Dos Pilas
Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region, particularly the Pasión River. In AD 648 Dos Pilas broke away from Tikal and became a vassal state of Calakmul, although the first two kings of Dos Pilas continued to use the same emblem glyph that Tikal did. It was a predator state from the beginning, conquering Itzan, Arroyo de Piedra and Tamarindito. Dos Pilas and a nearby city, Aguateca, eventually became the twin capitals of a single ruling dynasty. The kingdom as a whole has been named as the Petexbatun Kingdom, after Petexbatún Lake, a body of water draining into the Pasión River.
Dos Pilas gives an important glimpse into the great rivalries and political strife that characterised the Late Classic. Much of the history of Dos Pilas can now be reconstructed, with a level of detail which is almost unparalleled in the Maya area.
On June 12, 1970, the site was declared a National Monument according to Article 1210 of the Guatemalan Ministry of Education.
Etymology
Dos Pilas is Guatemalan Spanish for two wells, and this is the generally accepted meaning of the name, even though early investigator Pierre Ivanoff stated that it meant two stelae. The emblem glyph for the site and/or the polity of Dos Pilas is the same as that of Tikal, Mutal. Its exact meaning is obscure but the drawing suggests a hair knot.Location
Dos Pilas is located in the Petexbatún region of the Petén Basin, in the southwest of the department of Petén, in northern Guatemala. It lies between the Pasión and the Salinas rivers. The site has an elevation of above mean sea level. Dos Pilas falls within the municipality of Sayaxché, a town on the banks of the Pasión River. Dos Pilas lies about east of the border with Mexico, to the southwest of the Maya ruins of Tikal, and west of Tamarindito. Lake Petexbatún and the Pasión River form a part of the drainage of the Usumacinta River.At the height of its power the kingdom covered an area of some 1,500 square miles.
The local landscape consists of heavily forested ridges interspersed with low lying wetlands, rivers and lakes. The area is subject to high annual rainfall, averaging.
Known rulers
| Name | Ruled | Alternative Names |
| Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil | c. 648-695 | Ruler 1, Flint Sky, Flint Sky God K, Lightning Sky, Malah Chan Kʼawil |
| Itzamnaaj Bʼalam | c. 695 | Shield Jaguar |
| Itzamnaaj Kʼawiil | 24 March 698 - 22 October 726 | Ruler 2, Shield God K |
| Uchaʼan Kʼin Bʼalam | 6 January 727 - 28 May 741 | Master of Sun Jaguar, Ruler 3, Scroll-head God K, Spangle-head, Jewelled Head |
| Kʼawiil Chan Kʼinich | 23 June 741 - 761 | Ruler 4, God K Sky, Mahkʼina |
Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil was born on 15 October AD 625. He claimed to be a member of the Tikal royal line. On Dos Pilas Panel 6 he names a king of Tikal as his father. He probably saw himself as the legitimate heir to the Tikal throne and defected from Tikal in AD 648 to found Dos Pilas as a rival kingdom under the overlordship of Calakmul. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil is known to have taken two wives, one of them from the nearby Petexbatún kingdom of Itzan. His father was, who was either the 23rd or 24th ruler in Tikalʼs dynastic line. A daughter of Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil, Wak Chanil Ajaw, left Dos Pilas to found a dynasty at Naranjo.
Itzamnaaj Bʼalam had a short reign. He was the son of Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil and his wife from Itzan.
Itzamnaaj Kʼawiil , another son of Bʼalaj Chan Kawiil, was born in AD 673, probably in Calakmul during his familyʼs exile after Dos Pilas was defeated by Tikal. His birth abroad seems to have been cause for embarrassment, with discrepancies in the calendar dates recorded on monuments likely to be the result of attempts to show that he was born in Dos Pilas itself. He reigned for 28 years. He died on October 726. A stele erected by his successor records that he was buried four days later, at night and within Dos Pilas. A tomb believed to be that of this king was found under Structure L5-1 in the site core.
Uchaʼan Kʼin Bʼalam seems not to have been a direct heir to the throne but rather a regent providing strong leadership while the heir was still a child. Twenty years before his rise to the throne he was already a prominent figure in Dos Pilas, responsible for the capture of the lord of Tikal in AD 705 and being closely involved in rituals performed by the previous king. Uchaʼan Kʼin Bʼalam took a wife from Cancuén, a city that controlled the upper reaches of the Pasión River. "Master of Sun Jaguar" died in May 741, his death is recorded on Stela 1 at his twin capital of Aguateca where it is believed that he was buried, although his tomb has not yet been found.
Kʼawiil Chan Kʼinich was installed on the throne of Dos Pilas in June of AD 741, 26 days after the death of "Master of Sun Jaguar". It is not known when he died but he was forced to flee Dos Pilas in AD 761 and was never mentioned again after that.
History
Early history (pre-A.D. 629)
The early history of the Dos Pilas site is unclear; there are traces of an earlier indigenous dynasty predating the arrival of Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil from Tikal. From the Early Classic the Petexbatún region had been dominated by a Maya kingdom centred on the sites of Tamarindito and Arroyo de Piedra. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil founded Dos Pilas within the territory of this pre-existing kingdom and the new city quickly came to dominate the region.Founding and consolidation
The interactions between Classic Period Maya city-states were deeply linked to the long-running power struggle between the two Maya "superpowers", Tikal and Calakmul, and the history of Dos Pilas is no exception.629: Aligned to Tikal
In AD 629, the Tikal king Kʼinich Muwaan Jol II installed his son Balaj Chan K’awiil, aged four, as ruler of Dos Pilas. With the establishment of the new kingdom, Dos Pilas advertised its origin by adopting the emblem glyph of Tikal as its own. For the next two decades he fought loyally for his brother and overlord at Tikal.648: Aligned to Calakmul
In AD 648, king Yuknoom Chʼeen II of Calakmul attacked and defeated Dos Pilas, capturing Balaj Chan K’awiil. At about the same time, the king of Tikal was killed. Yuknoom Cheʼen II then reinstated Balaj Chan Kʼawiil upon the throne of Dos Pilas as his vassal. In an extraordinary act of treachery for someone claiming to be of the Tikal royal family, he thereafter served as a loyal ally of Calakmul, Tikalʼs sworn enemy. The exact methods used by Calakmul to induce Balaj Chan Kʼawiil to switch sides are unknown.672: Recovered by Tikal
King Nuun Ujol Chaak of Tikal attacked and captured Dos Pilas in AD 672, driving Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil into a five-year exile, probably in Calakmul.677: Restored to Calakmul
This exile was only ended in AD 677, on the same day that Calakmul celebrated a success over Tikal, revealing Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiilʼs obvious dependency on his foreign overlord.Tikal and Dos Pilas went to battle again in AD 679 and Tikal suffered a humiliating defeat by its smaller rival. Although Dos Pilas celebrated this as the victorious conclusion of the war, neither side had gained any real advantage over the other. For Dos Pilas, this battle represented the consolidation of its kingdom and the failure of Tikal to crush its splinter state before it gained a foothold. The hieroglyphic texts at Dos Pilas describe the victory in graphic terms, recording "pools of blood" and "piles of heads" as the result of a major battle between the two cities, with Dos Pilas very likely having received military aid from Calakmul. Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil consolidated his power with marriage alliances. He took at least two wives; his main wife was a noblewoman from Itzan, another city in the Pasión drainage. Their marriage produced Balaj Chan Kʼawiilʼs heirs, Itzamnaaj Balam and Itzamnaaj Kʼawiil. Balaj Chan Kʼawiil had a famous daughter with a second wife, this daughter was Lady Six Sky who was despatched to Naranjo to refound its obliterated dynasty. Balaj Chan Kʼawiil is known to have made several further visits to Calakmul; in 682 he celebrated a period ending ceremony there under Yuknoom the Great and in 686 he attended the enthroning of his successor, Yuknoom Yichʼaak Kʼakʼ.