In addition to the pyramids, palaces and paved squares, there was apparently also a green oasis in the middle of the Mayan metropolis of Tikal, researchers report: The city’s central water reservoirs were surrounded by a kind of park with original vegetation and tall trees, genetic traces indicate the deposits from the heyday of Tikal. The Maya presumably received a piece of forest in the area of the water reservoir when the systems were built, say the scientists.
The Maya are one of the most mysterious civilizations in human history. Even when the first Europeans explored the New World, only overgrown ruins were evidence of this indigenous civilization. According to research, the classical Maya society had already perished in the course of the 9th and 10th centuries AD for mysterious reasons and people had left the cities. So also Tikal in today’s Guatemala. The monumental building structures and extensive settlement areas of this city bear witness to its former importance. At the heyday more than 1200 years ago, up to 60,000 people are believed to have lived in Tikal. The Maya had transformed the former rainforest in the area of the city into a cultural landscape, which was characterized by arable land with corn, beans and pumpkins.
Plants downtown on the trail
But what did it look like in the densely built-up center of Tikal – were there green spaces there? With this question, the researchers working with David Lentz from the University of Cincinnati focused on areas next to the city’s two central water reservoirs. These facilities were of great importance to the Maya because there are no natural waters in the region. Therefore, during the rainy season, they channeled the precipitation into collecting basins, which then served as drinking water reservoirs. While most of the areas in the area of the great pyramid and the palace were paved, there were unsealed areas around the two water reservoirs located there, the researchers report. By analyzing so-called environmental DNA in the sediments of the former water basins, they investigated whether it was green space or which plants once grew there. These are genetic traces that have arisen through the entry of plant materials.
The results of the investigation showed that the central temple and palace reservoirs were lined with lush greenery at the time of Tikal’s settlement. In contrast to the surrounding area, no domesticated plant species grew there, but native forest vegetation, which was evident from the genetic traces. These included tree species that could reach a height of 30 meters. As the researchers explain, the results suggest that the Maya purposefully preserved a piece of the original forest when building the center of the city. This system possibly protected the area around the reservoirs from erosion, improved the microclimate and presumably also had aesthetic and spiritual importance, say the archaeologists.
Kind of a city park?
“Almost the entire city center was paved. It got pretty hot during the dry season, ”says Lentz. “So it made sense to have cool areas along the reservoirs. It must have been nice to look at – with the water and the trees, ”says the archaeologist. In view of the documented and widespread deforestation that characterized the area around Tikal at the time, an intact piece of forest in the city center was certainly something special, says co-author Nicholas Dunning of the University of Cincinnati: “The area of around 50 meters by 50 Meters, must have stood in vivid contrast to the surroundings of the central city district, which was essentially completely covered with cobblestones and which was dominated by many red-colored buildings, ”says the archaeologist.
Ultimately, however, the significance of the urban forest for the Maya remains speculative. “But I think you can compare the area with a park – although it is unclear to what extent it was public,” says Lentz. “This was a sacred area of the city, surrounded by temples and palaces. I don’t know whether everyone was welcome there, ”said the researcher. There may also be a spiritual component, says Dunning: “Given that the Maya were a forest culture whose cosmology contained many elements of nature – such as sacred trees that supported the sky – it was possibly a symbol, a sacred grove in the heart the city – like parts of the cosmos in miniature, so to speak, ”says the archaeologist.
Source: University of Cincinnati, Article: Scientific Reports, doi: 10.1038 / s41598-021-91620-6