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Tikal Ancient Mayan City
Tikal is an ancient city in the center of Guatemala. Tikal was once ruled by the Mayan’s. Maya cities were rarely laid out in neat grids, appear to have developed in an unplanned fashion, with temples and palaces torn down and rebuilt over and over throughout the centuries. Some cities were surround by a moat, and others had defensive earthworks around them; however this was unusual. City walls are rare at Maya sites, with the exception of some recently discovered cities dating to the collapse of Maya civilization, when protective walls were suddenly thrown up around cities under siege from outside enemies. Temple-pyramids were the most amazing feature of a classic Maya city. These buildings were built from hand cut limestone blocks and towered over all surrounding structures. Some cities were built on the ocean side for when their enemies were coming to attack so the would most likely hop in a boat and paddle off. Sometimes the city they left they never went back to and so they just abounded it and just let it rot. There is no real agreement on what the palaces were actually used for.
Posted by 22626 on 11/30/06; 8:18:22 AM
from the Nika dept.
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