Dos Pilas

Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala [1]. 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 [1]. 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 [1]. It was a predator state from the beginning, conquering Itzan, Arroyo de Piedra and Tamarindito [1]. Ongoing conflict in the Maya region soon destabilised the whole area following the defeat of Dos Pilasʼ patron Calakmul and in 761 the city was dramatically abandoned after Tamarindito and other Petexbatún centres rebelled against their Dos Pilas overlord [1]. Archaeologist Arthur Demarest of Vanderbilt University and Juan Antonio Valdés of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala started excavations at Dos Pilas in 1989 [1]. Dos Pilas is a modest sized site, covering about 1 square kilometre [1].