Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-26T03:04:38.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A New Population Estimate for Tikal, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William A. Haviland
William A. Haviland*
Affiliation:
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1965, the author of this paper published a preliminary population estimate of 10,000-11,000 persons for Tikal as then known. Since 1965, mapping and excavation on four radial strips which run up to 12 km. in the four cardinal directions from the center of Tikal have broadened our knowledge of settlement at this site. We now have a good idea of the actual size of Late Classic Tikal, as well as its demographic makeup. This permits a new estimate of its Late Classic population as, conservatively, 49,000 persons. It is suggested that Late Classic Tikal qualifies as an urban center, but of a different sort than the urban centers of Mexico.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , October 1969 , pp. 429 - 433
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armillas, Pedro 1964 Northern Mesoamerica. In Prehistoric Man in the New World, edited by J. D. Jennings and Edward Norbeck, pp. 291–329. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Carr, R. F. and Hazard, J. E. 1961 Map of the Ruins of Tikal, El Peten, Guatemala. Tikal Reports, No. 11, Museum Monographs. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Coe, W. R. 1965 Tikal: Ten Years of Study of a Maya Ruin in the Lowlands of Guatemala. Expedition, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 5–56. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Coe, W. R. 1967 Tikal: A Handbook of the Ancient Maya Ruins. University Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Drucker, Philip 1961 The La Venta Olmec Support Area. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, No. 25, pp. 59–72. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. 1965 Prehistoric Settlement at Tikal, Guatemala. Expedition, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 14–23. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. 1966a Maya Settlement Patterns: A Critical Review. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, Publication 26, pp. 21–47. New Orleans.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. 1966b Social Integration and the Classic Maya. American Antiquity, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 625–31. Salt Lake City.10.2307/2694487 S0002731600095056 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, W. A. 1967 Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization. American Antiquity, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 316–25. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. 1968 Ancient Lowland Maya Social Organization. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, Publication 26, pp. 93–117. New Orleans.Google Scholar
Haviland, W. A. and others 1968 The Tikal Sustaining Area: Preliminary Report on the 1967 Season. University of Vermont, Burlington. (mimeographed)Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. 1961 Inference on the Nature of Olmec Society Based Upon Data from the La Venta Site. Kroeber Anthropological Society Papers, No. 25, pp. 43–57. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1964 The Teotihuacán Mapping Project. American Antiquity, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 345–52. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Puleston, D. E. 1968 Brosimum alicastrum as a Subsistence Alternative for the Classic Maya of the Central Southern Lowlands. MS, Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Puleston, D. E. and Callender, D. W. Jr. 1967 Defensive Earthworks at Tikal. Expedition, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 40–8. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Rowe, J. H. 1963 Urban Settlements in Ancient Peru. Ñawpa Pacha, pp. 1–28. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. 1956 The Central Mexican Symbiotic Region: A Study in Prehistoric Settlement Patterns. In “Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the New World,” edited by G. R. Willey, pp. 115–27. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 23. New York City.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. 1962 Cultural Ecology of Nuclear Mesoamerica. American Anthropologist, Vol. 164, No. 1, pp. 34–43. Menasha.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. 1964 The Teotihuacan Valley Project: Final Progress Report, and Teotihuacan Valley Project: Preliminary Report, 1960–1963 Field Seasons. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, (mimeographed)Google Scholar
Sanders, W. T. and Price, B. J. 1968 Mesoamerica: The Evolution of a Civilization. Random House, New York City.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R. 1962 Mesoamerica. In “Course Toward Urban Life,” edited by R. J. Braidwood and G. R. Willey, pp. 84–105. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 32. New York City.Google Scholar