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  Pyramid of the Jaguar, Tikal, in El Peten, Guatemala   The classic Maya civilization originated in the El Peten region of Guatemala and Uaxactun.  Maya cities contained approximately two million people supported through a mixture of slash-and-burn agriculture and raised field farming techniques.   The cities that developed in Tikal, Copan, Palenque, and Bonampak, among others, were ruled by warrior kings.  They frequently participated in bloody ceremonies and practiced human sacrifice, a finding previously denied by Maya scholars.