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Tikal
Ruins Mayan Ruins
Miguel
Ángel Asturias, named Nobel Laureate in 1967, wrote; "Tikal
is the largest known Mayan city, and is incomparable to other Mayan
cities. Its size imposing and intimidating, its setting lush and
teeming with wildlife, and with a mysterious and overwhelming atmosphere
and site worth investigation.
Asturias
also writes... "The imagination reels. There are reliefs, pyramids,
temples in the extinguished city. The damp murmur of the arroyos,
voices, crepitations of the intertangling vines, the sound of flapping
wings, trickle into the immense sea of silence. Everything palpitates,
breathes, exhausting itself in green above the vast roof of Peten."
In
this remote area, one of the greatest civilizations of its time
established a city that endured for centuries. The ruins at Tikal
buried deep in the Peten jungle are probably the most important
archaeological discovery of this century, comprising some 3,000
massive stone temples and palaces dating back 6,000 years.
As
is the case with all Mayan sites, the origins of Tikal are barely
discernible. Findings of pottery dating from a few hundred years
before Christ give evidence that Tikal was inhabited at that time.
Bits and pieces of information are gathered from drawings on pottery
and bone. But there is no coherent history of Tikal and there may
never be one. Tikal is a place for wondering -- not only at the
engineering accomplishments of the Maya, but also at the jungle
splendors of the Peten.
The site of Tikal is a national park, where the native flora and
fauna now flourish relatively undisturbed.
Howler
and spider monkeys swing in the treetops, foxes, pumas and wild
turkeys roam the grounds and there are hundreds of bird species
including toucans and macaws which are visible in the surrounding
jungle canopy.
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