Tikal Expedition Mesoamerica
Tikal the largest archaeological site in Mesoamerica
Tikal was first excavated by a leading team of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania’s museum, under the direction of Edwin Shook, William Coe and George Guillemin for a period of 13 years. The dig was undertaken between 1956 and 1969, and was the largest excavation project in the world.
The first European to have ever seen Tikal was possibly the Spanish friar Andres de Avendaño in 1696. He was fleeing Tayasal and trying to find a safe passage to Merida, as he learned about a conspiracy against him led by the apparently friendly king, Canek Itzá.
In his chronicles he describes passing through an impressive ancient city, full of buildings and vaulted houses whitewashed with plaster in the course of his escape. However, Modesto Méndez, Governor and Magistrate of the Petén, wrote the first official report on Tikal in 1848 after the first official visit by the Guatemalan Government.
Earlier European accounts were led by explorer John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood to Central America in 1839 to 1842 introduced the ancient Maya civilization to the world.
A detailed description of their intrepid journey, along with their amazing discoveries, appeared in their joint two-volume book, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, published in 1841. The travel book became an instant bestseller with 12 editions printed in only three months which was unheard of at that time.
Stephen’s first-person account of the complexity of the Maya temples with Catherwood’s illustrated artworks depicted the precise details of the temple buildings, the intricacy of the hieroglyphics and uncovered architectural monuments buried in the jungle for over 1,000 years.
The first grant funding to excavate Tikal came from the Vanderbilt family. Following the footsteps of Catherwood, UPenn’s excavations have allowed scholars to determine the moment in which Tikal’s original settlers arrived, around the year 800 B.C. traced until the collapse of the Maya World in the year 900 A.D.
Tikal’s excavation works were largely undertaken in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. Before any excavation of the main buildings, trial excavations were done in minor buildings far away from the main ceremonial site.
There were many notable archaeologists who worked on Tikal, but the most renowned was William R. Coe who worked on the project from its inception until his retirement in 1987.
His methodical approach to cataloguing Tikal proved invaluable covering more than a decade of investigations, and his own excavations were among the best ever carried out in the jungle, where Ceiba tree roots penetrated to amazing depths, tearing the ancient buildings apart.
The massive scale of the Tikal investigation and restoration, and the large number of archaeologists trained there under Coe’s directorship, greatly influenced the scholarly and public perception of Mayan archaeology for decades after the work was completed.
In 1970 the site and the entire collection of artefacts were formally turned over to the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Guatemala as heritage site managers.
Today, the Mayan ruins are part of Tikal National Park in Guatemala since 1960, and in 1979 were named a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tourism has been credited with providing the funds to restore and maintain Tikal for visitors.
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