All language subtitles for Unearthed.(2016).S04E09.Lost.City.of.the.Maya.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-Cinefeel_track3_[eng]

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.

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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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