Treasure troves of jade, jewels and intestines

The ruins of the ancient Maya city of Tikal sprawl beneath 65 square kilometres of Guatemalan jungle, but only a small portion has been revealed to visitors from all over the world. Now, decades after archaeological investigations started at Tikal, Peter D. Harrison has produced in The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City a very readable and useful general summary of what is known about this important Maya city.

Assisted by 140 superb illustrations (13 in colour), Harrison interprets evidence gained from excavations and recently deciphered hieroglyphic texts to shed light on the era of Tikal's kings and their sudden fall into obscurity. Starting with a review of Maya civilisation and discovery at Tikal, Harrison continues by describing Tikal's origin as a cluster of villages that steadily grew from 800BC, fusing to become a city marked by differential zones of residence, ritual and royal burial, with a population of 200,000 inhabitants. The earliest written date for Tikal is AD292, testifying to the emergence of a ruling dynasty preoccupied by ritual, death and the accumulation of wealth, with connections to far-off cities beyond the Maya world. Although not a guidebook, The Lords of Tikal concludes with useful suggestions about visiting Tikal.

Harrison's main focus is on the 600 years of Tikal's "golden age", a turbulent Classic period in which grisly violence contrasted with artistic grace and beauty. His own research at Tikal during the 1960s centred on an elevated two hectare monumental complex of buildings and courtyards named the Central Acropolis. It led him to propose that this zone was a palace complex where diverse residential, ceremonial and administrative activities took place.

Twenty years later, a dramatic decipherment of a hieroglyphic inscription on a pottery vessel, discovered by Harrison in the Central Acropolis, would confirm that the ninth king of Tikal named Chak Toh Ich'ak (Great Jaguar Claw) had his palace there. As Harrison takes the reader around other temples and palaces, he describes the changing fortunes of this Tikal dynasty, from self-acclaimed victories to domination by enemy cities. At the ritual heart of Tikal is the North Acropolis, a colossal array of funerary temples. Here in the royal necropolis, using the metaphor of "death as a window", Harrison summons visions of ancient kings laid deep within great temples, sometimes with butchered retainers. There are hints of ritual disinterment and dismemberment, along with glimpses of fabulous treasure troves of jade and brightly painted pottery vases secreted with the dead. There are even glimmerings of ancient romance and royal sorrow behind scenes carved in stone.

After relating the intricate story of 31 royal lords, Harrison discusses the complex geometry of Tikal's layout and architecture, which he sees as a massive expression of ancestor veneration and dynastic succession. He does not explicitly delve into the deeper Maya rationale for the constructions and rituals he describes, leaving the reader to investigate their ideological connections.

On Easter Sunday of the year 2000 in our calendar, I stood high on the North Acropolis over the tomb believed to be that of Tikal's dynastic founder, Yax Ch'aktel Xoc (First Scaffold Shark). I saw below thousands of people, including many Maya families colourfully dressed in their differing traditional clothing. It appeared to me that the lords of Tikal might have largely achieved their ultimate spiritual goals: their names are being spoken, their triumphs remembered and their nations rallying again. Tikal as a city is no longer dead, it is, as Harrison proclaims, where "the sun breaks the horizon... and the world turns into liquid gold, announcing the rebirth of Kinich Ahau, the start of a new day".

David W. Sedat is field director at Cop n, Honduras, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Early Copán Acropolis Program.