The Mundo Perdido (Spanish for 'Lost World') is the largest ceremonial complex dating from the Preclassic period at the ancient Maya city of Tikal, in the Petén Department of northern Guatemala.Martin and Grube 2000, p.28. The complex was organised as a large E-Group astronomical complex consisting of a pyramid aligned with a platform to the east that supported three temples.Martin and Grube 2000, p.28. Estrada Belli 2011, p.60. The Mundo Perdido complex was rebuilt many times over the course of its history. By AD 250–300 its architectural style was influenced by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, including the use of the talud-tablero form.Martin and Grube 2000, p.29. Sharer and Traxler 2006, p.321. During the Early Classic period (c. 250–600) the Mundo Perdido became one of the twin foci of the city, the other being the North Acropolis.Martin and Grube 2000, p.29. From AD 250 to 378 it may have served as the royal necropolis. The Mundo Perdido complex was given its name by the archaeologists of the University of Pennsylvania.
The large plaza centred upon the Lost World Pyramid (5C-54) and the ceremonial platform to the west (5C-53) is divided into two clearly demarcated areas referred to as the High Plaza and the Low Plaza. The High Plaza is the area around the Lost World Pyramid. It is closed on the south side by Structures 6C-24 and 6C-25. A range of eight adjoining structures divide the High Plaza from the Plaza of the Seven Temples to the east. On the north side, the Plaza is principally delimited by Structures 5D-77, 5D-45, 5D-46, together with some smaller structures. The Low Plaza lies to the west of the Lost World Pyramid, centred upon Structure 5C-53, a low platform. The Low Plaza is closed on its north side by the Talud-Tablero Temple (5C-49), which is the second largest structure in the whole complex.Coe 1967, 1988, pp.90–91. The complex has a surface area of approximately .
Guatemalan archaeologists have made major discoveries in the Mundo Perdido since the 1970s. The National Tikal Project (Proyecto Nacional Tikal) investigated the Mundo Perdido from 1979 until 1985, and partially restored the principal structures of the complex.Coe 1967, 1988, p.92. The Mundo Perdido was the first architectural complex to be built at Tikal in the Preclassic period and the last to be abandoned during the Terminal Classic.
History
Preclassic The Mundo Perdido underwent six phases of construction; four of these date to the Preclassic and two to the Classic. Each construction phase produced a new version of the E-Group (the Lost World Pyramid and the East Platform). Evidence recovered from the Mundo Perdido dates back to the earliest years of occupation at Tikal in the Middle Preclassic prior to 700 BC, although these remains represent rubbish rather than structures.Laporte 2003a, p.285. The complex began to take form around the end of the Middle Preclassic, around 600 BC, when structures started to be added to a series of artificially levelled surfaces or platforms.Laporte 2003a, p.287. Gradually both the complexity and the height of the structures increased. The Lost World Pyramid and the East Platform together form an E-Group that is the oldest architectural complex in Tikal. During the Late Preclassic a causeway was built to unite the Mundo Perdido with the North Acropolis;Laporte 2003a, p.288. this causeway channelled runoff rainwater into a canal that fed into the Temple Reservoir. About AD 100, toward the end of the Late Preclassic, three temples were built upon the East Platform.Laporte 2003a, 288. Sabloff 2003, pp.xxiv.
Early Classic
Around AD 250, at the beginning of the Early Classic, the Mundo Perdido plaza was expanded westwards in order to make the Lost World Pyramid the centre of the complex rather than the western extreme. It was this construction phase that led to the Mundo Perdido achieving its final surface area of around . After this the various structures in the Mundo Perdido were remodelled many times to match the architectural styles developing throughout the city.
A small platform was added to the East Platform in the Early Classic, the surface of the platform possesses a series of holes that may have supported banners. The platform covered a large pit that contained the bodies of seventeen sacrificial victims, including men, women and children, possibly sacrificed during a dedicatory ceremony for the platform itself. In the 4th century AD the first version of Structure 5D-82 was built, to the north of the East Platform.Laporte 2003a, pp.286, 291. In the second half of the 4th century six tombs were built in the East Platform.Laporte 2003a, pp.292–293. Ceramic offerings in the tombs included effigy vessels representing monkeys and macaws.Laporte 2003a, p.293. The high artistic and technical quality of the funerary offerings in these tombs identify the deceased as members of Tikal's elite; they may have been members of a line of the ruling dynasty that lost power among the political upheaval of the late 4th century and included the kings K'inich Muwaan Jol and Chak Tok Ich'aak I. With the entry of Siyaj K'ak' and the establishment of a new political order in the city, the focus of royal funerary rites was shifted from the Mundo Perdido to the North Acropolis.Fitzsimmons 2009, pp.112–113.
From the 4th century through to the 6th century the use of talud-tablero architecture became notable in the Mundo Perdido. In the 5th century the talud-tablero form was applied to Structures 5C-51 and 5C-52 at the western limit of the complex, and 6C-24 on the south side.Laporte 2003b, p.201. Laporte and Fialko 1994, p.345. In the latter part of the 6th century or during the 7th century a fifth version of the Talud-Tablero Temple 5C-49 was built, with a new stairway and summit shrine.
Late Classic During the 7th century there were significant changes to the East Platform, including a new version of Temple 5D-87 that faced away from the Mundo Perdido. Around AD 700 this version was sealed and another version built on top, making Temple 5D-87 one of the three highest structures in the Mundo Perdido. This new version created a new orienting axis in the complex, breaking the primary axis associated with the ancient E-Group complex and its relationship with the old solar cult, thus marking a major change in the ceremonial use of the Mundo Perdido complex.Laporte 2003a, p.302. It is about this same time that the twin pyramid complex came into use, demonstrating a major internal reorganisation of the city. During the Late Classic, access to the complex was gradually restricted by closing various access points with new structures, this included discontinuing the use of the causeway that had linked the complex with the North Acropolis since the Preclassic. A new palace complex was built in the northern section of the Mundo Perdido, developing during the 7th and 8th centuries AD; This marked an important change in the use of the Mundo Perdido, which until then had been dedicated to purely ritual activities. The construction of the palace indicates the permanent inhabitation of the complex by an elite group, apparently involved in some way with the administration of the city.
The Mundo Perdido continued to serve as an important burial site during the 8th and 9th centuries. The final version of the Talud-Tablero Temple received three elite status burials, possibly members of the royal family to judge by the extremely high quality of the associated offerings.Laporte 2003a, pp.302–303. These burials have been dated to the second half of the 8th century, during the reign of Yax Nuun Ayiin II.Laporte 2003a, p.303.
Terminal Classic
Tikal as a whole went into general decline during the Terminal Classic, with some parts of the city apparently being abandoned. The Mundo Perdido, however, continued to be a centre of vigorous ceremonial activity. Evidence of this continued activity in the complex includes burials and collections of ceramic and lithic artefacts, together with significant construction activity. The main Late Classic structures were fitted with new benches and a change to access routes to the complex took place. Activity was concentrated in the northern portion of the Mundo Perdido, perhaps because it was closest to the Temple Reservoir water supply. Some minor changes were made to the Talud-Tablero Temple at this time. The greatest residential activity during the Terminal Classic took place in the vaulted palace immediately to the east of the Talud-Tablero Temple (Structures 5C-45 through to 5C-47). This activity included complex construction projects and indicates that the elite were still in residence immediately prior to the complete abandonment of the city.Laporte 2003a, p.304. Further construction activity, in the form of structural strengthening, also took place in other structures in the northern sector, including Structures 5D-77 and 5D-82. Ritual activity also continued, and the bottom half of Early Classic Stela 39 was placed in Temple 5D-86 on the East Platform and worshipped.
That a large population remained in residence in the north sector of Mundo Perdido during the Terminal Classic is evidenced by the quantity of burials of differing gender and age. Some were interred inside collapsed buildings or in casual graves. They were usually accompanied by very few funerary offerings, generally bone and lithic artefacts. The dense occupation of the north sector, which included elite activity, continued for at least a hundred years after the abandonment of the rest of Tikal and is perhaps linked to the nearby water supply and to continued ritual activity at Temple III. While the northern portion of the Mundo Perdido continued in use, the rest of the complex was partially abandoned. The occupation of the Mundo Perdido came to an end in the Terminal Classic and very few traces of Postclassic activity have been recovered, limited to a few ceramic finds in Structure 3D-43 to the north.Laporte 2003a, pp.304–305.
Modern history The University of Pennsylvania carried out exploratory investigations of the Lost World Pyramid prior to the work undertaken by the Proyecto Nacional Tikal. These included test cores and trenches in the summit as well as the west and south sides. Exploratory tunnels excavated up to into the pyramid's interior recovered surprisingly early ceramic fragments, which led to the complex becoming the focus of later investigations. A wide-ranging programme of investigations of the Mundo Perdido was instigated by the newly formed Proyecto Nacional Tikal in September 1979.Laporte 1997, p.332. The first operation carried out was the clearing of forest overgrowth from the Lost World Pyramid late that year. The main phase of investigations ran until 1982, although test pitting and topographical surveys continued until 1984. Both the Lost World Pyramid (5C-54) and the Talud-Tablero Temple were excavated and restored from 1980 through to 1982.Laporte 1997, p.332. Laporte 1998, p.22. Soon after work started upon the Mundo Perdido in 1979 adverse weather conditions resulted in severe damage to various structures, including the collapse of the east face of the Lost World Pyramid, the northeast corner of the Talud-Tablero Temple (5C-49) and the north wall of Structure 5D-77.Laporte 1997, p.345.
Structures