Archaeology Magazine - June 1953 - 18

NEW

TEMPLE

TIKAL

Heinrich

Berlin

Born in Bavaria, the author came to Mexico in 1933 and studied
archaeology at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (M. A.,
1942; Ph.D., 1947). Dr. Berlin excavated at Palenque for three seasons
( 1940-42). From 1949 to 1932 he was research assistant at the National
Museum in Guatemala and lecturer at the Universidad de San Carlos oj
Guatemala. Since October 1932 he has been a fellow of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, engaged in archaeologicalresearch in the Mexican state of Tabasco. Dr. Berlin is interested not only in archaeology but
in the field of Colonial Latin-American Art, and last year his Historia de
la Imaginería Colonial en Guatemala was published by the Guatemalan
government.
Tikal, the new temple. A view of the rear showing the installation
for copying the inscription. Because of the thickness of the forest
growth, it is virtually impossible to secure a view of the whole temple.

THE HEARTOF THE JUNGLE OF THE PETEN IN
Guatemala lies Tikal, the largest city of the old
IN Maya territory. Discovered a hundred years ago,
the site could be reached only by mule until 195 1,
when the government of Guatemala installed an airport there, and now it is a flight of only an hour and a
quarter from Guatemala City. Thus a hurried tourist
can visit the place in one day. Though the site has been
known for hundreds of years, the jungle around the
old buildings is so dense that even today nobody knows
the exact extent of the city. Normally visitors, even
professional ones, spent all their time - conditioned
by the amount of food they could take along - just to
inspect the buildings already known. A major discovery is due to Edwin M. Shook of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who in 1937 followed traces of
a road going out from the main center of the city and
was thus led to a group consisting of one large temple
and several smaller ones. In the same group Shook
was fortunate enough to find a carved altar and a
carved stele, plus several uncarved ones.
But the most interesting discovery of recent years
took place in 1951. Several soldiers engaged in the
82

work on the airstrip at Tikal went on a hunting party
and suddenly came across an impressive temple which
they climbed. They proudly reported the discovery to
Antonio
Ortiz, official caretaker of the ruins at
Uaxactun.
When the airfield was inaugurated
nearby
on May 20, 1951, Ortiz conveyed the news to Señor
Antonio Tejeda F., who attended the inauguration
as the delegate of the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala. Though extremely sceptical, Señor
Tejeda nevertheless followed Ortiz into the jungle.
And then he saw what he never expected, not a forgotten building rediscovered, but an impressive temple
with a lofty roof-comb which almost reached the tops
of the tall forest trees. An enormous inscription on big
blocks measuring two by three feet was placed on the
rear of the roof-comb. Despite the difficulties in taking
pictures of an uncleared building in the forest, Señor
Tejeda brought home from that trip a successful photograph and a hasty sketch. Back in Guatemala City it
sounded unbelievable that such an important building
should not be known, but a search in the literature
failed to give any information; not even the careful
Morley had mentioned it in his five volumes on The

ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeology Magazine - June 1953

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - June 1953