| Bowman | 08 Feb 2018 12:42 p.m. PST |
So Tikal was always understood to be the biggest Mayan city. The trouble is that the temples, pyramids and ball courts only represent the city center and the public buildings. Like any city, the biggest part is the residential sections. Unfortunately, these structures don't lend themselves to surviving like the stone megastructures. LIDAR to the rescue. Aerial imaging has found tens of thousands of new buildings. link |
| Cacique Caribe | 08 Feb 2018 2:27 p.m. PST |
A professor of mine years ago said that later generations would find an outstandingly large network around Tikal. He apparently spent several years there, as part of a team from Columbia University, and he did a lot of surveying, core samples for potential digs, etc. This was decades ago, long before the use of ground penetrating radar, LIDAR, etc. We all thought he was exaggerating, of course. Dan |
| jdginaz | 08 Feb 2018 3:12 p.m. PST |
I'm not surprised at all. Visited Tikal in '81 you wander around in away from the main area and under just about every bit of vegetation had cut stone peaking out. Actually El Mirador had been believed to have been larger that Tikal. |
| Cacique Caribe | 08 Feb 2018 3:21 p.m. PST |
I always wanted to visit el Peten. Maybe one day. Palenque too is on my bucket list. At least I got to see the lowland cities of Uxmal, Chichen Itzá (relatives of the rules of Tikal), Tulum, Coba and Caracol in Yucatán, even Mayapan, and an all too brief visit to Copan in Honduras. Dan |
 Editor in Chief Bill   | 08 Feb 2018 5:57 p.m. PST |
And now they think they have city defensive walls, too! |
| Bowman | 09 Feb 2018 4:22 a.m. PST |
Ya Bill, we see that in the Late Classic period and it is always found in Post-Classic sites like Tulum. It looks like constant warfare was ubiquitous in the end stage of Mayan civilization. Add to that, hostile incursions by "Toltec" invaders. This was probably the fate of both El Mirador and Chichen Itza. |
| Cacique Caribe | 09 Feb 2018 7:17 a.m. PST |
Bowman: "Add to that, hostile incursions by ‘Toltec' invaders." And was Mayapan their Raqqa? :) Dan |
| Bowman | 09 Feb 2018 7:59 a.m. PST |
And was Mayapan their Raqqa? :) I think a good argument can be made for that. The relation between ISIL and Raqqa is infinitely more simple than the political situation in Post-Classical Yucatan. We have a mind numbing interplay of Mayan Royal families, their ever shifting allegiances and back stabbing, and the introduction of foreign "Mexica" or "Toltec" mercenaries and invaders. The behavior of the Mayan city states and their vassal city hegemonies makes the machinations of the Classical Greek city states look simple. And to top it off, given the correct astronomical alignments, a "star war" would be instigated (as epigrapher Linda Schele coined them). |
| mandt2 | 14 Feb 2018 10:25 p.m. PST |
Wife and I spent some weeks doing some research and study in Guatemala back in 1993. The place was lousy with unexcavated pyramids and ruins. They're easy to miss if you don't know what to look for. They are sort of like steep sided hills covered with earth, scrub, and trees. In fact, even Tikal (back in 93) had not been excavated to its full extent. It's an amazing place. In fact Guatemala is an amazing place. I have some pics which I'll try to dig up and post. |
