Tikal

TIKAL

The name Tikal may be a derivation of the words ti

ak'al, in the Yucatec Mayan language, which means
in the well of water. Apparently, the name was
Tikal was the capital of a belligerent state, which
applied by hunters and travelers of the region and
became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the
referred to one of the ancient reserves of water from
ancient Maya. Although the monumental architecture
the site An alternative explanation suggests that the
of the site dates back to the fourth century BC. C., Tikal
name comes from the Mayan Itza language and that
reached its apogee during the Classic Period, between
it means "place of voices or place of language
200 and 900 d. During this time, the city dominated
great part of the Mayan region, in the political,
economic and military scope

However, Tikal is not the old name of the site, but

Agreement with the modern Mayan orthography) is
rather the name that was adopted shortly after its
one of the largest archaeological sites and urban
rediscovery, in the 1840s. The glyphic inscriptions
centers of the pre-Columbian Mayan civilization. It
And it maintained links with other regions, throughout in Maya writing, in the ruins, refer to the ancient city
is located in the municipality of Flores, in the
Mesoamerica, even with the great metropolis of as Yax Mutal or Yax Mutul, whose meaning is «first
department of Petén, in the current territory of the
Teotihuacan, in the distant Valley of Mexico. mutal It is possible that Tikal was so named to
Republic of Guatemala and is part of the Tikal
With a long list of dynastic rulers, the discovery of distinguish it from Dos Pilas, which came to use the
National Park, which was declared a World Heritage
many of their respective tombs and the study of their same emblem glyph
Site, by UNESCO, in 1979.1 According to the
glyphs found in the site, its Mayan name would have monuments, temples and palaces, Tikal is probably the
been Yaks Mutual. best understood of the great Mayan cities of the
lowlands of Mesoamerica