Tikal ( / tiˈkäl / ) ( Tik ’ al in modern Mayan orthography ) is the ruins of an ancient city found in a rainforest in Guatemala . Ambrosio Tut , a gum @-@ sapper , reported the ruins to La Gaceta , a Guatemalan newspaper , which named the site Tikal . After the Berlin Academy of Sciences ' magazine republished the report in 1853 , archeologists and treasure hunters began visiting the forest . Today tourism to the site may help protect the rainforest . It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the pre @-@ Columbian Maya civilization . It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala . Situated in the department of El Petén , the site is part of Guatemala 's Tikal National Park and in 1979 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site .