archaeologists commonly sub-divide the Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology into the Early and Late Classic.
Some second- or third-hand accounts of Tikal appeared in print beginning in the seventeenth century, continuing through the writings of John Lloyd Stephens in the early nineteenth century.
A huge set of earthworks has been discovered ringing Tikal with a six meter wide trench behind a rampart.
King of Tikal from wooden lintel in Temple III Depicting either "Yax Nuun Ayin II" or "Dark Sun"
Archaeologists working in Tikal during the last century utilized the ancient underground facilities to store water for their own use.
The majority of pyramids currently visible at Tikal were built during Tikal’s resurgence following the Tikal Hiatus (between the late seventh and the early ninth centuries).
The ruins were declared a national monument in 1931, and in May 1955 the surrounding area was designated Tikal National Park.