Tikal Temple IV is a

Mesoamerican pyramid Mesoamerican pyramids form a prominent part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. Although similar in some ways to Egyptian pyramids, these New World structures have flat tops (many with temples on the top) and stairs ascending their faces, more ...

in the ruins of the ancient

Maya city Maya cities were the centres of population of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica. They served the specialised roles of administration, commerce, manufacturing and religion that characterised ancient cities worldwide.Sharer & Tra ...

Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...

in modern

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. It was one of the tallest and most voluminous buildings in the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

world.Morales et al 2008, p.421. The pyramid was built around 741 AD. Temple IV is located at the western edge of the site core. Two

causeways A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

meet at the temple; the Tozzer Causeway runs east to the Great Plaza, while the Maudslay Causeway runs northeast to the Northern Zone. Temple IV is the second tallest

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

structure still standing in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

, just after the Great Pyramid of

Toniná Tonina (or Toniná in Spanish orthography) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site and ruined city of the Maya civilization located in what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas, some 13 km (8.1 mi) east of the town of Ocosingo. The sit ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, although

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

Pyramid of the Sun The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan, and one of the largest in Mesoamerica. It is believed to have been constructed about 200 AD. Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela ...

may once have been taller. The pyramid was built to mark the reign of the 27th king of the Tikal dynasty, Yikʼin Chan Kʼawiil, although it may have been built after his death as his funerary temple. Archaeologists believe that Yik'in Chan K'awiil's tomb lies undiscovered somewhere underneath the temple. The summit shrine faces eastward to the site core, with Temple III visible directly in front and Temple I and Temple II beyond it.

The structure

The pyramid has a rectangular base with its long axis running north–south. It stands from its supporting platform to the highest part of the

roof comb The roof comb (or roof-comb) is the structure that tops a pyramid in monumental Mesoamerican architecture. Typically, the roof combs crowned the summit of pyramids and other structures; they consisted of two pierced framework walls which leaned o ...

.Coe 1967, 1988, p.80. Archaeologists estimate that of construction material were utilised in the bulk of the pyramid. The temple faces eastwards towards the site core and supports a massive roof comb in pure Petén style, which was built upon the highest part of the structure's rear. It was hollow and was faced with an enormous mosaic sculpture. The architecture of Temple IV is broadly similar to that of the other major temples at Tikal, such as Temple I and Temple II. The pyramid body itself, excluding the superstructure, consists of seven stepped levels with slanting '' talud'' walls and multiple corners. The lowest of these levels measures , whilst the uppermost platform measures . The pyramid was built on top of an enormous supporting platform that measures ; this platform had two levels and rounded corners; it was accessed via a wide projecting stairway. The supporting platform was of very high-quality and utilised enormous stones in its construction. The summit shrine was accessed via a wide stairway that climbed from the supporting platform; a plain

stela A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

(Stela 43) and the associated Altar 35 are centrally located at the base of the stairway. The shrine has been partially restored and has walls up to thick. The shrine was built upon a platform resting upon a supplementary platform, which was in turn seated upon the top of the pyramid. The supplementary platform measures with the longer axis running north–south. A stairway projects eastwards from this, giving access to the shrine itself. The supplementary platform is not exactly rectangular but consists of a number of architectural elements forming a complex plan. The platform resting on top of this measures high; this element is poorly preserved, being visible only on the east side and in the middle of the north and south sides. The roof comb is high and consists of three distinct levels. The massive bulk of the roof comb was lightened by internal chambers, with four being built into each of the three levels. The roof comb was originally somewhat taller as evidenced by the bases of three smaller architectural elements on top.

The shrine

The shrine measures , with a maximum height of excluding the roof comb.Morales et al 2008, p.422. The exterior walls of the shrine are vertical, contrasting with the rest of the pyramid. The upper sections of the exterior walls formed a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

, with three giant stone mosaic masks facing eastwards over the temple access. The central mask was directly over the outer doorway, while the other two were near the northern and southern extremes of the building's facade. The shrine had three chambers situated one behind the other, each linked by a doorway with a lintel fashioned from

sapodilla ''Manilkara zapota'', commonly known as sapodilla (), sapote, chicozapote, chicoo, chicle, naseberry, nispero, or soapapple, among other names, is an evergreen tree native to southern Mexico and Central America. An example natural occurrence is ...

wood.Coe 1967, 1988, pp.80-81. These three rooms were the only accessible chambers in the entire pyramid temple. The lintel of the exterior doorway was plain but the two interior lintels were intricately carved. These two were removed in 1877 by Gustav Bernoulli and are now found in the

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Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. The lintels were carved elsewhere and then moved to the pyramid, raised to the summit shrine and installed in prepared positions; this was a laborious task given that sapodilla wood weighs 1120 kg/m³ (69.1 lb/cubic foot). It was only after the installation of the lintels that the shrine was roofed and the roof comb built.Coe 1967, 1988, p.81. The hieroglyphic inscriptions on the sculpted lintels indicate that the temple was built in 741 AD, and

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

of the lintels and wooden beams in the vaulting confirmed this, giving a result of 720±60 AD. Lintel 3 is a wooden panel measuring that is carved in low

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

.Rubio 1992, p.189. It depicts the Tikal king Yik'in Chan K'awiil seated on a litter underneath the arch of a celestial serpent. The lintel was sculpted to mark his victory over the city of El Perú in 743.Martin and Grube 2000, p.49. It has two panels of hieroglyphic script, containing a total of 64

glyph A glyph ( ) is any kind of purposeful mark. In typography, a glyph is "the specific shape, design, or representation of a character". It is a particular graphical representation, in a particular typeface, of an element of written language. A ...

Modern history

The Tikal Project of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

stabilised the ruins of the pyramid between 1964 and 1969, carrying out some limited restoration work to the upper part of the temple. The National Tikal Project (''Proyecto Nacional Tikal'') carried out emergency repairs in the second half of the 1970s. It was used to shoot a scene for the film Star Wars Episode IV.

Gallery

File:Interior, Templo IV, Tikal 1957.jpg, Interior of shrine File:Tikal Temple IV summit.jpg, Summit File:Tikal Temple IV corner detail 1.jpg, Corner detail File:Tikal Temple IV resoration work 2010.jpg, 2010 restoration work

Notes

References

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