Original subtitles

Narrator: tikal -- a 2,000-year-old maya metropolis

Buried deep in the guatemalan Rainforest.

This used to be The most important city

In all mesoamerica.

In its day, it was one Of the greatest cities

Of the new world.

Narrator: how did this once Small jungle village

Rise to become An ancient superpower?

This isn't just about Engineering. This is religion.

Narrator: And what transformed it from a Thriving city into a ghost town?

Overnight, tens of thousands Of people abandon it.

Narrator: Now a pioneering mission

To scan this whole site With lasers

Is revealing Its hidden secrets.

To unearth the truth, We'll strip away the jungle

And explode ancient temples Stone by stone

To reveal how tikal became

One of the most powerful cities In the maya world

And why it suddenly All came crashing down.

--captions by vitac-- Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

Deep inside Guatemala's rainforest

Lie the remains of A mysterious metropolis --

Tikal.

A city of 3,000 structures,

Including 12 towering temples.

Today, most of tikal is Completely swallowed by jungle,

But 1,200 years ago,

It dominated a network Of maya cities

That once spanned Eastern mesoamerica.

Tikal's rulers made their city Greater than all the others,

But how did they do it?

Could the answer be locked deep In these magnificent ruins?

Peeling away the foliage

Reveals the known extent Of this once-great city.

Incredible limestone palaces

Sit next to colossal Pyramid temples,

Some towering Over 200 feet tall.

♪♪

Giant stone slabs Commemorating tikal's rulers

Border sweeping plazas.

But what was this city's Recipe for domination?

How did its rulers turn tikal From a jungle village

Into a maya superpower?

♪♪

One way was to build big.

Temples were the focal point Of maya religion,

And maya kings Were the chosen ones

Who uses them to communicate With gods via bloody rituals.

This isn't just about Engineering.

This is religion.

You have to imagine This as a setting.

The ruler is coming out Of the temple,

His hands dripping blood,

And he proceeds With tremendous dignity

Down these steep steps.

He has to deliver This confidence to the people.

Narrator: The bigger the temple,

The greater the ruler's Connection with the divine

And the more followers He would attract.

The mighty temple iv Stands at the heart of tikal.

It's the largest of the city's Six major buildings

And the tallest structure Ever built by the maya.

It's tikal's greatest Architectural achievement

And also its greatest mystery.

Hidden among the thick jungle...

Temple iv is a wonder Of engineering.

Constructed of seven platforms,

Ascended by incredible Steep steps,

Climbing over 200 feet,

At its top, A shrine to the gods,

Topped by A distinctive roof cone,

But how this engineering marvel Still stands is a mystery.

Constructing such a steep Pyramid should be impossible,

So how did the maya build it So tall without it collapsing?

♪♪

Archaeologist arthur demarest is On a quest to find answers.

♪♪

What is most impressive about This pyramid is the steepness.

I mean, you'll look At the pyramids in egypt

And other places. They're sort of like this.

To make something this steep

Without reinforced steel girders Then, it's incredible,

And it's amazing It's still standing.

It's in pretty good shape.

Narrator: arthur believes The secret to how the maya

Built this temple so tall Lies hidden deep inside it.

Going in here now to look At the tunneling excavations

To try to figure out How they pulled this off.

It's kind of scary to think That there's, like, hundreds,

Thousands of tons of stone Over our heads right now.

You can just hope it's stable.

[ both speaking spanish ]

Narrator: Site director leopoldo gonzález

Helps arthur With the investigation.

His team unearths the maya Secrets

That stop this giant pile Of stones from falling down.

Inside each of The temple's platforms,

They found a number Of mysterious chambers,

Giant box-like compartments With stone walls.

Narrator: leopoldo discovered Temple iv's builders

Packed these box Chambers with rubble.

The maya knew filling these Walled compartments with rock

Made each platform stronger

Than if they were made of stones Held together with only mortar.

But with so many of them Stacked up,

How did the maya engineers

Prevent the entire building From crashing down.

Leopoldo finds A special structure,

Which he believes makes this Particular temple super stable.

Leopoldo discovers This special core

Consists of seven Raised platforms.

110 feet tall,

It runs vertically through The center of the structure.

Demarest: wow.

This is all just Construction core.

This stairway goes up so they Could continue to build up

To sustain The rest of the building.

All of it this clever.

Narrator: the ingenious core Stopped temple iv's layers

From moving and solves The mystery of how tikal's kings

Built the tallest building In the maya world.

♪♪

Temple iv started as A rectangular stone platform

Made of smaller box rooms Surrounding a stone core

That gave the temple strength.

Builders added platforms One on top of the next.

On the last platform, They placed the shrine.

The central core's strength Made it possible to position

Thousands of tons of cut stone To make large spaces

For the veneration Of gods and ancestors.

The finishing touch Was an elaborate roof cone

43 feet tall,

Intricately carved with Hieroglyphs and mythical scenes.

Tikal's rulers built The megatemples

As mighty stages For huge rituals.

Arthur thinks these ceremonies

Helped increase the size And population of tikal.

Demarest: Tikal's power during this period

Came from all of The monumental architecture.

These buildings are settings For gigantic rituals,

And that also brings In followers,

And so you just have All of it coming together

To create this magnificence.

♪♪

Narrator: new arrivals eager to Be part of this

Religious society Swelled tikal's population.

But just how big did The city actually become,

And what transformed This jungle backwater

Into one of the most important Maya cities in history?

♪♪

Narrator: tikal, guatemala -- 1,200 years ago,

This was a mighty maya city.

Its kings built big To honor the gods

And draw in devoted citizens To grow their power base,

But tikal's rulers wanted more.

They had ambitions to turn it

Into the most powerful Of all maya cities,

But they faced Stiff competition.

Garrison: The maya were one of the great

Ancient civilizations Of the americas,

But unlike the later Aztec or inca,

The maya never actually Had an empire.

The maya were a collection Of dozens of city-states.

Each of these city-states Would've had

Its own local dynasty,

And these kings would've Played out this political drama

Across the landscape, Having wars and marriages.

Narrator: so how did tikal's Rulers emerge from the pack

And turn tikal Into a maya superpower?

Archaeologist tom garrison Believes the size

Of tikal's population Holds the key.

In a world with no domesticated Animals or machines,

People equaled power.

Tikal's kings knew,

The larger they grew Their city's population,

The stronger they would become.

So just how many people Did they rule?

Tom believes Solving this mystery rests

On finding the city's Long-lost suburbs.

Mapping an ancient Transport network

Could reveal their location.

In the center of the city, Carved stone slabs

Celebrating tikal's kings Frame an open square,

And two great pyramids stare At each other from either end.

The square is large enough For tens of thousands of people

To gather for rituals.

They got there Via paved causeways,

Some 200 feet wide Leading from the jungle.

Can following these roads today Lead to the lost suburbs

And reveal the true size Of tikal's population?

But tom faces a big problem -- The ancient roads

Are completely overgrown.

Garrison: in my archaeology,

It's relatively easy To find the cities.

They have these massive pyramids

That stick out Of the jungle canopy,

But as you move further

And further Outside of this central area,

The city becomes buried Under this weight of jungle,

And it becomes very difficult To determine just how vast

And how extensive a place Like tikal really was.

Narrator: previous attempts By investigators

To look for the suburbs

By simply hacking through The jungle proved impossible,

But now a pioneering new Technique gives tom the edge.

It uses special Laser-scanning technology

Called lidar To see through the trees.

A plane-mounted sensor Shoots laser beams

Through the jungle canopy To the floor,

Building a picture Of the lost areas of the city.

Garrison: What this allows us to do

Is essentially digitally Deforest the jungle,

And this lets us see the maya Ruins underneath in a way

That we never thought possible, So now we can see more of tikal.

Narrator: lidar peels back Over 1,000 years of history

To reveal what tom Has been searching for.

Garrison: we can see the map of The site's core crystal-clear.

We can see the distinctive shape Of tikal's road systems.

Narrator: lidar reveals A sprawling road network

That encompasses an area Of 16 square miles.

The roads lead to previously Undiscovered parts of the city,

Temples, fortresses, And residential districts.

There are thousands Of structures out there

In the jungle That would've been the houses

Of the everyday people that Made up most of the population.

The lidar data over tikal Revealed the city is even larger

And more massive Than we previously thought.

Narrator: based on tikal's size, Tom estimates the city's kings

Likely ruled over More than 100,000 people.

This made tikal Larger and more powerful

Than almost every city In maya history,

But that created another problem For tikal's rulers.

The city is built On raised limestone bedrock

Covered in very thin soil,

Which is not ideal To grow arable crops.

So how did they feed this Ever-expanding population?

Garrison: that's where It gets really challenging.

One of the things that we need To do is look

For those agricultural fields And see if we can figure out

How they were able to support Such a large population.

Narrator: the lidar data Reveals another clue.

Tom discovers unusual Linear features

Hidden in the heavily forested, Swampy ground outside tikal.

Garrison: this doesn't seem To be a natural feature,

And what this makes us Wonder is, is this agriculture?

Is this how they're feeding That vast population at tikal?

Narrator: to find answers, tom Must investigate in the field.

Gps guides his team To the exact spot

Identified from the lidar scan.

They hack through dense jungle To get to the site.

Garrison: well, we're here.

I think what we're seeing, All these little ridges,

These are the subtle features That we must be seeing,

And it goes on for kilometers.

These are going to be The agricultural fields

Of the people of tikal.

Narrator: the ridges suggest Tikal's rulers deforested

And drained the only fertile Areas close to the city --

The swamps.

They then cut a network Of terraces to cultivate crops.

Garrison: And that's what's going to be The lifeblood of the city.

That's what supports This massive population,

And when you have more people, Your city has more power.

You have more wealth.

It could be That it's these swampy areas

Where we can hardly see anything

That are actually the key To understanding tikal.

Narrator: tikal's population Burned the jungle to clear it

Of trees before building The city's terrace system

And planting crops in soil Fertilized by the ash.

To get the most Out of this precious land,

They grew squash on the ground, Corn that rose up through it

And beans that Climbed up the corn.

Corn was their Most important crop.

As a daily staple, the maya Ate it boiled as gruel

Or ground into flour To make tamales and tortillas.

This agricultural land Was so vital to the maya

That their corn god Was one of their chief deities.

♪♪

Ingenious landscaping Was tikal's rulers' secret

For feeding Over 100,000 people,

But was it actually the maya Themselves who put tikal

On the road to greatness, Or did another lost civilization

Play a decisive role In its meteoric rise?

♪♪

Narrator: 1,200 years ago,

Tikal was the premier city Of ancient mesoamerica.

It had the largest population

And tallest temple of any city In maya history.

But tikal wasn't always So strong.

For centuries, It was a backwater.

Then, 1,200 years After it was founded,

Something made it take off.

What was the spark that ignited Tikal's transformation

Into a maya superpower?

Mayan hieroglyphic expert Simon martin hunts for clues.

Martin: when tikal started, It really wasn't anything

Particularly special.

There were lots of places like It, but then something changed.

It began to become a much more Dynamic and exciting place.

Narrator: simon's quest For answers leads him away

From the city's largest temples To one of its smallest.

He believes this building Holds the key

To understanding Tikal's mysterious rise.

This structure is unlike Anything else in the city.

It was a king's palace Built just before

Tikal took off In the 4th century.

It once had two stories Accessed via grand stairways.

Most of tikal's temples And palaces from this time

Were enlarged over the years.

New kings added layers to create The towering monuments

We see today,

But this palace Was never enlarged.

Why was it preserved, and could The story of its builder

Unlock the answer To tikal's spectacular rise?

Archaeologists know the name Of the man who had it built --

Jaguar paw, 14th king of tikal.

Why was his palace the only one Kept in its original size?

What is its connection To tikal's dramatic takeoff?

Giant stone inscriptions Hold the clues,

But first simon must decode Their information

From ancient mayan.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

So this is the hieroglyphic name Of jaguar paw,

And down here, in 378, He enters the water,

Which is a metaphor for death.

Narrator: Simon spots something unusual

Chiseled close to the date Jaguar paw died,

A strange symbol Unlike any other on the stone.

This is not a maya hieroglyph.

This is actually something Completely alien.

It depicts a spear thrower.

Underneath is A phonetic spelling,

And essentially, What it tells us here

Is the name spearthrower owl.

The different language reveals That outsiders arrived

And took over, But who were they?

Spearthrower owl, This is something

That we see represented On murals in central mexico

And, more particularly, City of teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan was the capital Of a powerful rival civilization

600 miles west of tikal.

Teotihuacan was ruled By spearthrower owl.

It's possible to see him As the guiding authority.

This is the person Who everyone works for.

This is the person who is Directing events way up

At teotihuacan.

Narrator: Connecting jaguar paw's death With spearthrower owl's symbol

Reveals an invasion was Beyond tikal's meteoric rise.

♪♪

By the 3rd century, Tikal in the east was trading

With teotihuacan in the west, Importing ceramics

And borrowing Its architectural styles,

But in 378 a.D.,

Their relationship Dramatically changed.

Spearthrower owl sent A general to march on tikal.

The rulers of tikal Were overthrown,

And its king, jaguar paw, Was executed

And replaced with a king From teotihuacan.

With access to teotihuacan's Larger resources,

A succession of new dynasties

Plotted tikal's domination Of the maya world.

The date in 378 is the most Celebrated in maya history.

It's recorded multiple times.

They saw it as being A pivotal moment,

Which influenced not just tikal,

But the whole of maya Civilization.

Narrator: The new rulers from teotihuacan

Invested in growing Tikal's power and prestige.

New architectural influences led To grander palaces and temples

That transformed the city Skyline except for one building.

Martin: So even after all these changes

And there was A new regime in place,

They nonetheless left Jaguar paw's palace

Entirely intact,

Which is obviously A message of some kind.

It's certainly symbolic.

Whatever it is, it's certainly The end of one era

And a beginning of the next.

♪♪

Narrator: But to cement tikal's status As the greatest maya city,

Its kings had to control

The most precious Natural resource -- water.

Northern guatemala experiences 4 months of drought every year,

So how did they ensure tikal's People didn't die of thirst,

And what caused the city To be abandoned

At the height of its power?

Narrator: tikal -- An ancient maya metropolis.

Successive ruling dynasties Aimed to transform it

Into the most powerful city In the maya world.

To realize their dream, They needed plentiful supplies

Of the area's Most precious resource -- water.

But they faced a big problem.

Lucero: Tikal is a massive center,

But it's not located Near lakes or rivers,

Yet it had to supply water To tens of thousands of people.

How did they do it?

Narrator: professor lisa lucero Is on a quest to answer

How tikal thrived Without a constant water supply.

The site originally had just Enough groundwater

To support a small population,

But the king's plans for massive Growth meant this wasn't enough.

3,000 years ago, The first people came

To this area For natural springs.

Soon, more and more people came.

Then the water couldn't Supply everyone.

They had to deal With this problem.

Narrator: the area's climate Made the situation even worse.

This part of central america Suffers drought

For 4 months of the year.

With no rain for that long

And no access To rivers or lakes,

How did tikal's Population thrive?

Lucero: The maya must have pioneered A system to supply water

For tens of thousands Of people, crops,

And construction materials

During the long Seasonal drought.

Narrator: lisa investigates A clue lying hidden

In deep jungle Close to the city center.

What you see here is A really steep drop-off.

That's about 30 meters deep.

Narrator: When archaeologists excavate This overgrown giant hole,

They make An unexpected discovery.

Cut stones reveal A lost maya megastructure

That unlocks the mystery Of tikal's water supply.

Beneath the dense jungle, Inside a deep ravine,

Archaeologists unearth A pavement of flagstones

Covering a vast expanse Of the forest floor,

Next to it, the remnants Of a cut stone wall...

Filled with rubble...

To create a colossal dam 33 feet tall.

More than 260 feet long,

This reservoir held over 200,000 gallons of water,

The largest ever built By the maya.

Damming ravines To create giant basins

Was just the first step In getting enough water.

Tikal's rulers faced Another huge problem.

Lucero: the entire city of tikal Rests on a limestone bedrock.

That's everything around here.

Reservoirs, temples are made With limestone blocks.

The thing about limestone,

Comparable to The cinder block here,

Is that it's very porous.

Water goes through it.

Narrator: lisa believes the maya Developed a simple solution

To ensure the water In the reservoir stayed put.

The maya would line The reservoirs with clay to seal

And prevent water Seepage like this.

As you can see, the water Is not seeping through.

Narrator: tikal's engineered Lined the entire floor

Of this giant reservoir

With huge amounts of clay To keep it watertight.

To channel rain water Into the reservoirs,

They built a clever innovation Onto their towering temples.

Lucero: while these temples look Amazing now, in the past,

They would've been Completely different,

Covered in a thick Layer of plaster

And also colored vibrant colors Such as red.

They served two purposes -- To protect the limestone,

But also to provide a way Of draining water off buildings,

Onto the plaza, Into the reservoirs like this.

In doing so, The entire urban layout

Was a water-catchment system.

Narrator: but the ingenious Plaster guttering

Created a problem --

Dirty water.

Tikal's plastered plazas Were built at an angle

So that rain water Ran off into reservoirs.

On its way, it picked up The filth of the busy city.

The maya devised A clever solution.

First, they collected Quartz sand from 20 miles away.

They layered it with silty clay

Where the water flowed Into their reservoirs,

Creating one of the world's First filtration systems.

Water lilies grew In the reservoirs.

To the maya, They signified royalty,

Linking tikal's rulers To the precious liquid.

Lucero: The water-management system At tikal and other centers

Are major feats Of engineering

That are astounding Even by today's standards.

Narrator: engineers turned tikal Into a giant drain,

Filling huge reservoirs With clean water.

The rulers controlled The supply 365 days a year,

Cementing their influence Over the great city.

Lucero: The ancient maya water system at Tikal grew in leaps and bounds.

It provided water for Tens of thousands of people,

Which meant more Powerful maya kings here.

Narrator: more power meant More money to build big,

Which is exactly What tikal's kings did,

Erecting ever larger and more Magnificent temples and palaces.

But how far were the kings here Prepared to go to make

Tikal the most powerful Maya city,

And what can these bones reveal About the ruthless methods

They used to secure Their domination?

♪♪

Narrator: tikal, guatemala -- One of the ancient maya's

Most powerful cities.

By 800 a.D., it had The largest population,

The most magnificent temples,

And the most resources Of all maya settlements,

But if maya cities were supposed To work together as equals,

How did tikal manage To dominate all others?

Archaeologist arthur demarest Believes a grisly discovery

Made inside one of tikal's Temples holds the key.

I believe that The ancient maya society

Was far more conflictive Than people thought.

Under this temple, they made A discovery that really shows

This darker side Of maya civilization.

Narrator: Deep within tikal's temple I,

Investigators unearth A hidden burial chamber

Containing the remains Of a great king lavishly

Adorned with exceptional Jade jewelry,

Alongside these rich offerings,

A pile of human bones Carefully inscribed

With mythical scenes, And mayan hieroglyphs

Dramatically highlighted With red dye.

Could identifying Who these carved bones

Belong to reveal the shocking Secret behind tikal's success?

To solve this mystery,

Arthur must get a closer Look at the bones.

[ both speaking spanish ]

He meets their guardian, Leopoldo gonzález.

Jasaw chan k'awiil ruled tikal For over 50 years.

He died in 734 a.D.

Demarest: these are very Intricately carved, fine line,

Cinnabar pigment rubbed in To make it come out,

And they show the importance Of the great warrior king.

♪♪

Arthur decodes the complex mayan Symbols carved into the bones.

He makes a shocking discovery.

This one is really interesting Because it actually shows

The sad king of another Rival city that was conquered,

And this bone is From that rival king.

These bones, They're human trophy bones.

They were actually taken From conquered kings or lords.

All these bones belonged

To the leaders Of other maya cities.

These are kings That the rulers of tikal

Should be working with As partners.

They reveal the dark secret Of how tikal

Stayed top dog in the region.

Far from being Cooperative and peaceful,

Tikal was bent on dominating Rival maya states.

With generations of bloodthirsty Rulers in charge,

Neighboring kings Had to pay tikal tribute

Or face deadly consequences.

♪♪

The maya world Consisted of city-states

Locked in competition With each other

To control people and resources.

When tensions escalated Into war,

Maya kings led raids Against their rivals

And took opponents captive.

Prisoners were taken back To the victor's city

Where they were beheaded And sacrificed to the gods.

These victories were then Carved into limestone slabs

In mayan glyphs,

Which stood in the ceremonial Centers for all to see.

Arthur believes The macabre bones

Rewrite the history Of the maya city-states.

Demarest: all this evidence Taken together makes it

Very clear That this was a fundamental,

Ongoing part of maya culture, Conflict,

And sometimes it had Very serious consequences.

Narrator: rich from conquest,

Tikal's kings fed the city's Continuous expansion,

Enlarging old temples And building new palaces.

By 800 a.D., tikal was one of The largest maya cities ever.

But why was it abandoned At the height of its power?

Did the people of tikal Bring disaster upon themselves?

♪♪

Narrator: in 800 a.D., Tikal was one of the greatest

Maya cities in history.

Successive ruling dynasties

Had conquered Rival maya settlements,

Built some of the grandest Palaces in mesoamerica,

And engineered year-round Supplies of water and food,

But by 900 a.D., Construction had stopped,

And the city Was abandoned forever.

What caused tikal's Sudden collapse?

Anthropologist, Lisa lucero, hunts for answers.

Lucero: the classic maya Were a complex society.

There's likely not one reason For its demise.

Archaeologists Have presented many ideas

As to why it happened.

Narrator: theories range From invasion and famine

To a rebellion against The ruling classes.

Lisa thinks the truth could lie With the very buildings

That make tikal special.

The plaster that covered them Was the problem.

It begins with this, limestone, Which is found throughout tikal.

First, the maya would Burn limestone to create lime,

After which they would add water And let it ferment

Before they would add sand To create plaster.

Narrator: the plaster was then Spread over tikal's roads

And buildings And left to dry

Before being painted In vivid colors,

But little did the maya realize Achieving the effect

Consumed vital resources.

Lucero: this stone is about A meter square.

It would take 20 trees To burn enough limestone

To create plaster To cover this 1-meter stone.

Imagine what it would take To cover

The monumental Buildings of tikal,

Some of which are over 70 meters Tall and 50 meters wide.

It would take Thousands of trees.

♪♪

Narrator: As tikal grew and its rulers

Built larger And larger buildings,

The demand for Lime plaster increased,

And tikal's inhabitants cut down More and more trees to make it.

Lucero: tikal was occupied For nearly 1,000 years,

But once kings diverted From a sustainable path

And increasingly became addicted

To building Monumental architecture,

They became more vulnerable to Any disruptions to the system.

Narrator: deforestation Unbalanced tikal's

Fragile ecosystem

And magnified The environmental changes

In central america At the time.

Lucero: there were several Prolonged droughts

Lasting anywhere from 8 to 13 Years between 800 and 900 c.E.

This meant that reservoir Levels were dropping.

Crops were decimated.

Fewer farmers came,

And kings increasingly Lost power.

Ultimately, people Abandoned tikal for good.

Narrator: With no water to control,

Tikal's rulers lost their hold Over the population.

The inhabitants left the city To find new opportunities.

The dynasties collapsed, And by 950 a.D.,

Tikal was a ghost town.

Lucero: There might have been a remnant Population of 100 or so people,

But it was never occupied again

To the extent It had been before.

Narrator: today, tikal's Towering temples,

Mighty palaces, And sweeping causeways

Stand as testament To its rulers' determination

To triumph against the odds.

Over the course Of a millennium,

They transformed tikal From provincial backwater

To maya superpower.

Ultimately, their ambition To build bigger sowed

The seeds of their downfall, But few other civilizations

Have ever matched Their achievements.

Its builders erected The tallest structure

In the ancient americas,

Connected the sprawling jungle City via a huge road network,

Built giant reservoirs to hold The millions of gallons of water

Needed to survive drought,

All to grow and maintain A mighty maya city

That thrived in the toughest Environment.

♪♪

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