The Guatemalan government announced the discovery of an ancient Teotihuacan altar in Tikal National Park, shedding new light on the interactions between the Teotihuacan and Mayan cultures, as well as the 1,600-year-old tensions between Tikal and the central Mexican capital of Teotihuacan. The discovery was made by the Southern Tikal Archaeological Project, led by archaeologist Lorena Paiz, and was announced by Guatemala's Culture and Sports Ministry.
The altar measures 1.10 meters from east to west, nearly two yards (2 meters) from north to south, and is about one meter high, covered with limestone. It is made of earth and covered with stucco or gypsum paste. The altar is adorned with elements characteristic of the Teotihuacan culture, featuring a painted face with a tasseled headdress, a necklace, and other Teotihuacan elements, including almond-shaped eyes, a nose bar, and a double earspool. It is decorated with four painted panels of red, black, and yellow, depicting a person wearing a feathered headdress and flanked by shields or regalia.
According to Paiz, the altar represents the Teotihuacan storm goddess, closely resembling depictions of the Storm God in central Mexico. "The altar is believed to have been used for sacrifices, especially of children," she stated. "The remains of three children not older than four years were found on three sides of the altar," Paiz said.
The discovery provides evidence of links between the Maya and Teotihuacan cultures, indicating sociopolitical and cultural interaction between the two civilizations from the 4th to 5th centuries CE. "It is the strongest evidence we have to date, possibly of people who knew the Teotihuacan culture very deeply," indicated archaeologist Edwin Román, reinforcing the idea that Tikal was a cosmopolitan center where people visited from other cultures. "The discovery is evidence confirming the social, political, and cultural interaction between the Maya people of Tikal and the elites of Teotihuacan during the period estimated between 300 and 500 CE," he stated.
The discovery of the Teotihuacan altar provides further proof of ties between the pre-Hispanic cultures of present-day Mexico and Guatemala, confirming an interconnection between both cultures and their relationships with their gods and celestial bodies. "We see how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It was a practice; it's not that they were violent, it was their way of connecting with the celestial bodies," said María Belén Méndez. "This confirms what has been said about the existence of a connection between the two cultures and their relation to their gods and the stars," she added.
"The Teotihuacan were traders who traveled all over the country," Paiz noted. The dwelling where the altar was found had anthropomorphic figures with tassels in red tones, a detail from the Teotihuacan culture, according to the ministry's statement. The altar was found in a pre-Hispanic residential area identified as Group 6D-XV, which is part of a residential complex uncovered in 2019 using LiDAR technology. It took archaeologists one and a half years to uncover the altar in this area and analyze it before the announcement.
Teotihuacan, located far to the north in Mexico just outside present-day Mexico City, is known as the city of the gods or the place where men become gods. At its peak between 100 BCE and 750 CE, Teotihuacan was one of the largest cities in the world, housing over 100,000 inhabitants and covering around eight square miles (20 square kilometers). Teotihuacan is best known for its twin Temples of the Sun and Moon and was abandoned before the rise of the Aztecs in the 14th century.
Tikal, the main archaeological site of Guatemala, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the jungle department of Petén, bordering Mexico. Tikal is an enormous city-state that battled for centuries with the Kaanul dynasty for dominance of the Maya world. It was founded around 850 BCE.
"It's increasingly clear that this was an extraordinary period of turbulence at Tikal," commented Stephen Houston, a professor at Brown University. "It's almost as if Tikal poked the beast and got too much attention from Teotihuacan. That's when foreigners started moving into the area," he added. "The altar was built around the time of the coup," said Andrew Scherer, a professor at Brown University and co-author. "The material and design of the dart point are distinct to Teotihuacan," he stated.
The discovery suggests that in the years leading up to its overthrow, Teotihuacan's presence in Tikal probably involved an element of occupation or surveillance. As they uncover more details about the contentious story of Teotihuacan and Tikal, Houston and Scherer are struck by how familiar it sounds. "These powers of central Mexico reached into the Maya world because they saw it as a place of extraordinary wealth, of special feathers from tropical birds, jade, and chocolate. As far as Teotihuacan was concerned, it was the land of milk and honey," stated Houston.
"Everyone knows what happened to the Aztec civilization after the Spanish arrived. Our findings show evidence that that's a tale as old as time," Houston said. The discovery cements the research team's theory that Teotihuacan's presence left Tikal forever changed and even scarred. The site in Tikal National Park is guarded, and there are no plans to open it to the public.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.