Tikal was a powerful Mayan conquest kingdom in its heyday. The surrounding city-states were either forced to pay tribute to Tikal through military action or voluntarily accepted Tikal’s protection and became its vassal state. Some structures date back to the 4th century BC, but it was at its height between 200 and 900 AD. There is evidence that supports that they were in contact with their northern neighbors the Aztecs and that in the 4th century AD Teotihuacan (the Aztec’s capital in central Mexico) conquered Tikal. The site was abandoned in the 10th century AD.
My guide, Reyes, shared a lot of interesting information about the Mayans. They had an interesting number system that was a base 20 system that incorporated the concept of zero. They had a symbol for zero, one, and five. Check it out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_numerals. Reyes pointed out that there was no fresh water near the city of Tikal. Its builders built the city to be a natural reservoir. In addition, the Mayans had a very sophisticated understanding of the stars. The many temples in the city align perfectly with the rising sun on specific days of the year. Reyes was great at pointing out the animal life. We saw three species of toucans, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, coati, a impressive multi-colored turkey, and several other species of birds. I think Reyes was shocked by my ability to put up with the heat in the name of seeing history. He said most tourists stay a maximum of three hours and we were there for almost five.
Fun side fact: From the pictures above do you recognize a scene from a Star Wars movie?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share of my adventure the following day. I went to the famous ATM cave. The tour guide was a jerk- don’t go with Ian Burns, but the cave itself was really impressive. The Mayans used it as a place to leave offerings to many gods, but predominantly the god of rain. The other gods were recognized with the hope that the offerings to the rain god would not cause jealousy or anger. Their economy was completely based on their corn crops and in the later years of the empire drought devistated their society. The use of the cave for offerings increased greatly as the droughts got worse.
Most offerings were either food based or the blood of a noble. Noble females pierced their tongues and noble males pierced their genitalia. The blood was then caught in a bowl and left for the gods. I asked if one noble would have to piece themselves multiple times over their lifetime and the guide said there is no way of knowing. For the males’ sake, I sure hope not. They probably had the earliest Prince Alberts in history! That is something to put in the books. There were also some human sacrifices though and their bones are still in the same positions as they were found! 1 km into the cave (3km from the entrance to the end), there are three sets of fully entact remains. One was a young boy who appeared to have his hands tied behind his back. The guide pointed out that the skulls are all dramtically cone shaped. This is because the Mayans held corn in such high regard and found it athestically pleasing to have a head shaped like it that they would tie thick pieces of wood around the sides ot their children’s skulls to reshape them. No thanks! The Mayans would kill their human sacrifices by cutting out the heart, slitting the throat, or by cutting off the limbs and allowing the person to bleed out. This sounds horrible, but it is important to keep in mind that the Mayans were not as aggressively or frequently sacrificing humans like the Aztecs did.
The Belizean government decided not to excavate the cave, but to leave it as it was found so that people can see the history as it was left. The tour begins with a 45 minute walk through the jungle. You have to swim into the cave and there is a lot of swimming throughout the three hour tour. You can’t bring anything in with you because a year ago a tourist dropped his camera on a skull and crushed it. That is ok because you really wouldn’t want to be holding anything while you are navigating through the water, stalactites, and slick embankments. I highly suggest dropping the money and giving into the monopoly the ATM guides have. It is a fun adventure to go spelunking and on top of that you get to see a piece of history (well at least many pieces of pottery and skulls).
My guide, Reyes, shared a lot of interesting information about the Mayans. They had an interesting number system that was a base 20 system that incorporated the concept of zero. They had a symbol for zero, one, and five. Check it out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_numerals. Reyes pointed out that there was no fresh water near the city of Tikal. Its builders built the city to be a natural reservoir. In addition, the Mayans had a very sophisticated understanding of the stars. The many temples in the city align perfectly with the rising sun on specific days of the year. Reyes was great at pointing out the animal life. We saw three species of toucans, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, coati, a impressive multi-colored turkey, and several other species of birds. I think Reyes was shocked by my ability to put up with the heat in the name of seeing history. He said most tourists stay a maximum of three hours and we were there for almost five.
Fun side fact: From the pictures above do you recognize a scene from a Star Wars movie?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to share of my adventure the following day. I went to the famous ATM cave. The tour guide was a jerk- don’t go with Ian Burns, but the cave itself was really impressive. The Mayans used it as a place to leave offerings to many gods, but predominantly the god of rain. The other gods were recognized with the hope that the offerings to the rain god would not cause jealousy or anger. Their economy was completely based on their corn crops and in the later years of the empire drought devistated their society. The use of the cave for offerings increased greatly as the droughts got worse.
Most offerings were either food based or the blood of a noble. Noble females pierced their tongues and noble males pierced their genitalia. The blood was then caught in a bowl and left for the gods. I asked if one noble would have to piece themselves multiple times over their lifetime and the guide said there is no way of knowing. For the males’ sake, I sure hope not. They probably had the earliest Prince Alberts in history! That is something to put in the books. There were also some human sacrifices though and their bones are still in the same positions as they were found! 1 km into the cave (3km from the entrance to the end), there are three sets of fully entact remains. One was a young boy who appeared to have his hands tied behind his back. The guide pointed out that the skulls are all dramtically cone shaped. This is because the Mayans held corn in such high regard and found it athestically pleasing to have a head shaped like it that they would tie thick pieces of wood around the sides ot their children’s skulls to reshape them. No thanks! The Mayans would kill their human sacrifices by cutting out the heart, slitting the throat, or by cutting off the limbs and allowing the person to bleed out. This sounds horrible, but it is important to keep in mind that the Mayans were not as aggressively or frequently sacrificing humans like the Aztecs did.
The Belizean government decided not to excavate the cave, but to leave it as it was found so that people can see the history as it was left. The tour begins with a 45 minute walk through the jungle. You have to swim into the cave and there is a lot of swimming throughout the three hour tour. You can’t bring anything in with you because a year ago a tourist dropped his camera on a skull and crushed it. That is ok because you really wouldn’t want to be holding anything while you are navigating through the water, stalactites, and slick embankments. I highly suggest dropping the money and giving into the monopoly the ATM guides have. It is a fun adventure to go spelunking and on top of that you get to see a piece of history (well at least many pieces of pottery and skulls).
