Tikal Civilization

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Dr.Moloye
Tikal Civilization

Civilization-societies in which large numbers of people live in cities, are socially stratified, and are governed by a ruling elite working through centrally organized political systems.
Tikal meaning “at the waterhole,” derived from the Yucatec Maya language is the modern name for the largest archaeological sites of the ancient ruined cities of the Mayan civilization. It emerged as an important site due to its relative altitude in the region. Tikal is estimated to have been home to 85,000 Mayan people over 120 square kilometers of land. Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya. It is located in the middle of two river systems in a Central American rain forest of Guatemala. Built on broad limestone terrace, Tikal is the largest city of the Mayan civilization classic period. The Mayan’s settled in Tikal 3,000 years ago. The ancient ruins reveal that these hard working people lived from about 1800 BC to 900 AD.
Tikal was an important post in the trading network that the Mexican city of Teotihuacán had established in southern Mesoamerica. Tikal continued to flourish after the decline of Teotihuacán. As the population increased, land for agriculture became scarce forcing the Maya to find new methods of food production. The Maya built numerous temples, public buildings, and various kinds of houses appropriate to the distinct social classes of their society.
Excavation at Tikal produced considerable information about the population, size, density, social organization, technology, and diversity ofthis ancient city. Religion was developed as a means to cope with uncertainties of agriculture and priests determined the most favorable time to plant crops. Mayans formed a government headed by a hereditary ruling dynasty with sufficient power that organized massive construction and maintenance. The Mayans used a system of glyptic writing inscribed both on stone and on a perishable material made from the bark of trees. Their roads were major avenues, 30 feet across and since the Maya didn't have cars like we do today, you can imagine the roads being full of people, peasants, priests, slaves, craftsmen, traders bearing seashells, herders with their animals.
For several hundred years Tikal was able to sustain its ever growing population. Tikal, along with much of the Mayan world, collapsed around A.D. 900. When the pressure for food and land reached a critical point population growth stopped. Evidence suggests that drought, the use of sea routes for trade and deforestation, contributed to the decline. These events are marked archaeologically by the abandonment of houses, nutritional problems, and construction of defensive ditches. Activities managed to continue, but without further population growth for another 250 years. Tikal however was never completely lost. Even in its ruined state, living Maya peoples used it from time to time for religious purposes when they gather in front of the acropolis for traditional ceremonies. The ancient city provided a living area for the Mayans who in return impacted modern life greatly. Today archaeologist use surveying techniques, test pits, and other strategies to fully define the city’s boundaries and to understand the full spectrum of life ways that took place in Tikal.