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Tikal |
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Tikal was one of the largest cities of the ancient Maya civilization. The city had about 60,000 people in the A.D. 600's and 700's and spread over 50 square miles. Another 30,000 lived in the surrounding area. Tikal's ruins lie in the tropical rain forest of what is now northern Guatemala, in the lowlands of Peten.
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Tikal began as a small agricultural village about 600 B.C. It grew slowly until the 300's B.C., when construction began on a ceremonial center with plazas, palaces, and small pyramids. Eventually, the city's rulers built towering limestone pyramids with temples on top. Separate carved-stone monuments called stelae pictured gods as well as rulers and events from Maya history. The ceremonial center was completed about A.D. 800. |
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By that time, A.D. 800 ,Tikal had become a prosperous center of agriculture, trade, art, and religion. Traders came from as far away as central Mexico to exchange obsidian (volcanic glass), salt, feathers, pigments (coloring materials), shells, and other goods. |
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Tikal began to decline in the 800's, probably due to overpopulation, exhaustion of natural resources, and competition with other Maya cities. It was abandoned by 1000. For the past 12 centuries Tikal has been covered by jungle and the city's population has been stinging ants, spider monkeys, parrots, toucans, and wild turkeys. |
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Tikal was the center of science. Tikal' s scientists created a system to predict eclipses. Venus had its own temple. There are about twenty-five hundred Hieroglyphic carvings at Tikal alone! |
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Tikal |