The classical age cities of Palenque and Tikal where ones great Mayan bastions with extraordinary architecture.  This architecture still fascinates modern archaeologies and historians alike. Still much of the architecture in the Mayan cities had the same style and function, but could diverse from town to town. This is the case of Palenque and Tikal. They share much of their buildings like temples, palaces and ball courts. But the main differences are in the subtle things like vault construction, wall thickness, and columns. The greater differences are in region and time. Tikals history runs back to around 350 B.C., while Palenque is founded around 200 A.D. The time gap makes the building differences much clearer. For example the wall thickness in Tikal is a product of early Petén masonry. This type of masonry was heavy and clumsy to work with, it relied on heavy stones and a small cement core. Whiles in Palenque they evolved the technique to be the opposite of that of Tikal, thin stone slabs and a thick cement core.

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Texte remanié de: Doctoral thesis--Polythechnical university of Valencia, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 149-154.

Iconography encapsulates the cultural knowledge of a civilization. The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica utilized iconography to express ideological beliefs, as well as political events and histories. An ideology heavily based on the presence of an Otherworld is visible in elaborate Maya iconography. Motifs and themes can be manipulated to convey different meanings based on context. An example of this mutability can be witnessed in the depiction of Otherworld gods. Maya gods were not like Old World pantheons; gods were fluid and could function in multiple roles. Protector gods are an example of the fluidity of Maya deities. Scenes of protector gods are closely related, indicative of a specific theme and meaning. This thesis aims to define a specific iconographic theme, centered around a “protector,” based on the similarities of the composition of each scene in the sample set of images found on monuments. In conjunction with archaeological evidence and epigraphy, I suggest the protector theme depicts deities in the role of a protector

Stable carbon isotope analyses of the humin fraction of the soil organic matter were conducted on more than 160 soil profiles from Tikal, Guatemala. The profiles were collected from near areas associated with the earthworks of Tikal; an ancient ditch and parapet construction hypothesized to have formed ancient boundaries of the polity. In addition to the isotope analyses, the physical and chemical characteristics of the horizons were determined. Maize, a C4 plant, formed an integral part of the ancient Maya diet and is the only known C4 plant cultivated by the Maya. Prior to and subsequent to the ancient Maya occupation of Tikal, the landscape was dominated by C3 forest vegetation. Over the centuries C4 plant biomass including rhizodeposition decomposed to form soil organic matter that contains a distinct C4 signature reflecting the vegetation history of the area. Forested areas anciently cleared for agriculture were identified through interpretation of significant isotopic shifts that signaled past vegetation changes. Buried horizons were encountered in the upland depressions and bajo wetlands. The aggraded soil deposits were likely the result of increased human activity related to settlement and agriculture. The buried horizons and the overlying sediments exhibited stable carbon isotope shifts associated with forest clearance and maize agriculture. Geospatial analysis of the stable carbon isotope ratios indicated that ancient Maya agriculture was focused on deeper footslope and toeslope soils in both bajos and upland depressions. Some evidence of infield agriculture or food processing was also encountered in connection with ancient settlement at upland locations. The soil data provide insight into ancient land use and sustainability that could potentially contribute to subsistence and population reconstruction models.