According to a report from Brown University (USA), an international team of archaeologists working in Tikal National Park (Petén, Guatemala) — one of the largest Mayan cities of the first millennium AD — discovered an altar platform while excavating a residential complex in the southern part of the urban area. The platform was built in the characteristic talud-tablero architectural style of Teotihuacan. Remnants of polychrome murals depicting the Teotihuacan Storm Goddess have been preserved on the four vertical panels of the altar. The murals were most likely created by a local Mayan artist who had studied in Teotihuacan. This find is yet another piece of evidence indicating close contacts between the Central Mexican metropolis and its dependent Mayan cities in the 4^th and 5^th centuries.

Teotihuacan, located in the northeastern part of the Valley of Mexico, was the largest city in Mesoamerica, with a population of over 100,000 during the Early Classic Period (3^rd to 6^th centuries AD). In the 4^th century, Teotihuacan amassed vast military power and extended its sphere 1,000 km to the east via large-scale conquests, reaching the Maya region in the later part of the century. Tikal was the capital of the Mutul kingdom — the largest political entity among the Maya in ancient times. In 378 AD, it was conquered by Teotihuacan and became a strategic centre for controlling Mayan lands, which explains the presence of finds made in the Teotihuacan style. According to American archaeologist and epigrapher Stephen Houston, the discovery of the altar confirms that ritual structures were created in the Mayan city as copies for the Teotihuacan elite who arrived in Tikal after the conquest.

According to Alexander V. Safronov, an Oikoumene’s Editorial Board Member and Associate Professor at Moscow State University’s Department of Ancient World History, “It was proven more than a quarter of a century ago that, in the late 4^th century, Teotihuacan conquered the largest cities of the ancient Maya, establishing military-political control over them. Since then, researchers have found ever more evidence of this conquest, demonstrating the scale of the Central Mexican state’s influence throughout Mesoamerica. A vivid testament to this is the spread of Teotihuacan architecture and religious cults, exemplified by the altar found in Tikal.”

Source: https://archaeology.org/news/2025/04/09/teotihuacan-altar-uncovered-in-maya-city/