Question for October 2023

Which was the biggest ancient Maya city?? Asked by Greenfield School. Chosen and answered by Professor David Stuart

Sometimes it’s difficult to measure the sizes of ancient Maya cities, and being in the dense jungle doesn’t help! But these days we have a fairly good idea a few places that stand out as especially large in size, and with sizable populations.
Early in Maya history, during the era we call the Pre-Classic, one site stands out in its scale and apparent importance - El Mirador, in northern Guatemala. The modern name meeds “The Lookout” in Spanish, since its massive pyramids were sometimes used to look out over the surrounding forest, when explorers first saw it nearly a hundred years ago. They first maps of El Mirador was made in the early 1960s by my late friend Ian Graham, and he was amazed by the size of the structures, how many there were, and also by the large roads that radiated out from El Mirador’s center. More recently, LiDAR technology (3-D scanning from airplanes, through the forest canopy) has shown even more at El Mirador and nearby sites, and it seems pretty clear that must have been the center of an important political and economic system back at its height, between 300 BC - 100 AD. There were other huge Pre-Classic cities at the time, but El Mirador does seem to stand out. For reasons that are still unclear, the ancient Maya abandoned El Mirador and its neighbors around 100 AD. Maybe drought, water access, and agricultural challenges were factors in this great change.

During the Classic period, other cities arose in importance. In terms of size, I think three stand out. Tikal is a famous ruin also in Guatemala, with very tall pyramids and covering a large amount of territory. Its ancient name was Yax Mutul, and it was one of the great “superpowers” of the time, and was very influential place from 300-800 A.D. Another large city was Dzibanche, located in what is now southern Quintana Too state in Mexico. Archaeologists have been working there for decades, and maps and LiDAR have again revealed one of the largest urban areas of the Maya region. Buildings and clusters of sites are everywhere around Dzibanche, and we think it was the center of the Kanul kingdom in the Classic period. It was Tikal’s great rival over many centuries.

In the late 600s, the Kanuls moved their capital from Dzibanche to yet another huge site we call Calakmul, known in ancient times as Chihknahb. From there the Kanuls formed many alliances with smaller cities, and waged war against many of Tikal’s kings. In fact, the rivalry of these great kingdoms was the backdrop for most of Maya history during the Classic period. (These days I’m working hard on a book about all of this history, so it’s very much on my mind).
All this said, archaeologists are always trying to figure out the best ways to measure size - is it area? Numbers of buildings from given time? Populations? Excavations and careful surveys are always needed for good answers.