Archaeological Exploration of Tikal
The site of Tikal has lead archaeologists to changing conclusions about its occupation from its initial discovery. In the early 1900's Tikal was believed to be a ceremonial center occupied by a relatively small number of priests. One of the main reasons for this theory was the fact that the excavation of this site was limited to the large ceremonial cores. It is easy to see why, with such large and elaborate buildings and monuments, the residential structures were overlooked mainly due to thier location. In addition, during this time it was believed that tropical forests such as the one that surrounds Tikal, could not support an urban center with a large population. Since the Maya today practice slash and burn cultivation, it was also believed by scholars that this technique was also used in the past. Though effective for a small population, this technique involves the reusing of land, which could not support the agricultural needs of a large urban center.
Extensive surveying has lead to a new theory about the site of Tikal. Excavations and mapping projects of Tikal have recently focused on the periphery, rather than the ceremonial core. This had lead to the new belief that Tikal was in fact occupied by a sizeable population. The reason being that thousands of mounds were located, of which, those that were excavated turned out to be residential structures. This discovery lead to new issues and questions, such as how was such a large population organized? And what was their agricultural subsistence? This also proved the point that sometimes the present is not indicative of the past. As previously mentioned, although the use of slash and burn is used presently, in the past it was not. Instead, other techniques were employed such as raised fields and terracing.
