Tikal 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 modern-day northern Guatemala. The site is part of Guatemala's Tikal National Park and in 1979 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tikal, in its prime, was one of the major cultural and population centers of the Maya civilization.
Uaxactun is an ancient ruin of the Maya civilization, also located in archaeological region of the Petén Basin. The site lies about 25 miles north of the major center of Tikal. The name "Uaxactun" was given to the site by its rediscoverer, United States archeologist Sylvanus Morley, in May of 1916. He coined the name from Maya words Waxac and Tun, to mean "Eight Stones". But recent achievements in the decipherment of the ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing system, it has been determined that the ancient name for this site was something like Siaan K'aan or "Born in Heaven".
The Popol Vuh is a sacred book of the Mayas, containing the Mayan creation story, among other mythologies. Francisco Ximénez, a priest of the Order of Santo Domingo was dispatched in 1694 to work with the natives of Guatemala. Here he gained the trust of the natives and obtained a copy of the Popol Vuh. Ximénez copied and translated the manuscript before, it is believed, returning it to the Guatemalans. Several years later Karl von Scherzer, an Austrian explorer and natural scientist, also copies the Popol Vuh.
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