AD 648 – 679
Dos Pilas against Tikal
In AD 629 Tikal founds Dos Pilas in the Petexbatún region, more than 100 km to its southwest, as an outpost on the trade route of the Pasión River. King K'inich Muwaan Jol II installs his son B'alaj Chan K'awiil there at the age of four. B'alaj Chan K'awiil uses the Tikal emblem glyph, as does his brother or half-brother Nuun Ujol Chaak, king of Tikal.
Dos Pilas in 2002, with thatched shelters over its carved monumentsWikimedia Commons, Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Dos Pilas 1.jpg)
The two lines are at war by 648. In Sharer and Traxler’s account Calakmul defeats Dos Pilas that year, and Yuknoom Ch'een II restores the captured B'alaj Chan K'awiil as his vassal. In Stanley Guenter’s reading of Dos Pilas Hieroglyphic Stairway 2, B'alaj Chan K'awiil defeats a Tikal army in 648, and a Calakmul attack on 20 December 650 drives him to Aguateca. Either way he then fights on the Kaanul side, and in 664 he captures Tajal Mo' of Machaquilá.
On 8 December 672 Nuun Ujol Chaak takes Dos Pilas and drives B'alaj Chan K'awiil into an exile of five years. In 677 Calakmul strikes back at Tikal, and B'alaj Chan K'awiil returns to Dos Pilas on the day the Kaanul court celebrates the victory.
A Late Classic relief of a bound captive from Dos PilasWikimedia Commons, Joanbanjo, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Relleu amb representació d'un captiu lligat, Dos Pilas, fundació la Ruta Maya, Guatemala.jpg)
In April 679 Dos Pilas, very likely with Kaanul help, wins a great battle over Tikal. Its hieroglyphic stairway speaks of "pools of blood" and "piles of heads", and in Guenter’s reading the battle is fought at Tikal itself. Nuun Ujol Chaak probably dies in this war, by one account captured and sacrificed.
Warriors leading captives on a Maya vessel with a battle scene, 600 – 900, Nebaj region, Cleveland Museum of ArtWikimedia Commons, Daderot, CC0 (Vessel with Battle Scene, 600-900 AD, Mesoamerica, Guatemala, Nebaj region, Maya, ceramic and slip, view 2 - Cleveland Museum of Art - DSC08799.JPG)
Sources
- Robert Sharer and Loa Traxler, The Ancient Maya (6th ed. 2006), pp. 383 to 387.
- Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens (2000), pp. 42 and 54 to 57.
- Stanley Paul Guenter, The Inscriptions of Dos Pilas Associated with B'ajlaj Chan K'awiil, Mesoweb (2003).
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