What a massive structure! It must have been huge.
I wonder how far away the jungle was from the buildings when they were built.
Did the people back then cut down the jungle in big areas (and the jungle has reclaimed those areas in the meantim or did they really build their sites in the midst of the jungle?
Back then (pre 900s AD) most of the areas immediately surrounding the cities and temples would have been cleared from the jungle because it was used as farmland. Trees and shrubs were cut down to be used either as firewood or to keep the land clear, so you didn't get the "overgrown" feel that you do for modern temples, which have had the jungle creeping into them for well over a thousand years in some cases.
Though what we think of as "Mayan Cities" nowadays is actually a lot smaller than they actually were. In modern times the only structures that have been cleared of jungle overgrowth (to make room for tourism) are the big and beautiful temple structures, or some of the major buildings and temples of the elites, priests, and nobles. Surrounding every Mayan
ceremonial site is a host of smaller buildings and structures that have never been excavated or touched, simply because there isn't enough time! I read a great archaeological book on the subject (
Copan: Rise and Fall of an Ancient Mayan Kingdom, David Webster, AnnCorinne Freter, Nancy Gonlin) which showed some of the information that archaeologists are able to gather from these surrounding buildings. Many of these buildings are now only solid stone foundations, having the wooden structures of the buildings themselves rotten away centuries ago.
Here is a good picture to show just how big Mayan cities are, from
Palenque:
Link to this map
here, in which the tourist talks about this concept briefly too. The city itself is pretty huge, covering the entire area around the mountainsides and along the river. But the place that tourists actually visit is the tiny spot within the red square, the only area that has been cleared of the jungle overgrowth, shown here in this picture.
I have a lot more pictures of Mayan city-layouts on the
first page of this thread, but they are all similiar in that the temple group shown in the picture is only a fraction of what the actual city used to be, because everything else is covered up by jungles. In short, the Mayans did building their cities in the midst of the jungles, but the jungles were held at bay back then by the tools and agricultural prowess of the people that lived there.
Also fun fact: kind of like most ancient Roman ruins, Mayan cities were
painted bright colors back in their heyday, mostly bright reds, but also yellows and blues. In the centuries after their abandonment noone was around to keep repainting them, and the colors have been bleached off by the sun. Some paint residue remains in the cracks, plus archaeologists can run test for it.
