Tikal was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization. Monumental architecture was built here as early as the 4th century BC. The city was at its height in the Maya Classic Period, approximately 200AD to 850 AD, after which no new major monuments were built, some of the palaces of the elite were burned, and the population gradually declined until the site was abandoned by the end of the 10th century. The name “Tikal” means “Place of Voices” or “Place of Tongues” in Maya, which may be an ancient name for the city, although the ancient hieroglyphs usually refer to it as Mutal or Yax Mutal , meaning “Green Bundle”, and perhaps metaphorically “First Prophecy”. Scholars estimate that at its peak it had a population from 100,000 to 200,000.
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