Twin-pyramid complex

A twin-pyramid complex or twin-pyramid group was an architectural innovation of the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. Twin-pyramid complexes were regularly built at the great city of Tikal in the central Petén Basin of Guatemala to celebrate the end of the 20-year kʼatun cycle of the Maya Long Count Calendar. A twin-pyramid complex has been identified at Yaxha, a large city that was 30 kilometres (19 mi) to the southeast of Tikal. Another has been mapped at Ixlu, and Zacpeten appears also to possess at least one twin-pyramid complex and possibly two. These examples outside of Tikal itself indicate that their cities were closely linked to Tikal politically.

The basic layout of a twin-pyramid complex consists of identical pyramids on the east and west sides of a small plaza, with a walled enclosure to the north housing a sculpted stela-altar pair and a range building to the south. Plain monuments were generally raised at the foot of the east pyramid. The term "twin-pyramid complex" was first used in 1956 by Edwin M. Shook when he recognised that five such groups conformed to a similar architectural pattern.

Twin-pyramid complexes had identical radial pyramids on the east and the west sides of a small plaza; these pyramids had a stairway climbing each of its four sides. Usually they had a range building on the south side that possessed nine doorways and a small enclosure on the north side that housed a sculpted stela-altar pair. These sculpted monuments recorded the king performing the kʼatun-ending ceremony. Up to nine plain stela-altar pairs were erected in a line at the foot of the eastern pyramid, facing west; at Tikal no stelae were ever placed in front of the western pyramid. The whole twin-pyramid complex may be a miniature representation of Tikal's Great Plaza, mirroring the placement of pyramids on the east and west sides, an ancestral shrine to the north and a simple palace on the south side. The twin pyramids were never designed to support a summit temple.

The walled northern enclosure faced southwards onto the plaza. Access was via a single doorway sporting a corbel arch; the enclosure was not roofed.

The earliest twin-pyramid complex was built in Tikal's East Plaza early in the 6th century AD. This first example was used to celebrate several kʼatun endings. In the Late Classic Period (c. AD 600–900) a new twin-pyramid complex was built for each kʼatun-ending ceremony, with six complexes built between 692 and 790. A total of nine such complexes have been discovered at Tikal, although one was completely demolished in antiquity and others were partially dismantled.

Later twin-pyramid complexes tended to be larger than their predecessors, with two examples being much larger than earlier versions.

Five of the nine twin-pyramid complexes at Tikal had been recorded prior to the University of Pennsylvania initiating the Tikal Project of investigations in 1956. Four had been reported by Teobert Maler in 1911 and mapped by Alfred Tozzer and R. E. Merwin that year; the last had been discovered by Edwin Shook in 1937. When Shook found Stela 22 in Group Q in 1956, he realised that all five groups conformed to a set architectural pattern and he coined the term "twin-pyramid complex" to describe them.

Tikal Group L (also known as Group 5B-1) was situated to the south of Tikal Temple IV but was demolished in antiquity. Site archaeologists believe that the complex was demolished around 740 in order to provide construction material for Temple IV. The visible remains are a number of plain monuments scattered on the surface; the northern enclosure no longer stands but contained a plain stela-altar pair (Stela P-41 and Altar P-43). The complex was probably built in 672.