A history of the Maya Indians in the city of Tikal, founded in 800 B.C.

This concise illustrated volume recounts Tikal's rise from prehistoric obscurity to unparalleled success at the height of Maya Civilisation, as well as its spectacular collapse and abandonment. Through the many hieroglyphic inscriptions, grave gifts from tombs, and a rich architectural and artistic legacy, the book recreates the political, and social life of the city and of the Maya in general.

The Great Maya center of Tikal, in Guatemala, is famous for its well-preserved architecture. This book presents descriptions of six structures that belong to the Tikal Project category "standing architecture," that is, though partially collapsed, some features of these buildings remain in place and accessible without excavation. These structures were surveyed with little or no excavation as part of the Tikal Project Standing Architecture Survey. This report is the primary record of these structures in Tikal's urban landscape, and it provides clear, precise, and usable architectural analyses for Mayanists, archaeologists, art historians, architectural historians, urbanists, and those interested in construction techniques and in the uses of Maya buildings. Universtiy Museum Monograph, 148

Intensive excavations in settlement areas within greater Tikal generated far more than an understanding of the complex gradations of social classes at this lowland Maya site. Identification of a specific architectural pattern associated with relatively small shrines on the eastern side of certain residential groups, and of a distinctive mortuary program, provides a means by which a "plaza plan" can be predicted using good site maps alone. This discovery enabled archaeologists to predict locations for high-status burials in residential as well as in ceremonial areas. Application of these findings at sites beyond Tikal has been demonstrated to be successful throughout the region and even beyond the Maya heartland. Identification of this "plaza plan" also has led us to recognize nine other architectural group plans at Tikal, providing a model for planning excavation strategies and developing theories of cultural change at Tikal and other Maya sites. University Museum Monograph, 104

Tikal Report 27 presents artifacts and associated unworked materials recovered by the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Tikal Project of 1956-1969.

This monograph contains the illustrations and descriptions of ceramics from special deposits (the burials, caches, and problematical deposits) from the central area of Tikal. These include the best-preserved whole vessels and elaborate polychrome painted and stuccoed cylinders, urns, and tripod vessels with appliquéd and painted ornament, and figural representations. Glyphs painted on some of these ceramics provide insights into the potentially royal lineage of the individuals. The ceramic sequence includes ten complexes dating between 800 B.C. (Middle Preclassic) and ca. A.D. 1200 (Postclassic). University Museum Monograph, 81

The primary question addressed in this book focuses on how the ancient Maya in the northern Petén Basin sustained large populations during the Late Classic period.