Tikal Temple Pyramid
The Tikal temple pyramid alternate name is El Gran Jaguar. It is called that because of a lintel that represents a king sitting upon a jaguar. It is located in Tikal and El Mirador Guatemala. It was built by the Mayans and the material that it was built in was limestone and it has solid stone blocks. They found it in 732 AD. The ancient city site is one of the largest ancient Maya sites, and today exists as a 222 square mile and 230 feet tall. Tikal is bounded by rivers to the east and west of the Caribbean and to the Gulf of Mexico. The construction on it stared as early as 400 BC. The tomb having been built first with the temple being raised over it. The building has nine stepped levels, the temple has grooved moldings and inset corners and a steep staircase. The Temple was reused in the Post classic Period. A steep staircase climbs the temple to the summit shrine. The temple rises 154 Ft. over the Great Plaza. The lintels were carved from wood and one of them was painted red. The lintels were formed from planks of this wood set into small niches fashioned into the walls forming the three doorways. Two of the planks were removed in the nineteenth century and their location is now unknown.
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