Braden Wall Arch 10-3-13 Project Tikal The Mayan temples of Tikal are located in the northern part

of Guatemala. This northern part of Guatemala is a rain forest and part of the central Peten peninsula of Guatemala. One of the many things that the archeologists want to learn is how many people occupied this ancient city. They have estimated between anywhere from 10,000-100,000. The location in the rain forest is what makes it difficult to look deeper population wise. I chose this site because I have heard lots about it but I don't really know anything thing about it. Was it just a city? Or did it have other important aspects? Also, there are still so many temples in that area that have not been discovered yet and I think that is really interesting, it really was a huge city. After the site was abandoned by the mynas it was left unknown and unseen for almost a millennium, although in 1525 there are reports that a Spanish conquistador passed within a few dozen miles of the site but still did not come across it (MR). The site was discovered in the 1880's by A.P Maudsley but major excavation (because it was swallowed up by the jungle) was not started until about the 1960's. Some of the information gather goes back as far as 1000 B.C but by 300B.C it was a huge city (About.com). The site of Tikal was turned into a national park to help keep it preserved although even being a national park it is still exposed to all of the jungle humidity and weather. The findings were recorded in

many ways, writing and many photographs. Many physical and chemical testing was done on Tikal showing things like the soil moving around and proving that they did lots of trade and moving through the city.(MO@T), proves of my research goal that they were so big they could trade within the city. Obviously one of the most known features of Tikal is all of the temples and buildings that are still there and in pretty decent shape. Many of the artifacts found in Tikal were along the lines of coins, art they had lots of, and of course the famous Mayan calendar. These were discovered like I said before by excavation that began around 1960. Back to the most incredible, the temples are described as incredible due to many things like their location in the heart of the jungle and the size. As you can see in the picture they tower above the tree line. The evidence that is seen proves that they were a powerful city. Huge buildings, beautiful art, and civilized all points in the same direction. All of the things they have looked at it shows that they were very adaptive to their surroundings, to build the huge temples in the middle of a jungle could not have been easy, also it shows they were very civilized in things like keeping track of dates and communicating with hieroglyphics and art on all of their belongings. As the research proved, the Tikal city started out a bit small but quickly grew into a huge powerful city. I think the biggest notice is the years if all the buildings, since that is what mostly make up a city. Because at first it was relatively small but then quickly grew to a city with many

buildings and temples and there are still much more to be discovered and excavated in that area. In conclusion I see that this was a very big city and probably a center point for lots of trade and the heart of the kingdom, although very safe giving its location. It was most likely very inviting to all the people living in the era. As I said though out the paper they were very civilized and seemed to really know what they were doing and where they wanted to go. I hope to keep learning about this in the future. Recourses: About.com Wikipedia

Bibliography: About.com- archaeology Tikal temples, K. Kris Hirst Wikipedia- Mayan temple Tikal Mexican obsidian @ Tikal, Hattula