8 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Archaeologists Discovered a New Pyramid Resembling Teotihuacán in Tikal

Researchers discovered a new pyramid complex in the Tikal in Guatemala.

About 65 km south of El Mirador in the Petén region of Guatemala, researching in Tikal, an important site of Mayan civilization, archaeologists discovered a pyramid complex with distinct architectural features similar to Teotihuacán.

Archaeologists from Brown University noticed a structure beneath the field when they zoomed in on an aerial image made with laser scanning equipment using a laser scanning method called Lidar (short for “Light Detection And Ranging). Researchers believe Lidar technology has revolutionized archeology.

The building, a pyramid was part of an ancient neighborhood, which includes a large enclosed courtyard fringed by smaller buildings. This building was a pyramid complex with different architectural features similar to Teotihuacán.

Under the guidance of LiDAR images, Edwin Román-Ramírez, the director of the Archaeological Project in Southern Tikal, started a series of excavations last summer. His team excavated the ruins and discovered typical architecture and burial techniques, ceramics, and weapons in Teotihuacan at the beginning of the fourth century.

Tikal National Park (Parque Nacional Tikal)
Tikal National Park (Parque Nacional Tikal)

Román-Ramírez told National Geographic: “We knew that the Teotihuacanos had at least some presence and influence in Tikal and nearby Maya areas prior to the year 378. But it wasn’t clear whether the Maya were just emulating aspects of the region’s most powerful kingdom. Now there’s evidence that the relationship was much more than that.”

The team proposes that the complex might have been a quasi-autonomous settlement at the center of Tikal, possibly tied to the distant imperial capital or maybe an embassy.

Tikal is the largest city in the Classical Maya era. Tikal National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of Guatemala’s first protected areas, was established in 1955.

The research sponsor is supported by the PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative, which produced findings that reveal a network of interconnected ancient cities in the Maya plains in 2018.

Related Articles

Evidence of Necromancy during Roman era in the Te’omim Cave, Jerusalem Hills: Oil Lamps, Spearheads, and Skulls

14 July 2023

14 July 2023

Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem Hills may once have served as a local oracle where people communed with the dead...

Digitally Reconstructed: Roman Roads That Shaped 1,000 Years of Travel Across Medieval Britain

21 May 2025

21 May 2025

Researchers digitally reconstruct medieval England and Wales’ travel routes, revealing how Roman roads shaped post-Roman mobility over a thousand years....

Traces of Pozzolan Dust from Phlegraean Fields Found in a 1st-Century Roman Hydraulic Structure Submerged in Venetian Lagoon

29 November 2024

29 November 2024

In the San Felice Canal, in the northern Venetian Lagoon, a material used as an additive in Roman concrete was...

Dingoes were regarded as “almost human” in pre-colonial Australia

21 October 2023

21 October 2023

When it comes to Australia’s wild dingoes, the phrase “a dog is a man’s best friend” takes on new meaning....

DNA Elucidates Mysteries of the Iron Age Log Coffin Culture in Thailand

9 February 2024

9 February 2024

The Northwestern Thailand highlands region of Pang Mapha is dotted with dozens of caves that contain some incredibly odd prehistoric...

Research Shows Early North Americans Made Eyed Needles from Fur-Bearers

3 December 2024

3 December 2024

Archaeologists from the University of Wyoming have found bone 13,000-year-old eyed needles crafted from the bones of various furry animals....

A Large Roman Pottery Production Center was Found in Poland

2 April 2021

2 April 2021

A large Roman pottery production center was found in Poland. The production center was discovered near the village of Wrzepia,...

Tang-e Chogan bas-relief carvings, Majestic treasures of Sassanid art, are under threat of destruction 

9 March 2022

9 March 2022

Treasures of Sassanid art, some of Tang-e Chogan’s bas-reliefs are under threat of complete destruction due to lack of maintenance...

Mystery of Knaresborough Roman hoard revealed by Newcastle experts

13 January 2024

13 January 2024

Archaeologists at Newcastle University have investigated one of the most unusual late-Roman metalware ever discovered in the British Isles. Although...

Researchers identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume more than 2,000 years old

25 May 2023

25 May 2023

A research team at the University of Cordoba has identified, for the first time, the composition of a Roman perfume...

The Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome will open to the public for the first time

21 September 2022

21 September 2022

The fourth-century Catacombs of Commodilla in Rome’s Garbatella district will reopen to the public soon after the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission...

New evidence for the use of lions during executions in Roman Britain

9 August 2021

9 August 2021

Archaeologists have discovered an elaborate key as proof that wild animals were employed as execution vehicles in public arena events...

Seven metal detectorists found 2,584 silver coins in a southwest England field “the most expensive treasure ever found in the United Kingdom”

27 October 2024

27 October 2024

In early 2019, seven metal detectorists found a cache of 2,584 silver coins dating to the Norman Conquest that had...

More than 56400 Cultural Goods Seized in Operation Pandora V

11 May 2021

11 May 2021

Operation Pandora V, aimed at preventing the illegal trade of cultural goods, has been one of the most successful operations...

The ancestors of many animal species alive today may have lived in a delta in what is now China, new research suggests

20 April 2022

20 April 2022

The ancestors of many animal species alive today may have lived in a delta in what is now China, new...