{"it":{"id":"MAM-013","kind":"site","sub":"Mesoamerica","name":"Tikal","place":"Guatemala","lat":17.222,"lon":-89.624,"date":"Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC,…","mat":"clay;limestone;quartz","nfacts":37,"tags":["Mesoamerica"],"sum":"Lidar scans since 2018, which use lasers from aircraft to see under trees, have revealed thousands of hidden structures around Tikal in Guatemala, one of the largest Maya cities.","why":"Lidar has shown that the Maya lowlands held far more people and building than anyone could see from the ground.","src":[397],"nsrc":3,"yt":"How big was it really?","rel":["MAM-005","MAM-001"],"hook":"A 2016 lidar survey of 2,144 km² in Guatemala mapped 61,480 Maya structures."},"S":{"397":["Wikipedia: Tikal","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal"]},"rec":{"id":"MAM-013","alias":[],"ms":[{"f":"was established in 1955 protecting the site and","a":"area","v":"570","u":"km2","o":"Tikal National Park was established in 1955, protecting the site and 570 km2 of surrounding tropical forests, savannas, and wetlands within the Maya Biosphere Reserve.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1912"},{"f":"modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena approximately","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"64","u":"km","o":"The closest large modern settlements are Flores and Santa Elena, approximately 64 km by road to the southwest.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1913"},{"f":"REF9 Tikal is approximately","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"303","u":"km","o":"REF9 Tikal is approximately 303 km north of Guatemala City.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1914"},{"f":"It is","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"19","u":"km","o":"It is 19 km south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and 30 km northwest of Yaxha.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1915"},{"f":"of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"30","u":"km","o":"It is 19 km south of the contemporary Maya city of Uaxactun and 30 km northwest of Yaxha.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1916"},{"f":"REF10 The city was located","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"100","u":"km","o":"REF10 The city was located 100 km southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and 85 km northwest of Calakmul's ally Caracol, now in Belize.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1917"},{"f":"of its great Classic Period rival Calakmul and","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"85","u":"km","o":"REF10 The city was located 100 km southeast of its great Classic Period rival, Calakmul, and 85 km northwest of Calakmul's ally Caracol, now in Belize.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1918"},{"f":"completely mapped and covered an area greater than","a":"area","v":"16","u":"km2","o":"The city has been completely mapped and covered an area greater than 16 km2 that included about 3,000 structures.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1919"},{"f":"The average annual rainfall at Tikal is","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"1945","u":"mm","o":"The average annual rainfall at Tikal is 1945 mm.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1920"},{"f":"For the","a":"area","v":"120","u":"km2","o":"For the 120 km2 area falling within the earthwork defenses of the hinterland, the peak population is estimated at 517 per square kilometer (1340 per square mile).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1921"},{"f":"In an area within a","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"12","u":"km","o":"In an area within a 12 km radius of the site core, peak population is estimated at 120,000; population density is estimated at 265 per square kilometer (689 per square mile).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1922"},{"f":"In a region within a","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"25","u":"km","o":"In a region within a 25 km radius of the site core and including some satellite sites, peak population is estimated at 425,000 with a density of 216 per square kilometer (515 per square mile).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1923"},{"f":"In 629 Tikal founded Dos Pilas some","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"110","u":"km","o":"In 629, Tikal founded Dos Pilas, some 110 km to the southwest, as a military outpost in order to control trade along the course of the Pasión River.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1924"},{"f":"includes the remains of temples that tower over","a":"height","v":"70","u":"m","o":"The architecture of the ancient city is built from limestone and includes the remains of temples that tower over 70 m high, large royal palaces, in addition to a number of smaller pyramids, palaces, residences, administrative buildings, platforms and inscribed stone monuments.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1925"},{"f":"The residential area of Tikal covers an estimated","a":"area","v":"60","u":"km2","o":"The residential area of Tikal covers an estimated 60 km2, much of which has not yet been cleared, mapped, or excavated.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1926"},{"f":"it may have enclosed an area of some","a":"area","v":"125","u":"km2","o":"The 16 km2 area around the site core has been intensively mapped; it may have enclosed an area of some 125 km2 (see below).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1927"},{"f":"Callender in the 1960s rings Tikal with a","a":"width","v":"6","u":"m","o":"Puleston and Donald Callender in the 1960s rings Tikal with a 6 m wide trench behind a rampart.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1928"},{"f":"the Great Plaza with Temple 4 located about","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"750","u":"m","o":"These linked the Great Plaza with Temple 4 (located about 750 m to the west) and the Temple of the Inscriptions (about 1 km to the southeast).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1929"},{"f":"west and the Temple of the Inscriptions about","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"1","u":"km","o":"These linked the Great Plaza with Temple 4 (located about 750 m to the west) and the Temple of the Inscriptions (about 1 km to the southeast).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1930"},{"f":"The Maudsley Causeway runs","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"0.8","u":"km","o":"The Maudsley Causeway runs 0.8 km northeast from Temple IV to Group H.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1931"},{"f":"Plaza to Temple VI a distance of about","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"1.3","u":"km","o":"The Mendez Causeway runs southeast from the East Plaza to Temple VI, a distance of about 1.3 km.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1932"},{"f":"platform that covers an area of more than","a":"area","v":"20000","u":"m2","o":"It was built upon a large basal platform that covers an area of more than 20000 m2.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1933"},{"f":"Some of these pyramids are over","a":"height","v":"60","u":"m","o":"Some of these pyramids are over 60 m high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1934"},{"f":"REF117 The temple rises","a":"height","v":"47","u":"m","o":"REF117 The temple rises 47 m high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1935"},{"f":"it was built around AD 700 and stands","a":"height","v":"38","u":"m","o":"Temple II (also known as the Temple of the Mask) it was built around AD 700 and stands 38 m high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1936"},{"f":"It stood","a":"height","v":"55","u":"m","o":"It stood 55 m tall and contained an elaborately sculpted but damaged roof lintel, possibly showing Dark Sun engaged in a ritual dance around AD 810.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1937"},{"f":"IV is the tallest temple-pyramid at Tikal measuring","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"70","u":"m","o":"Temple IV is the tallest temple-pyramid at Tikal, measuring 70 m from the plaza floor level to the top of its roof comb.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1938"},{"f":"only surpassed by the Great Pyramid of Toniná","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"75","u":"meters","o":"Temple IV is one of the largest pyramids built anywhere in the Maya region in the 8th century, REF125 and it stands as one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas, REF126 only surpassed by the Great Pyramid of Toniná (75 meters) and La Danta pyramid of El Mirador (72 meters) while the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller (71 meters).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1939"},{"f":"meters and La Danta pyramid of El Mirador","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"72","u":"meters","o":"Temple IV is one of the largest pyramids built anywhere in the Maya region in the 8th century, REF125 and it stands as one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas, REF126 only surpassed by the Great Pyramid of Toniná (75 meters) and La Danta pyramid of El Mirador (72 meters) while the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller (71 meters).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1940"},{"f":"Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller","a":"height","v":"71","u":"meters","o":"Temple IV is one of the largest pyramids built anywhere in the Maya region in the 8th century, REF125 and it stands as one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures in the Americas, REF126 only surpassed by the Great Pyramid of Toniná (75 meters) and La Danta pyramid of El Mirador (72 meters) while the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan may originally have been taller (71 meters).","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1941"},{"f":"The temple stands","a":"height","v":"57","u":"m","o":"The temple stands 57 m high, making it the second tallest structure at Tikal – only Temple IV is taller.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1942"},{"f":"site chronology","a":"dating (as stated)","v":"REF128 The temple has been dated to about AD 700, in the Late Classic period, via radiocarbon analysis and t","u":"","o":"REF128 The temple has been dated to about AD 700, in the Late Classic period, via radiocarbon analysis and the dating of ceramics associated with the structure places its construction during the reign of Nun Bak Chak in the second half of the 7th century.","unc":"","by":"per cited source","yr":"","m":"documentary: auto-extracted sentence","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary)","t":"INTERPRETATION","n":"","id":"M1943"},{"f":"It is notable for its","a":"height","v":"12","u":"m","o":"It is notable for its 12 m high roof-comb.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1944"},{"f":"The pyramid was then completed standing","a":"height","v":"33","u":"m","o":"The pyramid was then completed, standing 33 m tall.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1945"},{"f":"AD in the Early Classic standing more than","a":"height","v":"30","u":"m","o":"It attained its final form during the reign of Chak Tok Ichʼaak in the 4th century AD, in the Early Classic, standing more than 30 m high with stairways on all four sides and a flat top that possibly supported a superstructure built from perishable materials.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1381316604 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1946"},{"f":"Temple I","a":"height over Great Plaza","v":"55","u":"m","o":"","unc":"","by":"Wikipedia Tikal Temple I","yr":"2026","m":"as stated","c":"Wikipedia Tikal Temple I","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal_Temple_I&oldid=1364721325","b":"S","bb":"","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M3653"},{"f":"Temple I","a":"date","v":"c.732 AD","u":"text","o":"","unc":"","by":"Wikipedia Tikal Temple I","yr":"2026","m":"derived","c":"Wikipedia Tikal Temple I","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal_Temple_I&oldid=1364721325","b":"S","bb":"","t":"INTERPRETATION","n":"","id":"M3654"}],"lab":[{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"REF12 The topography of the site consists of a series of parallel limestone ridges rising above swampy lowlands.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604"},{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Between ~ 2185 and 965 cal yr B.P. the drinking water in the Corriental reservoir was filtered through layers of Clinoptilolite and Mordenite zeolites, in addition to coarse to very coarse sand-sized quartz crystals.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604"}],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[],"dat":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"sub":[],"site":{"age":"Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900.","dm":"[see dating_excerpt; method not extracted]","lab":"NO: inference only (style/context/king list/textual)","weak":"no direct lab result on the structure in our records; date from stylistic, contextual or textual inference","unesco":"","dens":"CENSUS"},"co":{"lat":"17.22194444","lon":"-89.62361111","src":"Wikidata P625 only + curated wave0 value agrees","agree":"agree","b":"V","note":"two independent sources agree; max delta 0.0066 deg (~0.73 km)","osm":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11912936"},"src":[{"id":"S0396","t":"no inline ref in article","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal&oldid=1381316604"},{"id":null,"t":"Wikipedia Tikal Temple I","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tikal_Temple_I&oldid=1364721325"},{"id":"S0618","t":"Wikipedia: Tikal","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal"},{"id":"VMAM-013-4","t":"Canuto et al. 2018, Ancient lowland Maya complexity as revealed by airborne laser scanning of northern Guatemala (Science)","u":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau0137"},{"id":"VMAM-013-5","t":"NSF Public Access Repository: accepted manuscript 10097677","u":"https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10097677"},{"id":null,"t":"UNESCO World Heritage Centre, “Tikal National Park” (property 64), Statement of Outstanding Universal Value.","u":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/64/"},{"id":null,"t":"Erick M. Ponciano, “Arquitectura de Reyes, el colosal Templo IV, Tikal, Petén, Guatemala,” XXIV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (2011), pp. 446 to 459, via Mesoweb.","u":"https://www.mesoweb.com/Simposio/pdf/24/Ponciano.2011.pdf"},{"id":null,"t":"Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala, “Main structures and architectural complexes of Tikal,” official ticketing site.","u":"https://boletos.culturaguate.gob.gt/en/main-structures-and-architectural-complexes-of-tikal/"}],"sum":"Before it reached the people of Tikal, the drinking water of one reservoir passed through a sieve of crystals. Sediment cores from the Corriental reservoir show that for more than a thousand years, roughly between 2,185 and 965 years before the present, its water was filtered through layers of zeolites, minerals with a natural mesh of tiny pores, and through coarse grains of quartz sand. The arrangement removed harmful microbes and toxins. It is a quiet detail from a loud place. Tikal is famous for temples that rise above the rainforest, but it lived or died by water, and its builders knew how to make water safe.\n\nTikal is one of the great cities of the ancient Maya, in the forests of the Petén in northern Guatemala, about 303 kilometres north of Guatemala City. It was the capital of one of the most powerful Maya kingdoms. Monumental building there goes back as far as the fourth century BC, and UNESCO traces its remains from the Preclassic period, around 600 BC, with first settlers about 800 BC, to the collapse of the urban centre around AD 900. It reached its height in the Classic period, about AD 200 to 900, when it dominated much of the Maya region. Tikal is not even its old name; the city's own hieroglyphs call it Yax Mutal, \"First Mutal.\" The modern name may mean \"at the waterhole.\"\n\nThe heart of the city is a cluster of plazas, palaces and pyramids built of local limestone. An inner zone of about 400 hectares holds the main palaces, temples, ceremonial platforms, ball courts, roads and plazas; a wider zone of about 1,200 hectares held homes and reservoirs, and more than 25 secondary sites ringed the city. Six great temple-pyramids still break through the canopy. Temple IV, the tallest, stands 70 metres from the plaza floor to the top of its roof comb and holds an estimated 119,000 cubic metres of construction. Its carved wooden lintels record a date equal to AD 741, in the reign of Yik'in Chan K'awiil. For the others the sources differ by a few metres: Erick Ponciano's 2011 study gives Temple I 45 metres, Temple II 42.6, Temple III 54.8 and Temple V 57.9, while Guatemala's culture ministry gives Temple I about 47, Temple II about 38 and Temple V about 57. Temple I, the Temple of the Great Jaguar, is the tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I, buried there in AD 734. Broad causeways of packed, plastered limestone joined the groups.\n\nThe plazas were themselves part of the water system. The quarries that supplied the stone were plastered to make them waterproof and turned into reservoirs. The main plazas were paved with stucco and tilted so that rain ran into canals that fed them. Tikal had no river or lake; it had about 1,945 millimetres of rain a year, arriving unpredictably, and ten reservoirs to hold it. Water was power. A ruler who could keep the reservoirs full through the dry season held his people, and a ruler who failed could be blamed.\n\nTikal's history is one of the longest written royal records in the Americas. Carved monuments record 33 rulers. UNESCO gives the record as running from Stela 29, the earliest dated monument, to Stela 11, the last, carved in 869. The inscriptions also tell a story of conquest. On 14 January 378 the fourteenth king, Chak Tok Ich'aak, died, and on the same day a man named Siyaj K'ak', \"Fire Is Born,\" arrived from the west. He served a figure whose name glyph, a spearthrower with an owl, is known from Teotihuacan, the great city of central Mexico. Within a year a son of Spearthrower Owl, still a boy, was installed as Tikal's fifteenth king. The record strongly suggests a Teotihuacan takeover of a Maya throne, helped by a faction inside the city.\n\nFrom then on, Tikal's story is one of rivalry. Its great opponent was Calakmul, 100 kilometres away. Each built networks of hostile alliances, a contest likened to a long war between two superpowers. Tikal was defeated in the sixth century, and a long silence followed, with no new monuments for over a century and much public sculpture deliberately damaged. In 682 Jasaw Chan K'awiil I raised the first dated monument in 120 years and in 695 turned the tables on Calakmul. Defences matched the danger: in the 1960s Dennis Puleston and Donald Callender found earthworks, a 6-metre trench behind a rampart, ringing an area of about 120 square kilometres.\n\nHow many people lived there is debated. Estimates for Tikal itself run from 10,000 to 90,000. Then, in 2016, the Pacunam Lidar Initiative flew laser scanners over 2,144 square kilometres of the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Lidar fires pulses of light from an aircraft and measures the ones that reach the ground through gaps in the trees, drawing the shape of the land beneath. The results, published in Science in 2018 by Marcello Canuto and colleagues, counted 61,480 ancient structures, along with causeways, canals, reservoirs, terraces and defensive works. Around Tikal, a block of 147 square kilometres held 12,341 structures alone. The authors estimated 80 to 120 people per square kilometre at the height of the Late Classic, AD 650 to 800, which across 95,000 square kilometres of the central Maya lowlands gives 7 to 11 million people. That figure is an extrapolation from a sample, and only as good as its assumptions.\n\nThe mainstream case is strong. Tikal was a Maya city that grew over many centuries, ruled by a dynasty whose deeds are carved in stone. UNESCO reads its temples as the pyramid in the role of a sacred mountain. Its fall is part of the wider Classic Maya collapse: endemic war, people crowding near the city, intensive farming and environmental decline. The great turn of the calendar in 830 passed without a monument. Cores from the Temple and Palace reservoirs also show severe mercury contamination, leached by rain from the cinnabar pigment painted on buildings and monuments, which made the central water supply dangerous during long droughts.\n\nWhat remains unsettled is the whole of it. Why the city emptied after about 900 is not known in detail. The forest that seemed pristine is regrowth over land the city once farmed intensively. Much of the 60-square-kilometre residential area has never been cleared, mapped or excavated, and the lidar found tens of thousands of structures around one of the most studied cities in the Americas.\n\nPicture the Great Plaza in a dry season late in the eighth century: white stucco tilted toward the canals, red paint on the temples, the reservoirs low, and a filter of crystal and sand still doing its patient work in the dark, cleaning water for a city that had begun, without knowing it, to poison its own water with the colour of its gods.","qs":["Lasers revealed thousands of structures around Tikal no one knew were there. How much of the ancient Americas are we still missing?","How should a population estimate be trusted when it rests on counting houses?","What changes when a jungle turns out to be a farmed landscape?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Tikal_3.jpg/1280px-Tikal_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tikal_3.jpg","title":"Tikal 3.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"Mundo Maya","cap":"Plaza Mayor, Parque Nacional Tikal, Petén, Guatemala"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/001_El_Castillo_o_templo_de_Kukulkan._Chich%C3%A9n_Itz%C3%A1%2C_M%C3%A9xico._MPLC.jpg/1280px-001_El_Castillo_o_templo_de_Kukulkan._Chich%C3%A9n_Itz%C3%A1%2C_M%C3%A9xico._MPLC.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:001_El_Castillo_o_templo_de_Kukulkan._Chich%C3%A9n_Itz%C3%A1,_M%C3%A9xico._MPLC.jpg","title":"001 El Castillo o templo de Kukulkan. Chichén Itzá, México. MPLC.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 3.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0","by":"Manuel de Corselas","cap":"El Castillo o templo de Kukulkan. Chichén Itzá, México. Cultura maya."},{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Belize-tikal.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Belize-tikal.jpg","title":"Belize-tikal.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 2.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0","by":"yogi","cap":"Maya Temple, Tikal, GuatemalaTemple II"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Chr%C3%A1m_V.jpg/1280px-Chr%C3%A1m_V.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chr%C3%A1m_V.jpg","title":"Chrám V.jpg","lic":"CC BY 2.5","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5","by":"Ondřej Žváček","cap":"View on the Temple V of Tikal (Petén, Guatemala)."},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/DSC03332TikalUnderjordiskSteinansikt.JPG/1280px-DSC03332TikalUnderjordiskSteinansikt.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DSC03332TikalUnderjordiskSteinansikt.JPG","title":"DSC03332TikalUnderjordiskSteinansikt.JPG","lic":"CC BY-SA 3.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0","by":"Bjørn Christian Tørrissen","cap":"A large stucco mask adorning the substructure of Temple 33 in the North Acropolis in Tikal, Guatemala."}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":[{"v":"70","u":"m","h":"Temple IV, one of the tallest pre-Columbian structures","s":[136]},{"v":"4th century BC","h":"Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC","s":[136]},{"v":"Clay","h":"Made of: Clay, limestone, quartz","s":[136]}],"hs":{"136":["Wikipedia: Tikal (and sources cited there)","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikal"]},"lh":{"s":"img/h/MAM-013.webp","w":1280,"h":853,"o":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Tikal_3.jpg/1280px-Tikal_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail"}}